adopted by The City Council
ofthe City of Chicago, Illinois
SALUTE TO DR. WILLIAM J. LEE
WHEREAS, Dr. William J. Lee, an outstanding spiritual leader and pillar of his community, has answered God's call to accept a pastoral ministry i" Huntsville, Alabama; and
WHEREAS, for more than two decades, Dr. Lee has served the Seventh Day Adventist Lake Region Conference with distinction and honor. He began as a seminary intern at his childhood church, Highland Avenue Seventh-day Adventist Church in Benton Harbor, Michigan. During his second year of seminary, he began full-time responsibilities pastoring the Trinity Temple Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. During his tenure, he also pastored other Michigan Seventh Day Adventists Churches in Jackson and Grand Rapids as well as in Indianapolis, Indiana and, for the past four-and-a-half years, at Shiloh Seventh-day Adventist Church located in Chicago's Park Manor neighborhood. For more than seven years. Dr. Lee also served as the Lake Region's Departmental Director for Men's Ministry; and
WHEREAS, before his call to ministry, Pastor Lee spent a year at Tuskegee University, majoring in Chemical Engineering.
However, in 1999 he felt that call. He matriculated to Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama where he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Religion (Magna Cum Laude). He furthered his education at Andrews University in Berrien Springs. Michigan where he earned a Master of Divinity Degree and a Doctor of Ministry Degree concentrating in Urban Ministries. His dissertation was entitled, "A Strategy to Increase African-American Male Membership in the Adventist Church"; and
WHEREAS, during his time at Shiloh SDA, Dr. Lee has served his community by working with District 3 Chicago Police Department Community Policing as a member ofthe Clergy Subcommittee, leading prayer marches in the Park Manor community, and holding prayer vigils for slain residents ofthe neighborhood; and
WHEREAS for more than five years. Dr. Lee has also hosted a television program on the Three Angels Broadcasting Dare to Dream Network, titled, "For Guys Only" and can be seen weekly worldwide. Additionally, he has authored two books; "Ready, Set, Go! Igniting African American Males for Christ" and a daily devotional entitled, "Pursuing the Favor of God"; and
WHEREAS Pastor Lee married his high school sweet-heart, Latoria Thomas. Latoria holds a Master of Education degree in Adult and Higher Education with a concentration in College Student Affairs Leadership from Grand Valley State University. She formerly served as the Director of Career Services for the School of Public Health at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis and currently serves as the Assistant Director of Human Resources for the Lake Region Conference. The Lee's have two children William Jeffery II (15 years old) and Christopher Joshua (11 years old); and
WHEREAS, The Honorable Roderick Sawyer, Alderman of the 6lh Ward, has informed this august body of Chicago's loss of such a remarkable guiding light of his community, now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED that we the mayor and members of the City of Chicago City Council, gathered this 27th Day of April 2022 AD, do hereby express our heartiest congratulations to Dr. William J. Lee upon his new appointment and extend our very best wishes to him and his family for success in his new Huntsville, Alabama post.
RODERICK T. SAWYER
Alderman - 6th Ward
BE IT FURTHER RESOL VED that a suitable copy of this resolution be prepared and presented to Dr. William J. Lee.