Inside New Hope Missionary Baptist Church on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the first instruction to a buzzing congregation was a call to action.

“When we leave here, we have to be committed to doing the work that King did,” said New Hope senior pastor, the Rev. Joe Mitchell. “Too often we listen and nothing comes of it. Tonight we’re going to listen, and then we’re going to take action.”

Opening the annual DeKalb event at 6 p.m., with members of many churches from the surrounding area in attendance, Mitchell stood behind a podium at the front of the church and welcomed an audience of about 75 people, both familiar faces and guests.

“If it’s your first time, welcome, and hopefully it won’t be your last time that you will come and be with this beloved congregation,“ he said. “Let us indulge in the life, the legacy, and the work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.”

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Singers perform on Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in DeKalb for the annual MLK Day Celebration. (Devin Oommen for Shaw Local News Network)

The night was filled with speakers from eight area churches who rotated through the pulpit as the congregation answered in call-and-response and rose for hymns in between readings of King’s speeches. The program included a reading of King’s biography.

The Rev. Luis F. Reyes-Rosario of The United Methodist Church of Sycamore prayed for healing for fractured communities and invoked King’s vision of moral justice.

“May we choose the high way, even if it’s hard, to love those who hate us, and pray for those who viciously use us, until we can cry out, free at last, free at last, Great God Almighty, free at last,” Reyes-Rosario said.

Later, a spoken word performance began from the pews.

From the far right side of the church, Darius Jackson stood and began to recite King’s words as he walked toward the front.

“I have a dream,” Jackson said. “That one day my four little nieces will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Jackson’s cadence shifted from measured to rapid as he looked out at the congregation.

“On Christmas Eve, I asked my 7-year-old niece, ‘What do you know about Dr. King?’ She responded, ‘Who was that?’” Jackson said. “A few days later, I overheard my other niece say she forgot she was Black.”

Jackson said he wrote the poem to emphasize what can be lost when history is not taught.

“I wrote this poem as a wake-up call to white America,” he said, quickening his pace. “This is your reminder that Black America will never forget about our King. I wrote this poem for all of our nieces and all of our nephews so they can always remember his dream.”

Throughout the night, speakers drew verbal responses from the congregation, with attendees nodding their heads and joining hymns between readings.

David Fraccaro, a minister from Rollo United Church of Christ, told the congregation he was moved by the willingness of the church to invite clergy from outside its membership.

“I’ve had a chance to be a part of services like this in much bigger cities and I can tell you there just is nothing more moving than right here in DeKalb,” Fraccaro said. “It says a lot about the spirit of a church on Martin Luther King Jr. Day that they invite ministers that they don’t even know all that well or at all to come and read those speeches here.”

As the program wound down, leaders repeatedly returned to the same idea Mitchell offered at the start, that honoring King required more than listening.

“May you and I so live that freedom, dignity, and beloved community that they will not just be spoken of but practiced,” said the Rev. Jonathan Crail from First United Methodist Church of DeKalb. “Go forth and do the work and live out the dream.”