The recent death of former Tennessee State Representative and longtime prominent Church of God layman Bobby Wood allows us to highlight the fact that, in 2006, he was inducted into the Hall of Christian Excellence at the General Assembly in Indianapolis, IN. The award is described here and can be summarized as follows:
The International Lay Ministries Board of Directors honors exemplary Church of God laymen through a biennial induction ceremony to the Hall of Christian Excellence. Established in 1986, the Hall now has 370 inductees who are dedicated and gifted laypersons from around the world. Their names are prominently displayed in the Church Ministries Center in the Church of God International Offices complex. Mr. Harold Woods, Board Chairman, says, This is the highest honor we can bestow upon the great laymen of the Church of God and it is a fitting way to perpetuate their memory. Some of the outstanding men who have passed away have been inducted posthumously.
At the time Bobby was inducted, women were also inducted into the Hall. This was done by Women’s Ministries, at the time headed by Dr. Mary Ruth Stone, who also passed away recently.
As noted, some of those were inducted posthumously. We were blessed to induct Bobby while he was living; it is important to honor our outstanding lay people while they are still with us.
Some other items from the 2006 Hall of Christian Excellence:
The presentation of the awards was recorded and you can listen to it here.
The speaker for the awards ceremony–also the Department’s Laity and Clergy Luncheon–was Ron Phillips, at the time pastor at Abba’s House in Chattanooga. Ron certainly knew Bobby and that made the presentation special in another way. The announcement for Ron’s speech is below.
Below is a photo gallery of all of the inductees into the Hall of Christian Excellence at the 2006 General Assembly.
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