Paris, Tenn.–A large crowd was on hand at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day evening service at Mt. Zion Baptist Church Monday evening: Lots of good music, praise, prayer, and lots of talk of the importance of love over hate.
HCHS Football Coach Josh Wolfe was awarded the Drum Major for Justice Award, Na’Kiyah Moore was given the Community Sports Award and Shannon McFarlin received the Community Service Award. Wolfe is the first African-American to be named Head Coach of the HCHS football team and led the Patriots into the playoffs his first season. Na’Kiyah Moore scored her 1,000th point in the Stewart County Christmas Championship recently. She now has scored 1,077 points as a Lady Patriot.
Emcees were Rev. James Benau and Rev. Charles Darcus. Panelists for the Town Hall discussion of “Our Story: Past, Present & Future” were Rev. John Dandridge, Jammie Adkisson, Rickey Searcy, Barbara Gray, Verdell Tharpe, and Leroy Morris.
The Mt. Zion Praise Team sang several songs and everyone sang “Lift Every Voice & Sing” and “We Shall Overcome.”
Rev. Andre Richardson, pastor at Mt. Zion, said it is important to keep Dr. King’s dream alive. “It was truly a wonderful night,” he said.
Photo: Members of the Paris-Henry County Ministerial Alliance present Josh Wolfe with the Drum Major for Justice Award. Shannon McFarlin photo.