POWER PLAY: How to Lead like MLK in the 21st Century Foundational Grounding: Who MLK Was & Why He Mattered Martin Luther King Jr. He was a dreamer he was a strategist, theologian, Organizer systems thinker He understood how to operate in a way that built influence.. he understood power deeply. Core beliefs that made him a catalyst: Justice is moral and strategic. Injustice is wrong—it was unstable. He framed justice as the only sustainable social architecture. Nonviolence is active power. Not passivity. It was disciplined disruption—exposing injustice without becoming it. Beloved Community. His endgame was transformation—reordering society so dignity was non-negotiable. Truth creates pressure. He used moral truth to force institutions to reveal contradictions between values and behavior. Time is neutral—leadership is not. He rejected “wait” language. Delay, he argued, is denial wearing polite clothes. Systems, not symbols. Beyond speeches, he pushed policy—voting rights, labor justice, fair housing, economic equity. Courage over comfort. He knowingly accepted risk, surveillance, jail, and death because leadership demanded it. Remember this: MLK led during open hostility. Today’s resistance may look procedural (policy rollbacks, “neutrality,” curriculum erasure), but the logic is the same. He teaches us how to lead when truth is inconvenient. Closing Charge: “In every generation, leadership is tested by how it handles truth under pressure. MLK teaches us that bold leadership doesn’t wait for permission—it creates a path. The question for us isn’t whether the world is changing. It’s whether we’re courageous enough to lead it.”

Trailblazers are born for many reasons. Some rise from the legacy of predecessors who carried the weight of oppression, determined to transform inherited pain into generational possibility. Some grow beyond the ground others once cleared, stretching farther than anyone imagined possible. Some emerge from a deep longing to experience something different something bigger than what they’ve always known. And some are shaped by the shifting tides of culture, the pressures of society, and the call to respond to a world that refuses to stay still. No matter where your fire was sparked or why you’ve chosen to walk this path do not give up and do not give in. Trailblazing is the sacred work of navigating uncharted territory and creating room for those who will follow. It is leaning into what has never existed so that what once was impossible becomes the new standard of what is. So lift your head. Straighten your shoulders. Keep carving forward. Your courage is building bridges you may never cross, but others will walk confidently because you dared to begin. Blaze boldly, shine loudly, and invite others to rise with you because the world needs the path only you can create.

Hell tried to claim me. It came for me when I was too young to understand or protect myself. It came through the injustice and unequal treatment I experienced from those who were supposed to nurture, uplift, and guide me. It came when I sought love in places that seemed right and even when I wandered into the wrong places. It chased me while I slept, when I worked, and when I tried to build a better version of myself and a better world for those who depended on me. Hell found me at my highest and my lowest, in every turn, no matter what I did. So I ran. I ran from who I was, from those who loved me, and from the pain that seemed unrelenting. I ran from the idea that there could be something greater, something more for me. I ran from the good, the bad, and the ugly. But then I grew tired—tired of running, tired of being sick and tired. I realized that I didn’t have to stay bound by what tried to destroy me. I refused to let it hold me back, to suppress or oppress me any longer. I chose to rise above, to push forward until I overcame—and when I overcame, I conquered even more. I pressed past the pain of my past, past the odds stacked against me, past every statistic and barrier that sought to confine me. I pressed through dry seasons and shattered boundaries. Every single day, I make the choice to press forward, to look at hell square in the face and declare that it cannot win. By God’s grace, I rise. Every day, I rise in boldness and strength. Every day, I choose to walk in faith, hope, and resilience. Every day, I rise above. This is the journey of a believer, a testimony of God’s power to redeem, restore, and empower us—even when hell itself tries to hold us down.