[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 44 (Thursday, April 1, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S3565]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   IN MEMORY OF REVEREND JIMMY WATERS

 Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, for most of his 83 years, the 
Reverend Jimmy Waters made a significant impact on the lives of many 
Georgians. The former pastor of Macon's Mabel White Memorial Baptist 
Church and Tattnall Square Baptist Church has spent, as he said, a 
great deal of time battling fires. For more than 55 years, he was 
chaplain of the Macon-Bibb County Fire Department assisting the men who 
fought physical fires. For nearly 60 years, he was also an ordained 
minister, fighting, as he said, the hell fire that threatens men's 
souls.
  In addition to presiding over the growth of Mabel White from 800 
members to over 3,900, he served as chaplain to the Macon Police 
Department, the Bibb County Sheriff's Office, the Georgia State Patrol, 
and the Georgia bureau of Investigation. He was also named lifetime 
chaplain of the Georgia Peace Officers Association, which awarded the 
first Jimmy Waters Scholarship in his honor to a University of Georgia 
criminal justice student.
  Reverend Waters was a graduate of Mercer University, where he entered 
the ministry while he was still a freshman and earned both his 
bachelor's and doctorate degrees. As a loving father and husband, he 
raised three daughters with his wife, the former Annette Burton of 
Crawfordville. His family often sang with him as he conducted religious 
services in churches located as far away as Israel and Italy.
  Reverend Waters was not the type of Christian who kept his lamp under 
a bushel. He and his siblings sang gospel music on Atlanta's WSB radio 
station in the 1930s. In addition to his duties as pastor, he initiated 
televised services from Mabel White, and later began broadcasts of 
``The Victory Hour.'' After he retired from Mabel White in 1977, he 
devoted his efforts to Jimmy Waters Ministries, which spread the Gospel 
through radio, television, and evangelism. As religious director for 
WMAZ radio and television in Macon, he recorded over 25,000 broadcasts 
at home and abroad until he stopped in 2003. He also served as co-host 
for many fundraising telethons for Macon's WMAZ-TV in support of the 
Muscular Dystrophy Association, the Children's Miracle Network and 
Cerebral Palsy.
  Dr. Waters was often recognized for his work, serving as President of 
the Georgia Baptist Convention from 1974-1976 and as Chairman of the 
Southern Baptist Convention's Radio and Television Commission from 
1977-1978. In all of the many positions he accepted, he brought energy 
and integrity to the job.
  That inner fire that he brought to his work is the reason why so many 
of us will miss Reverend Jimmy Waters. He was a great American and my 
good friend.

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