[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 18342]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            IN HONOR OF REVEREND RICHARD WALTER JORDAN, SR.

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR.

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 29, 2011

  Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to 
Reverend Richard Walter Jordan Sr. for his decades of dedicated 
community service and pastoral leadership to the numerous church 
congregations and communities that he served in the great state of 
Georgia and throughout the United States of America.
  Reverend Jordan, a pillar in the Dougherty County, Georgia community, 
recently passed away at the age of 90 at the Wilson Hospice House in 
Albany. His funeral service was recently held at the Mount Zion 
Missionary Baptist Church on Saturday, November 26, 2011.
  Reverend Jordan was born and raised in Albany, Georgia and his early 
spiritual rearing took place at the Saint Paul Missionary Baptist 
Church in Albany. During his early religious maturation and training in 
the Christian faith, Reverend Jordan served as an usher, choir member, 
and a deacon at Saint Paul Missionary Baptist Church before being 
called into the ministry in 1955.
  Over the course of his distinguished career in the ministry, Reverend 
Jordan served as the Senior Pastor at over 10 churches. His riveting 
and inspirational messages of adhering to the word of God positively 
impacted the lives of those he encountered.
  He was a principled man who devoted his life to Christ by not only 
preaching good sermons and practicing good deeds but by unrelentingly 
allowing God to direct his steps and use his immeasurable talents to 
bestow motivation and inspiration upon those who had neither but needed 
both.
  At the end of our mortal life's journey, our measure of greatness 
will not exclusively be determined by the number of degrees we have 
earned; the level of financial wealth we have obtained; the titles that 
have been imparted upon us; or by the tangibly expensive goods we have 
acquired.
  The true measures of greatness are those time-honoured standards 
established by Jesus Christ that tell us, he who is great among you 
shall be your servant and he who is greatest shall be servant onto all. 
Reverend Jordan was great because he served and he will forever be 
remembered as one of Albany, Georgia's greatest because he sought to be 
a servant onto us all.
  Mr. Speaker, my wife Vivian and I would like to extend our sincere 
sympathies and prayers to Reverend Jordan's beloved wife of 70 years, 
Martha Green Jordan, his lovely children and the congregation of Saint 
Paul Missionary Baptist Church.
  Reverend Jordan's mortal journey on this earth has ended but his 
devotional faith and inspirational courage will continue to live on in 
the countless individuals he counselled and served.