[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 18]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 24675-24676]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           RECOGNIZING REVEREND DOCTOR WALLACE S. HARTSFIELD

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EMANUEL CLEAVER

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 18, 2007

  Mr. CLEAVER. Madam Speaker, I proudly rise today in recognition of 
the great accomplishments of Reverend Doctor Wallace S. Hartsfield, 
Sr., a minister, dedicated community activist, civil servant, 
compassionate role model, and a member of the Fifth District of 
Missouri which I am deeply honored to represent. Reverend Hartsfield 
retires as Senior Pastor of the Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church 
on January 1, 2008 after more than 40 years of service to Metropolitan 
and more than 55 years as a minister of God. He will be succeeded by 
his son, Dr. Wallace S. Hartsfield II.
  Our community also rises on this occasion to honor his civic 
contribution in the renaming of the Parkway Post Office in an area he 
serves. This is a fitting tribute to Reverend Hartsfield whose legacy 
continues in his ministry, teachings, and goodwill. The Post Office 
building, whose new designation will officially bear his name, will 
celebrate Reverend Hartsfield's spirit and leadership at 4320 Blue 
Parkway, Kansas City, Missouri 64130.
  Reverend Hartsfield was an only child, born to the late Ruby 
Morrissette in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 12, 1929. He served a 3-
year tour of duty with the United States Army before receiving a 
bachelor of arts degree from Clark College in Atlanta, now Clark 
Atlanta University, in 1954. He went on to earn a master of divinity 
degree from Gammon Theological Seminary, now the Interdenominational 
Theological Center, in 1957, also located in Atlanta. He holds many 
honorary degrees, including a doctor of divinity degree from both 
Western Baptist Bible College in Kansas City, Missouri and from 
Virginia Seminary and College of Lyncher, Virginia. His first pastorate 
was in Pickens, South Carolina. He later served in Wichita, Kansas; 
Barstow, Florida; and Brunswick, Georgia. As a scholastic theologian, 
Rev. Hartsfield serves on the board of directors at the Morehouse 
School of Religion in Atlanta, Georgia, in addition to serving as an 
adjunct professor of the Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas 
City, Kansas. He is affectionately referred to as the ``Dean of Kansas 
City's ministers'' by all denominations. A friend and honored minister, 
I have dubbed Dr. Hartsfield the ``Godfather of

[[Page 24676]]

Preachers'' because of his vast ministerial knowledge and oratorical 
skills.
  Reverend Hartsfield celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary with his 
wife Matilda Hopkins on August 28. They are the proud parents of four 
children, Pamela Faith, Danise Hope, Ruby Love, and Wallace S. 
Hartsfield II.
  Shining brightly as an example of unwavering open-mindedness, 
commitment, and heartfelt participation within his national community, 
Reverend Hartsfield has revealed himself as the quintessential citizen 
of both our American and world populations. The honor owed to this 
great leader and devoted man of profound faith reaches beyond our 
local, state, and national levels and touches our wider international 
community, just as he has sought to touch all of those he has met 
wherever he goes. He has fought tirelessly to promote, protect, and 
ensure civil rights and civil liberties for African Americans and other 
minorities throughout our great nation during its most shameful hours 
of injustice. He remains a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, 
Inc., the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity created for 
African Americans. As a prolific and dynamic speaker, he has often been 
asked to serve as a guest speaker for lectures at colleges, 
universities, and seminaries locally and internationally, including as 
far from home as Australia. In 2006, he was selected as a member of an 
inter-denominational group and met with Turkish officials to tour the 
country and broaden international faith and community relations.
  In many diverse capacities, Reverend Hartsfield has guided his 
broader, national faith community throughout the entirety of his 
devotion as a minister. He is a former chairman of the Congress of 
National Black Churches, representing over 65,000 churches with over 20 
million members. Within the National Baptist Convention of America, 
Inc., he served as a member on the Foreign Mission Board, was secretary 
and treasurer of the Benevolent Board and Insurance Commission, is a 
former chairman of its Economic Development Commission, is former 
second vice president, and is currently vice president at-large under 
the leadership of Dr. Stephen J. Thurston.
  Our greater Kansas City and Missouri communities stand stronger 
having been both blessed with and built upon by a cornerstone as 
unshakable and committed as Reverend Hartsfield. He was at the 
forefront of successful efforts to construct low income, 60 unit 
housing developments known as the Metropolitan Homes, located near the 
Linwood Shopping Center, the creation of which is also due largely to 
the encouragement of Reverend Hartsfield. Furthermore, he served as 
president of the Baptist Ministers Union, an influential organizer for 
the Concerned Clergy Association, and a moderator for the Sunshine 
District Association. Appointed by the Governor, Reverend Hartsfield 
served as commissioner on the Missouri Highway Commission. He was also 
president of the Greater Kansas City Chapter of Operation PUSH, an 
organization dedicated to the promotion of religious and social 
development and human rights.
  While his long list of accolades helps detail his many great talents 
and achievements, it remains only a small sampling if one tries to 
understand the deeply positive and vast impact Reverend Hartsfield has 
so generously imparted to his neighbors. He is named ``One of the Top 
50 Ministers in America'' by Upscale magazine of Atlanta, Georgia. As a 
local minister, he has received the One Hundred Most Influential Award 
from the K.C. Globe newspaper, the Greater Kansas City Image Award from 
the Urban League, and the Minister of the Year Award from the Baptist 
Ministers Union of Kansas City. As a public servant, a role inexorably 
intertwined with his role as a minister, he received the Public Service 
Award from the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime, the Role Model for Youth 
Award from Penn Valley Community College, and the Community Service 
Award from the city of Kansas City, Missouri, to name only a few.
  Having personally been influenced and encouraged by his generosity, 
compassion, and myriad successful endeavors throughout his career, I 
find it among the greatest honors and opportunities to acknowledge and 
celebrate the great victories of Reverend Hartsfield as he prepares to 
enjoy the next stage of his life, retirement from the vocation of 
compassion he so joyously fills and will continue to fulfill in a new 
capacity.
  Madam Speaker, please join me in expressing our appreciation to my 
dear friend, Reverend Doctor Wallace S. Hartsfield, Sr., for his loving 
ministry and limitless dedication to serving the residents of Kansas 
City, the State of Missouri, and the worldwide community. Strong, 
sustainable societies are built upon a foundation of goodness and 
devotion. It is our hometown heroes, like Reverend Hartsfield, the 
hallowed and benevolent, who ensure the longevity of, and strengthen, 
our free and democratic way of life. May God continue to bless Reverend 
Hartsfield as he embarks upon a new journey of embracing and improving 
the lives around him.

                          ____________________