[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19591]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                WELCOMING THE REV. THOMAS K. SPENCE, JR.

  (Mr. ETHERIDGE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with great pride to 
introduce and present to this august body the Reverend Thomas Spence as 
today's Guest Chaplain in the U.S. House of Representatives.
  Reverend Spence is the pastor of Leaflet Presbyterian Church, my home 
church in Broadway, North Carolina; and I am honored he has been with 
us today in the people's House. Reverend Spence possesses rare 
eloquence; and as a long-time congregant and friend, I can tell Members 
he is a unique individual whose interest and activism stretches far 
more broadly than his congregation. He has truly lived a life according 
to Jesus' example to tend to the least among us.
  Like me, Reverend Spence grew up on a farm in rural North Carolina, 
he in Harnett County; and I grew up in the adjacent county of Johnston. 
The life lessons one learns growing up on a working farm shape your 
world view and instill what we refer to as good North Carolina values 
of hard work, faith in God, love of family and friends, and devotion to 
duty to those around us and to our world as a whole. Reverend Spence 
has lived North Carolina values every day of his life and has served 
the people of his congregation with great distinction and 
accomplishment. I am pleased, proud, and honored to introduce North 
Carolina's own Reverend Thomas Spence to the House.

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