06-05-2022 Hall of Fame - Flipbook - Page 42
42 Baltimore Sun Media | Sunday, June 5, 2022
BALTIMORE SUN’S 2022
BUSINESS AND CIVIC HALL OF FAME HONOREE
ALFRED C.D. VAUGHN
A
t 83 years old, Alfred C.D. Vaughn has advised leaders
in Baltimore City and elsewhere, and been honored
as a living legend among Baptist ministers. But the
preacher and advocate has no ego; he considers
himself a simple servant.
“I believe as a pastor, I’ve got to have a servant
spirit. I believe that my calling is to serve and not to be
served,” said Rev. Dr. Vaughn, the longtime pastor of
Sharon Baptist Church in the Sandtown-Winchester
neighborhood.
A native Baltimorean who was the seventh of eight surviving children (his
mother birthed 12, but four did not live), Rev. Dr. Vaughn’s grew up at Sharon. He
was baptized there and even worked as a janitor for a time.
“Little did I ever dream, as a janitor, to be pastor here,” Rev. Dr. Vaughn said. “I
tease [people] and say, ‘Had I known I was going to be pastor, I would’ve cleaned
a little better.’ ”
Before becoming pastor of
Sharon in the mid-1980s, Rev. Dr.
Vaughn pastored at Promise Land
Baptist Church and Grace Memorial Baptist Church, both in Baltimore. But his service mindset also
has led him to act as an activist, riot
diffuser and mayoral and congressional adviser.
From riding with the police
during the 1968 uprising after
the assassination of the Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., to calming gun-wielding troublemakers,
to allowing his church to serve as
“ground zero” during the demonstrations after the 2015 death of
Freddie Gray in police custody, Rev.
Dr. Vaughn has been on the forefront of protests and peacemaking
in Baltimore.
“There has not been, in these last
50 years, a more consistently heard
voice in anything meaningful in this
city — from race relations to business expansion — than that of Dr.
[Alfred C.D.] Vaughn,” said Rev. Dr.
Vaughn’s mentee, Bishop Walter S.
Thomas Sr., pastor of New Psalmist
Baptist Church.
“He has been there for every
major move in my life and given
me great pastoral advice over these
years,” said Bishop Thomas, who
considers Rev. Dr. Vaughn like a
father. “He is normally the first call
I make whenever something major
is happening.”
He is also a guide for other ministers. He has served as president of
the Hampton University Ministers
Conference, president of the Baptist
Ministers Conference of Baltimore,
and dean of theology at both Eastern Seminary and Virginia Seminary (both located in Virginia).
“What struck me about him over
the years, was this respect that
other ministers had for him,” said
law professor, political organizer
and longtime friend Larry S. Gibson.
“He kind of got a nickname, at least
among ministers; they’d call him
‘the Cardinal.’ … He was kind of a
peacemaker among ministers.”
As a University of Maryland
Francis King Carey School of Law
professor, Mr. Gibson recalled how
Rev. Dr. Vaughn gave him the confidence to transition from practicing
law to teaching full-time. “He gave
great advice,” Mr. Gibson said.
Rev. Dr. Vaughn’s vision for a
moreequitablechurchledtoboundary-breaking work in his ministry:
He made 32 women deacons at
Sharon when he first returned to his
home church as pastor.
“One of the things that I’m really
proud of is that I’ve been blessed to
be an advocate for women in the
ministry,” the pastor said. “If God
has sons, he certainly has daughters. And in the economy of God
there’s no such thing as separation
of a woman preacher and a man
preacher, you’re just his son or his
daughter and have equal rights”
His stance on women’s leadership stretches beyond the walls
of the church. He calls his wife of
almost 59 years, Lillian P.B. Vaughn,
“the boss,” and attributes many of
his accomplishments to her.
“If I’d have any success at all in
life, I tell everybody, give me 40%
and give her 60%, because she’s
been the force behind me, pushing
me to do the things that I’ve been
doing,” Rev. Dr. Vaughn said of the
church’s first lady.
Rev. Dr. Vaughn’s children also
have been pivotal to his career.
“I had a son, he is now deceased,
Corrogan,”thepastorsaid,callingthe
death a great loss. “And then I have
Rev.Lynnette,that’smydaughter,she
helps me. And then I have Cassandra, who’s the baby child. They’ve all
been a blessing to my life in terms of
supporting me in ministry.”
“He always reminded us that we
have to have a spirit of prosperity and keep God first,” Cassandra
Vaughn said. “No matter what, I
don’t care if you stubbed your toe,
‘pray about it,’ ” he would say. “The
life that he lives in public is the life
he lives in private.”
Though he uses walking assistance and a wheelchair, Rev. Dr.
Vaughn’s servant spirit is not slowing down. He still pastors parishioners and the community, opening
his doors when the pandemic hit to
make sure people in the neighborhood had enough to eat.
While many celebrate Rev. Dr.
Vaughn’s accomplishments, leadership and service, the humble pastor
said he’s just been paying his dues.
“I really don’t believe, in my own
opinion, that I’ve done anything
outstanding, because I believe that
the old folk were right when they
said, ‘service is the price you pay
for occupying this earth,’ ” Rev. Dr.
Vaughn said. “And everything I’ve
done, I’ve done because I’ve felt that
it was part of the territory.”
“What struck me
about him over the
years, was this respect
that other ministers
had for him. He kind
of got a nickname,
at least among
ministers; they’d call
him ‘the Cardinal.’ …
He was kind of
a peacemaker
among ministers.”
— Larry S. Gibson,
law professor, political
organizer and longtime friend
AT A GLANCE
Age: 83
Hometown: Baltimore
Current residence: Baltimore
Education: Virginia Seminary
and College (now Virginia
University Lynchburg);
Southeastern University.
Career highlights: Pastor of:
Promise Land Baptist Church,
Grace Memorial Baptist Church and
Sharon Baptist Church; chairman of
the board to Virginia Seminary and
College; chair of the advisory board
for Grace and Glory magazine;
served as the president of the
Baptist Ministers Conference of
Baltimore and Vicinity eight terms.
Civic and charitable activities:
Created Sharon Baptist Church
Food Bank; tutoring; school supply
program; program linking youth to
seniors; Men’s Fellowship Program;
allowing church to be used as
an activism base for SandtownWinchester area.
Family: Married to Lillian P.B.
Vaughn; three children; three
grandchildren and two grandsonsin-law; one great grandson.