Presbyterian Center to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with frontline activists as speakers

Wednesday morning event will be live streamed to the larger church

by Gail Strange | Presbyterian News Service

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Photo by Unseen History via Unsplash)

LOUISVILLE — On Wednesday, Jan. 20, employees and friends of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will celebrate and commemorate the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The service this year will be livestreamed on the PC(USA) Facebook page beginning at 9 a.m. Eastern Time.

The preacher for the service will be the Rev. Timothy Findley, Jr., founder and senior pastor of Kingdom Fellowship Christian Life Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Findley is also a community activist who has been on the frontline of the peaceful protest for justice for Breonna Taylor.

Findley has served Kingdom Fellowship Christian Life Center since March 2008. Under Findley’s leadership, Kingdom Fellowship Christian Life Center has become one of Louisville’s fastest-growing churches. He has built more than 50 in-house ministries focusing on effective outreach and evangelism, God-centered creativity and high-impact worship.

The theme for the Wednesday morning service is “The Power in Love & Justice.” In his final book, “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?” King says, “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”

Given the upheaval and unrest in America today, King’s phrase, “the fierce urgency of now,” which became a famous rallying cry for change and social justice, is as relevant today as it was when he first spoke it as part of his “I have a Dream” speech delivered on Aug. 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

The service will also feature a speaker who will shed a spotlight on community justice. Kentucky State Representative Attica Scott, a Democratic member of the Kentucky House of Representatives representing District 41. Scott served on the Louisville City Council from 2011 to 2015. Like Findley, Scott has been on the frontline in the fight for justice for Breonna Taylor.

Scott’s experience includes working as an English immersion teacher in China and serving as an adjunct faculty member with Jefferson Community and Technical College and as an adjunct faculty member at Bellarmine University.

She’s been a member of Building Hope Kentucky, Women’s Network Commonwealth Institute for Policy Issues and Civic Engagement Board of Fellows, La Casita Center, Restorative Justice Louisville, National Organizers Alliance, Community Development Corporation at Greater Friendship Baptist Church, the Hispanic/Latino Coalition of Louisville, and others.

 “This service is an annual event that honors the legacy and prophetic voice of one whom will never be forgotten. In the ethos of our current national climate it is imperative that we as people of faith are reminded that it is the work of the Christian to stand for justice, equality, and equity in the same way Dr. King did,” said the Rev. Shanea D. Leonard, Associate for Racial & Gender Justice in RE&WIM, who’s provided leadership to the team organizing the worship service. “Despite the threat of evil and hatred, Dr. King always relied on his faith in God to drive him to challenge hatred, bigotry, racism, and white supremacy. And we are called to the same mandate to do justice!”