Keeping the dream alive: Bethel College honors Dr. King's legacy with community leader Larry Lee
Earlier this month, Larry Lee spoke at Bethel College, reflecting on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision, the continued relevance of his words, and the power of small acts.
On Jan. 20, Bethel College hosted a speaker to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Office for Culture and Belonging invited local community leader Larry Lee to speak in commemoration of MLK Day.
Lee was born in Coffeyville, Kan., before moving to Joplin, Mo., at age two and later to Los Angeles at 13 with his parents and six siblings. “I am the brother of six siblings,” Lee shared. “I am the oldest of them, and in our family, that carried certain responsibilities.”
He earned his bachelor's degree from Wichita State University and later obtained a master’s degree in Christian ministry from Friends University.
Recently retired as the founding pastor of All Nations Church in Newton, Kan., Lee spent 23 years leading the congregation. Before becoming a pastor, he also worked as a project manager for a software company.
Lee moved back to Newton in 1999 with his wife, and is now the vice president of the Newton Public Library Board of Directors, a member of the Newton Ministerial Alliance, and serves on the advisory council for the Kansas Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution at Bethel. Additionally, he is the president of the Newton Community for Racial Justice.
“It just seems that the Lord has placed me in these different spots at different times, and you get to sit with others, and you get to see when people are working together, what they can accomplish,” Lee stated at the beginning of his lecture.
During his speech, Lee reflected on August 28, 1963, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Imagining the expanse filled with 200,000 people, Lee marveled at the power of King’s words sharing, “I don’t know about you, but when I would hear him speak his voice, I mean, wow, it just was wonderful,” Lee reflected. “He hypnotized you with the melody of his words and how he put them together.”
Lee turned the discussion to the present, asking, “And now we come to this today, 2025. Where are we at now?” He reflected on the lasting power of Dr. King’s words, noting that his quotes “fill your heart with hope.”
One that stood out to him was, “You can kill the dreamer, but you can’t kill the dream.” Lee affirmed, “That’s where we’re at in 2025, the dream is still alive.”
“You can kill the dreamer, but you can’t kill the dream.” Lee affirmed, “That’s where we’re at in 2025, the dream is still alive.”
Larry Lee
While acknowledging that it has yet to be fully realized, he remained hopeful, saying, “It is not dead, it will not die. It is very much alive.” Despite the challenges, he expressed his belief that King’s vision still has the potential to come true.
Sheryl Wilson, Vice President of Culture and Belonging, helped organize the event with the Office for Culture and Belonging. She emphasized their mission of fostering an inclusive environment.
“We’re really talking about how every person has a connection to how they come to this institution and we want to create an environment where we’re accepting of all of our layers,” explained Wilson. “We are so diverse in the sense that it’s not just black, white, it’s not just people from the United States, but it’s people from around the world and from amazing places.”
Reflecting on Lee’s message, Wilson highlighted a key takeaway, “He talked about how we’re always kind of aspiring to do these huge things and sometimes we get overwhelmed by that and we do nothing, but it’s the little things.”
Lee encapsulated this idea with a closing statement, “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way. You don’t have to save the entire world, just save a little part of it.”