VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 8/16/06)-Ministers Council President Alice Davis has selected the Rev. Dr. Marvin A. McMickle as recipient of the 2006 Ralph Garfield Schell Presidential Award for Excellence in Ministry. The award was announced at the concluding banquet of the Ministers Council Senate on August 15.
McMickle has served as the Pastor of the Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, since 1987. During that time the church has thrived and become one of the most influential African-American congregations in the city. Antioch has pioneered an AIDS prevention and treatment program with special focus on the African-American community. In addition to its traditional Sunday morning worship service, the church has instituted Saturday evening and early Sunday morning services using alternate formats that are reaching new generations and communities of people for Christ.
The Antioch Baptist Church is among the leaders in American Baptist Mission Support. Last year the church placed second among the thirty-eight Cleveland Baptist Association (CBA) congregations in ABMS. Antioch was a leading contributor to both tsunami and hurricane relief efforts last year, and consistently participates in all four national ABC offerings. McMickle is currently serving as a member of the CBA Board of Trustees and the CBA Department of Ministry and he also chairs the CBA Department of Metropolitan Ministries.
McMickle is one of the most accomplished preachers in the nation. He serves as professor of preaching at Ashland Theological Seminary and will be the Bible Study leader for the 2007 Central Sectional Black Church Education Conference in Columbus.
McMickle is well-known to American Baptists as a prolific and insightful author. He has authored six books for Judson Press in the past six years, including the most recent release of The Star Book on Preaching. Rebecca Irwin-Diehl of Judson Press commented on his selection,"It's always an honor for Judson to support the Ralph Garfield Schell Presidential Award, and this year it's particularly gratifying given that the recipient is our own Marvin A. McMickle, one of our best-selling authors in recent years. For his scholarship, his preaching ministry, and for his Christian character, we celebrate him as the 2006 winner." His newest title, This Far by Faith: An African American History for Youth, is scheduled to release in December of this year.
The President's Award was instituted in 1996, and called The Ralph Garfield Schell Prize. The award is named for Ralph Garfield Schell, who addressed the Northern Baptist Convention on June 22, 1935, in Colorado Springs, speaking on the theme, A Revitalized Ministry . It is the annual recognition of a member of a local Ministers Council who seems to be extraordinarily faithful in carrying out the principles of the Ministers Council Code of Ethics. In recognition of the award he will receive a book certificate from Judson Press and his name will be added to the plaque of recipients in the Ministers Council office at the Mission Center.
Andrew C. Jayne American Baptist Churches, USA Mission Resource Development http://www.abc-usa.org/