Lawnside to Hold 3rd Annual MLK Commemorative Service at Mt. Pisgah AME
AC JosepH Media
LAWNSIDE — In honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Mount Pisgah African Methodist Episcopal Church will host the third annual Martin Luther King Commemorative Service on Monday, Jan. 19, at the Grace Temple Baptist Church, 15 E. Charleston Ave., Lawnside.
The celebration will be held from noon to 2 p.m. on the federal holiday. Superior Court Judge Morris G. Smith will be the master of ceremonies. Mt. Zion United Methodist Church hosted the 2025 service; Grace Temple was the first host in 2024.
Keynote speaker, Rev. Dr. David Latimore, director of the Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary, will address the program’s theme, “Unshaken: A Community Built to Stand.”
The center is named for the formerly enslaved Princeton woman, who once free, became a missionary in Hawaii, and founder of schools for Indigenous and Black children.
Latimore’s teaching and research focus on the intersection of religion, race, and economic justice examining how economic ideological pre-suppositions underlie many of the disparities and inequalities witnessed in African American communities and their impact on the theology of the Black church.
He arrived at Princeton Theological Seminary having served as a senior pastor at Fifteenth Avenue Baptist Church in Nashville, taught at Belmont University there, functioned as a minority student mentor, and was associate director for the Academy of Preachers.
He holds degrees from the University of Chicago, McCormick Theological Seminary, Duke Divinity School, and Harvard University. He has also pastored churches in Illinois, Florida and Missouri. Before attending seminary, Latimore had a successful career in investment management and economic development.
Pastor Josiah Haggins of Mt. Pisgah is coordinating this year’s service. Rev. Haggins is a graduate of Troy University and earned a Master of Divinity degree from Liberty University. Before coming to Lawnside, he was pastor of three churches in Goshen, Troy and Louisville, Alabama.
In keeping with the theme, combined choirs, and musicians from the three congregations will offer worship music.
Additionally, the Rev. Timothy L. Merrill of the Imani Hope Center, Camden, will receive the Morris L. Smith Award for Social Justice at the program. Merrill is a pastor, youth leadership developer, and author, who has served as the social justice pastor at Asbury Community Church, Woodlynne.
Smith was a Methodist Church and communityleader, scientist, and corporate executive, who led Lawnside’s Board of Education to create a school holiday in honor of King in April 1968, just days after his assassination.
Also, the Grace Temple Community Development Corporation will present its STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) scholarship at the event.
A “Poor Man’s Lunch,” in the tradition of the Civil Rights movement, will follow the program in the fellowship hall.
The Third Annual Lawnside Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Commemorative Service continues a community tradition. Among its conveners, Mt. Pisgah, organized in 1792, is one of the oldest Methodist churches in Camden County. Grace Temple Baptist Church was founded in 1911 at its current location. Mt. Zion United Methodist Church was organized in 1828 at 134 N. White Horse Pike and is listed as a historic site by the United Methodist Church. Grace Temple Community Development Corporation is a nonprofit organization serving residents of Lawnside and surrounding Camden County communities.
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