Text: SR00135 Text: SR00137 Text: SR00100 - SR00199 Text: SR Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
PAG LIN
1 1 SENATE RESOLUTION NO. ___
1 2 BY SHEARER
1 3 A Resolution honoring James Samuel Thomas, former
1 4 bishop of the Iowa United Methodist Church.
1 5 WHEREAS, James Samuel Thomas began his Christian
1 6 service as an ordained minister and elder in the
1 7 Methodist Church of South Carolina, served various
1 8 churches as pastor, was a university chaplain, was a
1 9 seminary professor at Southern Methodist University in
1 10 Dallas, Texas, and later was a visiting professor of
1 11 sociology at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa; and
1 12 WHEREAS, in the early 1960s, the United States was
1 13 engaged in an intense struggle over civil rights for
1 14 all citizens, and during this time of unrest the
1 15 northern and southern conferences of the Methodist
1 16 Church held ecumenical discussions which led to
1 17 merging the predominantly white and black church
1 18 congregations; and
1 19 WHEREAS, in 1964, at the age of 45, the Reverend
1 20 Dr. Thomas was ordained as the youngest bishop ever to
1 21 serve Methodism, and the Iowa Conference of the
1 22 Methodist Church extended its hand of welcome to Dr.
1 23 James S. Thomas, who became the first black bishop of
1 24 the North Central Region of the Methodist Church when
1 25 he was elected to serve the Iowa Area by the North
1 26 Central Jurisdictional Conference in Cleveland, Ohio,
1 27 on July 11, 1964; and
1 28 WHEREAS, at the same session, the North Central
1 29 Jurisdictional Conference of the Methodist Church
1 30 ended the church's practice of segregation among its
2 1 17 jurisdictions by a vote of 370 to 0; and
2 2 WHEREAS, the appointment of Bishop James S. Thomas
2 3 to Iowa was characterized at the time as "an epoch in
2 4 our nation's advance in human relations", and through
2 5 his example of leadership and Christian ministry,
2 6 Bishop Thomas presided over the Methodist
2 7 congregations of Iowa for 12 years; and
2 8 WHEREAS, during the tenure of Bishop James S.
2 9 Thomas in Iowa, and with credit to the leadership of
2 10 Bishop Thomas, the Methodists merged with the
2 11 Evangelical United Brethren congregations in 1968 to
2 12 become the United Methodist Church; NOW THEREFORE,
2 13 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE, That the Senate
2 14 extends its thanks and congratulations to Bishop James
2 15 S. Thomas and his family for their service to the
2 16 United Methodist Church and to the State of Iowa, and
2 17 acknowledges the work of Bishop James S. Thomas for
2 18 the advancement of civil rights in Iowa and in the
2 19 nation.
2 20 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That an official copy of
2 21 this Resolution be prepared for presentation to Bishop
2 22 James S. Thomas and be delivered to the Bishop on the
2 23 event of his birthday on April 8, 2002.
2 24 LSB 7234SS 79
2 25 av/pj/5
Text: SR00135 Text: SR00137 Text: SR00100 - SR00199 Text: SR Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
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