Watch the 11 am EST Worship Service on Sunday, January 18
Watch the 3 pm EST Special Program on Sunday, January 18
MLK NOW 2026 is not simply a commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. It is a bold, living witness to his unfinished work. Through music, preaching, prayer, and embodied storytelling, this spectacular day will honor Dr. King’s radical vision for justice, dignity, and beloved community—and confront the forces still working to erase, distort, or silence that legacy today.
Schedule
Sunday, January 18
11:00 AM – worship with guest preacher, Rev. Rashad Raymond Moore, PhD
12:30 PM – Soul Food Lunch (available for purchase only)
2:30 PM – Doors Open (with historic MLK speeches playing)
Program Highlights
- Organ Prelude & Video Montage (hear Riverside’s world famous Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ)
- Welcome & Opening Prayer – The Reverend Adriene Thorne (Senior Minister of The Riverside Church in the City of New York)
- Congregational Hymn – Lift Every Voice and Sing
- Embodied MLK Speech – Freddie Moore brings Dr. King’s words to life (Founder and Artistic Director of Footprints Dance Company)
- Greetings & Guest Speaker Introduction – The Very Reverend Lydia Kelsey Bucklin (President and Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School)
- The Unsung Collective – (Harlem based group highlighting contributions of people of color in Western art music)
- Guest Speaker – The Reverend Canon Kelly Brown Douglas, PhD (Canon Theologian at the Washington National Cathedral)
- Mama Foundation – (a teenage program that uplifts the Black musical treasure of Gospel to heal and inspire through the power of collective music-making)
- Call to Action – The Reverend Brandon Thomas Crowley, PhD (Senior Pastor of Myrtle Baptist Church)
- Finale: “We Win” – Vincent Bohanan with Mama Foundation (Founder and leader of The Winners' Assembly NY, a vibrant ministry with global reach)
This gathering is for all who believe Dr. King’s dream still demands courage, clarity, and collective action—especially now. Come be nourished. Come be challenged. Come be reminded that the arc of the moral universe only bends toward justice when we bend it together.
Because the struggle—and the hope—continues.
Open to the public; registration is not required.