Modesto church’s MLK service will be both live and online. Sonora has its own plan
Christian Love Baptist Church in Modesto will return to a live observance of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. It also will show the service online as part of its safeguards against COVID-19.
Meanwhile, a Sonora event has shifted to radio and other media due to the pandemic. And the annual gathering at Modesto Junior College has moved to late February.
The civil rights leader was born Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta and assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968. The national holiday in his honor falls on Monday, Jan. 17, this year.
Christian Love will hold its service at 10 a.m. Monday at 202 H St. The church had invited the public for 32 straight years before COVID-19 canceled last year’s live gathering.
Pastor Roderick Cochran will give opening remarks for the first MLK event since he started in the post in March 2020. He said by phone Monday that he led exactly one weekly service before the pandemic moved worship online.
The MLK gathering usually draws local elected officials and other leaders, as well as the general public. The program will include:
- The Negro National Anthem, sung by Sister Jeanine Vincent
- An instrumental solo by Cinderella Farcas
- Recognition of Michael Baldwin, a leader with the NAACP and other causes
- Recognition of the Modesto police gang unit, including Officer Michael Rokaitis, who lost part of a leg in an August shooting
- Songs by the Voices of Christian Love choir
- A tribute to the late Pastor James Anderson, who led Christian Love for four decades
- A performance by the Praise Dance ministry
- A piano performance by Miles Lima
- A poem by Mother Ruby Kennedy.
People attending the live event must wear masks and maintain social distancing. The service will be on Zoom with the meeting ID 771 898 0819.
Sonora plans radio ads and more
For a second straight year, the pandemic has canceled the King observance in the Sonora High School auditorium. It was launched in 1995 by the Motherlode Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee.
It has turned this year to radio ads, yard signs and a local newspaper, committee member Pat Cervelli said by email. The details:
- Local youths will read ads purchased on radio stations KVML and KZSQ through Jan. 17.
- Signs in 100 yards will bear King’s picture and his famous words, “Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.”
- A guest opinion is scheduled for the Jan. 15 issue of the Union Democrat.
- A few hundred bookmarks with King quotes will be given out at local businesses.
“We certainly wish we could do more and are keeping a good thought about having an in-person event next year,” Cervelli said.
Other Modesto events
For the second straight year, COVID-19 canceled the annual MLK luncheon at the King-Kennedy Memorial Center in west Modesto. It started in 1994 and was usually held the Friday just before the holiday weekend.
The MJC event has long taken place in early February, sponsored by the Modesto Peace/Life Center. The 28th annual version is scheduled for Feb. 26, but the program has not yet been announced.
Last year’s event was an online video compilation of noted people who have spoken in Modesto on civil rights. Among them were the late poet and activist Maya Angelou and the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, who worked alongside King as a young man.
This story was originally published January 12, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
