Brite Divinity School hosts Black Church events Friday

Dr. James A. Forbes Jr. will receive the Black Church Leader Award from Brite Divinity School

Fort Worth, TX

3/30/2009

Black church scholars, advocates, preachers, churchgoers and students are expected to convene on the TCU campus April 3 for the fifth annual “State of the Black Church” forum and awards banquet. The Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr. will be present to receive Brite Divinity School’s Black Church Leader Award. Emeritus pastor of Riverside Church in New York City, he was the first African-American to serve as senior minister of that multicultural congregation which is among the largest in the country.

In 1996, Newsweek magazine recognized Dr. Forbes as one of the 12 “most effective preachers” in the English-speaking world.
Keynote speaker at the awards banquet will be Rev. Denny D. Davis, senior pastor of St. John Baptist Church of Grand Prairie and Southlake. Moderator for the panel discussion will be Dr. Michael Bell, senior pastor of Greater St. Stephen First Church, Fort Worth, and the first African-American to serve as president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Dr. Bell is the chair of the Black Church Studies advisory board at Brite.

11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. “State of the Black Church” forum and luncheon, Brown Lupton University Union ballroom, 2901 Stadium Drive on the TCU campus. Panel discussion with Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr.: Rev. Dr. Claude Walker, retired Disciples of Christ minters; Dr. Keri Day, incoming assistant professor of theological and social ethics and director of the Black Church Studies program at Brite Divinity School; Rev. Dr. Sheron Patterson, senior pastor of Highland Hills UMC, Dallas; Rev. Dr. Gregory H. Kimble, senior pastor of Rice Chapel AMEC, Dallas; and Rev. Dr. Zorino Costello, director of the Pastoral Care and Training Center at Brite. Moderator is Dr. Michael Bell.  Registration fee, including lunch, is $20. 

6:30-9 p.m. Presentation of the Black Church Leader Award to Rev. Dr. James Forbes at Awards Banquet, Dee J. Kelly Alumni & Visitors Center, 2820 Stadium Drive on the TCU campus. Keynote speaker is Rev. Dr. Denny D. Dennis. Cost of the dinner is $100 per person or $800 for a table of eight.

For registration information, contact 817-257-7513, www.brite.tcu.edu/bcs or e-mail bcs@tcu.edu.