54th Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Worship Ser vice and Celebration
Baptist Ministers Conference of Greater NY and Vicinity’s 54th Annual Celebration at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, Harlem, celebrated the life and legacy of Dr. King for freedom and equal rights. Host Pastor Rev. Dr. Charles Curtis welcomed all.
Under the leadership of the conference’s first woman president, Rev. Geraldine Harris, “Moving from Dream to Action” was the event’s theme. The keynote speaker was Rev. Dr. Elaine Flake, senior pastor of The Greater Allen A.M.E Cathedral, Queens.
The event honorees were U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, Harlem Mother S.A.V.E Co-Founder Jackie Rowe-Adams, Sunshine in My Living Room Founder Doreen Lesane, Jean Nash Wells and Adrian Council Sr. of The Positive Community, and Peebles Corporation CEO Don Peebles.
Speakers included NY NAACP President Dr. Hazel Dukes, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, NY County DA Alvin Bragg, NY AG Letitia James, NY Senator Robert Jackson, NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams.
Founded in 1898, The BMCGNY&V is NYC’s oldest and largest clergy leadership institution. The organization represents a network of over 200,000 constituents. The conference’s mission is to “positively affect educational, moral, civic, economic, and spiritual lives with a vigilant, prophetic eye of concern.”
Over the past century, the conference’s membership included many community and civil rights legends. Members such as Reverends Adam Clayton Powell Sr., Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Wyatt Tee Walker, Gardner C.Taylor, Dr. William Augustus Jones, Charles Kenyatta, Shellie Sampson and Frank J. Blackshear among others, worked together to uplift and improve congregants’ lives. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was also in fellowship with his colleagues at the conference whenever he visited the NYC area.
The Baptist Ministers’ Conference meets every Monday at the historic Convent Avenue BC in Harlem, where Rev. Jesse Williams is host pastor. —TPC Staff
