Foreword

INDEX

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Bibliography

It is a long way from the cotton fields of rural Burke County in Georgia to St. Petersburg, Fla. It is a long way from the one-room wooden schoolhouse in Burke County, and the Waynesboro High and Industrial School in Waynesboro to Florida Memorial College, to Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, to Morehouse School of Religion, to the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta to Garrett Seminary in Evanston, Ill.

Enoch Davis' book On The Bethel Trail began in 1925 when an inner voice impelled him to leave his kindred and native home and travel southward to St. Petersburg. Through successive stages Enoch Davis moved from an usher, a Sunday School teacher, a choir member, church clerk, and a member of the Board of Deacons to the pastorate of Bethel Baptist Church, which he has pastored more than 40 years.

Through successive stages Enoch Davis has worked himself up from a humble and meager beginning in Florida to a place of great responsibility in the religious life of his community and nation. His influence is felt beyond the confines of Bethel Community Baptist Church. The inner voice that guided Enoch Davis out of Georgia has continued to guide him in constructive service in his pastorate, the building of an outstanding church, involvement in constructive activities in both civic and religious endeavors. As a result thereof many honors have been bestowed upon this servant of God by church and community in appreciation of his unselfish devotion to good causes and the promulgating of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the social struggle which black people have waged in a determination to implement in deeds the Gospel of Christ and the democratic ideals to which all too many give only lip service, Enoch Davis has been in the thick of the fight, going beyond the utterance of an Amos or Micah. He has not only spoken, he has acted. It is his desire that all men, including black people, should have an opportunity to walk the earth with dignity. As a result of this man's struggles, his quiet, but strong and aggressive leadership, racial harmony and peace came to St. Petersburg.

Because of Enoch Davis' courage and voice of moderation, St. Petersburg was spared the bloodshed and violence that erupted in other Florida cities and across this nation during the height of the Civil Rights struggle in the late '50s and early '60s. Although maligned, mistreated and abused as he traveled this state, Enoch Davis never resorted to violence but always met his oppressors and persecutors with wise, sane and godly words, remaining poised and calm, cool and collected, loving and not hating.

In this biography of Enoch Davis, which includes some of his soul-searching and pointed and hard hitting sermons, one sees a skillful surgeon cutting through to the heart of religious and social issues. Here is a good and interesting preacher of the gospel. Here we see a man of compassion, with a special sensitivity to the inarticulate urgencies of the aged, the defenseless, and the weak. He has lived under the necessity of a dynamic social pattern.

It was this urgency that blossomed into a mature lifestyle which involved him in the struggle for a decent society for black and white in this city and state in which he lives and works. He is so sure of his roots as a black man, so confident of his faith in the integrity of life itself that he could run the risk of putting the weight of his life on the side of the good community without at the same time betraying either black or white. His passionate concern has been for a society here in St. Petersburg that would be healing and redemptive for all of its people.

Dr. Enoch Davis' life and work, shared with us in his book On The Bethel Trail, concretizes and epitomizes the role of the "black preacher" who, though often maligned, ridiculed and made fun of, has been the means used by God to keep alive a race and give them the courage to survive.

It has been said, "The time and place of a man's life lS the time and the place of his body, but the meaning and the significance of his life are as vast, as beautiful, as creative of his mind, his commitment, as his sensitivity his times can make it. I am grateful to Dr. Davis for having asked me to write the foreword to his book.

A. LEON LOWRY SR.
Pastor
Beulah Baptist Institutional Church
Tampa, Fla.