Rev.-Dr. Christopher A. Bullock is celebrating Dr. King’s birthday with a series of speeches at the First Baptist Church of East Elmhurst., a church where King spent the summer of 1950.
In the spirit of the Rev.-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Canaan Baptist Church Rev.-Dr. Christopher A. Bullock is celebrating what would have been the famed civil rights leaders’ 82nd birthday with a series of inspirational speeches at the First Baptist Church of East Elmhurst.
Bullock’s speech, which will urge church members to take charge of their communities, follows in the footsteps of Dr. King who in summer of 1950 preached at the church as the congregation searched for a new pastor. Like King, Bullock is a graduate of the Colgate Rochester Crozier Divinity School in New York.
Bullock will be the keynote speaker at a 9 a.m., Jan. 15 breakfast and offer a Sunday sermon at 11 a.m., Jan. 16. The church is located at 100-10 Astoria Blvd., East Elmhurst, NY.
“As a social gospelist,” Bullock said, “King became the drum major for justice in America. His message still rings true today. We’ve got to live up to the expectations King set out in his dream, and rise to the occasion. We can not sit back and wait. We have to fight for jobs, health care and justice in each of our communities.”
As the nation struggles to recover from this painful recession, Bullock is a huge proponent of urging black churches to go beyond preaching and taking action to improve economic opportunity for its community. He recognizes that President Barack Obama can only do so much. Like his church in New Castle, Delaware, Bullock hopes that churches develop a “liberation agenda” where jobs, education and strengthening individuals’ moral characters are key components. He said there’s a need to “bridge the gap between the ‘we shall overcome’ generation and the ‘hip hop generation’.”
Bullock, a native of Wichita, KS, is author of “The Social Mission of the Black Church, A Call to Action”, a thought-provoking book in which he challenges black churches to do all it can to improve economic and educational opportunities for its community. He has a history of getting his churches involved in the community. In Chicago, he was pastor of the Progressive Baptist Church where he led an HIV/AIDS Awareness program, provided meals to the needy and housed a computer technology center. He also served as president of the Chicago Southside Branch of the NAACP.
