[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 61 (Tuesday, April 9, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E431]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                WELCOMING PASTOR MACKEY TO PILGRIM REST

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RUBEN GALLEGO

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, April 9, 2019

  Mr. GALLEGO. Madam Speaker, I rise today alongside the Phoenix 
community to usher in a new chapter of spiritual leadership with the 
installation of Pastor Terry E. Mackey to Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church 
in Phoenix, Arizona.
   I stood on this floor last year to honor the life of Bishop Alexis 
Thomas, who served for eighteen years as the Senior Pastor of Pilgrim 
Rest until his passing in January 2018. I worked alongside Bishop 
Thomas as a part of My Brother's Keeper, and I witnessed firsthand 
Pilgrim Rest's boundless growth under his guidance.
   The greatest testament to that leadership is its longevity. Phoenix 
still feels Bishop Thomas's reach through the ``Word Center'' 
educational facility he constructed, and other efforts he oversaw: free 
light rail tickets for the homeless, food packages for low income 
elders, and free GED courses. I congratulate Pilgrim Rest on upholding 
the momentum of Bishop Thomas's contributions in his absence this past 
year.
   Today, I have the opportunity to acknowledge the new life Pilgrim 
Rest will breathe into the Phoenix community in the coming years as we 
welcome Reverend Terry Eugene Mackey as the church's 11th pastor.
   In Houston, Pastor Mackey served as the Minister to Youth and Young 
Adults at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, one of the nation's largest 
predominantly African American churches. He then served as the Pastor 
of Riceville Mount Olive Baptist Church, where he tripled attendance 
and renewed the community's investment in religious life.
   Pastor Mackey has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to community 
service and leadership, and his ambitions for Pilgrim Rest's future 
role in the lives of Phoenix residents are promising. He will continue 
to expand the church's presence by ``striving for higher heights'' in 
worship and membership, and ``deeper depths'' in discipleship and 
relationships with God and the community.
   Madam Speaker, I believe the greatest reverence we can show our 
previous leaders--the teachers who built the foundations upon which we 
carry out our good work--is to build higher, in the spirit of the work 
that came before, and with an eye towards what the future needs of us. 
Pastor Mackey is a leader of just such foresight, and the people of 
Phoenix will be made a more diligent, faithful, and cohesive community 
because of his place at Pilgrim Rest.

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