[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 13529]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   IN HONOR OF DR. I.L. MULLINS, SR.

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR.

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 13, 2011

  Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to 
Dr. I.L. Mullins, Sr. for his fifty years of dedicated civic leadership 
and pastoral service to the communities of Thomas County, Georgia. On 
Saturday, September 24, 2011, Dr. Mullins' family, friends and the 
First Missionary Baptist Church of Thomasville, Georgia will recognize 
his half-century of outstanding deeds by hosting a ``Golden Jubilee 
Extravaganza'' in his honor.
  Dr. Mullins is one of the most courageous and committed individuals 
that I have ever encountered. He has been a source of counsel and 
advice as well as a fountain of inspiration for me over the last 
several years. I have been truly blessed by his warm friendship and 
support.
  Throughout his illustrious career, Dr. Mullins has been a preeminent 
role model for local government officials and community leaders in 
Georgia and across our great nation. During the Civil Rights Movement 
of the 1960s, Dr. Mullins marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and 
was instrumental in organizing the local Thomasville branch of the 
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). 
Additionally, Dr. Mullins served effectively as a Thomas County 
Commissioner for five-terms that spanned over two decades.
  Over the course of his lifetime, Dr. Mullins has masterfully balanced 
his civic responsibilities with his academic accomplishments and 
religious commitments. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from 
Morehouse College in 1957 and went on to obtain his Masters of Divinity 
from the Interdenominational Theological Center & Gammon Theological 
Seminary in 1960. Furthermore, Dr. Mullins acquired his Doctor of 
Divinity degree from Faith College in Birmingham, Alabama in 1979.
  Ordained as a minister on December 29, 1957, Dr. Mullins has served 
as the Pastor of the First Missionary Baptist Church in Thomasville, 
Georgia since 1961. Through his ministerial service, Dr. Mullins serves 
as the Dean of the Thomasville Extension Center of the American Baptist 
Theological Seminary and is a Volunteer Chaplain at Archbold Memorial 
Hospital.
  Dr. Mullins is adored by many because of his unyielding zeal to help 
others and his passion for promoting harmonious relations among 
individuals from various backgrounds and different walks of life. 
Throughout my many years of association with Dr. Mullins, I have come 
to observe that it his intrinsic intelligence and high academic acumen 
that make him wise, but it is his kind heart and charitable character 
that speak to why he is so widely beloved.
  In light of his many accomplishments, my wife Vivian and I would like 
to extend our personal congratulations and warmest regards to Dr. 
Mullins, his beloved wife the former Josephine Lovejoy Ferrell, their 
children and grandchildren. I know that residents all throughout 
Georgia's Second Congressional District will forever be indebted to the 
Mullins family for selflessly allowing Dr. Mullins to be a mentor, 
father-figure and counselor to countless other families in communities 
throughout southwest Georgia.
  Today, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Dr. Mullins for his 
noteworthy and dynamic career as one of our nation's most profound 
theologians, principled community leaders and thoughtful humanitarians.

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