When Barack Obama is sworn in for his second term as president, he’ll use two Bibles – one of them a restored holy book that once belonged to Martin Luther King, Jr. That holy book was painstakingly restored by a small but renowned shop owner in Acworth.

Gordon Ponsford is a quiet man whose life work is bringing great things back from the brink of ruin.

Among his projects, the original document containing John Kennedy’s inaugural speech as well as the dilapidated Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

Now, Ponsford has completed reviving a seemingly unremarkable Bible. But its significance cannot be understated, for it is the Bible that Martin Luther King had with him the day he died.

“It’s a black leather Bible… King James. I think the time period on that one was around 1950,” Ponsford said.

The King Bible will be one of two that President Barack Obama uses in taking the oath of office. The other once belonged to Abraham Lincoln.

As for the King Bible, Ponsford said he can’t help but marvel at the pages of history placed in his care. 

“I’m just trying to search my brain right now for the words to describe how we feel working on such an American treasure.

It is a treasure that, during the second inauguration of the first African American to hold the White House, will once again play a part in American history.