[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 7218]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                HONORING THE REV. DR. JOHN LOUIS WRIGHT

 Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, today I wish to honor my dear 
friend and fellow Marylander, the Rev. Dr. John Louis Wright, for his 
exemplary 35 years of service as pastor of First Baptist Church of 
Guilford and for his work as a community leader and civil rights 
activist.
  Pastor Wright is a native of Baltimore City and a shining product of 
the Baltimore City public school system. Since 1972, he has served as 
pastor of the First Baptist Church of Guilford, shepherding the church 
through periods of tremendous growth while faithfully serving its 
members and the surrounding community.
  As a civil rights leader, Pastor Wright is a life member of the 
NAACP, and he has served as both president of the Howard County Chapter 
of the NAACP and the Maryland NAACP. He currently serves as director of 
the Maryland Baptist Aged Home.
  Following Hurricane Floyd in 1999, Pastor Wright spearheaded flood 
relief efforts in North Carolina though the ``Twelve Baskets 
Ministry,'' bringing much needed supplies to people left homeless by 
the hurricane.
  Preventing handgun violence is an issue of particular importance to 
Pastor Wright. A 1997 graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 
Citizens' Academy in Baltimore, he is a member of the Maryland State 
Governor's Commission on Handgun Violence and Marylanders Against 
Handgun Violence.
  Pastor Wright's efforts reach far beyond our shores. He has traveled 
around the world, sharing his warmth and wisdom in countries as diverse 
as Egypt, Israel, South Africa, Switzerland, and China. While in 
Israel, Pastor Wright continued his work by baptizing people in the 
Jordan River.
  I am extremely proud of Pastor Wright's 35 years of dedicated service 
to his church and community and wish him many more years of continued 
success and good health.

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