The Women of New Hope Baptist Church will kick off their Women’s Day celebration with a Women’s Day Paint and Brunch in the A. S. Jackson Fellowship Hall and featuring keynote speaker, Minister Angela Bedford Walker, Saturday, September 30, 2023. The cost is $35 which includes painting and the meal.
On Sunday, October 8, 2023, the Annual Women’s Day Service at 11:00 am. The Theme is “150 Years: Women of Hope Continuing the Journey” and the speaker is Rev. Dr Pamela James Jones of Detroit, MI.
The Lauretta T. Johnson Women’s Chorus will render music under the direction of Dr. Dalerie Wilkerson. Deaconess Alicia Grinage and Sister Brendetta Norman are Chair and Co-Chair of this year’s Women’s Day Committee.
Walker is a native Dallasite and product of the Dallas Independent School District and of New Hope Baptist Church. After graduating from Spelman College, she went on to earn a Master of Social Work degree from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, MO and a Master of Arts in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA.
Before returning to Dallas, Walker served as director of a pregnant and parenting teen program in South Central Los Angeles, CA. When she returned to Dallas, Walker became employed with The Family Place, a domestic violence agency. She served 19 years as Executive Program Director of Residential Services and later Vice President of Residential Services.
As a child, Walker participated in every ministry established for children and youth at New Hope Church. Her service included participation in the Inspirational Ensemble, the Mass Choir, the Courtesy Committee, Showers of Blessings and the Pulpit Search Committee. She also was a member of the Philadelphian Sunday School Class and later became the teacher. She was licensed to preach the Gospel on February 18, 2007. She served as a member of the Pulpit Ministry there until 2009. After leaving New Hope, she served with her husband at Bonnie View Christian Church from 2016 to 2021. She also ministered as a hospice chaplain.
She has been married to Rev. Alfred M. Walker for 20 years. Rev. Walker is the Community Regional Minister for Reconciliation and Anti-Racism for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the South-West. He served New Hope as its 12th pastor. They have three children and three grandchildren.
Jones is an ordained minister in the American Baptist Churches USA and a trained Historian of Christianity. Her career includes teaching seminarians and undergraduates in the field of American and African American Religion and Culture.
From 2019-2022, she worked on the church staff of Life Church Riverside-Detroit, a new church in the city, under the Rev. Georgia Hill.
Now retired, her post-retirement projects include interviews of retired African American pastors in Detroit for a history project. She is an active member of the Archive Committee of the Alpha Rho Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and a member of Hartford Memorial Baptist Church where she also served on Hartford’s staff from 2003 to 2008 under the Rev. Charles Gilchrist Adams and the Rev. Charles C. Adams.
A native of Dallas, Texas and a graduate of Ursuline Academy, she and her husband, Theodore, are the parents of two adult children.
New Hope Baptist Church is located at 5002 S. Central Expressway, Dallas, Texas 75215. Call the church office @ 214-421-5296 for more information.