MILESTONES

HONORS

The Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Youngstown & Vicinity will present the prestigious Rev. Elizabeth Powell Heritage award to Rev. Kenneth L. Simon, pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church on Youngstown’s South Side, next month.

The Rev. Mr. Simon serves as chairman of the Community Mobilization Coalition, moderator of the Northern Ohio Baptist District Association, president of Jubilee Christian Community Development Corp., a member of the Youngstown Warren Black Caucus, co-convener of the Youngstown/Warren Dr. Martin Luther King Planning Commission, school board member of Southside Academy, a member and former president of the IMA, treasurer for the Baptist Pastors’ Council, board member of Mahoning-Youngstown Community Action Partnership, board member of the Greater Youngstown Crime Stoppers, facilitator of the Community Leadership Coalition on Education, and vice president of the 100 Black Men Organization Youngstown/Warren Chapter.

He was called in 1995 to the pastorate of the church where he currently serves after succeeding his father, the Rev. Lonnie Kwajo Asim Simon, who was pastor for 33 years. He died in 2012.

Mr. Simon is a 1973 graduate of East High School and received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Youngstown State University. He received his Biblical and religious training from the Evangelical Training Association, Wheaton, Ill., and the Christian Study Center, in Youngstown. He is married to the former Wendy Wainwright, and they are the parents of three children and five grandchildren.

The Rev. Elizabeth Powell, the founding pastor of the World Fellowship Interdenominational Church, was the first woman to obtain Baptist ministerial credentials in the Mahoning Valley. She was inducted into the prestigious Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame for her relentless advocacy and untiring efforts of leading social justice causes. She died in 2007 at the age of 105.

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