Ernest Andrew Brooks III to keynote MLK Interfaith Prayer Breakfast
Ernest Andrew Brooks III, a multifaceted and engaging professional, is keynote speaker at the sixth annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Interfaith Prayer Breakfast on Monday, Jan. 19. His topic will be "The World House: Realizing Dr. King's Cosmopolitan Dream."
The breakfast will be held from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at D'Andrea Banquets, 4419 Route 14 in Crystal Lake. The theme for this year's event is "Peace in the Midst of Challenge and Controversy."
The program will include a call to prayer and group prayer with participants from a variety of local faith traditions including Islamic, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, various Christian traditions and New Thought.
There will also be the reading of a winning essay by a local middle school student addressing the theme: "How Do You Bring About Peace in the Midst of Challenge and Controversy?" plus music and chants with Lia Nicine McCoo.
Brooks' career has included engagements with both national nonprofit and for-profit organizations, faith-based community institutions, governmental entities, and higher education institutions. Currently, he is a graduate student at the University of Chicago Divinity School where he is working at the intersections of philosophy, theology and ethics.
Most recently, Brooks served as assistant dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College. In this role, he served as project director of an interdisciplinary program for the theological and intellectual exploration of vocation funded by the Lilly Endowment Inc., and as co-principal investigator for a research project funded by the Fetzer Institute to develop a model curriculum addressing issues of love, forgiveness and spirituality in African-American male identity. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Morehouse College, a master of divinity degree from Duke University Divinity School and completed advanced graduate course work in nonprofit and philanthropic management at Duke University's Terry Sanford School of Public Policy.
With a keen interest in interfaith and intercultural studies, Brooks has led and participated in cross-cultural pilgrimages to Spain, Morocco, Japan and Turkey. An ordained Baptist minister, he previously served as senior pastor of the Mount Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church of Williamston, North Carolina and as a Baptist campus minister at Duke University.
FaithBridge, a consortium of local faith communities, promotes cooperation and understanding among diverse religious groups in the Northwest collar counties.
Tickets for this year's MLK Breakfast can be purchased any of the following: First Congregational Church of Crystal Lake, Blue Lotus Temple in Woodstock, McHenry County Jewish Congregation in Ridgefield, Ridgefield Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church, Center for Spiritual Evolution in Cary, Bethany Luthern Church in Crystal Lake, the Department of Mission and Spiritual Care at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, and the American Muslim Community Organization in Algonquin.
Tickets also will be available at the door.
FaithBridge events and activities include the Faith to Faith, Face to Face class, a community Thanksgiving service, the MLK Breakfast, and last year's Sounds of Faith performance.
The supporting organizations include local faith communities in McHenry and Lake counties and the Department of Mission and Spiritual Care of Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington.