[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 91 (Thursday, June 19, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1305]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            IN RECOGNITION OF THE REVEREND WILLIAM A. LAWSON

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. CHRIS BELL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 19, 2003

  Mr. BELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Reverend William Alexander 
Lawson on the occasion of his 75th birthday and 57th year of pastoral 
service.
  Rev. William A. Lawson is the founding pastor of Wheeler Avenue 
Baptist Church located in Houston, TX. Established in March 1962 with 
13 members, the congregation has grown in excess of 2,500 members. The 
initial emphasis of the church focused on meeting the spiritual needs 
of Baptists in the transitional community near Texas Southern 
University.
  Rev. Lawson is known and admired as an outstanding preacher and 
teacher. He is a national and international speaker and educator. Since 
1965, he has traveled internationally as a missions and evangelical 
speaker. He has spoken in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the Far 
East. He was invited by the government of Israel to tour the nation 
with the American press to help provide a more positive image of the 
aspirations of Israel.
  Early in his career, Rev. Lawson served as director of the Baptist 
Student Union and professor of bible at Texas Southern University in 
Houston. He helped form the first Afro-American studies program at the 
University of Houston, and taught classes at the University of Houston 
in sociology and the black church.
  Rev. Lawson is a community and social action leader. He founded and 
organized the United Way's Houston Homeless Initiative in response to 
the growing number of homeless and jobless persons. Under his 
leadership, more than $4 million was raised to address homelessness. He 
assembled a coalition of African-American political, civic and social 
organizations to negotiate with city, county, and school governments. 
The coalition is now comprised of more than sixty organizations.
  In 1986 he received a Doctor of Divinity from Howard Payne 
University, in Brownwood, Texas. He graduated cum laude from Central 
Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Kansas where he received a 
Master of Arts in Theology and a Bachelor of Arts in Divinity. He 
majored in New Testament Interpretation and was appointed Teaching 
Fellow in Homiletics. He did his undergraduate work at Tennessee A&I 
State University in Nashville, Tennessee where he received a bachelor's 
degree. He graduated cum laude with a major in sociology.
  Rev. Lawson is married to Audrey H. Lawson. They have four children 
and three grandchildren.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Rev. Lawson on his 75th 
birthday and his 57 years of exceptional service and pastoral 
leadership.

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