wfn.org | UMNS# 063-Top evangelism award goes to Reynolds Greene,

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Top evangelism award goes to Reynolds Greene, Walter Kimbrough

Jan. 26, 2005

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By United Methodist News Service

Two Georgia pastors have been named recipients of one of the highest
awards in evangelism.

The Rev. Reynolds W. Greene Jr. and the Rev. Walter L. Kimbrough are
this year's Philip Award winners, chosen by the National Association of
United Methodist Evangelists.

The association, affiliated with the United Methodist Board of
Discipleship, presented the awards at the annual Congress on Evangelism,
held in early January in Atlanta.

The award, named for the apostle Philip, has been presented to two
people annually since 1974. Past recipients have included the Rev. Billy
Graham, the Rev. H. Eddie Fox, Charles Colson, Bishop Richard Wilke, the
late Mother Teresa and the late Harry Denman.

Greene is director of development at the World Methodist Evangelism
Institute, a cooperative ministry of the World Methodist Council and
United Methodist-related Emory University in Atlanta. He was ordained
elder in 1948 and served as a campus minister, pastor of several United
Methodist congregations and superintendent of the Atlanta-Roswell
District.

Active in evangelism throughout his career, he was a delegate to the
Congress on World Evangelism in Lausanne, Switzerland; director of
evangelism and missions for the North Georgia Conference; and president
of the Council on Evangelism. He also was a delegate to the World
Methodist Council, conducted preaching missions in the United States and
abroad, and taught as a visiting professor of homiletics at United
Methodist-related Candler School of Theology in Atlanta.

In 1988, a massive stroke forced him to retire. Though doctors gave him
little hope of being able to preach again, he recovered to the point
where he was "preaching, teaching and leading with as much passion or
more than ever," the association said.

"It is no exaggeration to say that thousands of people around the world
know Christ Jesus today because of the witness, influence and
inspiration of Reynolds Greene," the organization said.

Kimbrough is senior pastor of Cascade United Methodist Church in
Atlanta, a church that he took over in 1974 after leading Chicago
congregations through racial transition, according to the association.

"He moved Cascade from a dying congregation of less than 100 members to
a vibrant one, relocated in a $5.2 million edifice, with more than 7,000
members," the association said.

Kimbrough is vice chairman for the North Georgia Annual (regional)
Conference and a member of the United Methodist Publishing House board.
He is active with Black Methodists for Church Renewal and has served as
a delegate to World Methodist, General and jurisdictional conferences.

Also active in civic work, he has served on the United Way board of
directors in Atlanta and the local board of the American Red Cross. He
led the Church Committee of the United Negro College Fund Telethon for
three years and was named by the governor of Georgia to the Staff
Housing Trust Fund for the Homeless Commission. He is author of Nothing
Is Impossible and contributor to 365 Meditations for Men and 365
Meditations for Families.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org