After 25 years of preaching, Nathaniel Thomas still gets nervous every time he approaches the podium.
He said he will have this feeling once more before his speech on Monday at the 17th Annual Greater Lansing Area Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Commission Luncheon.
The commission picked Thomas to be the keynote speaker from a group of three to five nationally known speakers. He is the pastor of the First Baptist Church, the oldest African-American church in central Texas.
“We always knew he was different than the rest,” said Nathaniel’s older brother Freddie Thomas Jr., special assistant to Lansing Mayor David Hollister. “He carried a Bible with him to school all the time.”
Nathaniel Thomas grew up in Lansing and began preaching in the area when he was 9 years old.
“Lansing is an educational-based community whose cultural diversity gives strength for anyone to preside and raise a family,” Nathaniel Thomas said. “It also has very strong religious diversity.”
It is for these reasons that Nathaniel Thomas said he hopes to get a strong message across to the Lansing community.
“I want to talk about how we deal with things as a people and as a country,” Nathaniel Thomas said. “Especially how in the wake of Sept. 11 we’ve come through to maintain the dream of Martin Luther King Jr.”
The event, being held in the Lansing Center, 333 E. Michigan Ave. in Lansing, could draw more than 1,000 people, said Sharon Radtke, public relations chair for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday commission.
“I really want this event to have people come together and be inspired to go on with Dr. King’s ideals,” Radtke said.
Nathaniel Thomas was the keynote speaker at special memorial services for the World Trade Center families and victims in New York. He also recently released a sermon called “Cast Down But Not Forsaken” with proceeds benefiting the victims of Sept. 11.
“I didn’t have anything to do with him being picked as the keynote, the committee felt that he could bring the right message,” said Freddie Thomas Jr. “I think he’ll give us a good history lesson and show us where we need to go.”
The theme of the sermon for the luncheon is “Celebrate the Past with Reverence, Celebrate the Future with Courage and Hope.”
“I want them to walk away inspired, encouraged and more determined to tear apart the things that divide us as people,” Nathaniel Thomas said. “It’s no longer a dream for African-Americans, it’s for all people.”
