[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 121 (Friday, July 14, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E676-E677]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HONORING THE REVEREND DR. GREGORY A. SUTTON

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR.

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 14, 2023

  Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an 
outstanding mentor, dedicated servant leader, faithful servant of God 
and dear friend of longstanding, the Reverend Dr. Gregory A. Sutton. 
Dr. Sutton will be honored for his 53 years of faithful service at 
Jackson Memorial Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, on Sunday, July 
16, 2023, at 10:30 am.
  Dr. Sutton was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He was raised among great 
educators, philosophers, and theologians. Dr. Sutton was always 
concerned about the welfare of others and used his voice to speak out 
on pressing issues of the day. He began to preach the Gospel at the 
young age of 16. This would lay the blueprint for his ministry and his 
destiny--the boy, the preacher, the man, and the visionary.
  Dr. Sutton began preaching the Gospel while he was still in high 
school and accepted the calling to preach a growing church called 
Jackson Memorial at the age of 18, where he has pastored for 53 years. 
Through his leadership, the church has continued to expand its 
membership and physical footprint. Dr. Sutton has seen the expansion of 
the church's membership to over 6,000 members and he has overseen the 
construction of 2 new edifices for the church. Dr. Sutton's ministry is 
indeed a global ministry and reaches people where they are across the 
world.
  The scripture tells us in Proverbs, ``that the people perish where 
there is no vision.'' Dr. Sutton is indeed a visionary and has used his 
ministry to reach people beyond the church walls. He has dedicated 
himself to the awareness, protection, and spiritual development of 
youth. Dr. Sutton was the originator of the phrase, ``Stop the 
Violence, Save the Youth.'' Cementing his commitment to young people 
and their spiritual futures, Pastor Sutton was the first pastor in the 
Atlanta area to open his church for prayer for students before school. 
He also reaches out and incorporates the needs of his elderly 
parishioners in his ministry. Dr. Sutton has a complete ministry that 
attempts to reach many different groups for Christ to include those 
that are in prison, the homebound, the homeless, the low income and the 
disenfranchised. He uses his Weekly Television Broadcast, ``Now is the 
Time,'' to reach those who would not otherwise be reachable.
  Dr. George Washington Carver once said that ``How far you go in life 
depends on your being tender with the young; compassionate with the 
aged; sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the 
strong, because someday in your life you will have been all of these.'' 
Dr. Sutton is acutely aware that for the Kingdom of God to be 
manifested in this world, it is imperative that people from all walks 
of life be brought into the fold and be made to feel that they matter 
and that Jesus Loves them. Dr. Sutton's ministry is truly a Matthew 25 
type of ministry.
  Even amid his various ministerial duties, Dr. Sutton finds time to 
serve his community at large. It has been said that ``Service is the 
rent that we pay for the space that we occupy here on this earth.'' Dr. 
Sutton has paid his rent and he has paid it well. He serves on the 
board of directors of many social and civic organizations to include 
the Board of Ministers of Morehouse College.
  Reverend Dr. Gregory Sutton has achieved much in life, but none of it 
would have been possible without the grace of God and the love and 
support of this wife, First Lady Gail Sutton; his children, Theresa, 
Tony, Keisha, and

[[Page E677]]

LaQuay; his 3 grandchildren and other family members.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to 
join my wife, Vivian, and I; along with the more than 765,000 people of 
Georgia's Second Congressional District in honoring and commending the 
Reverend Dr. Gregory A. Sutton for 53 years of dedicated service to his 
God, Jackson Memorial Baptist Church and humankind. Moreover, we pray 
God's continued blessings upon him, his ministry, and his family in the 
weeks, months, and years ahead.

                          ____________________