[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 135 (Thursday, October 7, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2061]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HONORING BISHOP VERNON RANDOLPH BYRD, 105TH BISHOP OF THE AFRICAN 
                       METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. KAREN McCARTHY

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 7, 1999

  Ms. McCARTHY of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the newly 
elected and consecrated Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) 
Church, the Right Reverend Vernon Randolph Byrd. He joins Rev. Dr. W. 
Bartalette Finney, Sr., Presiding Elder, Rev. Ralph J. Crabbe, and 
leaders in our community who contribute to the spiritual needs of our 
greater metropolitan area.
  Bishop Byrd's spiritual education began at the age of twelve when he 
received his call to preach. By the time he was a teenager, he was 
ordained to preach by the late Bishop Frank Madison Reed, Sr. Bishop 
Byrd was a success In school and graduated from the public schools of 
South Carolina, and earned degrees at Allen University, and Boston 
University.
  Prior to his tenure at the Northwest Missouri Conference Fifth 
District AME Church in Kansas City, Bishop Byrd served as a Pastor and 
Presiding Elder at several churches. His ministry served congregations 
including the Macedonia AME Church in Delware, the St. Paul AME Church 
in Bermuda, the Newark District-New Jersey Conference, the Macedonia 
AME Church in New Jersey, the Morris Brown AME Church in Pennsylvania, 
and the St. James AME Church in New Jersey.
  In 1984, Bishop Byrd was elevated to the episcopacy at the seat of 
the Forty-Second Quadrennial Session of the General Conference. A 
recipient of numerous awards, he has been honored with the Trumiunz 
Award for outstanding work with retarded children in Delaware. He was 
recognized as an Honorary Member of the British Empire Medal by Her 
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who bestowed the award to him for helping 
bring order to the Bermuda Isles during a period of civil unrest in 
1964. Byrd was also named the 1966 Outstanding Young Man of the Year by 
the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce and given an Honorary Doctorate Degree 
from the Payne Theological Seminary in 1994.
  Always involved with his community, he is an active member of civil 
and fraternal organizations, the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, the Royal 
Masonic Lodge of Scotland, and the NAACP. Bishop Byrd is married to 
retired school teacher, Theora Lindsey Byrd who serves the Church as 
the Women's Missionary Society Supervisor where they teach to others 
that ``Unless Souls Are Saved * * * Nothing Is Saved!'' They are the 
parents of two daughters and two sons and grandparents to six 
grandchildren.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to acknowledge and congratulate Bishop Vernon 
Randolph Byrd as the 105th Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal 
Church.

                          ____________________