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Servant’s Network journal honors Sid Smith


GREENSBORO, N.C. (BP)–The recently released fourth volume of the Journal of African American Southern Baptist History is dedicated to Sid Smith of Florida.

It is the first volume with a dedication, said Dennis Mitchell, president of the Black Southern Baptist Denominational Servant’s Network, which sponsors the journal. When the Network met June 11 in Greensboro, N.C., in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, it announced the release of the journal and the surprise dedication.

Smith, a historian of Black Baptists, served Southern Baptists in a variety of roles in Texas, California, Tennessee and Florida, most recently as African American Ministries Division Director for the Florida Baptist Convention. In retirement he continues to serve as executive director of the network, which he founded in 1996.

“In a spirit of deepest appreciation and gratitude, we honor Dr. Sid Smith and his faithful helpmeet, the lovely Mrs. Arnette E. Smith,” reads the dedication, which was written by Roy Cotton, chairman of the history committee that produces the Journal each year. “[H]e leaves a legacy of par excellence in leadership and service … yet … he has always maintained humility, giving all the glory and honor to Jesus Christ, who is the Lord of his life.”

Arnette Smith “has been an ambassador of good will and was one of the first African American women to write for Southern Baptist publications,” continued the dedication.

Journal IV of African American Southern Baptist History consists of biographies of Southern Baptist racial reconciliation pioneers: Joseph C. Coats, T.B. Maston, Wendell R. Grigg, Foy Valentine, S.E. Grinstead. It also includes articles by Leon McBeth (“Images of the Black Church in America”) and Barry Hankins (“Conservatives Can Be Progressive Too”). It is available for a $10 donation to the Network.

Committee reports and officer elections were rescheduled for Black Leadership Week July 17-21 at Ridgecrest Conference Center near Ashville, N.C.

The purpose of the Network is fellowship, information-sharing and mentoring, said Jeffrey Curtis, the Network’s secretary.

“It is good to know we can work together in Southern Baptist life,” E.W. McCall said on behalf of the National African American Fellowship. McCall is pastor of St. Stephen Baptist Church in La Puente, Calif. “Working together we can make a greater impact not only in Southern Baptist life but in Kingdom work as well.”

Also during the meeting, McCall received the denominational leadership award, while Lincoln Bingham, pastor of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., received the denominational appreciation award. Willie Gaines, retired pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church of San Jose, Calif., received the Hall of Servanthood award, and Robert Devoe, pastor of Good Samaritan Baptist Church in Shelby, N.C., received the Kennedy-Boyce Award for his pioneering work.

Chris McNairy, a strategy coordinator for the North American Mission Board, spoke to the Network about emerging trends among African Americans in the United States.

Blacks are migrating South, from New York, Detroit and Cleveland to Raleigh-Durham, Atlanta and the number one destination: Jackson, Miss., McNairy said. Ten states, all in the South, now account for 60 percent of African Americans in the nation, he added.

In his presidential address, Mitchell talked about the need for faithfulness to those who paved the way.

With the inclusion of African Americans and the world’s other ethnicities, the Southern Baptist Convention looks different from the way it looked 50 years ago, Mitchell said.

“While we really don’t know what it is going to look like in the future, … our charge, our challenge and our call is to keep running our leg of the race,” Mitchell said, preaching from Hebrews 12.

“We’re laying the foundation for the hopes and dreams of those who come after us,” he added. “… This thing is bigger than us; we’re talking about impacting the lives of the people yet to come.”
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