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TRUSTEE HONORED AS ‘LIVING LEGEND’
The Rev. Dr. Samuel Berry McKinney, an ABSW trustee, was honored
as a Living Legend by the Hampton University Ministers Conference
June 8.
 In
the company of four of his esteemed peers – the Rev. Gardner
Calvin Taylor, Pastor Emeritus, Concord Baptist Church, Brooklyn,
N.Y.; the Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, Pastor Emeritus, Canaan Baptist
Church of Christ, Harlem, N.Y.; the Rev. Charles Green, Pilgrim
Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.; and the Rev. Dr. Henry Mitchell,
Professor and mentor, Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta,
Ga. – McKinney was acknowledged for his pioneering work in
church administration and leadership among pastors nationally.
McKinney served as pastor of the Mount Zion Baptist Church of
Seattle for forty years (1958-1998), during which time he served
the church and community in multiple roles: as pastor, preacher,
teacher and community leader. Committed to the social gospel, McKinney
was Martin Luther King’s lieutenant in the Pacific Northwest
and a founding member of the Seattle Civil Rights Commission.
He founded the Seattle Opportunities Industrialization Center
and, with the late Dr. Leon H. Sullivan, served on the board of
the national organization. Throughout the years, he has worked and
continues to work on a number of social justice issues that impact
the community. He joined the ABSW Board of Trustees in 1999.
In his retirement, Dr. McKinney has continued to pastor with grace,
mentoring young ministers, serving churches that need his guidance,
preaching and teaching around the country. For these myriad of reasons,
Mount Zion’s congregation has acclaimed him “Pastor
Emeritus,” a title befitting his role and place within church
and local history. McKinney’s tenure is the longest in the
church’s 114 years.
“God has granted me years and the heart to do His will and
His work,” McKinney said upon receiving the Living Legend
award. “I will continue as long as I am granted the time.”
More about the life and ministry
of Dr. McKinney
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