The Brown Chapel AME Church is welcoming a special guest Sunday, as Judge Pamela Robinson Higgins will serve as guest speaker during the morning service.

Higgins is making her way to Selma from Montgomery to preach to the congregation Sunday, Dec. 28 at 10:45 a.m.

“We are enormously happy of her being able to come and speak,” said Leodis Strong, the pastor at Brown Chapel AME Church. “She’s not only speaking … she’s preaching.”

Higgins is an ordained deacon and is a member of St. Paul AME Church in Montgomery. She serves as a district judge of the 15th judicial circuit in Montgomery. She is a graduate of St. Jude Educational Institute and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Alabama, a Juris Doctorate Degree from Walter F. George School of Law, Mercer University.

“Her commitment to the dispensation on justice is paralleled by her commitment to God and to speaking on his behalf,” Strong said. “We’re very happy that a person of her stature carries that type of commitment to God and is willing and able to come and speak for us.”

Strong thinks she will have a positive influence on the members.

“Hopefully, there are persons who will look at her and see and be inspired and be motivated by that type of duel parallelism in her life in terms of commitment to God as well as her commitment to education, to doing what is right and has been highly effective at it too,” Strong said.

“In the context of the worship service, and on youth Sunday, it means that she is a shining role model who has been able to navigate through challenges in so many areas.”

With the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery march coming up, Strong said Higgins is a good example of the good that came out of the march.

“I think what is does within the overall framework as we look forward to bloody Sunday, … her success was made possible by everything that came out of that,” Strong said.

“She’s an excellent individual, and excellent example of what has been achieved and yet a reminder of what remains to be done.”

The public is invited to attend the service Sunday.