[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 40 (Tuesday, March 11, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E347]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         PASTOR JAMES FAVORITE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. KATHY CASTOR

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 11, 2014

  Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor an 
inspirational leader in the Tampa Bay community, Pastor James Favorite. 
I am pleased to recognize his remarkable career and years of 
distinguished public service. Pastor Favorite was born in Vacherie, 
Louisiana. He obtained a Bachelor's and Master's of Science Degree in 
Health, Physical Education, and Social Studies from Southern University 
in Baton Rouge. Pastor Favorite also holds a Doctor of Ministry Degree 
and an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from the Maryland Theological 
Seminary College.
   Throughout his career, Pastor Favorite has been a prominent 
spiritual leader in the Tampa Bay community. He became an ordained 
minister in 1985 at Morning Star Baptist Church in Catonsville, 
Maryland. He then moved to Tampa where he has been a guiding force in 
interfaith dialogue. He is President of Pastors on Patrol, a group of 
ministers in the Tampa Bay area committed to bring revival to the city. 
He is the Chairman of both the National Black Leadership Commission on 
AIDS Tampa Affiliate and the Board of Directors of the National Black 
Leadership Commission on AIDS. He is the former President of the 
Progressive National Baptist Convention's Southern Region and also 
served as National Chair of the Progressive National Baptist 
Convention's HIV/AIDS Initiative.
   Pastor Favorite has been a dedicated community volunteer across 
Tampa Bay. He is a member of the Children's Board committee looking 
into strategies to increase state and local funding support to vital 
children and family support programs. He serves as a member of the 
Hillsborough County Chamber of Commerce Urban Enterprise Initiative 
Committee for East Tampa. He previously chaired the African-American 
Family Support Initiative program that studies and develops ways to 
strengthen families in the African American community.
   Since 1995, Pastor Favorite has led Beulah Baptist Institutional 
Church where he is now celebrating 19 years of dedicated service. Under 
Pastor Favorite's extraordinary leadership Beulah has received 
substantial growth in membership and revenue. It has become deeply 
integrated in the life of the Tampa Bay community. Under his 
leadership, Hillsborough County funded Beulah as one of only two 
satellite library sites in the county. He spearheaded an Outreach 
Ministry to Jamaica with a team of doctors and nurses which delivered 
more than $100,000 in medical supplies and equipment to more than 5,000 
individuals in ten years. He has developed renowned programs ranging 
from teaching young parents to develop parenting skills to programs on 
repairing credit and making sound financial investments. He has also 
ensured that the Beulah summer program for children has received over 
$2 million dollars in funding from the Children's Board for the past 
five years.
   Pastor Favorite's tireless, selfless service has helped to create a 
better and spiritually strengthened Tampa Bay community. Mr. Speaker, I 
join Beulah in congratulating Pastor Favorite for 19 years of 
outstanding service as a pastor, mentor, and tremendous community 
leader.

                          ____________________