(RNS) — In 2018, something happened at the MLK50 Conference in Memphis, an event co-hosted by the Southern Baptist Convention’s policy arm and The Gospel Coalition. It was the first time to my knowledge that white evangelicals had celebrated in concert the life, memory and work of the Rev. Martin L. King Jr. On the eve of the 50th anniversary of his assassination, it was as if they had come to reckon with the ghosts of their past and the theological underpinnings that ignored his ministry. I left that conference feeling hopeful. The young people I met that week shocked me with the warmth and enthusiasm with which they embraced the subject matter.