The keynote speaker of the Kansas City, Kan., Martin Luther King Holiday Celebration Jan. 18 will be Bishop Lemuel F. Thuston, speaking on the topic, “Re-igniting The Dream; All Lives Matter!”
Bishop Thuston is the jurisdictional prelate of the Kansas East Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Church of God in Christ.
The celebration begins at 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 18, at the Reardon Civic Center, 5th and Minnesota, Kansas City, Kan.
Bishop Thuston is known for his academic preparation, pastoral passion, recognized scholarship, community connectivity, churchmanship and spiritual vitality.
After 18 years of being a teacher and pastor in Missouri, Indiana, Chicago, Colorado and Texas, Bishop Thuston was appointed pastor by Bishop William H. McDonald to the Historic Boone Tabernacle COGIC in Kansas City, Mo.
For the past 14 years, Bishop Thuston has been at the Boone Tabernacle, and he also serves as pastor of Mason Temple Institutional COGIC in Kansas City, Kan.
Bishop Thuston initiated and led the Re-LINK, a former inmate community re-entry program. He is currently a professor at large in urban studies and theology at North Central University in Minneapolis, Minn., Logos College in the Bronx, New York, Nazarene Seminary; and St. Paul Methodist Seminary.
He serves as a professional consultant in urban education. He also is the host of the weekly “Better Tomorrow Beginning Today” telecast and daily radio broadcast, “The Voice of the Bishop.”
Serving 10 years in the U.S. Air Force, Bishop Thuston received a doctorate from Faith Baptist Seminary and is currently pursuing a doctorate at Drew University in Madison, N.J. He also earned a Master of Divinity from St. Paul Methodist Seminary and a Master of Arts in ancient near east languages from the Assemblies of God Graduate School and Southern Missouri University.
Bishop Thuston has served the national COGIC as vice chairman-general assembly, dean of the national youth department, dean of the international adjutant corps, associate commissioner for the national board of education, national election commission, All Saints Bible College board member, executive and doctrinal committee chair for the board of bishops.
He has presented lectures at the Vatican, White House Presidential Clergy Panel, the African-American Holy Land Scholars Union, the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals and National and State Boards of Education.
Answering the call to ministry in his youth, Bishop Thuston has traveled extensively, lecturing, teaching and evangelizing in 46 of the 50 states and in 15 international nations on four continents. He has written “Essential Ministry Tools,” “Tears of Jeremiah” and “The National Adjutancy.” Soon to be published is “Jabez, Tupac and The Jesus Prayer.” His recent work, “Decently and in Order in the Sanctified Church,” is currently being distributed.
After 23 years of pastoral leadership, including seven years of service in the Kansas East Jurisdiction, with increasing leadership capacities under the late Bishop William H. McDonald, Pastor Thuston was honored March 26, 2004, with the appointment of jurisdictional prelate of the Kansas East Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction. Presiding Bishop G.E. Patterson appointed him upon the recommendation of the jurisdictional pastors.
Evangelist Marian Thuston is Bishop Thuston’s wife and partner in ministry, and they have one child. Bishop Thuston is a native of Chanute, Kan., and son of the late Pastor Floyd and Mother Roberta Thuston.
The King Holiday Mass Celebration and Motorcad-March for Hunger will be held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, Jan. 18.
The motorcade will start assembling at 9 a.m. and will leave at 10 a.m. from the Mount Zion Baptist Church, 5th and Richmond. It will arrive at the Reardon Civic Center, 5th and Minnesota, in time for the Mass Celebration.
The Motorcade for Hunger is being managed through the motorcade coordinator, Frank Lavender, with the assistance of the Prince Hall Lodge – Widow’s Sons Lodge No. 17, United Way and YouthBuild. Shuttle services are being planned.
The celebration will start at 11 a.m. with selections from the MLK Mass Choir under the direction of Alicia Saunders. Dance interpretations featuring the Greater Pentecostal Temple Praise Dance Ministry and the Men of Worship also will be presented.
The celebration will include youth talent and performances by the Children’s Church of the Greater Pentecostal Temple and local elementary and teen students.
More than $30,000 in scholarships will be awarded to graduating high school seniors through the Rev. C.E. Taylor/MLK Jr. Educational Awards Program, and the annual scholarship award winners will be announced and students will be on hand to receive their educational scholarship awards.
Special accommodations will be made for physically challenged and hearing-impaired persons. A sign language interpreter will be on hand.
There will be a voter registration booth set up by the NAACP with official registrars in attendance to conduct on-the-spot registrations for persons who are not registered to vote.
This year’s celebration is sponsored by Sprint, The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, Happy Food Stores–Happy Foods North, Board of Public Utilities, Unified Government of Wyandotte County-Kansas City, Kan., Construction and General Laborers AFL-CIO No. 1290, Hilton Garden Inn, Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, the Raphael Hotel Group, Mark One Electric Co., Inc., Landmark Mortgage Co – Americo., Evans and Mullinix Law Firm, PRIME Health Care Services – Providence Hospital, The Community Foundation of Wyandotte County, J.E. Dunn Construction Co. and Dunn Family Foundation, and the McAnany VanCleave and Phillips Law Firm.
Kaw Valley District Ushers, Prince Hall Masons, F & AM and PRIDE will assist in seating and management.
LaVert Murray is general coordinator and the Rev. Tony Carter is program chairman of the event.
– Story from Edwin Birch