American Baptist College leader to speak at conference

One of the main speakers is coming here from Nashville, Tenn.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — The Eastern District of the Ohio Baptist State Convention will have a Congress of Christian education conference next week at Greater Friendship Baptist Church, 646 Lakewood Ave., where C.M. Jenkins is host pastor. Scheduled events are:

U Pastor Avan Odom of New Fellowship Baptist Church in Warren will be the consecration speaker at 7 p.m. Monday. He also will speak on the “Black Family” at 11 a.m. Wednesday through Friday.

U The Rev. Dr. Ricky Sherrer, congress dean, will speak at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

U A presidential banquet is scheduled at 7 p.m. Wednesday with guest speaker, Dr. Forrest E. Harris Sr., president of the American Baptist College, Nashville, Tenn. Tickets for the banquet are $35.

U A youth explosion will be at 7 p.m. Thursday.

U The Rev. Dr. Donald E. Jones, congress president, will speak at 7 p.m. Friday.

Workshops are scheduled from 9 to 10:30 a.m. daily and a teen summit also will take place each day.

For information on the event, contact Union Baptist Church at (330) 746-1217. All evening sessions are free and open to the public.

The Rev. Dr. Harris was a federal compliance officer with the Energy and Research Development Administration, Oak Ridge, Tenn., from 1971-79. As a senior compliance office, he negotiated a $1.2 million settlement for minorities and females in the Southeast United States.

He left his position to prepare for Christian preaching ministry. Dr. Harris was appointed president of the American Baptist College in 1999. He is the director of the Kelly Miller Smith Institute on Black Church Studies that has a $1.2 million endowment for the perpetuation of theological study and dialogue in black congregations and is assistant dean for Black Church Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School.

Dr. Harris has a bachelor’s degree from Knoxville College, a bachelor of theology degree from American Baptist College, and master of divinity and doctor of ministry degrees from the Vanderbilt Divinity School.

He has published three books, “What Does It Mean To Be Black and Christian: The Pulpit, Pew and the Academy in Dialogue,” “Ministry for Social Crisis: Theology and Praxis in the Black Church Tradition” and “What Does It Mean To Be Black and Christian: The Meaning of the African American Church.”

Under his pastorate at Pleasant Green Baptist Church in Nashville, Dr. Harris was instrumental in establishing a progressive social ministry program aimed at the transformation of the community. He established the first church-based Community Development Corporation in Nashville, and he is responsible for the establishment of Tying Nashville Together, an interdenominational and interracial organization of Nashville congregations.

Dr. Harris served as president of the Interdenominational Ministers’ Fellowship in Nashville for five years and on the boards of Nashville Center for Black Family Life, the State of Tennessee Citizen’s Commission on Tenn.-Care, Opportunities Industrialization Center and the United Way of Middle Tennessee.