It was 40 years ago today that the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee.

Tonight at New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church, a group of African-American pastors will also honor Dr. King—with an eye on the future. Rev. Stephen J. Thurston is the Senior Pastor at New Covenant and the president of the National Baptist Convention of America.

He’s hosting tonight’s service, with the theme “Testament of Hope.” During the service organizers hope to celebrate King’s power of oratory—and to honor Chicago’s Rev. Jeremiah Wright—a contemporary preacher of Black Liberation Theology.

Thurston says the controversy over Black Liberation Theology radiates far beyond the sermons of Reverend Wright.