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Boston Pastor to Deliver 2003 MLK Lectures

The Rev. Eugene F. Rivers III, who has created programs to combat urban violence, drugs and poverty, will be the featured speaker on April 1 and 2 at Duke Divinity School

 

DURHAM, N.C. -- The Rev. Eugene F. Rivers III, a Boston-area pastor who has created programs to combat urban violence, drugs and poverty, will be the featured speaker on April 1 and 2 at Duke University Divinity School's 2003 Martin Luther King Jr. Lectures.

Rivers, who is pastor of the Azusa Christian Community in Dorchester, Mass., has been credited with helping to reduce homicides and other violent crimes in Boston.

Referred to as the "savior of the streets" in a 1998 Newsweek magazine cover story, Rivers co-founded an organization that brought together local churches and police to combat youth violence. He is now co-chair of the National Ten Point Leadership Foundation, which is working to repeat those efforts in 40 of America's worst inner-city neighborhoods.

The King Lectures, which were established nearly 30 years ago and are sponsored by the Office of Black Church Studies and the Black Seminarians Union, focus on preaching as an instrument of social change.

Rivers will present the keynote King lecture at 2:30 p.m., April 1, in the Divinity School's York Chapel on Duke's West Campus. On April 2, Rivers will preach at two worship services: a 10 a.m. service in York Chapel and a 7 p.m. service at Fisher Memorial United Holy Church of America, 420 East Piedmont Ave., Durham. The evening worship service will be preceded by a 5 p.m. community dinner at Fisher Memorial.

The lecture and related worship services are free and the public is invited.

Born in Boston, Rivers grew up in South Chicago and North Philadelphia and attended Harvard University. He has worked on community development and various aspects of Christian activism for nearly 30 years.

In addition to his work with the Ten Point Leadership Foundation, Rivers is president of The Ella J. Baker House, a non-profit organization created by the Azusa Christian Community to provide street intervention, education and mentoring for youths in the Dorchester and Boston areas. He also serves as special assistant to the president of the Pan African Charismatic Evangelical Congress.

For more information about the King Lectures, call the Office of Black Church Studies at (919) 660-3444 or see its Web site.