Church leaders play important roles in a community striving to achieve Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream of racial reconciliation, peace and love. Pastors must teach in King’s spirit, said the Rev. Earnest Ford, leader of four Baptist churches in Natchez.

&uot;We must continually teach in the same spirit as he did that races should come together trying to make a better community and to have better relationships with each other,&uot; Ford said. &uot;Much of the success of that depends on the leadership of pastors as they encourage their people in that way.&uot;

Ford pointed to King’s deep commitment to what he believed and to the love he felt for all people. &uot;He reminded us of things Christ did for us. Dr. King was willing to sacrifice his life and did sacrifice his life for what he believed. He was a great hero, a man who put his life on the line.&uot;

Taking King’s life as a model is the highest respect a community can pay him, Ford said. &uot;He was not just for black people but for all people.&uot;

Ford said he and other pastors bear a great responsibility for teaching lessons provided by King’s life and death. &uot;He reminded us that the Lord desires that we be a community that works together, loves one another and has compassion for one another and forgets about racial discrimination, which brings about hate,&uot; he said. &uot;We should be about bringing peace, not hate.&uot;

How is the Natchez community meeting King’s challenge? The Rev. LeRoy White said, &uot;We’re getting there. We still have a long way to go. But we’re getting there.&uot;

In fact, White, pastor of two Baptist churches in Natchez, said some giant leaps have taken place in recent years. &uot;People are coming together, caring more for each other and sharing more with each other. Churches are participating better with each other.&uot;

As a member of the Natchez-area ministerial alliance, White has seen leaders of diverse churches come together. However, he believes more can be done through that leadership group.

&uot;I belong to a group of about six of us who have really come together, gotten to know each other, eat at each other’s houses &045; we’ve become friends,&uot; White said. &uot;More of the preachers need to get together more often and develop those personal relationships with one another.&uot;

The Rev. John Scott, immediate past president of that alliance, agreed. He went on to say, however, that the ministers have encouraged community unity through such things as the annual Thanksgiving service, in which members of all races and denominations come together at a different church each year. &uot;People who attend that service always enjoy it,&uot; Scott said. &uot;We also meet for prayer on National Day of Prayer.&uot;

The alliance will continue to focus on unity across racial lines, Scott said. &uot;We have for a long time sought reasons to stay separate; now it’s time to seek reasons to unite.&uot;

Scott, who will remember King in his sermon today at Christian Hope Baptist Church, recalled one of King’s most famous phrases, that his dream was that one day all people would be judged on content of character and not color of skin. &uot;As a result of Dr. King’s commitment, we should be willing to love one another and to help one another not because of who we are but in spite of who we are,&uot; he said.

Knowing one another, people trust each other more completely, White said. &uot;We have so many resources in this community, but a lot of people don’t know where to turn. If we know each other better, everyone will benefit from those resources.&uot;

Sunday continues to be too segregated a day, White said. &uot;If we are going to be real about the hereafter, we have to be real about the here and now,&uot; he said.

Today, at Mount Plain Baptist Church, White’s sermon will focus on unity. &uot;If we can break down barriers, there is so much more we can do.&uot;

As he remembers the slain Civil Rights leader on the holiday that honors him, White will remember him as a fighter for all people, to enable all to have access to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, he said. &uot;Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a drum major for equality.&uot;