Preston R. Washington was a prominent minister of Memorial Baptist Church in Harlem, New York. He was a co-founder of the Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement and held leadership positions from 1986-2001, bringing millions of dollars in development projects for housing and retail to the neighborhood. He and his wife, Rev. Renee F. Washington, increased the congregation to 1500 members.

Early life and education

Preston Washington was born in Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

, New York, growing up in Spanish Harlem. He attended public schools and graduated from Williams College

Williams College

Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...

. He earned a Master's degree in Divinity at Union Theological Seminary

Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York

Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is a preeminent independent graduate school of theology, located in Manhattan between Claremont Avenue and Broadway, 120th to 122nd Streets. The seminary was founded in 1836 under the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with nearby Columbia...

, and a doctorate in education from Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

.

Career

In 1976 Dr. Washington was called to Memorial Baptist Church in Harlem, which he served until his death in 2003 at age 54. He and his wife built up the congregation.

In 1989 with Canon Frederick B. Williams

Frederick B. Williams

Frederick Boyd Williams was a religious leader of national importance in the United States. As Canon of the Church of the Intercession in Harlem, New York from 1971 to 2005, he led an influential congregation, the first in the nation to establish a programmatic response to AIDS. A patron of the...

, Washington co-founded the Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement (HCCI), a consortium of 90 congregations that has developed housing and retail services. It helped Harlem start a revival during the difficult years of the 1980s and early 1990s. HCCI also supported programs for education and prevention of HIV/AIDS.

In 1989 Washington was among the early supporters of Pernessa C. Seele

Pernessa C. Seele

Pernessa C. Seele is an immunologist and the CEO and founder of Balm in Gilead, Inc., a religious-based organization that provides support to people with AIDS and their families, as well as working for prevention of HIV and AIDS. In 1989 she initiated the Harlem Week of Prayer, with 50 churches,...

 in her efforts to organize the Harlem Week of Prayer for Healing of AIDS. In a few years she expanded this effort to improve public health through communities of faith to a non-profit, the Balm in Gilead, Inc. Participating congregations use revival, education and prevention to reduce HIV/AIDS, and to support families and patients.

Washington encouraged the congregation to welcome tourists.

"Dr. Washington opened his church to tourists who arrive by the busload to hear gospel music. He used part of the money they contributed to renovate his church. He also changed the church's order of service by starting the preaching during the service's second hour after the tourists, many of whom did not understand English, left.

In an interview with National Public Radio in 1996, he said members joked that the church was a European church on Sunday morning and a clandestine black church at nights during the week. He defended his encouragement of the tourist invasion by suggesting that visitors were probably experiencing their most intimate encounter with black culture."

Marriage and family

He married Renee Frances Washington, who also became a minister and assisted him at Memorial Baptist Church. They had five sons together, and adopted two more.

In 2004, Rev. Renee F. Washington was elected to succeed Dr. Preston Washington as senior minister of Memorial Baptist Church. She was the first woman to be called as senior pastor of an established Baptist church in Harlem.

Legacy and honors

• Dr. Washington was recognized for his work to create housing and provide support to families and people with HIV/AIDS.

• The city named W.115th Street, where the church is located, Bishop Preston R. Washington, Sr. Place in his honor.

Books

• 1986 - From the Pew to the Pavement: Messages on Urban Outreach (Aaron Press), and
• 1988 - God's Transforming Spirit: Black Church Renewal (Judson Press)

External links

• Memorial Baptist Church, Official Website

  Renee F. Washington bio - his wife

• Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement, Inc., Official Website