The Rev. Harold Cottom III recalled a pivotal time in his childhood growing up in Sewickley and attending St Matthew’s AME Zion Church.

He was involved in a Buds of Promise youth program at the church.

Cottom said the women who ran the program were very focused on scripture, and remembered one of their rules.

“When you come, you better have memorized a Bible verse,” he said. “You don’t come to Buds of Promise (without one) and you better not say, ‘Jesus wept.’”

It was one of many stories shared to a joyous crowd at Sewickley United Methodist Church this month as part of a celebration of African American Sewickley natives who became pastors and preach throughout the country.

Eight of 11 invitees participated in the program organized by the Daniel B. Matthews Historical Society, a nonprofit re-formed last year at St. Matthews and dedicated to preserving Sewickley’s rich African American history.

Cottom, a 1980 Quaker Valley grad known to family and friends as “Butchy,” went on to talk about various influencers throughout the borough and how they all helped mold him into a man of God with a 30-plus year pastoral career.

“In the crucible of Sewickley there were some amazing things that would happen,” Cottom said, “and the men and women of Sewickley would love you in that place.”

About 200 people attended the event March 8.

Many in the audience audibly reacted to some of the names shared from the podium, often in laughter and applause.

The little more-than-three-hour program was posted to the Methodist church’s YouTube page.

It was a holy homecoming of sorts.

The ministers all shared similar stories of how relatives, friends, neighbors and church leaders impacted their lives and guided them through struggles.

“We found in this community a place where we could thrive,” said the Rev. Canard Grigsby Jr., older brother to fellow honoree the Rev. Victor Grigsby.

Canard graduated from Quaker Valley in 1977. Victor graduated in 1979.

The elder brother currently serves as an associate pastor at Central Baptist Church in Pittsburgh. The younger is a professor at Duquesne University’s Communication & Rhetorical Studies department and listed as pastor of Central Baptist Church with his brother.

“It is a holy homecoming,” Victor Grigsby said of having the pastors back in town. “We grew up together as friends playing baseball, Little League, football. We ran track together in middle school, high school (and) basketball teams. We were uniquely positioned. It was amazing the way God shaped us and formed the relationships moving us out of recreational relationships, out of what I would consider to be sort of that communal relationship.

“We were families. We were more like brothers than friends. All of us. That was an interesting dynamic for the community.”

Several of the ministers also talked about how they would go to each other’s houses as youngsters and how someone else’s mother or father would treat them as their own children.

Victor Grigsby remembered how some of the older generation were skeptical when he and other honorees got into ministry in their late teens and early 20s.

“Here we are 40 years later and we’re still going,” he said. “God’s presence is still with us and we’re still moving. … It was for real. It was authentic. I think that was the power of God positioning us in preaching ministry. It was just amazing. That same thing we had when we were 8, 9 years old on the Little League field — we have the same thing in the pulpit.”

Historical society president Stratton Nash served as emcee.

He said the event was in line with the society’s goals of celebrating local achievement, and it was outstanding to welcome religious leaders who all at one time lived within walking distance from the heart of the borough’s business district.

“It met and maybe even exceeded expectations,” Nash said. “The turnout was just as we envisioned. It was a fun afternoon filled with history and religious ceremony in a sense. We all grew up within blocks of one another. We’re all friends and acquaintances.”

Nash and his efforts with the Sewickley Community Center received several mentions from the reverends.

Parts of the program

The event began with a reception catered by Gist Catering of Pittsburgh, which was founded by Sewickley native Tracey Gist, who knew a lot of the pastors growing up.

“It was exciting to see everybody and see the transformation from knowing them as a kid, and really still being connected somehow with the pastors of Sewickley and the different organizations,” said Gist, a 1985 Quaker Valley grad.

Attendees were also treated to a handful of songs sung by a choir coalition of several Sewickley churches, including members from United Methodist, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Triumph, St. Stevens and Christ Church at Grove Farm.

The choir was led by Triumph minister of music Leslie Davis.

Several current Sewickley pastors also played a role. The Rev. William B. Rankin of St. Matthew’s offered a scripture reading from the book of Ephesians. The Rev. Verton Dean Sr. of Antioch Baptist Church delivered the closing prayer.

The Rev. Hannah Loughman of Sewickley United Methodist also offered prayer. She was very proud to be a part of such a historical event.

“Stratton Nash asked if we would be willing to host, and of course that was an easy yes,” Loughman said. “They took care of the rest. This has been a dream to get to be a part of something that offers such a vast array of experiences. All I had to do was show up and help organize the underbelly of it. I am honored that they asked to host it here.”

The honorees

• The Rev. Canard Grigsby Jr. of Pittsburgh, 1977 Quaker Valley graduate, earned his ministerial license in April 1982 and was ordained April 1992. He served at First Baptist Church in Bridgeville, Morningstar Baptist Church in Clairton and has been with Central Baptist Church in Pittsburgh since 2009.

• The Rev. Harold “Butchy” Cottom III of Dayton, Ohio, is a 1980 Quaker Valley graduate. He started his pastoral career in 1995. He served at New Hope Baptist Church in Washington, Pa., as well as Second Baptist Church of Rochester, Mt. Enon Missionary Baptist Church and Daytonview Church of the Nazarene before becoming pastor of Mt. Olive Baptist Church of Dayton, Ohio.

• The Rev. Victor Grigsby of Pittsburgh is a 1979 Quaker Valley grad. He started his pastoral career in 1986 at Second Baptist Church in Ford City. He has been with Central Baptist Church in Pittsburgh since 1996 and went on a missionary journey to Cape Town, South Africa, as part of a ministerial exchange.

• The Rev. Todd Smith of Aliquippa is also a Quaker Valley alum. Smith started his pastoral career in October 1999 with Rock Christian Fellowship Church in Rochester and recently started his 26th year there. He also volunteered for more than eight years in prison ministry with the Beaver and Allegheny county jail systems.

• The Rev. Benny Tate of Atlanta attended Quaker Valley and graduated from South Macon High School in Tuskegee, Ala. in 1976. He started his pastoral career in 1991 at Allen Temple AME Church in Woodstock, Ga. He also served at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church and is the pastor at Eagles Nest Church in Roswell, Ga.

• The Rev. John White of St. Augustine, Fla., is a 1973 Quaker Valley grad. He started his pastoral career in 1981 with Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He also served at Trinity Presbyterian Church in St. Petersburg, Fla., Witherspoon St. Presbyterian Church in Princeton, N.J., Bethesda Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga., and at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton.

• The Rev. Lance Whitlock of Washington, Pa., is a member of the Quaker Valley High School class of 1978. He started preaching in 1981 at Triumph Baptist Church and was ordained in 1986. He also served at First Baptist Church in McDonald, First Baptist Church in Elwood City, Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Canonsburg and Legacy Church International in Washington, Pa.

• The Rev. Christopher Zacharias of Alexandria, Va., a 1991 Quaker Valley graduate. He was ordained in 1999 and served in multiple churches, including Mt. Pisgah AME Zion Church in Bedford, St. Paul AME Zion Church in Coraopolis, St. Mark AME Zion Church in Wilkinsburg, Metropolitan AME Zion Church in Ridgewood, N.J., Rock Hill AME Zion Church in Indiana Trail, N.C., Mt. Pisgah AME Zion Church in Rockingham, N.C., First AME ZION Church in San Francisco and currently serves as pastor of John Wesley AME Zion Church, the National Church of Zion Methodist in Washington, D.C.

Other invitees who could not make it and did not submit information were the Reverends Dwight Banks of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Beaver Falls, Todd Boxley of Try Jesus Ministry in Wexford and Tammy Farrington.

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