Interfaith Service in Wheeling To Unite Valley in Martin Luther King Jr.’s Memory

The Wheeling Area Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Weekend will include an Interfaith Worship Service where faith leaders from the Ohio Valley and beyond will gather to share words, songs and gospels in the activist's memory.

To make sure all residents in the valley can gather in his memory, the MLK Day committee sought to connect pastors both Black and white to talk to the community at this year's worship.

Before residents sit in pews Sunday, the weekend will kick off this evening at a 7 p.m. Shabbat service at Temple Shalom. Celebrations will continue at 1 p.m. Saturday at West Virginia Northern Community College's community dialogue among local students and employees in the B&O Auditorium.

The commemoration will hit the streets on Sunday during a 2:15 p.m. MLK March beginning at the Windmill atop Martin Luther King Boulevard. The march will end at 3 p.m. at WVNCC, in conjunction with the MLK and Rosa Parks Awards presentation and community banquet at the B&O Auditorium.

What Suff. Bishop Darrell Cummings, pastor of Bethlehem Apostolic Temple, described as the "jewel of the weekend" will begin at 6 p.m. Sunday during the Community Interfaith Worship Service held at Wayman African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The Rev. Kenneth Hardway, pastor of First Christian Church, sees the service as the "pinnacle of the celebration." He hopes that for the whole weekend, Wheeling can embody "what Dr. King hoped for, which was a beloved community."

Though faith leaders from around the Ohio Valley will participate in the service, the guest speaker is markedly not from the area. Judge Terri Jamison, hailing from Columbus, Ohio, was selected specifically by the MLK Day committee so a voice from "outside of their circle," according to Dr. Cummings, would be heard.

Born in Welch, West Virginia, Jamison owned a multi-line insurance agency in Columbus for more than 16 years. While raising children, she enrolled as a nontraditional student at Columbus State Community College, transferring her credits to graduate from Franklin University.

A total career change occurred for Jamison later in life when she sold her agency, enrolled and graduated from Capital University Law School in 2004. Also heavily involved in Columbus's Divine Kingdom Builders Church, Jamison was ordained as an Interim Pastor in Nov. 2011, becoming a Senior Pastor in the church six months later.

District Elder James W. Agnew III, who will introduce Jamison during the service, described her as a "beautiful person and a tough lady." He added that just hearing her speak is enough reason to come to the service.

Cummings also sang Jamison's praises, highlighting her tenacity as a non-traditional student.

Apart from Jamison's words, what Cummings is anticipating the most at the service is the Recognition of Octogenarians. He explained those who are 80 years or older will be honored at the worship as they have seen the change brought by King.

"The octogenarians that we're celebrating, they know what it was like prior to King's efforts," described Cummings. "They know the separate meals and segregation. They know the hurts and pains, and hopefully, they've seen a change. We want to celebrate that change."

The four Wheeling MLK Honorees will also be recognized at the service for their contributions to eliminating racial inequity and promoting peace and harmony.

Martin Luther King Award winner Rodrigues "Rod" Lee and Rosa Parks Award winner Theodora "Teddie" Grogan will receive their awards earlier in the day during the community banquet. Rabbi Joshua Lief and Laughlin Chapel Director Martha Wright will collect their Martin Luther King Award and Rosa Parks Award, respectively, during the service.

Honored to receive the recognition, Lief remarked that in a world so "critical and bitterly divided," it is crucial to remember the words of King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

As a leader for the Jewish community, which he noted is a tiny minority in the valley, Lief explained the Jewish sacred scriptures remind members of their faith of what it was like to have been slaves in Egypt.

"We know what it's like to have been the stranger," said Lief. "I myself have lived the experience of being mistreated because of who I was as a tiny minority. That still happens in our world today, for Jewish kids, for African Americans, for any number of minority populations.'

Lief's message of the holiday connecting all minority populations is one Cummings emphasized as a way to include all Ohio Valley residents in the celebrations. He noted the holiday was "not a Black holiday, but for everybody."

"As Dr. Martin Luther King said, 'when the tide rises, it rises all boats, it doesn't just rise certain boats,'" said Cummings. "I hope that we don't just consider this a day off but a day on, and I hope the community feels welcome to come to Wayman A.M.E. and be part of the celebration."

The celebrations will conclude at 9 a.m. Monday at an MLK Awards Breakfast held at Laughlin Memorial Chapel. Following the ceremony, special programs for children ages 5 through 12 in honor of King will be held at 10:30 a.m.