The message on Monday morning was clear — compassion is how to continue the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Pastors and clergy members took the time to preach the message of Dr. King during the Annual Suffolk City-Wide Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration at Metropolitan Baptist Church.

The Rev. Dr. Reginald Woodhouse, pastor of First Baptist Jefferson Park of Newport News, compared King to the Bible’s Good Samaritan, because he did his work out of true compassion.

“The Lord uses ordinary people to get his work done,” Woodhouse said. “In America, we don’t see much compassion. I believe it was the same way in Jesus’ day, as He told the story of the Good Samaritan. A Good Samaritan is moved by genuine compassion. King is someone with a servant spirit that affirmed others.”

To celebrate King would be to be moved with compassion and not be motivated by class, race or religion.

“Dr. King went after freedom like a man moved by compassion,” Woodhouse said. “He had a dream for something that was better. He was moved by compassion.”

While the crowd took time to remember and memorialize King’s life and legacy, they also honored students and those in the community that are living the values of the late Civil Rights activist.

Superintendent Felton Whitfield, pastor of New Jerusalem COGIC, was awarded the Suffolk City Service Award.

Whitfield was presented with the honor for his work on various commissions and boards in his lifetime.

“This is a man after God’s own heart,” Tabernacle Christian Church pastor, Bishop Carlton Upton, said of Whitfield. “He has been and still is a champion for the community. He has brought the good news of salvation to the disenfranchised. He has a heart of compassion for everyone.”

Whitfield was honored by the award, but he was quick to place his accomplishments on his love for God.

“I have served in many capacities to keep his dream alive,” Whitfield said. “We forget one of the best things about Martin Luther King Jr. We fail to realize he was a great servant.”

Being a servant to the Lord is exactly what Whitfield has been trying to accomplish throughout his service to his family and his community.

Other awards presented were the I Have a Dream Award and the MLK Essay Awards.

Deborah’s Women in Ministry, a group of female clergy, was presented the I Have a Dream Award. This award is presented to those that display King’s values and work to uplift their community and make a positive difference.

“We are truly honored, and to the people of God, the pastors, family and friends, we say thank you,” said Dr. Madelene Beard, president and founder of Deborah’s Women in Ministry. “We are humble and grateful for this award.”

Three students from local schools were presented with awards and monetary scholarships varying in amounts for writing essays about King.

Their prompt was the Martin Luther King Jr. quote, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Audre Davis, a senior at King’s Fork High School, Taylor Lassiter, a sophomore at King’s Fork High School, and Treyvaion Clark, a seventh-grade student at King’s Fork Middle School, won first, second and third place, respectively.

Audre, the first-place winner, had the opportunity to read her essay to the crowd. She wrote in her essay that Colin Kaepernick was living the legacy of King through his activism and support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Throughout the service, The Voices of Norfolk performed gospel music between awards.