Southwestern College will host a Martin Luther King Day celebration on Monday, Jan. 20, at 6:30 p.m., in Messenger Recital Hall inside the Darbeth Fine Arts Center.  The event is open to the public and there is no admission charge.

The featured speaker is reverend Joy J. Moore, associate professor of biblical preaching at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The theme of the event is “So Now What?  The master of ceremonies will be Kenyada Heard.  The celebration will include a poem by Nick Garcia; pre-event music by Daegiona Wilson; music by Justin Williams and Jordan Butler; and a finishing charge from Anjaih Clemons and Dawn Pleas.   

Moore is an elder in the United Methodist Church.  A native of Chicago, Illinois, Moore's desire to teach led her to earn a bachelor of arts degree in education and mathematics from National-Louis University in Evanston, Illinois; a master of divinity from Garrett-Evangelical Seminary, also in Evanston; and a Ph.D. in practical theology from London School of Theology/Brunel University, London, England.

Before joining the faculty at Luther Seminary in July 2019, Moore taught at Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University; Fuller Theological Seminary, where she established the William E. Pannell Center for African American Church Studies and served as its first associate dean. Fuller Seminary recruited her to provide vision for the center from the Divinity School at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, where she served as associate dean for church relations, associate dean for black church studies, and visiting professor of preaching. Previously the director of student life at Asbury Theological Seminary and chaplain and director of church relations at Adrian College, she has held pastorates in the Michigan Area of the United Methodist Church. She has written for “Sojourners” magazine, “Christian Century,” “WorkingPreacher.org” and “Good News” magazine.

Moore has focused on cross-racial ministry in urban, rural, and suburban congregations. Her last parish served as a help center in Flint, Michigan, during the Water Crisis. As a pastor, she has called local congregations to recognize their vocation of glorifying God as a peaceable community—practicing hope, hospitality, and honesty. 

She became a John Wesley Fellow in 2001, and, is currently the president of the Christian Theological Research Fellowship and first vice-president of the Wesleyan Theological Society.