Full Text of HR0688 102nd General Assembly
HR0688 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives wish to congratulate the Rev. Dr. Craig Melvin | 4 | | Smith on celebrating 50 years of preaching, from 1972 to 2022; | 5 | | and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Rev. Smith is the Senior Pastor of the Freedom | 7 | | Baptist Church of the Greater Chicago Area in Hillside; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Rev. Smith was born and raised in Peoria, the | 9 | | third of seven children; he was called to preach the Gospel in | 10 | | 1972 in his junior year at the University of Illinois in | 11 | | Urbana-Champaign; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, Rev. Smith preached his first sermon at his home | 13 | | church, the Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church of Peoria, | 14 | | in February of 1972; and | 15 | | WHEREAS, Rev. Smith was ordained at his home church in | 16 | | April of 1974; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, Rev. Smith's structured academic and | 18 | | pastoral-theological preparation has earned him a Bachelor of | 19 | | Arts from the University of Illinois in 1973, a Master of | 20 | | Divinity from the Northern Baptist Seminary in 2003, and a |
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| 1 | | Doctor of Ministry from the United Theological Seminary in | 2 | | 2009; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, Rev. Smith started the Freedom Baptist Church on | 4 | | April 9, 2000, and over 2,500 people have called Freedom | 5 | | Hillside their church home since the first worship service was | 6 | | held in the Hillside Theater; and | 7 | | WHEREAS, Rev. Smith's previous professional and pastoral | 8 | | assignments have included serving as a personal banker for a | 9 | | commercial national bank, as a crime analyst for the Peoria | 10 | | Police Department, as a pastor for Providence Baptist Church, | 11 | | and as a pastor of the Metropolitan Baptist Church of the | 12 | | Westside in Chicago; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, Rev. Smith is in his 20th year as a senior pastor | 14 | | and teacher at Freedom Baptist Church; he preaches Sunday | 15 | | worship services and regularly teaches two Bible classes | 16 | | weekly, Men of the Bible (MOB) and Word on Wednesday; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, Rev. Smith has dedicated 50 years to the ministry | 18 | | of worship and to work for his community; therefore, be it
| 19 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 20 | | HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 21 | | we congratulate the Rev. Dr. Craig Melvin Smith on celebrating |
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| 1 | | 50 years of preaching, and we wish him many more wonderful | 2 | | years; and be it further
| 3 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 4 | | presented to Rev. Smith as a symbol of our respect and esteem.
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