COLUMBUS — Local faith leaders and others will celebrate the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy and academic inspiration at a service in February during Black History Month rather than this month for the second straight year.
The 43rd Annual Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Celebration Service has been slated for 4 p.m. Feb. 16 Sunday at Calvary Community Church, 1031 Chestnut St. in Columbus.
Last year, a snowstorm moved the service date from the day before the King holiday — the traditional date since the service began — to mid-February. The move helps avoid a heavy concentration of King-related events all within a two-day period. In the past, there have been as many as five or six separate local King-oriented events then.
And this year’s service is expected to include a new element: a five- or six-person panel of young black Columbus natives who earned a college degree and found success in a variety of fields.
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“I just want them to be able to share their story so they can maybe be an inspiration to other young people,” Sims said.
A keynote speaker soon will be named for the event.
Sims 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.
The celebrated civil rights leader died when he was shot on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, standing up for the rights of mostly minority sanitation workers.
At the service, which has attracted 200 to 300 people annually, scholarships usually are awarded to eight to 10 local students. The scholarships, usually in amounts of $200 to $500, come from a collection at the service and from 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.
The pair also has used the service to focus on King’s dream of equality for all races and people. The bishop mentioned that if King were alive today, he probably would be disappointed at much of what is happening today regarding race.
“Sadly, I believe we have turned the clock back especially with regard to race relations and the treatment of various ethnic groups in recent years,” Sims said. “Unfortunately, it’s no longer a bad thing to put down others because of race or ethnicity.”
The Rev. Jane Sims made that same message part of her address at the scholarship service in 2018.
“We are at a place where things are almost toxic,” she said before that gathering. “The level of racial tension reminds me of and brings flashbacks of the civil rights movement.”
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What: The 43rd Annual Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Celebration Service
When: 4 p.m. Feb. 16.
Where: Calvary Community Church, 1031 Chestnut St. in downtown Columbus.
Information: 812-372-3077.
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