Meridian residents are being invited to the Prince of Peace Christian Fellowship Church on Sunday to join pastors and ministers of all denominations as they kick off the city’s Martin Luther King Jr. events with a candle light walk.

Rev. Gary Houston, president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, said the walk will begin at 6 p.m. and travel from Prince of Peace to the Historic First Union Missionary Baptist Church on 38th Avenue.

“We encourage you to come walk with us,” he said. “It’s not that far.”

Houston said Historic First Union was chosen because of the significant role it played in both the fight for civil rights. Dr. King himself spoke at the church a month after the disappearance of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, who were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in neighboring Neshoba County in June 1964.

The church later held funeral services for Chaney on Aug. 7, 1964.

During the Civil Rights era, Historic First Union’s Rev. R.S. Porter also served as the president of the local NAACP, and the church itself held numerous meetings for those dedicated to the civil rights cause.

Houston said Dr. King came to Meridian to be a voice for calm and healing, and the ministerial alliance honors that message on MLK Day each year.

“The reason he came was to kind of calm the plight of what we were dealing with,” he said. “Each year we commemorate his coming with a celebration time.”

After the walk, Sunday’s event will conclude with a sermon by East Mississippi Baptist State Convention President Ecclesiastes Goodwin.

Houston said all are welcome to come join in the commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and celebrate his message.

On Monday, the 38th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast will begin at 8:30 a.m. at DRL Community Center, 5051 MS Hwy 493. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door.

The City of Meridian’s annual MLK Day Parade will follow the breakfast at noon in downtown.