Bernice King Leaving Bishop Long’s MEGACHURCH

By ERRIN HAINES, Associated Press Errin Haines, Associated

ATLANTA – The youngest daughter of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. says she is leaving an Atlanta megachurch where the pastor has been embroiled in scandal and is starting her own ministry.

The Rev. Bernice King told a radio interviewer Tuesday that her last Sunday as a member of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church was this past Sunday. Although her departure coincided with New Birth leader Bishop Eddie Long's settlement agreement in the sexual misconduct lawsuits he has fought since September, King said she had been planning to leave for weeks.

"It has nothing to do with anything that's going on with Bishop Long," King told reporters Tuesday. "I always knew I would not be at New Birth forever. This is the time for me to leave."

Her announcement on the gospel station Praise 102.5 came months after she decided she would not lead the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which her father headed during the height of the civil rights movement.

That choice, King said, cleared the way for her to proceed with her departure from New Birth, where she has been a member for nearly nine years. She said she told Long in early April she would leave New Birth on the last Sunday in May.

"Everything else is God's coincidence," she said. "That's the only thing I can say with regard to that."

King leaves in the wake of news that Long reached a settlement last week in the sexual misconduct lawsuits that alleged he abused his spiritual authority and lured four former church members with cars, clothes and trips.

King did not address any of the controversy surrounding Long in the interview and has not spoken publicly about the allegations.

King not give details about her new ministry.

"I'm not calling it a church right now," she said.

An ordained minister and the only one of Martin Luther King Jr.'s four children to follow in the Baptist preacher's footsteps, King earned her Master of Divinity degree from Emory University's Candler School of Theology in 1990.

King came to New Birth in 2002 and came to regard Long as her mentor and spiritual father. In 2004, she joined Long in a march against gay marriage that began at The King Center — a move that sparked controversy, given her mother's support of gay rights. When her mother, Coretta Scott King, died in 2006, the funeral was held at New Birth.

Bernice King delivered the eulogy.

Earlier in the day, Long said in an e-mailed statement to The Associated Press that he and King have been "in discussion and prayer" for some time about her decision to leave the church to continue the legacy of her parents.

"I am in full support of her decision to leave New Birth in pursuit of this worthy endeavor," the statement reads. "Reverend Bernice King has made tremendous and profound contributions to New Birth as an elder and faithful servant."

Long said a farewell tribute for King is planned, but a date has not been set. The church did not announce King's departure on Sunday, instead focusing on a Memorial Day tribute to fallen soldiers and their families.

King has said she will also focus on her parents' legacy, a priority that has grown stronger since her mother's death. She started a scholarship in 2007 in her mother's memory at her alma mater, Spelman College.

"The ministry side of that legacy has to be carried on, and that mantle fell on me," King said. "Since that time, I have been seeking to walk in it. I know there's much that has to be done by way of both of my parents' legacies."

Biography of Beatrice King

Nationally and internationally known as one of the most powerful, motivating and life-changing orators and speakers, Bernice A. King leaves her audiences spellbound and challenged. Born the youngest daughter of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, Bernice King began her oratorical journey when she spoke in her mother’s stead at the United Nations at age 17. Over the years, Bernice King has had the occasion to speak in Sydney, Australia, Lubeck, Germany, Argentina, and South America to name a few. In the summer of 2000, Bernice King narrated the "Lincoln Portrait" along with a symphony orchestra in Keil, Germany at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival.

Bernice King is a graduate of Spelman College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a Masters of Divinity and Doctorate of Law Degrees from Emory University. King has also received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity degree from Wesley College. She is currently a member of the State Bar of Georgia.

With a strong concern for community and family partnership, Bernice King was privileged to serve as a law clerk in the Fulton County Juvenile Court system, under Judge Glenda Hatchett, where she interacted with troubled boys and girls. It was there that King realized that a growing number of teens have been double victims: first of society and secondly of an ineffective legal system based in retribution instead of rehabilitation. Bernice King has also served as a mentor to a group of 5th grade girls at an inner-city Atlanta elementary school, where she spent time molding their character and values so that one day they too would become a force to be reckoned with in the world. Among other community activities and services, Bernice King was instrumental in organizing coalitions to close a pornographic shop located within a mile of a local high school. She also assisted The Dow Company in building a Habitat for Humanity home in Americus, Georgia.

As an ordained preacher, Bernice King is a minister at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia under the dynamic leadership of Bishop Eddie L. Long. In addition to being a speaker/orator/preacher, King has planned and organized numerous conferences, seminars and workshops for all walks of life. Bernice King has successfully coordinated non-violent conflict resolution conferences for college and university students and women and family conferences; she has conducted a class on race relations at Mississippi College in Jackson, MS and taught a year- long leadership development class at her previous church.

Bernice King has been featured on such shows as, Oprah, BET Talk with Tavis Smiley and the Judge Hachett Show to name a few and in such magazines as People Magazine, Ebony, Essence, Ladies Home Journal, Gospel Today and Charisma Magazine. This year American Legacy Magazine recognized Bernice as a "Woman of Strength and Courage." King has also guest hosted a live lunchtime television show on CNN. As an author, Bernice King has to her credit, her first book, Hard Questions, Heart Answers, a compelling and inspiring book.

Nationally and internationally known as one of the most powerful, motivating and life changing orators and speakers, Bernice A. King leaves her audiences spell bound and challenged. Born the youngest daughter of Coretta Scott King and the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., King began her oratorical journey when she spoke in her mother’s stead at the United Nations at age 17. Over the years, King has had the occasion to speak in such places as The White House, DuPont Corp., Warner-Lambert Corporation, AT&T, Lockheed/Martin, DIA, University of Toledo, Xavier University, University of North Carolina, Duke University, Pepperdine University, Department of Defense, Salvation Army, and in such places as Sydney, Australia, Lubeck, Germany, Argentina, South America to name a few. In the summer of 2000, King narrated the “Lincoln Portrait” along with a symphony orchestra in Keil, Germany, at the Schleswig-Holsen Musik Festival.

King is a graduate of Spelman College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and a Masters of Divinity and Doctorate of Law degrees from Emory University. She has also received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity degree from Wesley College. She is currently a member of the State Bar of Georgia and has received training in mediation.

With a strong concern for community and family partnership, King was privileged to serve as a law clerk in the Fulton County Juvenile Court system, under Judge Glenda Hatchett, where she interacted with troubled boys and girls. It was there that she realized that a growing number of teens have been double victims: first of society and second of an ineffective legal system based in retribution instead of rehabilitation. King has also served as a mentor to a group of 5th grade girls at an inner-city Atlanta elementary school, where she spent time molding their character and values, that one day they too would become a force to be reckoned with in the world. Among other community activities and services, she was instrumental in organizing coalitions to close a pornographic shop located within a mile of a local high school. She also assisted The Dow Company in building a Habitat for Humanity home in Georgia.

As an ordained preacher, King is a minister at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia under the dynamic leadership of Bishop Eddie L. Long. In addition to being a speaker/orator/preacher, King has planned and organized numerous conferences, seminars and workshops for all walks of life. She has successfully coordinated non-violent conflict resolution conferences for college and university students and women and family conferences; she has conducted a class on race relations at Mississippi College in Jackson, MS, and taught a year-long leadership development class at her church. Cited in Ebony magazine as one of the “Ten of Tomorrow” in Leadership, she is actually a strong leader of today.

King has been featured on such shows as Oprah, Montel, Rolonda, Late Night with Tom Snyder, Eye-to-Eye with Connie Chung, BET Talk with Tavis Smiley, to name a few and in such magazines as People, Ebony, Essence, Ladies Home Journal and Charisma. She has also guest hosted a live lunchtime television show on CNN. In 2005, the American Legacy Magazine recognized King as a Woman of Strength and Courage.

As an author, King has written first book, Hard Questions, Heart Answers, a compelling and inspiring book selected by USA Today as a “Best Bet”.

Diverse, challenging, captivating, relevant and powerful are a few words that describe King, a woman gifted to change the lives of those who come into contact with her.

Martin Luther King Biography

Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the family's long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor. Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating from high school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had graduated. After three years of theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected president of a predominantly white senior class, he was awarded the B.D. in 1951. With a fellowship won at Crozer, he enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955. In Boston he met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon intellectual and artistic attainments. Two sons and two daughters were born into the family.

In 1954, Martin Luther King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Always a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race, King was, by this time, a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the leading organization of its kind in the nation. He was ready, then, early in December, 1955, to accept the leadership of the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times in the United States, the bus boycott described by Gunnar Jahn in his presentation speech in honor of the laureate. The boycott lasted 382 days. On December 21, 1956, after the Supreme Court of the United States had declared unconstitutional the laws requiring segregation on buses, Negroes and whites rode the buses as equals. During these days of boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed, he was subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a Negro leader of the first rank.

In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization he took from Christianity; its operational techniques from Gandhi. In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. In these years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience. and inspiring his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", a manifesto of the Negro revolution; he planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters; he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream", he conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.

At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.

Selected Bibliography

Adams, Russell, Great Negroes Past and Present, pp. 106-107. Chicago, Afro-Am Publishing Co., 1963.

Bennett, Lerone, Jr., What Manner of Man: A Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. Chicago, Johnson, 1964.

I Have a Dream: The Story of Martin Luther King in Text and Pictures. New York, Time Life Books, 1968.

King, Martin Luther, Jr., The Measure of a Man. Philadelphia. The Christian Education Press, 1959. Two devotional addresses.

King, Martin Luther, Jr., Strength to Love. New York, Harper & Row, 1963. Sixteen sermons and one essay entitled "Pilgrimage to Nonviolence."

King, Martin Luther, Jr., Stride toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. New York, Harper, 1958.

King, Martin Luther, Jr., The Trumpet of Conscience. New York, Harper & Row, 1968.

King, Martin Luther, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? New York, Harper & Row, 1967.

King, Martin Luther, Jr., Why We Can't Wait. New York, Harper & Row, 1963.

"Man of the Year", Time, 83 (January 3, 1964) 13-16; 25-27.

"Martin Luther King, Jr.", in Current Biography Yearbook 1965, ed. by Charles Moritz, pp. 220-223. New York, H.W. Wilson.

Reddick, Lawrence D., Crusader without Violence: A Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York, Harper, 1959.

From Nobel Lectures, Peace 1951-1970, Editor Frederick W. Haberman, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1972

This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.