LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION honoring the memory and celebrating the life of
The Reverend Jesse Evans who garnered community support to bring a house
of worship to North Park

WHEREAS, The character and richness of religious and community life in
the Empire State are nourished and fulfilled through the faithful
concern and selfless devotion of those who commit their energies and
purpose to the ministry of others; and
WHEREAS, The Reverend Jesse Evans was such a man and member of the
clergy; he established the Christian Light Missionary Baptist Church in
Long Beach, New York in 1950; the congregation originally met at Long
Beach City Hall, and the church he labored to build opened in 1966; and
WHEREAS, While Reverend Jesse James Evans worked tirelessly to build a
new church for his congregation, he worked full-time and helped to raise
more than his own family; and
WHEREAS, He was a father, not just to his own children, but to the
entire community according to his daughter, Jessie Wilson, who still
worships at the Christian Light Missionary Baptist Church he built in
the North Park neighborhood of Long Beach; people of all colors came to
him with problems and he helped them; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Evans had been the pastor at Christian Light for
fifty years when he died in April 2000 at age 87; many consider him to
have been an ecclesiastical pioneer who contributed significantly to
filling what was regarded a religious void in the Long Beach community
before he came; and
WHEREAS, Born to wealthy farmers in Eatonton, Georgia, on August 29,
1912, Reverend Evans served as a Chaplain in the U.S. Army during World
War II, after which he traveled each Sunday from Jackson Heights to work
as a Deacon and then an ordained Minister at the First Baptist Church in
North Park; later he replaced the retiring Reverend J.E. Hall, reorgan-
ized the congregation into the Christian Light Missionary Baptist
Church, and held services at City Hall beginning in 1950; and
WHEREAS, Two years later, a woman generously donated a garage to him
on Riverside Boulevard which he converted into a serviceable church; it
wasn't until 1966 that he was able to open a church at 620 Park Place, a
street which was officially renamed J.J. Evans Boulevard in 2003; and
WHEREAS, He raised four daughters, Mary, Catherine, Gloria, and Jessie
and three sons, Andrew, Jonathan and Charles, the latter two of whom
tragically perished in a house fire in 1962; and
WHEREAS, During this time, Reverend Evans worked at bedding companies
in Island Park and Manhattan, first as a mattress maker and then a
manager; he also found time to teach history, conduct Biblical studies
and pen articles for religious periodicals; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Evans' daughter, Jessie Wilson, as an example of the
kind of person he was, recalls that one night when a man came to the
Evans' home after he and his family lost their own home in a fire, her
father let them live in their basement; and
WHEREAS, Kathy Williams, a woman who has worshiped at Christian Light
since she was married there in 1959, similarly remembers Reverend Evans
as a very generous and wise man who reinforced her beliefs, including
that all men are created equal; and
WHEREAS, Kathy Williams also recalls that he opened his home and
congregation to people who migrated from the South looking for a better
life and is mindful that when she and her mother moved north from their
native South Carolina, Reverend Evans looked out for her; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Evans was deeply involved in religious organizations
on the local, state and national levels; he served as Moderator of the

Long Island Progressive Baptist Church District Association, President
of the Progressive Baptist State Convention of New York, and as a member
of the Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention of Amer-
ica, organizations from which Reverend Evans sought assistance, along
with many others, including the Long Beach Interracial Committee on
which he served, to help build the church he envisioned; and
WHEREAS, When the church opened its doors in March 1966, the congre-
gation joyfully marched from the original church to the new house of
worship on Park Place in Long Beach; and
WHEREAS, In the following years, Reverend Evans was a highly respected
and stabilizing figure in the Long Beach community and was elected to
the first residents' Board of Directors of the city-run Martin Luther
King Jr. Community Center, which he served on alongside his daughter
Jessie Wilson and her husband, Pearlie; and
WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body that when a person
of such noble aims and accomplishments is brought to our attention it is
appropriate to publicly and jubilantly proclaim and commend them for the
edification and emulation of all the citizens of the great State of New
York; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
honor the memory and celebrate the life of The Reverend Jesse Evans who
garnered community support to bring a house of worship, the Christian
Light Missionary Baptist Church, to the North Park neighborhood of Long
Beach and served his congregation and community with distinction for
many years; and be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to the Christian Light Missionary Baptist Church and the family
of Reverend Jesse Evans.