Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson on Sunday told a congregation at First Baptist Church of Crown Heights to honor Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by continuing his fight.

"Continue to struggle for equal rights, for racial and economic justice, for political empowerment, for social justice," Thompson said. "Take a semblance of his courage and speak the truth and demand a fairer criminal justice system."

The Reverend at First Baptist praised Thompson for being the first black District Attorney in Kings County.

"There were some brothers who were locked up who should not have been locked up," Pastor Daryl Bloodsaw said. "And District Attorney Thompson...unlocked the doors to let some folk free who should have never been locked up in the first place." 

Thompson was joined by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries who delivered "the message" to the congregants. He told them that King took a leap of faith when he accepted his job as a pastor in Alabama.

"Had he not been the pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, he would have never been in Montgomery, Alabama. Had he never been in Montgomery, Alabama he never would have been there when Rosa Parks decided to sit down so the rest of us could stand up," he said.

And, like Thompson, Jeffries encouraged churchgoers to continue the effort by taking leaps of faith to, among other things, realize King's vision of civil rights.

Also in Brooklyn, the Concord Baptist Church of Christ used the holiday to support four community groups.

Lisa Bing, chair of the church's trust fund, said the Concord Baptist has been giving out grants on the weekend of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's birthday since 1988, when the congregation raised $1 million to support local efforts.

"Minority community development corporations and non-profits didn't have access to mainstream funding," Bing said. "And so this was a way for us to provide for our community and support our community."

This year, the congregation voted to give four groups $10,000 each. They are: Black Women's Blueprint Inc., the Brooklyn Community Jail Fund, Exalt and Redemption Inc.

"The programs that we're supporting are helping to develop and raise-up young people, social justice and support social justice causes," Bing said. "That's what Martin Luther King's legacy is certainly a big part of."