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| Samuel Simpson |
When
Samuel Simpson was convinced that God had spoken to him, he could not easily be
persuaded to believe otherwise.
Samuel George Simpson was born in 1931 in Retirement district, near Watt Town, St. Ann, Jamaica, to Luther Simpson and Frances Gaynor. He grew up with his family in Barnstaple, Trelawny, where the Baptist Church was a member of the Stewart Town, and later, the Gibraltar, circuit of churches. In young adulthood, he resided in Kingston and was associated with the Jones Town Baptist Church, where M. E. W. Sawyers was pastor. While in Kingston, he applied to the Jamaica Baptist Union for ministerial training and was turned down.
In the early 1960s, Simpson migrated to United States and there God opened up for him an opportunity to pursue what he believed was the divine calling on his life.
David Morgan from Corn Island had trained for the ministry at Calabar College and had served as a minister in both his native island, in Jamaica and in Panama. In the fourth phase of his life, following outstanding service in Panama, he became an agent of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in New York, where he also served as pastor of the First Baptist Church, Brooklyn (now called the Evergreen Baptist Church) where, in 1963, Samuel Simpson was ordained to the Christian ministry. Morgan discerned the need for the establishment of SBC witness in The Bronx and this led him to commission Samuel and Lola Simpson to the task in the summer of 1964.
The Simpsons began by organising regular prayer meetings in the apartment of Cecelia Robinson at 2114 Daly Avenue in the Bronx. With him were a small group of dedicated Christian friends and representatives of the First Baptist Church. This led to the purchase of a two-family house at 2024 Honeywell Avenue where, on November 6, 1964, the Bronx Baptist witness was initiated and dedicated to the glory of God. Two years later, on November 6, 1966, the Bronx Baptist Chapel, with an enrolment of 64 members, was constituted into a church. With the growth of the congregation, a building was acquired at 331 East 187th Street and, from April 1970, the congregation commenced worshipping there.
Simpson was determined that the church should be a mission-centred one and he embarked on a programme for the realization of this dream. He started a church planting programme leading to the establishment of the Wake-Eden Community Baptist Church, Honeywell Baptist Church, Inter-denominational Fellowship of Co-op City (now called the Protestant Community Church), Grace Baptist Chapel, and the co-sponsoring of Haitian Bronx Baptist Church. In later years, Bronx Baptist Church also helped establish four church plants, two in The Bronx and two in New Jersey: – ByStorm Church and A Better City Movement Church in the Bronx; and the Kenyan Fellowship Church and the Power Point Baptist Church in New Jersey.
Besides forming churches, Simpson also led the Bronx Baptist Church into community-transforming ventures. The Bronx Baptist Day Care and Learning Center was established in 1977. The day care programme eventually became a fully licensed pre-school program, with a Summer Camp, and an After School program.
Other creative programmes initiated by the Bronx Church under Simpson’s leadership, working sometimes in collaboration with other pastors and churches, include the following:
An Affordable Housing Development programme, which involved the acquisition of funding to acquire land and construct multiple apartment complexes, and single and multi-family homes in the South Bronx community.
A Soup Kitchin and Food Distribution programme, which, since 1983, benefited from a Federal grant and “hunger funds” from the State Baptist Convention.
The outreach social ministries were geared primarily to meeting the needs of families in the communities served by the churches.
Besides these mission projects, Simpson extended himself into other areas of ministry. He was a regular broadcaster on Family Radio in New York. To offer help and encouragement to others, he wrote a weekly column in a newspaper called Carib News. He also wrote several books including, What God did for Me; Sam Simpson, Architect of Hope; and To Dream the Impossible Dream. He concluded his 2003 book, To Dream the Impossible Dream, with the following:
And I saw a new Bronx. Hope
replaced despair; redemption blotted out condemnation. Meaning brought life to
material success. For Christ’s constraining love had permeated her streets,
through the poured-out lives of His people.
In New York City, Simpson was busy on both the denominational and ecumenical fronts. On the denominational front, Simpson was SBC Director of Church Planting in the Bronx. He also served two terms as president of the Baptist Convention of New York.
On
the ecumenical front, he served as Chairman of the Board and President, Bronx
Shepherds Restoration Corporation, which provided affordable housing and other
community services for residents of the community. He was founding member and
two-term president of the Clergy Coalition of the 47th Precinct of New York;
President, Bronx division of the Council of Churches of New York; Chairman of
the Board for the Council of Churches of the City of New York, and Board
Member, Northeastern Bible College.
Simpson received a Master of Professional Studies degree from New York Theological Seminary, was a Merrill Fellow at Harvard Divinity School, and a Senior Common Fellow at Regent’s Park College, Oxford University. He received honorary doctorates from Asia Bible College and Martha’s Vineyard Theological Seminary.
Simpson’s outstanding ministry gained wide recognition. On June 13, 2007, the New York House of Representatives honoured him for his contribution to community development, declaring “We are a stronger, better community for his work.”
In 2011, Simpson retired from the pastorate and four years later, on February 23, 2015, the man who in life was often referred to as “the bishop of The Bronx” passed away. He was in his 84th year. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx. His determination to fulfil what he saw as the calling God placed on his life never wavered and was amply rewarded. He served as pastor at Bronx Baptist Church for 45 years and Wake-Eden Community Baptist Church 39 years. After his passing the tributes poured in.
The SBC Baptist Press announced, “Samuel G. Simpson, a retired Southern Baptist leader and New York pastor known for a legacy of faith, vision and integrity, died Feb. 23 at his home in Bronx, New York. He was 83.”
Gary Frost, then vice president for the SBC’s North American Mission Board’s Midwest Region declared concerning Simpson, “He helped pave the way for African Americans to serve in Southern Baptist life. If any of the ethnic leaders in the Southern Baptist Church family are reaching high, it’s because we’re standing on the shoulders of giants like Samuel Simpson. And he is truly one of the giants of the Southern Baptist family.”
Michael Chance, one-time staff development director of the Metro New York Baptist Association, said of Simpson: “When he and Mrs. Lola (Simpson’s wife) first came to the Bronx, God really laid it upon his heart to do Bible studies and plant ministries through every neighborhood in the Bronx. That part of the Bronx was just full of burned-out buildings. There was gang activity. Simpson and others worked to rebuild the area, focusing on Christian and urban renewal. He was just a remarkable, remarkable man. He had a spirit of humility. He was full of graciousness. No matter who you were, he respected you; he talked with you as someone who deserved respect.”
On July 2, 2018, New York renamed two streets to honour the late Samuel Simpson, noted as a pioneering African American Baptist pastor and community revitalizer. “Reverend Dr. Samuel G. Simpson Way” marks the corner of 187th Street and Tiebout Avenue outside Bronx Baptist Church, and the corner of Strang and Murdock Avenues outside Wake-Eden Community Baptist Church, two principal congregations where Simpson served.
New York City council member Andy King, who presented the proclamation renaming the streets, said the honor is not lightly given. “When we do in the city of New York a street renaming, [what we are providing] are beacons for our neighborhoods, reminders that shining light, that inspiration that individual offered while they moved around in the flesh.”
Simpson left to mourn his passing his wife, Lola Simpson, their three children Erica Simpson, Stephen Simpson, and Kim Simpson-Turnbull, and five grandchildren. They will remember his favourite saying: “God is good, it is good to be good, and it is good to do good.” Lola subsequently passed away.
Perhaps, it was because God wanted him to serve in New York City that Simpson was not given the opportunity to serve through the Jamaica Baptist Union. And what blessings attended his ministry! Let us be careful how we interpret what we often regard as negative experiences. We need to keep asking ourselves, “What is God saying to me or what is God teaching me through this experience?”
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