Rev. Billy Kyles: Called To Be a Witness
"When Bread for the World and other organizations do letters and anti-poverty initiatives, it is like knocking holes in the darkness," said Rev. Billy Kyles, pastor of Monumental Baptist Church in Memphis, TN. "They are in the civil rights tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."
Kyles is a founder of that tradition. A civil rights pioneer, he was arrested for sitting in the "white" section of a city bus. His five-year-old daughter was one of the 13 children who integrated the Memphis public schools under police protection. Kyles worked closely with Dr. King. He spent the last hour of Dr. King's life with him and witnessed his assassination.
"Of course other people know that Dr. King was killed, and it affects them, but Rev. Kyles was actually there and he's been able to use his experiences as a guidepost to help people," said Don Williams,
Bread for the World's Associate for Racial/Ethnic Outreach. Mentioning Dr. King's comparison of the money the United States was spending on hunger compared to the Vietnam War, Williams added, "Back then, it was poverty, hunger and the minimum wage, and now, it's poverty, hunger and the minimum wage."
Kyles said that he wondered why he had been there when Martin Luther King was killed. "And then God showed to me why I was there. I was there to be a witness. My witness says, "You can kill the dreamer, but you cannot kill the dream." He has been the pastor at Monumental Baptist Church for 47 years.
And indeed, Kyles is an inspiration to many. Rev. Tyler C. Millner is the pastor of Morning Star Holy Church in Martinsville, VA, which hosted a two-day conference on Bread for the World's 2006 Offering of Letters, One Spirit. One Will. Zero Poverty.
"The presence and words of the good reverend were like dynamite to me," said Millner. "His storytelling of his days and experiences with Dr. King was both educational and inspirational. His coming and being a part of the program sealed my commitment to our becoming a Covenant Church, and my personal commitment." Morning Star Holy Church soon thereafter became a BFW Covenant Church and held its first Offering of Letters.
Therese Gustaitis of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Memphis is a long-term activist on justice issues who heard Rev. Kyles address an Offering of Letters workshop in Memphis. “When Rev. Kyles spoke, it really touched me personally from a justice angle,” she said. “I realized how far we still have to go in Memphis. What he called us to do that day is what God in Scripture calls every church to do every day.”
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