Local Man Is Doctor Of Theology

William W. Leathers, III, minister at Kiokee Baptist church in Appling, Georgia, was awarded the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology by Emory University in Atla.nta, Ga., recently. Dr. Leathers' doctoral project was entitled "Leading a Baptist Church Toward Maturity."

In the project he attempted to lead members of Kiokee church to greater maturity in their understanding of their faith and in their relationships with each other.

Dr. Leathers is a graduate of Henderson high school, Wake Forest University, and The Southenr 'Baptist Theological Seminary.

He is married to the former Crystal Hartness, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. B. A. Hartness of 305 Willowood drive. They have one daughter, Hilary. Dr. Leathers' father, Dr. W. W. Leathers, Jr., was minister at the First Baptist church of Henderson from 1953 to 1972.

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First Baptist Names Leathers

Dr. William Warren Leathers, III ha been called by U1e First Baptist Church of Rockingham o be its s n inister. Dr. Leathers led the Sunday morning worship service last Sunday at the church.

Dr. Leathers was born in Conway, S.C. but shortly thereafter his family moved to Henderson where his father served as minister of the First Baptist Church until his retirement. Dr. Leathers graduated from Wake Forest University in 1965 and received his Master of Divinity Degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1968. He received his Doc.tor of Sacred Theology Degree from Emory University in 1973.

Dr. Leathers i:; presently the minister of the Kiokee Baptist 'hurch in Appling, Ga . the oldest Baptist Church in Georgia.

Dr. Leathers is married to the former Crystal Hartness also of Henderson. She is a graduate of Meredith College 111 Raleigh . They have two children--Hillary, age 6 and Ren, age 3.

Dr. Leathers plans to move to Rockingharn lo assume his duties by Thanksgiving.

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CUPPING SERVICE 1115 HILLSBORO

RALEIGH, NC 27603 TEL. (919) 833-2079

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icr ,-:. ·.' JOURmu. ROCKINGH~ N~CL

~ MAY 2 ~ 95

After 18 Years -,'J,- :-7 Rev. Bill Leathers ~s ./ Leaving First Baptist

By CLARK COX Associate Editor

Dr. William W. Leathers III, pas-tor of the First Baptisf Church of Rockingham for the past 18 years, will be leaving June 25 to become pastor of the First Baptist Church of Hickory.

Leathers announced his impend-ing departure to the church congre-gation during last Sunday morning's services.

fn an interview Tuesday after-noon, he took pains to emphasize that he i not leaving with any ill feelings.

"We (Leathers and his wife, Crys-tal) have felt God's leadership in the process of making the decision to move," he said. "We feel very clearly that this is what God wants us to do.

"But we have been feeling incred-ible ~rief about leaving Rockingham and the congregation at First Baptist. This is a loving, supportive, and very open congregation. Even when there have been disagreements, the con-gregation has never stopped being loving, supportive, and encouraging."

Hickory's First Baptist Church, with approximately 1,800 members, i about twice the size of Rocking-ham First Baptist, Leathers said.

"From what we've seen, Hickory First Baptist is also a warm and af-firmmg congregation," he said. "They need some healing in their membership right now; the last two pastors have not stayed long.

"They were looking for someone with stability, and they feel that I can give them that stability."

Leathers, 51, a native of Conway, S.C., is a third-generation Baptist minister.

His family moved when Leathers was 6 weeks old to Petersburg, Va. , where his father was a pastor about IO years. The elder Leathers then be-came a pastor in Henderson, north of Raleigh, where he stayed for 19 years until his retirement.

Leathers graduated from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem and from the Southern Baptist Theo-logical Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and later earned a doctor of divinity tmue to be ta1thtul, worlang mem-bers of the church.

"First Baptist is a good, strong church, and I finnly believe that it will continue to be a good, strong church - and will be even stronger, in fact, five years from now."

degree at Emory University in Atlanta.

He was pastor of the K~kee Bap-tist Church in Appling, Ga., for six years prior to coming to Rocking-ham in 1976.

The Leatherses have two children - a daughter, Hilary, who next fall will enter her four year at the Bow-man Gray School of Medicine in Winston-Salem; and a son, Ren, who is a rising senior majoring in communications at Wake Forest.

Leathers said that, until a new pas-tor is found for Rockingham's First Baptist Church, "More administra-tive work will fall on Don (Bear-field, minister of music at the church) and Richard (Stevenson, mi-nister of education). Both are very good administrators in addition to being very good at their specialties.

"There may also be an interim pastor, possibly some retired Baptist min;ster who will serve the church on Sundays and do some hospital visits and pastoral counseling and so on - but all that, as well as the de-tai Is of how the search for a new pas-tor will be carried out, will be up to the membership and to a search committee that will be appointed by the membership."

Leathers said that he and his fam-ily treasure the friendships and fel-lowship they have experienced in Rockingham, and hope that their friends here "remember that there's a highway to Hickory.

"But if there are people who joined or atlen<led First Baptist Church in Rockingham in part be-cause I was pastor," he said, "our &realest ~op~ .i~ !h_at ther. will con-

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CLIPPING SERVICE 1115 HILLSBORO

/J . RALEIGH, NC 27603 \i' TEL. (919) 833-2079

NEWS HICKORY, N. C.

OCT J 2 9 5

Q-s br installed at First Baptist

First Bapti t Church recently installed its new senior pastor, the Rev. Bill Leathers.

-itev. Leaffier was pastor for 18 years at First Baptist Church in Rockingham. He is a graduate of Wake Forest University and earned a master' of divinity at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctorate at Emory University.

His wife, Cry tal, is a graduate of Meredith College and has a master' from Georgia State Uni~ versity. A daughter, Hilary. is a fourth-year medical student at Bowman Gray School of Medi-cine and a on, Ren, is a senior at Wake Forest.

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New Pastor To Deliver 1st Sermon Special To The Record

Dr. William W Leathers UI, 52, will preach his first sermon as senior pastor of First Baptist Church in downtown Hickory today. There will be two worship services offered, at 8:30 and 11 a.m., and Sunday School will be at 9:45.

Dr. Leathers accepted the call after serving more than 18 years as pastor of First Baptist Church in Rockingham. He also has served churches in Appling, Ga., and Bedford, Ky.

He is a 1965 Wake Forest gradu-ate and earned his Master of Div-inity from Southern Baptist Theo-logical Seminary. In 1973, he earned the Doctor of Sacred Theology de-gree from Emory University.

He has participated in the work of the Baptist State Convention of N.C., has written for denominational pub-lications, has been adjunct instructor 1n college-level religion courses and has served two terms as a trustee of Wake Forest University.

His wife, Crystal Hartness Leathers, is a graduate of Meredith College, and earned her master's in education from Georgia State Uni-versity. She is currently serving her second term as a Meredith trustee. Their daughter, Hilary, is a fourth-year medical student at Bowman

Gray School of Medicine, and their son, Ren, is a senior at Wake Forest University.

On May 14, Dr. Leathers was unanimously recommended to First Baptist Church by the Pastor Search Committee. Known already simply and comfortably as "Bill" to his con-gregation, he follows the 15-month

interim minis-try of Dr. Henry Crouch.

Leathers stated that leaving the church in Rockingham has been "an experience of grief and affir-

LEATHERS mation." He said he is look-

ing forward to serving with the church here and to the challenges that are here.

"When this church began its search process," Leathers said, "they asked themselves, 'Who are we and what do we need?' The answers that emerged indicated that the church wanted to build an open and trusting relationship with its pastor and desired a person who would pro-vide pastoral care to the congre-gation."

Leathers said that during his 18 years in Rockingham, the church "faced a number of difficult issues, and we tried to deal with them fairly and openly." He noticed that on his final Sunday in Rockingham, the most constant comment he heard from the members was, "You were there when we needed you."

During his first months in Hicko-ry, Leathers hopes to spend signifi-cant time getting to know the church and the community. He said, "I will certainly stress a one-to-one re-lationship with God and the need to accept our diversity as a strength. This is a fine church, and I am look-ing forward to serving the Lord with these people."

Although Leathers counts outside interests as travel, reading and golf, he also says "I really enjoy church and my work" and family activities.

First Baptist is home to about 1,200 members. The church is at 150 Fourth St., NW, in downtown Hicko-ry. For more information, ca!!,__../ 328-2031.