I am so pumped about the conference I am attending this week commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The MLK50, Gospel Reflections from the Mountaintop event will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, April 3-4, and is hosted by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of Southern Baptists and The Gospel Coalition, will focus on the Gospel and race. Dr. King was killed on April 4, 1968. The 50th anniversary of King’s tragic death marks an opportunity for Christians to reflect on the state of racial unity in the church and the culture. It creates the occasion to reflect on where Christians have been and look ahead to where we must go as we pursue racial unity in the midst of tremendous tension. I will be attending the conference with a group of over 20 pastors and leaders from St. Louis, both white and black, all traveling together. We will also have the opportunity to visit the National Civil Right Museum on Thursday.
I am writing this blog post because I want to encourage you to take some time to watch the live stream of this event. While you may not be able to join the close to 4,000 people attending, you can still be a part of this conference online. To watch the entire conference via live stream, click here, register, and then enjoy. The schedule is posted below.
Tuesday
Session 1: 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Keynote 1 | Black and White and Red All Over: Why Racial Justice Is a Gospel Issue | Russell Moore
Session 2: 3:30-5:20 p.m.
Brief Talk 1 | Equipping the Next Generation to Embrace Gospel Diversity | Jackie Hill Perry
Session 3: 7:00-9:30 p.m.
Keynote 5 | The Civil Rights Movement 50 Years after MLK: An Interview with Russell Moore | John Perkins
Panel 3 | Civil Rights Storytellers with Sandy Willson (Moderator), John Perkins, Melvin Charles Smith, James Netters, and Beverly Robertson
Wednesday
Session 4: 8:30-10:00 a.m.
Keynote 6 | A House Divided Cannot Stand: Understanding and Overcoming the Inconsistencies in White Evangelicals on Racial Issues | Matt Chandler
Session 5: 10:30-11:35 a.m.
Panel 4 | The State of Racial Tension in America with Collin Hansen (Moderator), Christina Edmondson, Justin Giboney, Juan Sanchez, and Benjamin Watson
Session 6: 7:00-9:40 p.m.
Keynote 8 | The Glory of God and Racial Unity | John Piper