2009-2010 Bill 5010: Reverend Doctor Richard F. Dozier, Sr. - South Carolina Legislature Online

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 118th Session, 2009-2010 3 4 H. 5010 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 House Resolution 9 Sponsors: Rep. Hart 10 Document Path: l:\council\bills\nbd\12398ab10.docx 11 12 Introduced in the House on May 20, 2010 13 Adopted by the House on May 20, 2010 14 15 Summary: Reverend Doctor Richard F. Dozier, Sr. 16 17 18 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 19 20 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 21 5/20/2010 House Introduced and adopted HJ7 22 23 24 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 25 26 5/20/2010 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A HOUSE RESOLUTION 10 11 TO COMMEND ONE OF SOUTH CAROLINA’S MOST 12 RESPECTED AND ADMIRED PASTORS, THE REVEREND 13 DOCTOR RICHARD F. DOZIER, SR., PASTOR OF 14 NORTHMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF 15 COLUMBIA, UPON THE OCCASION OF HIS RETIREMENT 16 FROM THE ACTIVE MINISTRY ON MAY 23, 2010, AFTER 17 FORTY-THREE YEARS OF CONTINUOUS PASTORAL 18 MINISTRY. 19 20 Whereas, the members of the House of Representatives have 21 learned with deep regret that the Rev. Dr. Richard F. Dozier, Sr., 22 pastor of the Northminster Presbyterian Church of Columbia, will 23 retire from active ministry on May 23, 2010, after forth-three years 24 of continuous service in the pastoral ministry; and 25 26 Whereas, a native of Saluda County, Dr. Dozier prepared for the 27 ministry by earning undergraduate and master of divinity degrees 28 from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, 29 and a doctor of ministry degree from McCormick Theological 30 Seminary in Chicago, Illinois. After completing his formal training 31 for the ministry, Richard Dozier was ordained a Presbyterian 32 minister by the Catawba Presbytery in May of 1967; and 33 34 Whereas, in September of 1968, Dr. Dozier was called by the 35 Fairfield-McClelland Presbytery to be the organizing minister of a 36 New Church Development Project in Columbia. From that call as 37 an evangelist, he developed the Northminster Presbyterian Church 38 (U.S.A.) to become the church home of over 220 members with 39 eighteen full-time or part-time staff members working to conduct 40 the church’s mission; and 41

[5010] 2 1 Whereas, in addition to serving his church, Dr. Dozier has also 2 served the larger Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in many capacities, 3 including Presbytery Moderator, Chairperson of the 189th General 4 Assembly’s Committee on Polity, Moderator of Synod of the 5 South, and Chair of the Synod’s Mission and Ministry Division; 6 and 7 8 Whereas, Dr. Dozier’s contributions to the community and his 9 church have garnered numerous recognitions, including 10 Outstanding Alumnus of the Year honors by John C. Smith 11 Theological Seminary in 1988, the Outstanding Pastoral 12 Leadership to the Community award by the International 13 Ministerial Alliance of Greater Columbia in 1996, the NAACP of 14 South Carolina’s President’s Award for Civic and Community 15 Work in 2003, and the Lawrence Bottoms Award by the 16 Southeastern Region of the National Black Presbyterian Caucus of 17 the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in 2008; and 18 19 Whereas, Dr. Dozier is blessed with a wonderful family in which 20 he takes great pride, including his wife, Bessie Jeanette Smith, 21 sons Richard and Anthony, two daughters-in-law, and five 22 grandchildren; and 23 24 Whereas, having faithfully served Northminster Presbyterian 25 Church as its pastor for almost forty-two years, Dr. Dozier now 26 moves to a new chapter in his life that will begin with a retirement 27 celebration on May 22, 2010, at the W.J. Keenan High School 28 Auditorium, and a worship service led by the Rev. Dr. Joe Rigby 29 the following morning at Dr. Dozier’s beloved Northminster 30 Presbyterian Church; and 31 32 Whereas, the members of the House of Representatives, by this 33 resolution, would like to publicly recognize and commend this 34 wonderful man of God for his forty-three years of pastoral ministry 35 which has touched the lives of so many people, upon the occasion 36 of his retirement from active ministry. Now, therefore, 37 38 Be it resolved by the House of Representatives: 39 40 That the members of the House of Representatives commend one 41 of South Carolina’s most respected and admired pastors, the Rev. 42 Dr. Richard F. Dozier, Sr., pastor of the Northminster Presbyterian 43 Church of Columbia, upon the occasion of his retirement from the

[5010] 3 1 active ministry on May 23, 2010, after forty-three years of 2 continuous pastoral ministry. 3 4 Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to 5 Dr. Dozier. 6 XX 7

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