According to the Afro, The Rev. H. Beecher Hicks Jr. is stepping down as pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church in the Shaw neighborhood of northwest Washington, D.C., citing health problems as the reason for his retirement.
Hicks has served as pastor of Metropolitan Baptist for 37 years, making him one of the longest continuously-serving pastors in the District of Columbia. He announced the decision to his congregation from the pulpit on Feb. 2. Hicks told a meeting of approximately 200 members of his congregation about his decision the previous Friday.
According to several church members in attendance, Hicks said he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Hicks told church members that a committee has begun forming a succession plan.
Hicks became pastor of Metropolitan in 1977, and under his guidance it became one of the District’s most socially and politically influential churches. From the mid-1980s through the 1990s, worshipers filled the 1,400-seat church sanctuary at 13th and R streets NW. Both early- and late-morning services were often standing room only. On Sundays during election seasons, D.C. candidates had to make sure to visit Metropolitan and be welcomed by Hicks.
At its zenith in the early 2000s, Metropolitan boasted a congregation of more than 6,000 people and 60 ministries. Its impact in its immediate area was hard to miss. The church purchased nearby boarded-up apartment buildings and renovated them. It bought out a corner deli that had been an outdoor hangout for drug dealers and their customers, an action that scattered the illicit traffic and transformed the hangout into a small grocery. Church members helped out a nearby homeless shelter. During a four-year period of time in that decade, Metropolitan donated $250,000 to support a public elementary school adjacent to church property. Finally, the church started its own day school for grades K-8 in the Brookland section of northeast Washington, D.C.
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