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In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Celebration, this year YWCA Greater Charleston is combining its MLK Area Worship Services with its signature MLK Ecumenical Service for one dynamic, impactful service encompassing and recognizing houses of worship from every region of the Lowcountry.

The centerpiece of the Celebration, the MLK Ecumenical Service will be held at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 16, as a hybrid virtual and in-person event live-cast from Greater St. Luke AME Church at 78 Gordon Street, Charleston, SC 29413. Reverend Dr. Krystal T. Sears of Greater St. Luke AME Church will preside over the service.

Keynoting the service will be Reverend Anthony B. Thompson, author of “Called to Forgive” and husband of Myra Thompson, one of the Emanuel Nine. His unimaginable ordeal and forgiveness of his wife’s killer has been chronicled by Time magazine and the New York Times. His subsequent calls for forgiveness and racial equity have been heard across the world.

Ordained into the Holy Order of Deacons of the Reformed Episcopal Church in 1997 and into the Holy Order of Presbyters of the Reformed Episcopal Church in 1998, Rev. Thompson served as the pastor of St. Stephen’s Reformed Episcopal Church of Summerville, S.C. from 1995 to 2010, and is currently vicar of Holy Trinity Reformed Episcopal Church of Charleston. He has spread his message of forgiveness during appearances on CNN, PBS, Showtime, TBN, Fox & Friends, Focus on the Family, and other media outlets.

Rev. Thompson also served for six years in the U.S. Navy and for 27 years as an adult probation parole agent for the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services, in addition to working as a relief counselor for the Carolina Youth Development Center, a wraps provider for the South Carolina Department of Mental Health, a court liaison for the Charleston County Substance Abuse Commission, and a youth counselor for John G. Richard’s Institution for Boys. He has mentored young people across the tri-county area for 40 years, and continues to do so. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in secondary education from Benedict College and a Master of Divinity degree from Cummings Theological Seminary.

Registration will open in early January 2022 at ywcagc.org.