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Adding Rev. William J. Shaw Way to the street signs on the 100 and 200 blocks of South 53rd Street between Chestnut and Walnut Streets in recognition of Rev. Shaw’s 60 remarkable years of ministry and service to the West Philadelphia Community.
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WHEREAS, William J. Shaw was born in Marshall, Texas, as the youngest of six children. At a young age, he dedicated his life to serving God. He was baptized at age seven, served as supply pastor to his home church at the age of fifteen and was ordained as Pastor of the Oak Hill Baptist Church by seventeen; and
WHEREAS, Rev. Shaw considers his work as a Pastor his highest calling. In 1956 he was called to serve as Pastor of the White Rock Baptist Church in Philadelphia, a position he still maintains after 60 years; and
WHEREAS, On September 9, 1999, Dr. Shaw was elected the sixteenth President of The National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. Dr. Shaw was re-elected to the Convention presidency in September 2004. Dr. Shaw completed his second term as President of the Convention in 2009; and
WHEREAS, Rev. Shaw has been recognized nationally and internationally for his service. In 2009, President Barack H. Obama appointed Dr. Shaw to the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and, in 2010 appointed him as a Commissioner on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Dr. Shaw was reappointed by President Barack Obama in 2013 to serve a second term as a Commissioner on the USCIRF Committee; and
WHEREAS, In addition to his work as Pastor, Rev. Shaw has been recognized as a leader in other areas. He serves as Chairman of the Trustee Board for the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and is a member ex officio on the Board of Penn Medicine, he served on the Board of Directors of Junior Achievement of Delaware Valley, Inc., he has membership in the Philadelphia Rotary; Martin Luther King, Jr. Fellows in Black Church Studies; Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, and the Airport Advisory Board, he has also served as Executive Director of the Opportunities Industrialization Center; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Shaw is married to Camellia L. Shaw. They are parents to one son, Timothy, grandparents to two granddaughters, Lillian and Brittany, and great-grandparents to two great-granddaughters, Zanaira and Nyela; and
WHEREAS, Above all else Rev. Shaw is a man of God that seeks to serve God daily. Despite his many achievements, Rev. Shaw has consistently maintained that his highest and most sacred calling has been as Pastor to the people of God; now therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the Philadelphia City Council, Hereby adds Rev. William J. Shaw Way to the street sign on the 100 and 200 blocks of South 53rd Street between Chestnut and Walnut Streets in recognition of Rev. Shaw’s 60 remarkable years of ministry and service to the West Philadelphia Community.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to the Rev. William J. Shaw and his family as a sincere expression of the Philadelphia City Council’s gratitude and recognition.
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