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The annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Prayer Breakfast returns to Stanly for its 19th year.

It will begin 8 a.m. Jan. 18 at the E.E. Waddell Community Center in Albemarle.

The theme for this year’s breakfast, which is sponsored by the Stanly County Chapter of the NAACP, is “Freedom…Fairness & Equality.”

The guest speaker will be the Rev. Darryl W. Medley, a Badin native who is senior pastor of Spirit & Truth United Church of Workshop in Albemarle. He’s also overseer at Vision Hope and Peace United Church of Worship in Lenoir.

Medley first received the call to go become a preacher in 1994. He studied and completed an apprenticeship program under Pastor Brad Spencer of His Image Ministries in Hickory. While at the church, Medley taught at Healing Springs Bible School. He is a graduate of More Than Conquerors College in Biblical Studies.

Medley previously served as assistant pastor at Vision Hope and Peace United Church of Worship in Lenoir. He also co-founded Spirit and Truth United Church of Worship in Albemarle in January 2001.

He has ministered in Kenya on six occasions and recently ministered in Israel.

Medley and his wife Rhodda have been married for 31 years and have three children and five grandchildren. He currently lives in Lenoir.

Tickets are $15 per person, with table reservations available $120 for eight tickets. Contact any member of the local NAACP or can be purchased at the Waddell Center Main Office weekdays.