Faith communities unite in honor of King

RIO RANCHO — Sunday evening was a time of unity, brotherhood and sisterhood.

Those themes kept coming up during the annual Rio Rancho Faith Leaders Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. service, held at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Pastor Eddie McCall of New Covenant Worship Center called it a great occasion in celebration of “a man that has done much for many” during his opening remarks.

During his remarks, Rev. Dr. Charles Becknell Sr. of Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church gave a brief history of the event, saying several years ago, he was disturbed by how divided the country was.

“I thought, ‘If we come together as churches, we can bring unity. It has to begin with the churches,’” he said, noting that he sent out about 100 letters to different churches in the Metro area and got about a half-dozen responses.

However, that was enough to get the event off the ground, and the 2026 event featured about a dozen churches.

“I believe if we talk to each other, we find that we have more in common than we are different,” Becknell said. “It has been a marvelous, fantastic, uplifting experience. We can be the instrument to bring about change.”

McCall referenced King, saying, "We must confront injustices but still choose love.”

“Sometimes we miss the point of his legacy, what he stood for, what he fought four, and what he died for,” he said. “We’ve forgotten to love, to say no to injustice and still choose love.”

He said the true solution to the division and injustice in society is the “transformative power of Jesus Christ” and that what matters is not what we do when we’re comfortable but where we stand the things are uncomfortable.

“Will we succumb tot he false peace of looking away?” he asked, saying the call to day is to remember King’s true vision.

Rev. Dr. Geleta Smith, pastor of the Word of God African Methodist Episcopal Church and the keynote speaker for the evening, highlighted a passage from the Book of Hebrews and the passage’s message of faith, hope, love and persevering to the end. Verse 24, in particular, she said, hones in on the idea of love and good deeds and encouraging one another.

Smith also referenced King’s own words, saying, “We are nothing without the Lord.”

She noted the similarities of current times to the time King lived in, where the country is seeing strong divisions and protests.

“We are striving for human rights for all people,” she said. “Living by faith, the mission is possible, too.” 

That was a reference to the theme for the night — Mission Possible 2: Building Community, Uniting a Nation the Nonviolent Way.

She said King, a person who studied nonviolence and took “up his cross year after year,” was a person that we can emulate in current times “beyond the issues we are currently seeing in America that go back even before King’s time.”

Smith also said, “Living by faith is far superior than living by the rules … but those engaged in this type of behavior must know whose they are.”

Becknell put it in perhaps the simplest terms, quoting King, the man of the evening: “We can come together as brothers and sisters or perish as fools."

“Let’s not let things divide us any more,” he added.