Marysville pastor sings upbeat message
Published 11:12 pm Thursday, March 6, 2008
MARYSVILLE — The black pastor who awoke four years ago this month to find a burning cross in the front yard of his Arlington home has released an album of Christian worship songs.
“It’s songs I’ve written and recorded, and songs we do here in our services,” said Jason Martin, pastor of Jesus is Lord Life Tabernacle in Marysville. “It’s very passionate and very exciting. It’s not boring.”
The album, “In Your Hands,” is available online, including through Apple iTunes, Martin said.
The widespread distribution of his music, which keeps services at his church upbeat, is just one of many changes Martin has experienced since the 2004 incident.
The burning cross led to a communitywide questioning of where Snohomish County stands in terms of diversity and racial acceptance.
Martin believes parts of the county have far to go.
“I wish the city of Arlington was more proactive in addressing racism because it’s still a problem in this area,” he said. “Marysville schools have reached out to me almost every year to speak about racism, but I don’t feel Arlington has really addressed the issue.”
The city convened several diversity workshops in the months following the cross burning. Martin said such efforts should continue because he still sees racist graffiti and hears racial slurs.
On Wednesday, Martin will speak on KGNW, the Seattle area’s AM Christian talk radio station, about the incident and about racism in the region. The week of March 24, the four-year anniversary of the cross burning, Jesus is Lord Life Tabernacle will be honored by the station as Church of the Week.
Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.
