News from “Day 1”®
The national weekly ecumenical radio program produced by the Alliance for Christian Media
Contact: Peter Wallace, 404-815-0258, pwallace@day1.org
Or Ethel Ware Carter, 404-418-6770, ewcarter@day1.org
For immediate release – March 2, 2017
Day 1 Benefit Honors 2017 Community Leaders of Faith
The Day 1 annual benefit Tuesday, March 21, will honor 5 Atlanta area leaders well known for their commitment to the good of the community and deeply committed to their church and Christian faith. The event supports the Day 1 ecumenical radio and internet ministry (formerly known as The Protestant Hour) which has broadcast sermons by outstanding preachers from the mainline denominations for over 70 years.
The evening will feature an elegant dinner and cool jazz performed by the Rev. Dr. Dwight Andrews and the Rev. Dr. Ozzie Smith Jr. The event co-chairs are Joan and Bill Law. Emcee for the evening is the celebrated Atlanta television broadcast journalist Monica Pearson.
Those to be honored as community leaders of faith are:
Margaret Graff and Richard Higgins. Margaret is a private wealth advisor with Ameriprise Financial, where she has been working since 1991. Earlier, she was an assistant professor of physics at Georgia Tech. She earned degrees DePaul University, University of Oregon, and Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Richard Higgins’ career was spent at Georgia Tech and University of Oregon as a professor. He was educated at MIT and Northwestern University. Now retired, his activities are directed to philanthropy. Richard and Margaret lead the Mundito Foundation. They are members of Kirkwood United Church of Christ.
The Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery. Dr. Lowery is a founding member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and an icon of nonviolent activism for Civil Rights. He served as president of SCLC from 1977 to 1997. Dr. Lowery was educated at Knoxville College, Alabama A&M College, Paine College, and Paine Seminary. The recipient of honorary degrees from Clark College, Morehouse College, and others, he was co-founder of Black Leadership Forum. He and his late wife, Evelyn, were married in 1947. A United Methodist minister, he attends Cascade United Methodist Church.
John Schuerholz. Schuerholz was the longtime general manager of the Atlanta Braves and became president after the 2007 season. After graduating from Towson University, he became a junior high teacher in the Baltimore area. In his baseball career he worked with the Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals, and Seattle Mariners. He joined the Braves in 1990, helping lead them to a run unseen in big league history, finishing first in division for 14 years, advancing to the World Series four times, and winning in 1995. He will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in July. He attends Redeemer Lutheran Church.
Thomas G. Long. Dr. Long is the Bandy Professor of Preaching Emeritus at Candler School of Theology at Emory University. A Presbyterian minister, he is internationally recognized as one of the best preachers of his time. He has taught preaching for over 40 years, at Erskine Theological Seminary, Columbia Theological Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Candler. He has written dozens of books and served as senior editor of the New Interpreter’s Bible and editor of Theology Today. He has served as the chair of the Day 1 Advisory Board since its inception 15 years ago.
Tickets for the event are $200 per person, for clergy $125. Call Pat Reagan at (404) 418-6772 for information and reservations.
Produced and hosted by Peter Wallace, Day1 is distributed nationally to more than 220 stations each week, including WSB in the Atlanta area (AM 750 and 95.5 FM, Sundays at 7:05 a.m.). It is also accessible by podcast at Day1.org.
The award-winning program is produced by the Alliance for Christian Media in association with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, and other denominations.
Day 1 began in 1945 when leaders of several major denominations and church-related colleges and seminaries came together with the goal of spreading the good news through radio. Every week since then, the program has presented compelling sermons from outstanding preachers from across America, bringing faith and hope to hundreds of thousands of people around the world. For more information, visit Day1.org.