The Liberty Park Community Center welcomed a growing congregation, Monday morning, as Grovetown locals gathered to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The city’s MLK Day Remembrance began with the presentation of the colors by the Fort Eisenhower Color Guard, a performance of the National Anthem by Augusta University music major Tallulah Schaumann and the CSRA Girl Scouts leading the Pledge of Allegiance.
After this, the event was structured largely as a church service, complete with Old and New Testament scripture readings, an invocation by Grove First Baptist Church Pastor Sonny Serigney, selections by the Oakey Grove Baptist Church Choir, and several exhortations between remarks toward praise and worship.
Two awards were presented during the proceedings. The first was the Community Service Award, presented by the Ronald Reagan Foundation, Jamyle Searcy, pastor of New Direction Christian Center in Augusta and the founding president of Columbia County’s NAACP chapter, launched last year.
The second, from the CSRA King Day Celebration Committee, was the Martin Luther King Day Life and Legacy Award, to Pastor Brad Whitt of Abilene Baptist Church in Martinez.
Keynote speaker Pastor Rex Wright of Oakey Grove Baptist Church issued an impassioned sermon, drawing on the verse John 8:32—“and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The theme of the address was adherence to truth during a time of misinformation and miscommunication.
“Dr. King once said we must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools,” said Wright. “Freedom cannot be forced upon anyone. Our ability to stand and to cry and to live is dependent upon the standards in which we cry, in which we live.”
Near the conclusion of his homily, Wright quoted from Dr. King’s sermon “The American Dream,” given at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, July 4, 1965, which explored human rights and their relationship with the Declaration of Independence.
“He says, ‘I still have a dream this morning, that one day all men everywhere will recognize that out the same blood God made all men to dwell upon the face of the earth,’” he quoted. “‘Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the rough places will be made clean, and the crooked places shall be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.’”
Before the ceremony closed, Grovetown City Councilmembers Richard Bowman and Ceretta Smith made remarks before the audience. Bowman urged all in attendance to honor King’s memory by committing to be of service to others.
“When [Dr. King] was asked how he would like to be remembered, he simply said, ‘not because I dined with presidents and world leaders and other important people… I would like for you to remember me because I served somebody,’” Bowman said. “When we come together again on MLK day 2026, I’d like for us to be, in essence, able to present a report card about what we did and what we accomplished, because I think that would be one of the greatest ways that we can celebrate Dr King.”
Smith emphasized the beloved civil rights leader’s devotion to charity and nonviolence, also quoting Dr. King, “ ‘I choose love. Hate is too great of a burden to carry.’ I just want to admonish you, as we walk through the rest of 2025, to choose love.”
Skyler Andrews is a reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
