SR0192 LRB103 31870 MST 60520 r
1		SENATE RESOLUTION
2		WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate wish to
3		congratulate Dr. William DeShone Rosser on serving five years
4		as senior pastor at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in
5		Springfield; and
6		WHEREAS, Dr. Rosser was born in Great Lakes on May 30,
7		1973; at the age of 10, he began working at Spring Hill M.B.
8		Church; while attending St. Paul M.B. Church in Millington,
9		Tennessee, where his father preached, he became a
10		deacon-in-training; he graduated from the University of
11		Memphis with a bachelor's degree in liberal studies in 1997;
12		and
13		WHEREAS, Dr. Rosser was licensed to preach as a Baptist
14		minister in April of 1997 and ordained in 1999; he served as an
15		associate minister at Oak Grove M.B. Church while residing in
16		Orlando, Florida; upon returning to Memphis, he reinstated his
17		membership at St. Paul under his father's leadership and
18		served again as associate minister and ex-officio member of
19		various ministries; he moved to the Christian Methodist
20		Episcopal (CME) denomination in January of 2006 and was
21		ordained a CME deacon and elder during the annual conference
22		that same year; he received his Master of Divinity (Summa Cum
23		Laude) from Memphis Theological Seminary in 2008; he served as

SR0192 - 2 - LRB103 31870 MST 60520 r
1		pastor of the Belmont CME Church in Mason, Tennessee until
2		2010; and
3		WHEREAS, Dr. Rosser received his Doctor of Ministry in
4		Pastoral Leadership in 2012 with a doctoral project, More than
5		Just Preaching: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the
6		Development of Associate Ministers in the African American
7		Baptist Church; he received the David G. Buttrick Certificate
8		in Homiletic Peer Coaching Certification at Vanderbilt
9		University Divinity School; and
10		WHEREAS, Dr. Rosser returned to his Baptist roots and
11		joined Historical Mt. Pleasant M. B. Church in Memphis until
12		August of 2013 when he moved to Shiloh Baptist Church; while
13		there, he initiated a scholarship program, refurnished the
14		sanctuary and retired the associated debt, instituted the
15		millennial Sunday school class, developed bereavement and
16		benevolent policy with funding, began a DVD/Blu-Ray worship
17		recording ministry, and trained and ordained three deacons; in
18		February of 2018, he accepted a position at Pleasant Grove
19		Baptist Church in Springfield to serve as the senior pastor;
20		and
21		WHEREAS, Dr. Rosser worked on a book and several
22		compendiums to train and inform the next generation of pastors
23		and preachers; he published a sermon illustration in the

SR0192 - 3 - LRB103 31870 MST 60520 r
1		African American Lectionary website and was a former director
2		of the Dr. James L. Netters Certificate in Congregational
3		Ministry Program and an adjunct professor in worship and
4		preaching at the Memphis Theological Seminary; he has
5		developed a program for Baptist church pastors to matriculate
6		ministers from licensing to ordination; additionally, he has
7		developed a compendium to effectively train and prepare the
8		diaconate for ministry; and
9		WHEREAS, Dr. Rosser is retired from the Memphis Police
10		Department, where he was a crime analysis officer; he also
11		served as a Police Readiness Entry Program (PREP) Explorer
12		Advisor and uniform patrol officer; prior to this, he worked
13		for FedEx as a station operations manager in St. Louis,
14		Missouri, training specialist in Orlando, Florida, and
15		secretary in Memphis; and
16		WHEREAS, Dr. Rosser has two children, William DeShone II
17		and Camryn Jaeleel; therefore, be it
18		RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL
19		ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Dr.
20		William DeShone Rosser on serving five years as senior pastor
21		at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Springfield, and we wish
22		him many more wonderful years; and be it further

SR0192 - 4 - LRB103 31870 MST 60520 r
1		RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
2		presented to Dr. Rosser as a symbol of our respect and esteem.