[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12670]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO REVEREND WILLIAM J. FOWL

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR.

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 17, 2008

  Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a Tennessean who has 
comforted and inspired thousands of people in East Tennessee.
  Reverend William J. Fowler of Knoxville, Tennessee has spent the last 
42 years as a Minister of the Gospel. During that time, he was a role 
model for his congregation and an inspiration to other ministers.
  As the head of Church Street United Methodist Church since 1994, Rev. 
Fowler's compassion and devotion helped grow the congregation into the 
thousands, and his leadership has been invaluable to the United 
Methodist Church.
  Rev. Fowler served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Emory & 
Henry College, where he chaired the Religious Life Committee. He also 
served as a member of the Holston Conference Board of Higher Education 
and Ministry and the Holston Conference Ethics Committee, and he was a 
member of the Institutional Review Board of Bristol Regional Medical 
Center.
  In his final sermon, Rev. Fowler urged his congregation to heed God's 
call: ``God can send different persons to us, and point us the way that 
he wants us to go.'' He told his followers that his farewell does not 
mark the end of his service, but the continuation of God's Ministry.
  I urge my colleagues to join me as I salute Rev. William J. Fowler 
and wish him and his wife the best as they enter a well-deserved 
retirement. His calling as a reverend, friend, and leader will continue 
to inspire many.
  Madam Speaker, in closing, I would like to call to the attention of 
my colleagues and other readers of the Record the article from The 
Knoxville News Sentinel newspaper, which is reprinted below.

            [From the Knoxville News Sentinel, June 7, 2008]

              Familiar Pair at Church Street UMC To Retire

                           (By John Shearer)

       Just as the landmark Church Street United Methodist Church 
     on Henley Street has changed little in appearance in recent 
     years, so have its worship leaders.
       However, the Rev. William Fowler, who has served as senior 
     minister for the last 14 years, and Jim Rogers, who has been 
     the organist and choirmaster since 1979, have announced plans 
     to retire.
       Fowler, whose tenure has been considered long for a 
     denomination with itinerant clergy, will preach his last 
     sermon on June 8, while Rogers is leaving in late July.
       The Rev. Andy Ferguson from Broad Street United Methodist 
     in Cleveland, Tenn., will be the new senior minister, while a 
     search is under way for Rogers' replacement.
       Fowler, the son of a Methodist minister, began his career 
     after graduation from Duke Divinity School as an assistant 
     pastor at a church in Scotland beginning in 1968. He had come 
     to Church Street from First United Methodist in Bristol and 
     had no idea he would stay so long.
       ``The first Sunday I was overwhelmed and frightened,'' he 
     said. ``Hearing the organ open up on, `Lift High the Cross,' 
     I said, `God, what did you get me into?' I certainly made 
     some mistakes, but I gave all my effort to God and said I 
     tried.''
       Fowler, who is building a retirement lake-side home in 
     Kingston with his wife, Virginia, plans to stay away from a 
     pulpit but near a pen and computer writing books. Rogers had 
     come to Church Street from a similar position at Belle Meade 
     United Methodist in Nashville. At Church Street, he has 
     maintained the church's style of more traditional and formal 
     music in an era when contemporary Christian music has become 
     popular. ``People pass a lot different styles of worship to 
     come to this church,'' he said.
       Rogers said the most satisfying part of his work has come 
     not from the performances, but in practice.
       ``The challenge is seeing what you can get out of a group 
     of singers,'' he said. ``God doesn't deserve your second 
     best.''

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