134-year-old church to host Rev. Thomas

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Price Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Church, 920 Dryden Ave., will mark its 134th anniversary with a special service at 11 a.m. Feb. 26 with a guest speaker.

The Rev. Dr. Gerald Lamont Thomas, a native of Youngstown and a son of the late Eddie and Janie Thomas, grew up at Price Memorial.

He is pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Plainfield, N.J. He was called to Shiloh in March 1997, becoming the eighth pastor at the church.

The Rev. Dr. Thomas was licensed to preach by Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church of Los Angeles under the late Dr. E. V. Hill and ordained at Third Baptist Church of Youngstown, where the Rev. Dr. Morris W. Lee is senior pastor.

Dr. Thomas has served as pastor of Pilgrim Baptist Church in Midway, Ky.; Burnett Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky.; and Metropolitan Baptist Church in Philadelphia.

He earned both his doctorate and master of divinity from Southern Seminary in Louisville, and received a bachelor’s in economics from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Thomas was on the faculty of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa., and was adjunct professor of preaching for Lutheran Theological Seminary, Lancaster Theological Seminary and New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Brunswick, N.J.

He also is founder, chairman of the board and president of Shiloh’s faith-based, nonprofit, community development corporation, Shiloh Economic and Entrepreneurial Life-Long Development Corp.

Price Memorial began as St. Mary’s AME Zion then changed its name to Mahoning Avenue AME Zion Church in 1932. In 1940, the church was re-incorporated as Price Memorial AME Zion. The church sold its Mahoning Avenue property in 1941 and moved to West Madison Street, where it remained until 1962. A two-acre site was bought on Dryden in 1962, the cornerstone laid in June 1963. The first service was in February 1964.