The postponed 42nd Annual Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Celebration Service has been rescheduled as a Black History Month Service at 4 p.m. Sunday at Calvary Community Church in Columbus.
A snowstorm in January triggered the change, according to organizers. The adjustment also has necessitated a new speaker for the gathering.
Columbus native Chad Sims, 38, who was the keynote speaker at the 2017 Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Breakfast, will offer remarks. He currently serves as a psychologist in training at Ball State University, where he is a doctoral candidate in counseling psychology and social psychology.
He will speak on “Never Forget the Journey: Helping to Prepare Generation Next.”
Sims delivered an emotional message at the King breakfast, sharing stories of vulnerability and pain.
He talked of his carefree, younger years in Columbus with friends of other races until a middle school atmosphere of racial tension changed all that.
But he also told of adult years that have have been wonderfully marked by close friendships with people of various races.
“We discovered that, at the end of the day, the only thing that was different about any of us was our hair texture and skin tone,” Chad Sims said.
Bishop Charles A. Sims, Calvary Community’s co-founder and senior pastor, and Chad Sims’ father, launched the local scholarship service as a way to honor King’s spiritual and educational legacy — and to motivate young people to pursue education and the best possible life. King himself was so academically focused that he became a Morehouse College student in Atlanta, Georgia, at age 15.
Scholarships will be awarded to eight local students. The scholarships, usually in amounts of $200 to $500, come from a collection at the service and other church donations and funds.
Dozens of local students have received similar help via the annual service through the years, according to organizers. Sims and his wife, the Rev. Jane Sims, live what they preach. Each has earned doctorates in theology from Indianapolis’ Christian Theological Seminary.
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What: The rescheduled 42nd Annual Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Service as a Black History Month event — with speaker Chad Sims highlighting the theme, "Never Forget the Journey: Helping to Prepare Generation Next."
When: 4 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Calvary Community Church, 1031 Chestnut St. in downtown Columbus.
Information: 812-372-3077.
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