FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Minister to lead annual Martin Luther King Jr. Service at Bates

LEWISTON, Maine -- The Rev. Kirk Byron Jones, a specialist in the social theologies of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Walter Rauschenbusch and well known for his work with the Commission on Justice and Liberation of the National Council of Churches, will be the guest preacher for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Service, with music by Cultured Voices and the Bates Community Gospel Ensemble, at 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 16, in the Bates College Chapel. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

Currently assistant professor of Christian Social Ethics at Andover Newton Theological School and senior pastor of the First Baptist Church in Randolph, Mass., Jones is a native of New Orleans, La., and has been preaching since the age of 12 when he delivered his first sermon at the Mount Hermon Baptist Church in his home town.

His ministries have extended out in to the larger community. Most notably, he was a co-founder and first chairman of Church Against Narcotics (CAN), a Chester-based community action organization that successfully developed educational and recreational responses to the drug culture.

Jones' courses at Andover Newton focus on the social role of the church and the practice of pastoral ministry. He expands his teaching ministry by serving as a guest preacher and lecturer at churches and schools across the country. His writing has appeared in "The Christian Century," "The Christian Ministry" and "Pulpit Digest." He also is co-executive editor of the Judson Press quarterly, "The African American Pulpit."

Jones received his Ph.D and M.Phil from Drew University, his D. Ministry from Candler School of Theology at Emory University and his M. Divinity from Andover Newton Theological School. He received a B.A. from Loyola University. In addition to being the founding pastor of Beacon Light Baptist Church in New Orleans, he has served as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Chester, Pa., and Ebenezer Baptist Church in Boston.