Good afternoon delegates, guests, brothers and sisters in Christ.

I am so pleased to be a part of this awards ceremony, which pays tribute to persons who have been beacons of unity, peace and justice, and hope. I am especially pleased to announce that the National Council of Churches has named Dorothy Height as the recipient of the first J. Irwin Miller Award. I do regret to inform you that due to illness, Dr. Height is not able to be with us in person today. I have heard that she is recuperating and I am sure that all of you join me in prayers for her swift and complete recovery. We are very glad to welcome Dr. Height’s beloved nephew, Bernard Randolph, Sr., and great-nephew, Paul Randolph, who will accept the award on behalf of Dr. Height.

I would first like to say a word about the J. Irwin Miller award, which is named for a founder and a former president of the National Council of Churches who was a prominent industrialist, a philanthropist, a patron of the arts, and a lay member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)-a man who reflected deeply on his faith and applied it in all aspects of his life.

When J. Irwin Miller died less than three month ago, at 95 years of age, we instituted this award as one way of preserving his moral and spiritual legacy to us. Whenever we give this award to someone who exemplifies the values by which he lived, we are reminded of the inspiring example that he set in his lifetime. And we are challenged to recommit ourselves to justice, peace and unity.

J. Irwin Miller was a remarkably innovative and clear-minded thinker who acted both with courage and foresight. We see that in the way he led the Cummins Engine Company. He took it from a fledging operation in Columbus, Indiana, to become the leading independent diesel manufacturer in the world-a Fortune 500 company with more than 25,000 employees in 131 countries. We also see that in the way he challenged the common wisdom, when it contradicted his faith convictions on social justice. He was a CEO who, in the 1930s, supported the formation of a union at Cummins Engine-an idea that was anathema to most in the business community. He was a fiercely competitive businessman who yet put honor above profit. For example, he shut down the Cummins factory in South Africa in the l970s because the apartheid government then in power would not allow the company to operate in a racially integrated manner. And just a few years ago, in retirement, he risked controversy again, in order to support the Cummins management in their decision to extend benefits to domestic partners of employees.

Those are the qualities of character that he also demonstrated during his service to the National Council of Churches. He was one who worked toward the Council’s founding in 1950. And, among the many important roles he played in the life of the Council, we perhaps remember him best as our first lay president, serving a 1960-63 term of office-at the time that the Civil Rights movement gathered great momentum. Never one to shrink from a challenge, he urged the churches to take relevant and faithful action toward civil rights for all. Under his leadership, the NCC coordinated religion’s support for strong civil rights legislation; it became one of ten sponsors of the historic 1963 March on Washington; and it sent delegations-which he led-to meet with Presidents Kennedy and Johnson to discuss how the churches could best support civil rights and racial justice.

In his later years, J. Irwin Miller remained actively interested in the Council, and we in him. In 1992, the Council recognized him for his lifetime of service to worship and the arts. He was a musician, a patron of the arts in religion, and an advocate for excellence in architecture. Today many public buildings in Columbus, Ohio, reflect his encouragement to city officials to choose prominent architects for their design.

Those buildings are a tangible reminder of his drive to honor generations that have gone before by using their gifts to create something of lasting value for generations yet to come. The award we give today in his name is a tangible reminder to us of the part he played in the life of the National Council of Churches and of the challenge to build on his gifts of faith, courage and a pioneering spirit.

As we present this first J. Irwin Miller award, we are delighted to have a representative of the Miller family with us. I want to introduce Hugh Miller, J. Irwin’s son-one of five children born to J. Irwin and his wife Xenia Ruth. Hugh has traveled far to be with us today for this wonderful occasion.

Friends, I cannot think of anyone who is more deserving of the J. Irwin Miller Award than Dorothy Height. She is a living legend in the movement for civil rights in this nation. She has dedicated herself to improving the quality of life for African-American women and children. She is known internationally for her work for human rights for all. The world is truly a better place because of the work and witness of Dr. Dorothy Irene Height.

Dr. Height is also an unassuming and gracious woman of God. When you first see her, impeccably dressed from head to toe, with soft smile, and a twinkle in her eye, you would not imagine what a powerful woman she has become.

But a look at her career reveals that in very significant ways she has been a force for positive change in this country. She is perhaps best know for her role as president of the National Council of Negro Women, which provides an umbrella for some 250 local and 38 national groups. She held that post from 1957 to 1998, and in those four decades she worked tirelessly to empower African-American women, and she promoted Black family life. The annual Black Family Reunion Celebration that she first organized in 1986 reinforces the strengths and values of the African American family.

The story is often told of how she first came to the National Council of Negro Women in 1937. She was then the young assistant director of the Harlem YWCA, and, in that role, escorted Eleanor Roosevelt to a meeting of the NCNW. There, she drew the attention of Mary McLeod Bethune, the NCNW’s founder and perhaps the most influential African American woman in U.S. history. Dorothy Height dates her long association with the National Council of Negro Women to that meeting. She also gained an important mentor and friend in Mrs. Bethune, and in 1958 succeeded her as NCNW president.

For decades after the time of that historic meeting, Dorothy Height worked as a leader both in the YWCA and the National Council of Negro Women. At the YWCA, she rose through the ranks, serving on the national staff from 1944 to 1977. Her work at the YWCA pushed the organization in a progressive direction and, today, its full commitment to inclusivity reflects her efforts. In 1947 she also was elected president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, which she carried to a new level of activism. For those who may not know about the sorority, let me say that it was founded almost a century ago by a few co-eds at Howard University and it has grown to be the largest African-American women’s organization in the world, with many sisters whose names you would recognize.

All of this tremendous pioneering work earned her a place at the table during the Civil Rights movement, with Martin Luther King, A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, James Farmer and John Lewis. She was the only woman to work at such a high level in the movement, and she was involved in the planning for almost every major Civil Rights event of the era. Many remember her as the organizing genius behind something called “Wednesdays in Mississippi,” which in 1964 brought white and Black women from the North and the South together for informal dialogues.

Many leaders in civil society and in government have sought her out for her wisdom, and her advice has extended as far as the White House. She has known every president since Dwight Eisenhower.

I cannot do justice to her life’s work and many achievements during this brief presentation. But you can learn more. Dr. Height has written her memoir, Open Wide the Freedom Gates, which I commend for your reading. There are copies available for sale here in this room.

In a similar way, if I listed all the organizations that have formally recognized that she is a blessing to our society, we would be here a long time. Suffice it to say that in 1989 she received the Citizens Medal Award from President Reagan, and also received the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Freedom Medal in that year. In 1994, President Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor. This year, on March 24^th, her 92nd birthday, President Bush presented her with the Congressional Gold Medal.

The medal is inscribed with a quotation of hers that captures her spirit of service. She simply said, “I am grateful to have been in a time and place where I could be part of what was needed.”

She is and has been needed … by the people she has served through her organizations and by the many people she has mentored. She inspires and motivates others to reach higher than they dreamed possible. And she asks and receives the best from people. Those who know her say, “Beware when you get on her telephone list! She will call you to ask for whatever she needs for the cause, because as she says, we “have not” because we “ask not.” And most folks will tell you she is a hard person to turn down.

For being part of what is needed … for being an essential part of what is needed … for doing that part with power and grace, with vision and tenacity, with heart and mind and soul, we name Dorothy Height as the 2004 recipient of the J. Irwin Miller Award.