“I’m not saying we’re not sinners. We’re all sinners. We’re born in sin,” Charles Wilson said. “But you’re not born to hate. No child is born to hate. You have to be taught to hate. When you say come to the church, are the same people that put us out of church still there? How have they changed?”

The church that brought international attention to a small Mississippi town issued a moving apology Sunday, admitting that any church is made up of people who “intentionally, at times, choose not to follow the Lord’s will.”

The page-long statement issued by First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs is a step toward the reconciliation church members have said they longed for since a few weeks ago when a black couple was told they were not allowed to wed in the predominantly white church.

“As a church, we express our apology to Te’Andrea and Charles Wilson for the hurt that was brought to them in the hours preceding their wedding and beyond,” the statement read.

The bride’s family, the Hendersons, continued to attend the church, saying that they had faith in Pastor Stan Weatherford and the congregation, and felt the moving of the wedding was simply due to some unfriendly church members.

A photo sent to The Clarion-Ledger by a congregant of the church shows what the member said was another black family joining the church on Sunday.

Weatherford, who has taken the heat for moving the wedding, could not be reached for comment Sunday.

But the statement says, This wrong decision resulted in hurt and sadness for everyone. Both the pastor and those involved in the wedding location being changed have expressed their regrets and sorrow for their actions.”

Weatherford said his aim has always been ultimately to unite the church.

Te’Andrea Wilson’s family attends the church because of a friendship they formed with Weatherford’s family when he began helping her brother learn to play baseball.

A few unidentified members went to Weatherford after seeing the couple’s wedding rehearsal the Thursday night before their Saturday wedding, and expressed concerns about holding a wedding for a black couple in the church.

It would have been the first one that anyone could remember. Probably the first in the church’s history.