[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 27, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E48]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   THE REVEREND DR. RALPH SEXTON, SR.

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES H. TAYLOR

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 27, 2004

  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to rise and 
commend one of Western North Carolina's and Buncombe County's finest 
citizens, the late Dr. Ralph Sexton, Sr. With the death of the Rev. 
Sexton Sr., Asheville lost one of the most energetic and effective 
members of its religious community. Sexton, who founded Trinity Baptist 
Church, died from a brain tumor. He was 84.
  Sexton began preaching when he was just a teenager after being drawn 
into a tent revival where he gave his heart to God. He was on his way 
to see a movie when he physically felt something pull on his coat. ``He 
said it really frightened him,'' said Jerry Payne, who served as 
Sexton's assistant pastor for 42 years. Sexton left the movie and ended 
up at the tent revival.
  Not long afterwards, he began preaching. And what a preacher he was. 
In the early years, he preached in tents and front yards, in empty lots 
and driving down the street in a car outfitted with a loudspeaker. He 
even found himself in jail a few times when police arrested him for 
disturbing the peace. ``He was from that old mountain cut,'' Payne 
said. ``He preached in simple layman's terms.''
  ``He was just a powerful preacher,'' according to his longtime 
friend, J. Wendell Runion, president and director of International 
Baptist Outreach Missions based in Asheville. Audiences were 
``spellbound'' by him, Runion said.
  In time, Sexton found a more potent way to deliver his message about 
Christ. His Sunday morning television program ``Send the Light'' first 
went on the air in 1960. He also preached on radio and at tent 
revivals. Then in 1966, Sexton founded Trinity Baptist Church. He built 
an auditorium for 500 people even though he had a congregation of about 
only 125. Trinity has since grown into one of Asheville's largest 
churches, with programs that support missionaries around the world and 
provide assistance to the victims of poverty, natural disasters and 
famine. Trinity's programs today include a Spanish Church, Trinity 
Baptist Bible College and Hearts with Hands, a nondenominational 
nonprofit humanitarian relief organization. Sexton served as the 
church's pastor until 1988, when his son, Dr. Ralph Sexton Jr., who had 
served for 13 years as youth pastor and evangelist, became pastor. The 
senior Sexton remained pastor emeritus and stayed involved despite 
health problems.
  Sexton, who was always true to his calling, will be remembered as ``a 
very straightforward, unashamed preacher of the Gospel,'' according to 
Asheville Citizen-Times columnist Bob Terrell, who wrote a book about 
him. ``He was a giant among the nation's old-time religionists,'' 
Terrell said. ``He helped change literally thousands of lives.''
  Sexton was a man of God and of the mountains who will be missed by 
many. His family and others who loved him can take comfort in knowing 
that he left a legacy through which lives will continue to be changed 
and enriched.

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