The greater Fayetteville Cumberland County Ministerial Council presents the “25th Year Honoring MLK’s Legacy” Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast Monday, Jan. 15, at 8 a.m. at the Crown Expo Center. The theme this year is “One Nation, One People: One Community, Fayetteville.”

“The theme echoes Dr. King himself as it relates to love of the community, being a nation of diversity, difference of opinion, different approaches to addressing matters of concern and for the sake of the love of community, we don’t allow differences to cause an imbalance,” said Dr. Maxie Dobson, vice president of the Fayetteville Cumberland County Ministerial Council. “This year we will have singing, as usual, from choirs and groups and the collective singing of the ‘Black American National Anthem.’” Dobson added that the event will follow the same format as past MLK breakfasts.

The keynote speaker is Bishop Charles H. Ellis III, senior pastor of Greater Grace Temple in Detroit, Michigan.

“We are particularly excited about our special keynote speaker, Bishop Ellis,” said Dobson. “He is a very personable and approachable person who is very busy. He is indirectly connected to the Civil Rights icon Rosa Parks because his church hosted her homegoing services, and that was a grand affair.” Parks lived in Detroit for many years after she moved from Alabama, and she passed away in 2005.

“We are looking for it to be our best one because this is the milestone 25th year that the Ministerial Council has sponsored this event, and that makes it more special and particularly satisfying,” said Dobson. “We are very grateful for the community at large because this is an event that is almost a common staple and a gathering that has no second thought, and the majority are reoccurring attendees.”

Dobson said the event is the best-attended gathering of its kind in the state of North Carolina and that it says something about the community that we would commit ourselves together and revisit the opportunities before us in the spirit of the legacy of Dr. King.

Ticket cost is $20 in advance or $23 at the door. For more information, visit www.fayettevillemincouncil.org.