[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5420]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            HONORING THE 50-YEAR MINISTRY OF KERMIT McGREGOR

                                 ______
                                 

                   HON. CHARLES W. ``CHIP'' PICKERING

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 17, 2005

  Mr. PICKERING. Mr. Speaker, on March 12, the First Baptist Church of 
Starkville celebrated Dr. Kermit McGregor's 50 years in the ministry. 
Fifty years in service to any calling is noteworthy, but it is my 
particular pleasure to honor him for his decades of dedication to God.
  Dr. McGregor is currently serving as the transitional pastor in 
Starkville, but he has been a blessing to many congregations across 
Mississippi. Since beginning the ministry at age 16--the same year he 
and his wife Phyllis were married--he has preached the Gospel in 
Pontotoc, Dumas, Smithdale, New Albany, Bruce, Winona, Hattiesburg, 
Clinton, Mendenhall and now in Starkville. Additionally, he has served 
as director of public relations at the Baptist Children's Village in 
Clinton, and as a trustee and chairman of the Board of Midwestern 
Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri.
  A graduate of Blue Mountain College, New Orleans Baptist Theological 
Seminary and William Carey College, Dr. McGregor says he works today 
just as hard as he did before his ``retirement'' 6 years ago. But he 
maintains that in his calling, one never actually retires.
  Mr. Speaker, Dr. McGregor has over the years encountered several 
major heart attacks and has even been clinically dead for a short 
amount of time. But he persevered and lives now following a heart 
transplant over 10 years ago. I believe his current health, his 
longevity, his sharpness of mind and his continued service to God and 
man comes not from his physical heart, but from his heart for God which 
never ceased beating in the past 50 years.

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