The Rev. Bernice King confirmed Tuesday on a radio show that she is leaving New Birth Missionary Baptist Church to start her own ministry.
She told Praise 102.5 gospel show host Rhodell Lewis that she was leaving after nearly nine years as a member. Her last Sunday was this past weekend.
The youngest daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said she spoke with Bishop Eddie Long, pastor of the Lithonia megachurch, in April and said she would be leaving and gave a timetable of May 29. She said she told him she had to pursue the calling God had for her life and received his blessing.
"When I came to New Birth, I came for a season," said King, 48, who was an elder at the church.
That season, however, was extended. Over the lpast few years, she had to deal with losing her mother, Coretta Scott King, and sister Yolanda, and being embroiled in a dispute with her brother Dexter. Additionally, King earlier this year nixed becoming president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the civil rights organization her father helped found.
King's announcement that she was leaving New Birth comes less than a week after four sexual misconduct lawsuits were dismissed against Long and New Birth.
There was no mention of King's departure at the 8 a.m. Sunday service. When asked about why now, King said the timing God gave her was the end of May. She also praised Long.
King said the Holy Spirit spoke to her several years ago about her next assignment and she has been praying and meditating about the future. She emphasized that she was starting a ministry not a church.
The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, a civil rights leader and longtime King family friend, said King talked about leaving New Birth more than a year ago. He said he was not privy to the reason she decided to leave or the timing. "That's all I know," he said. "She just had other plans."
Still, the move was viewed by some as a blow to Long's ministry coming so soon after the scandal. In the lawsuits against Long and New Birth, four men alleged that Long coerced them into sex.
"It means a lot," said Anthea Butler, an associate professor of religion at the University of Pennsylvania. "I think she knows that's she's hurt if she continues to stay with him."
The Rev. Raphael G. Warnock, senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, said it will be interesting to watch King combine "her credentials as a minister and lawyer, along with her own unique upbringing as the child of Martin and Coretta Scott King, to do meaningful work."
King received her bachelor's degree from Spelman College and her master's degrees in divinity and law from Emory University.
"I imagine this is, for her, a time of spiritual renewal and serious reflection about her next steps,." said Warnock, who has known her for several years.
Long, in a statement emailed to The Associated Press, said he and King have been "in discussion and prayer" for some time about her decision to leave the church to continue the legacy of her parents.
"I am in full support of her decision to leave New Birth in pursuit of this worthy endeavor," the statement reads.
Long said a farewell tribute for King is planned, but a date has not been set.
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