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| David Aaron Morgan |
The
fourth son of Mr. & Mrs. W. B. Morgan; David Aaron Morgan was born in Corn
Island, on March 13, 1904. At that time, Corn Island was not yet a municipality
of Nicaragua; it was a part of Mosquitia. When his beloved pastor Rev. E. B.
James died, Morgan experienced a spiritual awakening and he was baptized by Rev.
George Stone on March 30, 1923, in the Ebenezer Baptist Church, which had been
formed in 1852 under the leadership of Rev. Edward Kelly from British Honduras
(now, Belize).
Morgan commenced his working life as a fisherman but soon decided that being a minister of the Gospel was part of God’s plan for his life. Morgan took the bold step of making his way to Jamaica and turning up at Calabar College, and, without appointment, presented himself to the College principal and tutor, asking for an audience.
Ernest Price and David Davis were stunned to learn from the young visitor, whom they found in the waiting room at Calabar, that he was from Corn Island and had answered the call to serve as a minister. Morgan presented testimonials he had brought from his homeland attesting to his sound character and preaching gifts. He also brought with him the funds required to cover Calabar College fees and requested immediate admission to the College to commence formal preparation for the ministry. At first, the College leaders were inclined to decline Morgan’s request, which they considered to be very irregular. But, moved by the bold enquirer’s confidence, audacity and evident sincerity, the Calabar leaders decided to admit him to the College and wait to see how he would perform.
Morgan entered Calabar in March 1924 and spent five years there. After completing the training programme, he was ordained to the ministry at East Queen Street Baptist Church, which was under Frederick Cowell Lloyd’s leadership. Not a man to waste time, Morgan organized that the day of his ordination would also be the day of marriage to Edina May McLaren, a Jamaican.
The ship carrying his father and other representatives from Corn Island to the day’s events in Kingston encountered problems at sea and was reported lost on account of a great storm. This caused much concern for those participating in the activities of the day. However, the travellers from Corn Island arrived safe and sound the day after the ordination and so missed both the ordination and the wedding celebration. Frederick Cowell Lloyd organised a luncheon in honour of the Corn Islanders, with Mr. & Mrs. Price of Calabar and some members of JBU Executive Committee present.
In 1933, the illness of his wife influenced Morgan to resign the pastorate in Corn Island and return to the country of his wife’s birth and his theological studies. Unfortunately, this resulted in the closure of the oldest academic institution in Corn Island, the Ebenezer Baptist School, which had been founded by Rev Edward Kelly in 1852. Mrs. Morgan had been the sole teacher at the school, whose closure extended from 1933 to 1977.
D. A. Morgan
Morgan was a visionary and an effective fundraiser. He led the churches he served in a massive building programme, renovating old buildings and erecting new ones. A new school and a teacher’s cottage were constructed, and a new mission house started. The church also secured a new bell.
In 1939, tragedy struck. Morgan’s wife, Edna, died in December, leaving him with five small children – David, Rendell, Lancelot, Maeve and Anthony. In adulthood, Maeve became the wife of Rev. Samuel Vernon and was a faithful co-worker with him in Jamaica, Trinidad, Canada and USA. In October 1940, Morgan remarried. His new wife was Eileen Gertrude Dawkins, and with Morgan, she two more children into the world – Raymond and Orville.
While offering leadership to the churches he pastored, Morgan found time for other ministries. JBU elected him Chairman in February 1943. According to Frederick Cowell Lloyd, pastor of East Queen Street Baptist Church and Editor of the Jamaica Baptist Reporter, Morgan “was one of the architects of the JBU Central Fund Scheme and he was chosen as Liaison Officer on behalf of the fund. He resuscitated declining causes, oversaw the repair of damaged church buildings and built new ones, [while] deputizing in between times on behalf of JBU in ten different countries including Canada, Panama, USA and the UK….” Cowell-Lloyd adds the following:
He must have found
himself losing his breath at the speed with which [he] resuscitated declining
causes, repaired damaged churches and bult new ones. He makes no pretence of
being a scholar, but he reads widely and his sermons and addresses are always
fresh, inspiring and challenging…. He is the Foundation Director of the
Northern United Building Society.”
David Morgan joined Daniel Allen in co-authoring Jamaica Baptists: Whence and Whither (n.d.) and Baptist Witness in the Pearl of the Antilles (1949), which honours the memory of George Liele, and An Hundredfold (1949). The latter was produced to celebrate the centenary of Jamaica Baptist Union.
After leaving Jamaica, Morgan served at the Bethany Baptist Church in Rainbow City, Panama, starting in 1954. During his six years of service there, church membership grew from 100 to 600 and the church building was enlarged to provide adequate accommodation for the congregation. Morgan was elected president of the Panama Baptist Convention. In 1960, Morgan accepted the invitation extended to him by the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention to join its New York staff of missionaries starting January 1, 1961.
While working as Pastor the First Baptist Church, Brooklyn, (later called the Evergreen Baptist Church), Morgan developed the vision of a Baptist church in Bronx. To this end, Samuel and Lola Simpson were commissioned in the summer of 1964. With representatives of the First Baptist Church and a small group of dedicated Christian friends, the Simpsons organized prayer meetings in the apartment of Cecelia Robinson at 2114 Daly Avenue in the Bronx, NY. The venture flourished and grew to become the Bronx Baptist Church.
After his retirement from his role with the Southern Baptist Convention in New York, Morgan went to live in Florida where he met people from the Caribbean who told him that they did not have a true church home in their new country. On August 19, 1976, Morgan collaborated with Rev Oscar Romos to plant a Baptist Church in Miami. He helped order the church’s life to ensure that people from the Caribbean would feel at home there. He named it Metropolitan Baptist Church. After his retirement from the pastorate of the East Queen Street Baptist Church in 1976, Rev Dr Joswyn Leo-Rhynie travelled to the United States where, in 1977, he assisted Rev. D. A. Morgan in the work of establishing the Metropolitan Baptist Church. Currently, the church meets in Hollywood, Florida and one of its ministries is the David Morgan Scholarship Award Program to aid congregants to pursue higher education.
On December 19, 1995, at the age of 91, D. A. Morgan’s time on earth came to an end. this took place in Palm Beach, Florida. A remarkable man he had been and how wonderfully did God engage him in the service of God’s kingdom!
Thank for publishing this interesting article. It hits close to home, as David was my grandfather. I need to offer a few small corrections. First, Eileen, my grandmother, had 3 sons: Franklin (Raymond is his middle name), Orville, and Edmund. Franklin is my father. Second, according to my grandfather, who told me the story, he did not have money for tuition to Calabar. He talked himself into admission and a full scholarship. David’s father did not support him going into the ministry, and he disowned him. Later in life, the 2 reconciled, and my grandfather had the honor of baptizing his own father. Thank you again for your research on this.
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