[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 78 (Monday, June 20, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                           HONORING SAM HINES

  Mr. DURENBERGER. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a 
truly outstanding member of the Washington, DC, community. This week, 
Dr. Samuel G. Hines will celebrate his 25th anniversary as pastor of 
the Third Street Church of God in northwest Washington.
  Members of his church community consider themselves ambassadors for 
Christ in the Nation's Capital. And this phrase summarizes very well 
not just Reverend Hines's pastorate at the Third Street Church, but his 
whole life as a man of the cloth.
  For almost 50 years, Reverend Hines has been an ambassador for the 
Gospel in some of the situations where it is most needed. In ravaged 
neighborhoods of Washington, DC, where drugs and gang warfare threaten 
the lives of the young--and where ethnic hatreds poison the lives of 
all who are near--Sam Hines has brought the sought-after words of 
peace.
  In a historic Easter sermon in 1987, Hines challenged an interracial 
congregation of Asian-Americans and African-Americans to find their 
unity in Jesus Christ.
  His sermon was delivered at a time of great tension between the two 
ethnic groups here in Washington. Hines said that Christ is ``the Great 
Reconciler,'' because his mission of forgiveness to all  people  
everywhere  has  ``overridden . . . (his) nationality and 
race.''
  To Sam Hines, and to all of us who are believing Christians, the word 
of God ``means changing enemies into friends, changing aliens and 
strangers into citizens--changing enemies into brothers and sisters.''
  This is the spirit that Sam Hines has brought to his ministry. He is 
a bridge builder, and this is what has made his efforts so effective 
and so important in the Nation's Capital.
  He is a key force behind the Alliance to Save America's Future, or 
``SAFe''--a group that reaches out to inner-city young people who are 
at risk of involvement in illegal drugs. Under the aegis of SAFe, many 
different approaches have already been tried--among them the Pied 
Pipers Program, using exconvicts to scare young people straight; Youth 
Rescue Centers, which are sanctuaries for threatened young people; and 
the Nehemiah project, an inner-city family counseling program.
  Rev. Sam Hines is an effective public figure because he has the power 
of faith. In 1990, when Washington faced a flood of murders, he 
addressed some words of consolation and challenged to D.C. residents.
  On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Sam Hines said: ``We are here 
to proclaim that the forces of evil are defeated.''
  Sam Hines realizes that there's more to doing good than ceaseless 
projects and unstinting activity. His message is that the war of good 
against evil has already been won by the sacrifice of Jesus--and that 
it's up to us to actualize that victory by reading into the community, 
by our lives, the message that is written into our hearts by God.
  I join Reverend Hines' many friends and admirers in congratulating 
him on his important anniversary. May there be many more--we need his 
leadership.
  (At the request of Mr. Byrd, the following statement was ordered to 
be printed in the Record.)

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