[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 23, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E56]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              A VISION OF EMPOWERMENT IN A TROUBLED WORLD

                                 ______


                        HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 23, 1996

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, January 27, 1996, the Quinn 
Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Atlantic Highlands, NJ, 
will hold its 17th annual women's day luncheon. This year's guest 
speaker is the Reverend Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, the pastor of Grace 
Baptist Church in Mt. Vernon, NY, and a religious leader of national 
and international renown.
  Dr. Richardson, a man with a vision of empowerment for African-
American people, will no doubt provide an inspiring message. As pastor 
of Grace Baptist Church, a post he assumed in 1975, and through 
numerous other clerical, civic and community organizations, Dr. 
Richardson has sought to provide spiritual sustenance reaching far 
beyond the walls of the church. A native of Philadelphia, Dr. 
Richardson was ordained at the age of 19, becoming pastor of the 
historic Rising Mount Zion Baptist Church in Richmond, VA. In addition 
to leading the congregation of more than 500 parishioners, Dr. 
Richardson also established outreach services to the surrounding 
economically and socially depressed community. In his current 
pastorate, Dr. Richardson is responsible for pastoral and 
administrative duties of more than 3,000 parishioners, with a 
multiministerial staff. Under his leadership, a $4.2 million 
restoration and expansion of the church facilities has taken place, 
membership of the church has more than tripled and community outreach 
programs have increased.
  Since 1982, Dr. Richardson has served as the general secretary of the 
National Baptist Convention USA. The National Convention consists of 
more than 30,000 churches and 8 million Baptist members across the 
country. He is a member of the General Council of the Baptist World 
Alliance and the governing board of the National Council of Churches, 
representing more than 400 million Christians from 150 countries. Dr. 
Richardson has traveled and preached on six continents, and has served 
as a member of the 1980 Preaching Team of the Foreign Mission Board of 
countries on the continent of Africa. In 1990, Ebony magazine listed 
him on its Honor Roll of Great Preachers.
  Dr. Richardson is featured each Sunday at 7 a.m. on the Grace Radio 
Ministry, heard throughout New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. He 
serves as adjunct faculty member to the Certification Program in 
Christian Ministry at the New York Theological Seminary. He is the 
author of ``The Power of The Pew,'' and edited and wrote the 
introduction to ``Journey Through a Jungle'' by the late Dr. Sandy F. 
Ray. He was a contributing author to ``The State of Black America'' on 
church and economic empowerment. A graduate of Virginia Union 
University and Yale University School of Divinity, Dr. Richardson has 
received honorary degrees from seven colleges and universities 
throughout the United States. He serves on numerous boards and 
commissions. Dr. Richardson is married to the former Inez Nunally, and 
they have two children.
  Mr. Speaker, Quinn Chapel started out as Paul Quinn A.M.E. Zion 
Church at Riceville in Navesink, NJ. In the winter of 1850, Julia 
Stillwell and her children had experienced religion at the white M.E. 
Church in Riceville but wanted to belong to an African-American church. 
The early services were held at the home of Julia Stillwell. The 
Reverend Moses M. Hall was sent as the pastor. In the spring of 1851, 
fundraising began to purchase land on which to build a church edifice, 
and the cornerstone for the Paul Quinn Chapel of Riceville was laid on 
November 26, 1852. Eli Hall was the first pastor. The cornerstone for 
the present chapel was laid in the spring of 1894. In later years, a 
parsonage and educational wing were built.
  Quinn Chapel's current pastor, the Reverend Alyson Browne Johnson 
comes from a long line of preachers--both male and female--in her 
family. The family's lineage goes back to Rev. Browne Johnson's great-
great-grandmother, Evangelist Mattie Stewart. A graduate of Bloomfield 
College and Drew University Theological School, she was ordained a 
deacon in 1975 and an elder in 1977 in the New York Conference of the 
African Methodist Episcopal Church. Rev. Browne Johnson has served in 
many community and religious capacities and has received numerous 
awards. She serves as general secretary of African Methodist Episcopal 
Women in Ministry and is editor of its newsletter, ``Bricks Without 
Straw.'' She is a charter member of the South African Leadership 
Development Program. Her ministerial career has been distinguished by 
numerous firsts, including the first woman to pastor each of the 
charges she has been assigned. Rev. Browne Johnson is the proud mother 
of two children.
  Mr. Speaker, it is an honor and a pleasure to pay tribute to Quinn 
Chapel AME Church, its great leader the Reverend Alyson Browne Johnson 
and their distinguished guest, the Reverend Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson.

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