[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 58 (Thursday, March 30, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E282]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              RECOGNIZING REVEREND DR. EMMETT SCOTT ANITON

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR.

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 30, 2023

  Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an 
outstanding mentor, dedicated servant leader, Vietnam War Veteran, 
faithful servant of God, and dear friend of longstanding, Reverend Dr. 
Emmett Scott Aniton, Jr. for over four decades of service to his 
congregation at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church. A celebration of 
his 44th Anniversary at the Church will be held on April 2, 2023 in 
Columbus, Georgia.
  Rev. Emmett Scott Aniton, Jr. was born on March 8, 1940, in Oneonta, 
Alabama to the union of Mr. Emmett Scott Aniton, Sr. and Mrs. Estella 
Aniton Woods. He graduated from Southside High School in Etowah County, 
Alabama and earned his Bachelor of Theology from Selma University in 
1964. Shortly thereafter, Rev. Aniton answered his nation's call to 
service and entered the United States Army, completing a tour of duty 
in Qui Nho'n Vietnam. He then returned home to Alabama where he 
matriculated at Alabama A&M University, earning a Bachelor of Arts 
degree in Sociology.
  After his service in Vietnam and earning his second college degree, 
Rev. Aniton first answered God's call to preach the Gospel by becoming 
the Pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Alabama. There, he 
ministered to the needs of his congregation, christening infants, 
baptizing believers, performing marriages, and consoling bereaved 
families, all while developing and honing his skills as a church 
administrator and inspiring preacher.
  In November of 1978, Rev. Aniton accepted the call to become the 
pastor of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, and he followed the 
Holy Spirit to Columbus, Georgia. His pastoral duties began in April of 
1979 and he has faithfully and dutifully served for over four decades. 
Under Rev. Aniton's dynamic and spirit-filled leadership, Friendship 
Missionary Baptist Church has experienced tremendous growth--
spiritually, numerically, and in its building facilities.
  Rev. Aniton's outstanding servant leadership did not stop at 
Friendship Missionary Baptist Church; his impact has been felt 
throughout the greater Columbus community and beyond. He has served on 
the boards of the Pastoral Institute, the Liberty Theatre, the Metro 
Columbus Urban League, and the Fourth Street Towers. He has served as 
the President of the Mount Calvary Congress of Christian Education and 
the Muscogee County Clergy Association; instructor for the General 
Missionary Baptist Convention, Georgia Congress of Christian Education, 
and the American Baptist Theological Seminary.
  Sir Winston Churchill once said, ``You make a living by what you get, 
but you make a life by what you give.'' Rev. Emmett Scott Aniton has 
given of himself over forty years of dedicated service to the glory of 
God and to his faithful congregation.
  Rev. Emmett Scott Aniton has received numerous awards, such as the 
NAACP Religious Affairs Award, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition Lifetime 
Achievement Award, the Peace, Unity, Honesty, and Leadership Award; and 
in May of 2021, received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from St. 
Thomas Christian College in Jacksonville, Florida.
  Reverend Dr. Aniton has achieved so much in his life, but none of it 
would have been possible without the grace of God and love and support 
of his late wife, Mrs. Dorothy Rigby Aniton; his children, Minister 
Rhonda Aniton Bell, Emmett Scott Aniton III, and Keisha Aniton Simmons; 
his grandchildren and other family members.
  On a personal note, I have been blessed by Rev. Aniton's sage counsel 
and advice over the four decades that I have known him, and I am proud 
to call him my friend.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to 
join my wife, Vivian, and me; along with the more than 765,000 people 
of Georgia's Second Congressional District, in honoring and commending 
the Reverend Dr. Emmett Scott Aniton, Jr. for 44 years of dedicated 
service to Friendship Missionary Baptist Church. Moreover, we pray for 
God's continued blessings upon him and his family in the weeks, months 
and years ahead.

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