[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 13 (Monday, January 28, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E78]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   IN HONOR OF REV. DR. ROSS OLIVIER

                                 ______
                                 

                   HON. CHARLES W. ``CHIP'' PICKERING

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, January 28, 2008

  Mr. PICKERING. Madam Speaker, as we start this New Year, I would like 
to recognize the service of a special and gifted man who has touched 
the hearts of Mississippi. On July 4, 2004, the congregation of 
Galloway Methodist Church in Jackson, Mississippi was blessed with 
Reverend Ross Olivier as he delivered his first sermon. Sunday, January 
13, 2008, his tenure ended and he preached his last message. Ross will 
travel back home to South Africa to be with his family.
  Ross Olivier came to Mississippi in 2004 through a partnership with 
the Mississippi Conference and the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. 
He entered Methodist ministry in 1980 and at the end of training 
received the Flowerday Memorial Award as the outstanding ordinand in 
the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. He was appointed parish 
minister to the Heidelburg Circuit and was responsible for 24 racially 
and culturally diverse congregations. Throughout this time of ministry 
he touched and healed a broken community during some of the harshest 
years of the Apartheid era of Southern Africa. In 1994, he traveled 
throughout six countries, serving the MCSA with a Journey to a New 
Land, an initiative to refocus the mission of the church in the post-
Apartheid years. Later in 1997, he became senior pastor of Northfield 
Church serving a congregation of 5,000 members. Two years later he was 
elected to serve the MCSA as General Secretary of 4,500 congregations 
and 25 million Methodists in Southern Africa.
  This challenging, yet gratifying career path gave him a respect for 
the differences in culture and the tools along with the expertise he 
needed to reshape the Galloway Methodist Church community in Jackson. 
To Mississippi he brought an open and compassionate heart. He strived 
to form a more inclusive church, one where all are welcomed into the 
house of the Lord. Through partnerships, he taught that the church 
could transcend barriers and that the focus should be on economic and 
social interest, not the color of your skin. He brought transformation, 
healing, and reconciliation to the state of Mississippi by using the 
church as a bridge between diverse communities. Reverend Olivier was 
also very instrumental in bringing about a Faith and Politics Institute 
pilgrimage to Mississippi. This journey will be co hosted by 
Congressman Bennie Thompson and myself in late March of this year. It 
is my hope that Ross will be able to join us then to experience 
firsthand the fruits of his labor.
  Madam Speaker, Reverend Ross Olivier has been an inspiration to 
Mississippi and to me. He taught a love and responsibility for 
community; we each have a role that we must honor and uphold. His 
teachings will be remembered and he will be greatly missed by his 
congregation and all who knew him. As he journeys back to South Africa 
to lead a congregation in Pretoria, the lives he touched in Mississippi 
will remain forever changed and grateful.

                          ____________________