YOUNGSTOWN — A New Testament passage talks about how Jesus Christ got into one of two boats and how, after providing one of his teachings, he heard frustration from those who worked hard only to catch no fish — though the parable is about more than what was netted, a local religious leader said.

“It’s the power of the Word,” the Rev. Vincent E. Peterson II, Third Baptist Church’s new pastor, said.

Peterson read from Luke 5:2-7, in which Christ asks Simon to row the boat away from the shore, then, after speaking to the fishermen, instructs Simon to row into deeper waters, then let the nets down to catch fish. Afterward, so many fish were caught that the nets were torn before the two boats were filled so full that they began to sink.

The passage also is symbolic of the frustrations many who toil, work diligently and keep pushing forward for justice as well as civil and voting rights initially experience when they feel their efforts are for naught, Peterson said in his keynote address during a special remembrance ceremony Tuesday evening at New Bethel Baptist Church, 1507 Hillman St., on the South Side.

Sponsoring the gathering to honor the life, work and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Planning Committee of Greater Youngstown.

The civil rights leader and humanitarian was assassinated 58 years ago to the day Saturday in Memphis, Tennessee, while advocating for that city’s 1,300 sanitation workers who went on strike Feb. 12, 1968, to protest poor working conditions, along with a lack of union recognition, dignity and respect. The work stoppage lasted about two months before being settled April 16, 1968.

“Take your frustration and turn it into something fruitful,” said Peterson, who is to be officially installed at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Third Baptist Church, which had gone about a year without a regular worship leader.

During his time, King “looked at a broken world” of societal wrongs such as Jim Crow laws, segregation in public accommodations and the Vietnam War. Nevertheless, he worked to see love where hate existed, and kept moving forward amid continual death threats, Peterson told the congregants of community leaders, activists, elected officials and others.

“We must keep standing for what’s right,” despite today’s governmental efforts to reverse progress that has been procured while some political leaders work to “drag us back,” added Peterson, who also studied criminal justice at Villanova University, became a parole officer and pastored Providence Baptist Church in Akron.

For many, the biggest challenge often isn’t fighting today’s injustices, but fighting the same struggles from decades ago, Peterson explained. He added that King was not a one-man movement, but someone who needed partners to achieve his goals.

Today’s society demands that people use God’s word, combined with nonviolent action, to stand for what is fair and just and speak against what is wrong, just as King had done, Peterson continued.

“He was a radical extremist of his time,” Michaela Write, a planning committee member, said. “Martin Luther King had enough faith to work for justice without fear of what a man could do to him.”

When he delivered the “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech, the final one of his life, April 3, 1968, at Mason Masonic Temple in Memphis, King knew he might be killed, Write said. She also alluded to when he was stabbed in the chest with a letter opener Sept. 20, 1958, while autographing copies of his first book at Blumstein’s Department Store in Harlem.

During Tuesday’s program, a portion of the “Mountaintop” speech was played, followed by an April 4, 1968, CBS news bulletin in which Dan Rather announced King had been shot to death that evening as he stood on the balcony outside of his room at the Lorraine Motel.

“I was 3 when he was assassinated,” the Rev. Robin R. Woodberry, pastor of Warren-based Christ Episcopal Church, said in her remarks.

Key takeaways from King’s life and example are to not only embrace them, but to practice them via being truthful even when doing so is unpopular, choosing justice over violence and speaking out over being silent, as well as to refraining from normalizing today’s violence and injustices, embracing the sanctity of every life and working toward achieving the concept of the Beloved Community, Woodberry explained.

The Beloved Community is a philosophy and vision King popularized in which society would be based on equality, justice and unconditional love, and where inclusion and international cooperation would replace racism, hunger and poverty.

Also during Tuesday’s gathering, the Rev. Lewis W. Macklin II, Holy Trinity Missionary Baptist Church’s pastor, urged attendees to take advantage of early voting for the May 5 primary election.

He also honored the late Jesse Lee Carter Sr., who, in 1960, became the city’s first black firefighter. Carter died March 28 at age 96.

Musical selections included “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” “Free at Last” and “Kum Ba Yah” (Come by Here).