South Carolina General Assembly
117th Session, 2007-2008

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H. 4795

STATUS INFORMATION

House Resolution
Sponsors: Rep. Breeland
Document Path: l:\council\bills\gm\24101ahb08.doc

Introduced in the House on March 4, 2008
Adopted by the House on March 4, 2008

Summary: Reverend Zedekiah Lazett Grady

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
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    3/4/2008  House   Introduced and adopted HJ-61

View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

3/4/2008

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A HOUSE RESOLUTION

TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR THE RIGHT REVEREND ZEDEKIAH LAZETT GRADY FOR HIS FAITHFUL SERVICE AS A MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST, AND TO CONGRATULATE HIM UPON THE OCCASION OF HIS FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY IN THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

Whereas, the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives acknowledge the Right Reverend Zedekiah L. Grady's life of service to his church and community as a distinguished pastor, capable administrator, civic organizer, ecumenical leader, and Christian gentleman; and

Whereas, born in Loughman, Florida, the son of the late Sylvira Bynum Grady and Walter Grady, Zedekiah LaZett Grady earned a Bachelor of Theology with honors from B. F. Lee Theological Seminary and a Master of Divinity from Dickerson Theological Seminary; and

Whereas, Reverend Grady pastored churches in Laurens, Ware Shoals, Anderson, Antreville, Georgetown, and served over nineteen years in Morris Brown African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston; and

Whereas, while at Morris Brown, he led the church to refurbish the sanctuary, build and pay for the Z. L. Grady Educational Building, purchase a new parsonage, retire several mortgages, organize a daycare center and kindergarten, add more than thirty organizations to the church, institute airing the Sunday worship service over a local radio station, and add more than a thousand members to the roll; and

Whereas, when he served as the presiding elder over the historically rich Edisto district, he fulfilled the goal of enlarging the membership ten percent each year and increased the number of pastoral charges from twenty-four to thirty-five; and

Whereas, he is the past president of the African Methodist Episcopal Ministerial Alliance and Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and has traveled as a delegate to seven World Methodist Conferences in England, Hawaii, Kenya, Malaysia, Brazil, and South Korea; and

Whereas, in the late 1960's, he acted as a key negotiator to resolve the critical hospital strikes in Charleston that drew national attention; and

Whereas, he served as chairman and vice chairman of the South Carolina Juvenile Parole Board, chairman of the Charleston Race Relations Committee, a member of the Charleston Housing Authority, and a board member of the Citizens and Southern Bank and NationsBank; and

Whereas, elected bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and assigned to the Sixteenth Episcopal District in July 1992, he saw during his tenure ten new churches established, a concise history of the district compiled and sold to provide scholarships and to complete newly organized churches, and the constitution of the World Methodist Society translated into French, Spanish, and Dutch; and

Whereas, when serving over the Ninth and First Episcopal Districts, Bishop Grady often used his own financial means for various projects, such as the publication of The History of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Alabama and assisting in sending copious goods to Monrovia, Liberia, in the Fourteenth Episcopal district; and

Whereas, he is married to the former Carrie Etta Robertson of Winnsboro, and they are the proud parents of four children, the late Reverend Z. L. Grady II, J. Felita Grady Davis, Constance LuVira Grady Woodberry, and Reverend Carey Andrew Grady; and

Whereas, he still seeks to live by the words of the prophet in Micah 6:8, "He has shown thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God?" although he retired from the active episcopacy in July 2004; and

Whereas, he is a life member of both the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Beta Mu Sigma Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, one of the nine predominately African American fraternities, founded in 1914 at Howard University to exemplify the ideals of brotherhood, scholarship, and service; and

Whereas, the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives are pleased to learn that the Charleston Alumni Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity plans an extravaganza to honor the legacy of Bishop Zedekiah L. Grady in North Charleston on March 28, 2008. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

That the members of the House of Representatives of the State of South Carolina, by this resolution, recognize and honor the Right Reverend Zedekiah LaZett Grady for his faithful service as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, upon the occasion of his fiftieth anniversary in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Right Reverend Zedekiah LaZett Grady.

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