The North Carolina Council of Churches will present its 2008 Distinguished Service Award to three leaders who have worked sacrificially for the dignity and equality of all God’s children and for the full inclusion of all in church and in society. The awards will be presented during the Council’s Critical Issues Seminar and House of Delegates meeting on Tuesday, May 13, at Greensboro College.

The three are:

Vernon Tyson, a retired pastor who worked courageously for civil rights. His tenure as the pastor of the Oxford United Methodist Church and his ministry for racial reconciliation in the midst of hatred and violence are chronicled in the acclaimed book Blood Done Sign My Name, written by his son Tim. A graduate of Guilford College, he opposed war and registered as a conscientious objector. He served in several positions in the North Carolina Conference, including pastorates at Raleigh’s Edenton Street UMC and University UMC in Chapel Hill, and served the NC Council of Churches as chair of its Commission on Social Ministries.

David Forbes, pastor of the Christian Faith Baptist Church in Raleigh and a leader of the civil rights movement in North Carolina. He was the first person arrested for taking part in Raleigh’s first sit-in demonstration in 1960, and he was one of the founders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. In more recent years he has been involved in the issue of homelessness and in work on behalf of the “lost generation,” young African-American and Latino men whose futures are at risk of being lost to poverty and prison. He has served the NC Council of Churches as a member of its Executive Board, representing the General Baptist State Convention.

Jimmy Creech, a leading advocate for the end of discrimination against gay and lesbian people in both the religious and the secular realms. He was pastor of Raleigh’s Fairmont United Methodist Church and later of First UMC of Omaha, Nebraska. He served the NC Council of Churches as its Program Associate from 1991 to 1996. During that time, the Council adopted a precedent-setting statement opposing violence, discrimination, and harassment against gays and lesbians and welcomed the Metropolitan Community Churches into full membership. He also represented the Council in the founding of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty (working with David Forbes and others) and the Covenant with North Carolina’s Children.