99th Church Anniversary Banquet

201 South Water Street,Mobile AL 36602

24 February, 2023

Description

We have planned an evening of great celebration and reflection as we celebrate 99 years of serving, worshipping and praising God. We will enjoy the music ministry of St. Joseph's very own, Yvonne Reed Matthews. The keynote speaker for the evening will be the Alabama State Missionary Baptist Convention President, Dr. Melvin Owens. Keynote Speaker A native of LaFayette, Melvin Owens attended the public schools of LaFayette, Alabama. Melvin was one of the first blacks to integrate Eastside Elementary School in LaFayette and the second black to graduate from Eastside. Melvin graduated as an honor student from LaFayette High School. Recognizing the need for education, he matriculated at Southern Union Community College, Auburn University, Faulkner University, the University of Virginia, and the University of Alabama. He possesses degrees in Management of Human Resources and Criminal Justice and Criminal Justice Administration and Ministry. Dr. Owens is married to the former Deborah Lynne Bell and they are the proud parents of one son, Kelvin Brian & his wife April Owens. Owens has served two other congregations before coming to Mount Zion. He served as Pastor of the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, Camp Hill (1985 – 1995) and the New Elam Baptist Church, Kellyton (1988 – 1991). In 1991, he was called to the Mount Zion Baptist Church. His fervor and commitment to bring lost souls to Christ and encourage spiritual maturation and intimacy with God drives his commitment to spreading the gospel whenever the opportunity presents itself. Dr. Owens' powerful and uncompromising preaching and teaching seeks to encourage and empower humanity through the timeless and transformative truths contained in the Word of God. Dr. Owens is a servant-leader who willingly shares with and in the community believing our central purpose is to bring persons into a redemptive relationship as disciples of Jesus Christ. As we live by Christ's example, we seek only to be God's servants as agents of healing and wholeness in a wounded and fragmented world. Dr. Owens serves as President of the Alabama State Missionary Baptist Convention. He is president emeritus of the Alabama Baptist Northeast District State Convention; Vice President of the Southwest Region of the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc. and the Chartered Trustee Board of Selma University. He is a past president of the East Alabama Union District Congress of Christian Education, the Ebenezer District Congress of Christian Education and past Moderator of the East Alabama Union District Association. He is a former president of the Alabama Chapter FBINAA. Dr. Owens has membership in the following organizations: NAACP, 100 Black Men of Greater Auburn –Opelika, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. and FBINAA. He is the recipient of many awards and accolades including being selected for inclusion in “Outstanding Men of America,” and “Who’s Who In Religion in America. Guest Psalmist Yvonne Matthews is a gospel recording artist from Mobile AL. She was raised in St. Joseph Baptist Church. As a child, she began singing with father the late Dea. Fred Reed. Matthews later became St. Joseph's first Minister of Music. Yvonne Matthews, the founder of the gospel singing group – Nu Image, former choral instructor at John L. LeFlore School of Communication and Arts, and administrator at LeFlore, Citronelle, Blount, Theodore and Williamson high schools, is also minister of music of Nazaree Full Gospel Church in Mobile, Alabama. Yvonne, along with Nu Image, sponsors Youth On the Winning Side, a music event for youth and young people - an event that has become a Gulf Coast tradition. Yvonne’s life has been filled with music. From the age of three when she performed her first song in church with her dad – Deacon Fred Reed, to the present, music has carried her from state to state, to other countries to college campuses, to concert halls, to parks, to theaters, and to churches and synagogues. Yvonne was a charter member of Port City United Voices, an affiliate of the Gospel Music Workshop of America. Although she no longer performs with them, she is a board member of the organization. Her classical training at the University of South Alabama where she received a Bachelor of Music degree in piano and a Master of Education degree, and her upbringing in church music (her father – a pianist, her mother – a songwriter) at Saint Joseph Baptist Church, have produced a musician who ventures into many genres of music and the theatrical arts. She is a member of Bella Voce, a choir of female singers who perform classical music. She was the musical director for Hear the Voices Ring, a Black History production that was presented at the Saenger Theatre, and Nine to Five the Musical that was presented by Mobile Theatre Guild, and Ain’t Misbehavin’ – another musical that was presented at Mobile Theatre Guild. She has teamed up with Dr. Terry Hazzard and Sonia Daniels to form a group called Voices United to perform for school-aged students to trace the history of religious of African Americans. She reunited with jazz guitarist, Dennis “Finger Roll” Nelson, collaborating and performing Gospel jazz renditions in various venues. In two productions presented by Company 28, Yvonne was cast as Glenda the Good Witch in The Wiz, and as the mother of one of the Dream Girls in the stage play Dream Girls. She retired from the Mobile County Public School System and now serves as Program Director of Educational Programs for the 100 Black Men of Greater Mobile. She was featured in ACCESS Magazine as one of 12 women in Mobile who are positively affecting the community. She is founder of Matthews Educational Consultant Services to assist students and parents in their educational endeavors. Having completed a 3-week tour of Italy and Switzerland as she debuted her inaugural solo CD performing as one of the Voices with Sonya Williams & the Voices, Yvonne attributes all of her success to God and to a supportive family to include: her husband, Carl; her mother, Lelia Reed; her children; her siblings; and others.