Rodney Slater, the former U.S. Secretary of Transportation; and C. Dennis Edwards of Little Rock will speak at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, 815 W. 16th St., in honor of its Men's Day on Sunday.
Slater, a Marianna native who earned his law degree at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, became the first black highway commissioner for the state when appointed to the post by Gov. Bill Clinton in 1987. Slater's first Washington role was as head of the Federal Highway Administration before he was made Secretary of Transportation, an office he held from 1997 to 2001. He is currently a partner of the Washington-based law firm Squire Patton Boggs. Slater and his wife, Cassandra Wilkins, are former members of Bethel.
Edwards has been a pastor for more than 50 years in Arkansas and Ohio. He is pastor of Little Rock's St. John Missionary Baptist Church and chairman of the board of the Sunday School Publishing Board, the agency that serves as publisher for the National Baptist Convention. He has also served on the Board of Trustees for Arkansas Baptist College, of which he is an alumnus, and from which he would later receive an honorary doctorate of divinity in 1987. He has preached at the state and national levels.
Slater will speak at the church's 10:15 a.m. service and Edwards will speak at the 3 p.m. service. The theme of the day is "Men of God: Serving the Present Age."
-- Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Religion on 02/17/2018