Chaplain Johnson to speak at Kinzie/King Breakfast at Lincoln College

[January 08, 2015]  LINCOLN - Tickets are now available for the 7th Annual Joyce Kinzie/Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast. The Breakfast will be held Monday, January 19, in the Davidson-Sheffer Gymnasium on the Lincoln College campus in Lincoln.

The doors will open at 7 a.m. and the program will begin at 7:30 a.m. Seating is limited so early reservations are recommended. Call Cynthia Kelley at Lincoln College at [phone] to make reservations; reserved tickets can be picked up at the door the morning of the event. Tickets for the Breakfast are also available from First Presbyterian Church, [phone]; Second Baptist Church, [phone], and from members of the Kinzie/King Breakfast Committee: Rev. Glenn Shelton, [phone]; Les Plotner, (217) 732- 6167; and Cathy Tiffany, [phone]. Tickets will be available at the door if seating is still available.

Proceeds from the breakfast go to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Minority Student Endowed Scholarship which is awarded annually to minority students from Logan County attending Lincoln College on the Lincoln campus. The event features a buffet breakfast, entertainment, remarks by this year’s MLK Scholarship recipient Rhiniqua Carter, and guest speaker Henry M. Johnson.

Johnson retired after serving for 28 years as a chaplain at the Logan Correctional Center and is currently an elder at Jefferson Street Christian Church in Lincoln. He plans to speak on the topic of strength to love, particularly loving one’s enemies, based on the book “Strength to Love” published by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1963.

“We all have to either accept the word of God and love our enemies or suffer the consequences” of hate and violence said Johnson, explaining that his many years in pastoral work, his experience as a citizen of the world, and King’s writing have influenced his thoughts on the matter.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Minority Student Scholarship was co-founded in 2009 by Rev. Glenn Shelton and Lincoln businesswoman Joyce Kinzie, who initially hosted the breakfast as a fundraiser. Kinzie passed away in 2010, but the annual breakfast has continued, honoring Kinzie and furthering her dream of helping minority students in Logan County. Since her death, the fund has grown and is now an endowed scholarship which can be awarded to multiple students each year.

“Members of this community have been so very generous with helping fund this scholarship. Their investment in educating students from Logan County is making it possible for the recipients to attend Lincoln College and earn their degrees. The gift of education provides dividends for a lifetime, and we are deeply grateful to the many donors and sponsors that make this scholarship possible,” said Debbie Ackerman, Lincoln College’s vice president for institutional advancement.

[Tracy Bergin, Lincoln College]