Moses Lake Gospel Community Choir hosts event, guest speaker Jan. 16

MOSES LAKE — Rev. Raymond E. Tobin Sr. describes his career change from a Seattle firefighter to baptist minister as one in which he went from saving lives to saving souls.

For the last five years since he retired from firefighting, Tobin has been working as an ordained minister and on Jan. 16 will be the featured guest speaker for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration at New Bride Missionary Baptist Church in Moses Lake.

The son of a pastor who was raised in the church as a young boy growing up in Louisiana, Tobin has always felt a calling on his life to preach.

Tobin is currently the pastor at New Light Missionary Baptist Church in Moses Lake, a job that initially brought him to the Columbia Basin area from Seattle.

"It's been an interest to me a long time," he said of becoming a pastor.

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Tobin is focusing his message on the need for cultures to come together and acknowledge their differences as King advocated.

Tobin also hopes to touch on perceptions of Christianity as it relates to race.

"We have a lot of other religions saying Christianity is a white man's religion," Tobin said. People need to look at each other's differences as beneficial to society rather than to discriminate or ignore them, he added.

Since King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Tobin feels King's words are remembered but not what he stood for.

"All men are created equal and that's what he basically stood for," Tobin said.

Increasing representation of the number of African Americans working on city councils, police and fire departments is something Tobin sees as still lacking in many communities.

"We've certainly come a long way already, but we do have a ways to go," he said.

Marva M. Brown, who is the director of the Moses Lake Gospel Community Choir and helps plan the annual event, said each year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, pastors throughout the Moses Lake area rotate in coming to speak for the celebration and this year the choir voted to have Tobin as the designated speaker.

Tobin is also a moderator with the Tri-Cities Association which offers support to congregations on church-related and societal issues.

The celebration begins at 6 p.m. In addition to Tobin's presentation, the Moses Lake Gospel Community Choir will sing. Refreshments will be served following the event.