Making Pulpits Matter

A Reflection On MLK and the Power of the Pulpit

Armed with a handful of warmed-over sermons and big dreams to grow a small church, the newly ordained Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. arrived at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama in May of 1954. According to biographer Richard Lischer, King came to Dexter with a 39-point plan. Included in King's plan was the purchase of a new pulpit. The two pulpits the church currently owned—one in the sanctuary and the other in the basement for use in Sunday School—had both been there since the last brick was laid at Dexter in 1889.

Within a year of arriving, King was the recognized leader of America's protest for civil rights. Soon, America was marching for change. King had become more than the pastor at Dexter, but he never stopped preaching. In fact, he believed the church was the center for necessary, creative, and loving change. King’s speeches, the secular sermons that soared at state houses and national monuments were born in the pulpit.

The Civil Rights Movement, King’s vision of America, was preached into existence. The laws needed to change, yes, but the vision was launched from behind worn and weathered pulpits.

Nearly a decade ago, I toured Dexter Avenue Baptist Church along with twenty other ministers from my denomination. Ten of us are white; ten are African-American. We believed then, and believe now, that race is an issue in our churches and country.

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