[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16122]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 WELCOME TO THE REVEREND JEFF C. HUDSON

  (Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge and 
thank my constituent, Pastor Jeff Hudson of the Fredericktowne Baptist 
Church in Walkersville, Maryland, for offering today's opening prayer.
  A graduate of the Washington Bible College and Capital Bible 
Seminary, Reverend Hudson is the senior pastor at Fredericktowne 
Baptist Church. He has served for more than 20 years. He and his wife 
Brenda have 2 teenage sons, Joshua and Nathan.
  Pastor Hudson's invocation of God's presence in our lives continues 
an unbroken tradition of an Opening Prayer for the Congress. At age 81, 
and at a moment of deadlock during the Constitutional Convention, 
Benjamin Franklin said, ``I have lived, sir, a long time. And the 
longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God 
governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the 
ground without his notice, is it probable that a new Nation can rise 
without his aid? I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth, prayers 
imploring the assistance of heaven and its blessings on our 
deliberations be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed 
to any business.''
  Thanks to Mr. Franklin, Congress still does this.

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