The Call: God's Leading and Our Response

Secular people call it "fate." Spiritual people call it "a call." It is a mysterious and often strange combination of God leading us, sometimes where we may not want to go, and the issue of how we will respond.

As Martin finished his doctoral studies in Boston, he had to decide which way to go next with his theological calling, and whether to stay in the North or return to the South. Churches in Massachusetts, New York and Detroit had expressed interest in him. Three colleges had offered attractive posts, including his alma mater, Morehouse in Atlanta. Coretta felt she would have more opportunities in the North for her career as a musician. This was their chance to escape the segregated system they had abhorred since childhood.  After days of praying and discussing, they decided they had a moral obligation to return to the South and try to do something about the problems they had felt so keenly throughout childhood.

Although Martin always had the option of returning to Atlanta to work with his father, as he had already done throughout his years as a student, he accepted a call to Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, which sits in the heart of the city one block from the state capitol. It was here, on February 18, 1861 that Jefferson Davis had taken the oath as President of the Confederate States.

Martin began his call at Dexter in May of 1954. It was from this pulpit that he had the chance to develop his own theology and preaching skills, again back in the South, but 175 miles from Daddy King. A year and a half later the nature of Martin's Call would change abruptly and radically. 

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, secretary of the local chapter of the NAACP, refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. She was arrested, jailed, and released that evening on bond.

The next day black leaders decided it was time to finally organize a boycott of the bus system. They contacted one of Montgomery's most outspoken black pastors, Ralph David Abernathy of First Baptist Church, and it was decided to hastily call a meeting of all of Montgomery's black pastors. They needed a downtown location, and Abernathy suggested Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. When Martin Luther King was called and asked to support the boycott and host the meeting, he hesitated. Only weeks earlier he had declined the opportunity to be considered to be president of the NAACP chapter. He had a new baby at home and so many responsibilities in his new call at Dexter. However, he did eventually agree to host the meeting that Friday night, and they met in the Dexter basement.

At the meeting it was decided to call a mass meeting for Monday night at the Holt Street Baptist Church.

On Monday afternoon several dozen black leaders and clergy met at Mt. Zion AME Church, which is also located on Holt Street in a traditional black area of Montgomery.

They decided to call the new organization that would organize the boycott the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA). Next they had to elect officers. Rufus Lewis, one of the black leaders, nominated his own pastor, Martin Luther King, Jr. It was seconded and no other names were put forth. The group asked Martin if he would accept, and he replied, much to the surprise of Abernathy, "Well, if you think I can render some service, I will."

Martin had to quickly put together a speech. When he arrived for the 7pm rally at Holt Baptist Church, 1000 people were packed inside, and another 4000 outside, listening to loudspeakers positioned outside.

Martin's Call had changed radically. He was thrust into leadership of an activist organization that would plant the seeds of the Civil Rights Movement, which would in turn eventually change forever the segregationist structure of the South. When Martin and Coretta returned to the South, they had absolutely no way of foreseeing the way God's Call would change for them. They could have said "no," but that's the problem with God's Call. Like Moses or Jeremiah, you may try at first to wiggle out of it, but the Spirit will push you to say yes. Martin did some quick wiggling, too, but he, too, eventually said yes.

He admitted later that if he had had more time to think about it, he might have said no. But forced to make a quick decision, he said yes.  And the rest, as we say, is history.