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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives wish to congratulate the Rev. Dr. Craig Melvin
4Smith on celebrating 50 years of preaching, from 1972 to 2022;
5and
 
6    WHEREAS, Rev. Smith is the Senior Pastor of the Freedom
7Baptist Church of the Greater Chicago Area in Hillside; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Rev. Smith was born and raised in Peoria, the
9third of seven children; he was called to preach the Gospel in
101972 in his junior year at the University of Illinois in
11Urbana-Champaign; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Rev. Smith preached his first sermon at his home
13church, the Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church of Peoria,
14in February of 1972; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Rev. Smith was ordained at his home church in
16April of 1974; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Rev. Smith's structured academic and
18pastoral-theological preparation has earned him a Bachelor of
19Arts from the University of Illinois in 1973, a Master of
20Divinity from the Northern Baptist Seminary in 2003, and a

 

 

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1Doctor of Ministry from the United Theological Seminary in
22009; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Rev. Smith started the Freedom Baptist Church on
4April 9, 2000, and over 2,500 people have called Freedom
5Hillside their church home since the first worship service was
6held in the Hillside Theater; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Rev. Smith's previous professional and pastoral
8assignments have included serving as a personal banker for a
9commercial national bank, as a crime analyst for the Peoria
10Police Department, as a pastor for Providence Baptist Church,
11and as a pastor of the Metropolitan Baptist Church of the
12Westside in Chicago; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Rev. Smith is in his 20th year as a senior pastor
14and teacher at Freedom Baptist Church; he preaches Sunday
15worship services and regularly teaches two Bible classes
16weekly, Men of the Bible (MOB) and Word on Wednesday; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Rev. Smith has dedicated 50 years to the ministry
18of worship and to work for his community; therefore, be it
 
19    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
20HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
21we congratulate the Rev. Dr. Craig Melvin Smith on celebrating

 

 

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150 years of preaching, and we wish him many more wonderful
2years; and be it further
 
3    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
4presented to Rev. Smith as a symbol of our respect and esteem.