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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
| 3 | Representatives are pleased to congratulate the Reverend | ||||||
| 4 | Doctor Clay Evans of Chicago on the occasion of his 85th | ||||||
| 5 | birthday; and
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| 6 | WHEREAS, Clay Evans was born on June 23, 1925, in | ||||||
| 7 | Brownsville, Tennessee; he later moved to Chicago, where he | ||||||
| 8 | started the Fellowship Baptist Church and helped launch | ||||||
| 9 | Operation PUSH; and
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| 10 | WHEREAS, After graduating from George Washington Carver | ||||||
| 11 | High School in Brownsville, he moved to Chicago to attend | ||||||
| 12 | seminary school; he studied at the Chicago Baptist Institute, | ||||||
| 13 | the Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the University | ||||||
| 14 | of Chicago Divinity School; he was ordained a Baptist minister | ||||||
| 15 | in 1950, and in 1958 founded the Fellowship Baptist Church, | ||||||
| 16 | affectionately called "The Ship" by its parishioners, on the | ||||||
| 17 | South Side of Chicago; and
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| 18 | WHEREAS, In the pulpit, Reverend Evans developed a | ||||||
| 19 | reputation as an innovative and passionate preacher; he also | ||||||
| 20 | gained an extensive evangelical following throughout the | ||||||
| 21 | Midwest and the South, where his weekly sermons are aired on | ||||||
| 22 | radio and television; he has also influenced scores of new | ||||||
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| 1 | evangelists, as some eighty-one ministers have studied under | ||||||
| 2 | him; and
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| 3 | WHEREAS, Reverend Evans was appointed to the International | ||||||
| 4 | Committee of Reference in 1988, working to create a global | ||||||
| 5 | ministry; in 1965, he teamed up with the Reverend Jesse Jackson | ||||||
| 6 | to start Operation PUSH, one of the country's leading civil | ||||||
| 7 | rights organizations; between 1971 and 1976, he served as | ||||||
| 8 | chairman of Operation PUSH and set direction for the group; he | ||||||
| 9 | published an autobiography, From Plough Handle to Pulpit, in | ||||||
| 10 | 1982, chronicling his journey from the fields of his childhood | ||||||
| 11 | home in Tennessee to the forefront of the civil rights | ||||||
| 12 | movement; and
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| 13 | WHEREAS, Reverend Doctor Clay Evans is married to Lutha Mae | ||||||
| 14 | Hollingshed and they have five children; a celebration will be | ||||||
| 15 | held on July 12, 2010 to commemorate his life and legacy; | ||||||
| 16 | therefore, be it
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| 17 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 18 | NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | ||||||
| 19 | congratulate Reverend Doctor Clay Evans on his 85th birthday | ||||||
| 20 | and wish him continued good health and success for years to | ||||||
| 21 | come; and be it further
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| 22 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
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| 1 | presented to Reverend Doctor Clay Evans as a symbol of our | ||||||
| 2 | respect and esteem.
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