Birmingham, AL — Today, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) spoke on the House Floor to honor the retirement of the Reverend Dr. Tommie L. Lewis as Senior Pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, Pratt City after 42 years of service. Rep. Sewell will attend his retirement celebration this Friday, April 12th.

Watch it on YouTube here.

Rep. Sewell: Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay honor and tribute to the extraordinary career of a faithful servant leader, the Reverend Dr. Tommie L. Lewis, as we celebrate his retirement as the Senior Pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Pratt City after 42 years of service.

Throughout his life, Pastor T. L. Lewis has poured into his community as both a faith leader and a public servant. After answering the call to ministry in 1973, he led several congregations before settling at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Pratt City in 1982.

As pastor, Dr. T. L. Lewis worked to expand Bethel’s congregation and deepen its impact by establishing a new worship center in 1990 which included a sanctuary with a seating capacity of 1,800, and he commissioned a family life center which became the Bethel Community Life Center that garnered thousands of dollars from both the state and federal to support community development and educational initiatives.

After a tornado destroyed these buildings in 2011, it was Pastor Lewis who rallied the community together and rebuilt a beautiful new sanctuary that was completed and consecrated on August 24, 2014.

On a personal note, I have been blessed to call Pastor Lewis a dear friend and a trusted spiritual leader and a mentor. It is because of him that so much has changed in Pratt City and Birmingham, and we are eternally grateful.

I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Dr. T. L. Lewis on his retirement as Senior Pastor at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Pratt City after 42 years.