MLK Day 2013: Christian Leaders Share Quotes From Civil Rights Icon

The month of January serves as an important date of remembrance in the U.S., marking the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the second inauguration of President Barack Obama, the first African-American to ever serve a U.S. presidency.

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Jan. 21, several Christian leaders took to social networking site Twitter to share their respect and admiration for Dr. King, a Baptist minister and political activist who led the civil rights movement in the U.S. in the 1950s and 1960s.

Joyce Meyer, a speaker and head of Joyce Meyer Ministries, focused on the topic of faith by tweeting this quote from Dr. King on Jan. 21:

"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase."

Tony Evans, senior pastor at the 9,500-member Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, focused his online tribute to King by tweeting a quote from the civil rights activist's 1967 book, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that," Evans tweeted.

Scott Williams, former pastor of LifeChurch.tv. in Oklahoma City, tweeted a quote from King which touches on the important relationship between faith and hope.

"I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord," read Williams' reference to King on Twitter.

This quote bears specific importance because it was included in King's speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop," which he delivered in Memphis, Tenn., one day before he was assassinated in the same city on April 4, 1968.

Lastly, Rachel Held Evans, Christian author of A Year of Biblical Womanhood, referenced King's quote from "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," which King composed in 1963 as an open letter to the country after he was arrested in Birmingham, Ala., for participating in a nonviolent protest.

"Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world?" King questioned in the letter.

Jan. 21 marks the 45th anniversary of King's assassination, and major cities across the country are commemorating this federal holiday with parades and various city events, including a sponsored Martin Luther King Jr. float in the inaugural parade in Washington, D.C.

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