[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 22]
[Senate]
[Page 30455]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           THE GUEST CHAPLAIN

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, before I turn to the Senator from Florida, I 
wish to say that I sit through these prayers every day. It is really 
good for me to do that. But the words that were uttered by Dr. Swanson 
this morning, as Johnny Cash says in that song, ``you've been reading 
my mail'' were really important to me, and I am sure every Senator 
listening to this prayer felt the same way I did. I am going to get a 
copy of that prayer and read it once in a while because he was talking 
about me when he gave that prayer and talking about Senator Nelson, 
Senator Baucus, and all of us.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, he was talking about all of us 
in lifting the burdens and the burdens we gladly bear. The pastor's 
prayer reminded us of our need to have a servant heart, to serve the 
Nation.
  Dr. Swanson is very much a part of our Orlando community. He is my 
personal pastor, as Grace and I are members of the First Presbyterian 
Church of Orlando. He is illustrative of the great pastoral leadership 
we have had in Orlando.
  A few weeks ago, we had my 30-year friend, the just-retired pastor of 
the First Baptist Church of Orlando, Jim Henry, here. He is one of the 
great leaders of the faith. We have had in this Chamber Rev. Sam Green 
of St. Mark A.M.E. Church, now Bishop Sam Green in a district in South 
Africa, another one of the great pastors of our region in central 
Florida. We will be having another one of the great pastors, Rev. 
Willie Barnes of the Baptist Church in Eatonville, FL, another one of 
my personal friends and one of the great pastors we have been blessed 
to have in our region. What they talk about, as Dr. Swanson said so 
eloquently in his prayer, is the unity of what was taught in the 
ancient Scriptures and the New Testament; that is, servant leadership. 
That was so well expressed in the life of Jesus, who was a role model 
as a leader but as a servant leader.
  We welcome these pastors, and particularly we welcome Dr. Swanson 
today to the Senate.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.

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