Senior pastor of Big Bethel AME Church hopes rally with Atlanta mayors will empower others to protect civil rights gains

Dr. Jonathan C. Augustine, Senior Pastor of Big Bethel AME Church stands with Helen Butler, executive director of the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples' Agenda, while leading a prayer during a rally honoring the legacy of the late Civil Rights Icon and Congressman John Lewis

Senior Pastor Jay Augustine of Big Bethel AME Church leads a prayer during a rally honoring the legacy of the late Congressman John Lewis on Thursday, July 17, 2025. Augustine joined WABE’s “Morning Edition” ahead of a rally at the church with Atlanta mayors, which he hopes will encourage more people to organize. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

Mayor Andre Dickens and all of Atlanta’s living former mayors, including former Mayor and United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young, are rallying Thursday morning at Big Bethel AME Church, one of Atlanta’s oldest Black congregations.

Pastor Jay Augustine recently took over as the church’s senior pastor. He told WABE’s “Morning Edition” that the rally is a call for people in Atlanta to come together and protect the equity and progress city leaders worked to achieve during the Civil Rights Movement.

“We have seen cities, like Memphis, cities like Portland, and cities like Washington, DC, that have had to be reactive to an autocratic leader in Washington,” he said. “This rally is an attempt, I believe, to be proactive to help organize the city, to help organize those who are interested in protecting the hard-fought gains, the hard-fought-for gains I should say, that were achieved through the Civil Rights Movement, through many of Atlanta’s leaders.”