Black History In The Making
New West Peoria pastor follows dad and brother in outside-the-church approach
WEST PEORIA — Again, New Life Christian Church brims with a message intended to resonate far beyond the pulpit and pews.
Outside-the-church thinking has been its mission for more than a half-century. The church, though evolving through changes and approaches over the decades, seeks not just to preach to members but elevate their lives, along with the community and beyond. And now the church is stretching in two ways.
The new senior pastor Ahmad Dawson Sr. will run not just the local operation, but also a sister church in Georgia. He intends his sermons — to be streamed from West Peoria to the Peach State — to often address social injustices during chaotic times.
“How should I as a Christian feel about these situations, with a biblical worldview?” he asks. “ … How do I think in the midst of everything taking place?”
Dawson, 47, succeeds his brother Harold Dawson Jr., who died in 2019 at age 48. Years back, his brother took over the church from their father, Harold Dawson Sr., who in the late ‘60s began a ministry unlike many others locally.
“It’s an amazing concept,” Ahmad Dawson says.
A new church
Six decades ago, Harold Dawson Sr. left his native Alabama for work in Peoria, which offered plenty of jobs. Dawson first punched a clock at the Hiram Walker distillery, then went to work for the Caterpillar Tractor Co.
In 1967, his wife Mattie gave her life to Christ after recovering from throat cancer. She tried to save her husband, who at first resisted. But she kept prodding him.
“I would get off second shift at Caterpillar and study (the Bible) until daybreak,” he told the Journal Star in 1985. “I lost interest in basketball and all those things I really loved. But I knew I had to do it.”
Thus was born a fledgling church, led by Dawson: New Hope Deliverance Church. Though well read, he did not attend divinity classes. Rather, he was ordained by a crusading Christian preacher, then delved into studying the Bible even more deeply.
To accommodate crowds, they brought New Hope to 509 NE Adams St., then expanded to 1001 NE Adams St. There, as far as Harold Dawson’s outreach philosophy, longtime Peorians might remember the corner sign that once proclaimed from that spot: “This church is not a memorial for saints but a hospital for sinners.”
A street ministry drew many attendees who’d never attended church before. The Dawsons, who lived above the church while raising four children, would cook and clean for drug and alcohol addicts who would temporarily live with them.
The approach seemed different than those of mainstream churches. The passionate preacher — charismatic and loud, with many calls to “say Amen!” — boomed messages intending to reach beyond Sunday, seeking to help others incorporate the Bible into their lives in practical ways to help them resolve secular troubles.
And he walked the talk of loving thy brother. In addition to helping with addictions, he would accompany people to voter registration and job interviews. In turn, they’d have their own, new testimonies to share about transformation, therefore bringing others to New Hope to hear about Jesus.
As New Hope took off, Dawson installed himself as bishop and ordained more ministers. The main church had about 200 members, while outposts popped up elsewhere, including Carbondale and Milwaukee. Eventually, Dawson helped start 180 churches in South Africa.
In the early ‘90s, a church plant took hold near Atlanta, Georgia, in the town of Norcross. About a decade later, Dawson transferred there, leaving New Hope in the hands of his son Harold Dawson Jr., in 2001
“He brought a new flavor, kind of a new approach,” Ahmad Dawson says. “ … He came in with a new vision of leadership.”
A new pastor
The junior Dawson brought with him a college resume; first a marketing degree from Jackson State University and eventually a Master in Divinity Degree from Virginia Union University. At the latter, while battling cancer and lung disease, he earned a 3.9 grade-point average.
“He’d drag his oxygen tank all around campus,” his brother says.
Though academic oriented, the junior Dawson — like his father — carried a vision for the church beyond its walls. Under Harold Dawson Sr., New Hope mostly had tried to help its members in-house. But his son saw a church that could reach out to other churches and local organizations to best serve its members. Rather than be a one-stop shop, which could be limited in effectiveness, the church would network. For instance, instead of running a food bank all on its own, New Hope would provide food to those in need and also provide information about other food pantries in addition to working with those agencies.
In time, the new vision brought a new name and new address: New Life Christian Church, which moved into vacant brick edifice at 2018 W. Kellogg Ave. in West Peoria. Though the church maintained connections to people served in the North Valley and elsewhere, it decided to constrict its ministry mostly to local outreach: nearly all affiliated churches, including those in South Africa, were set loose to function independently.
Meantime, Harold Dawson Jr., who was elevated to bishop in 2016, challenged the congregation. As with his father, he wasn’t just sharing knowledge on sermons exploded as flashpoints to effect change to be lived out all week and beyond.
“You had to do something,” Ahmad Dawson says. “This wasn’t your nap before the game.”
A keen interest for Harold Dawson was personal finance, which meant far more than just getting a job but (as urged in the Bible) becoming good stewards of money.
“It doesn’t matter if you get the job, if you put your money into pockets with holes,” Ahmad Dawson says. “We need to teach wisdom over finances.”
He didn’t shy away from bringing financial experts into the church to talk to attendees with frank and helpful candor. He figured improved individual and household economics would in turn improve the community.
“Most pastors don’t take these elements into Sunday sermons,” Ahmad Dawson says. “They fear they’ll lose people.”
But Harold Dawson Jr. pushed even further. He wanted to directly help the community’s economy and started plans for a business summit. As a key thrust, experts would advise would-be entrepreneurs and small-business owners — in Peoria, West Peoria and beyond — regarding how to start and grow businesses.
He contacted Denise Moore, the Peoria City Council’s 1st District representative, to assist with setting up the event at the Peoria Civic Center and possibly finding financial assistance. Moore eagerly agreed, as she especially appreciated the church’s efforts to help with people stuck in a cycle of poverty.
“You can’t have people pull themselves up by the bootstraps if they don’t have any boots or any straps,” she says.
Plus, she believed in his hope that the summit could boost the Peoria area.
“He was building community,” she says. “Sure, you’re building up the individual. But communities are made up of individuals.”
But the event ground to a halt as Harold Dawson’s health woes increased in 2019. He died that July at age 48.
The church, while continuing under the guidance of multiple ministers, sought a new senior pastor. The effort took a back-to-the-future turn.
Though New Life had refocused almost all of its efforts to local outreach, one key outside-Peoria connection continued, in Norcross, Georgia. The Atlanta suburb is home to what’s popularly known as the C4 Church, short for Citadel Christian Cultural Center, to which Harold Dawson Sr. had transitioned in the late 1990s.
A renewed ministry
Also part of that ministry has been Ahmad Dawson. After studying public relations at Illinois State University, he left school to go into ministry, starting at age 23 as a youth pastor at C4 Church. He and his wife, Jewel Dawson — herself a pastor — raised three children as he rose to associate pastor.
Now, he has been tabbed to shepherd New Life’s 165 members, as well as C4 Church. Dawson, whose kickoff sermon is set for Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 7, will spend most of his time at New Life, and his weekly messages will be shared with C4 via the internet.
Ahmad Dawson, who plans to seek a divinity degree, echoes his brother’s church view of relying on partnerships and not reinventing the wheel. He says his sermons will especially eye marginalized people and social justice from a godly perspective.
“People are wanting to know, ‘How should I think about this (issue) when my heart is broken?’ How does Christ answer the marginalized?
The overall effect should be a sense of peace, even joy, despite downturns and challenges. Just as with improved finances, improved attitudes benefit not just an individual but a household and community. Meantime, the hope is that newcomers’ life changes and testimony will in turn bring others to Jesus, just as Harold Dawson Sr. (who at age 76 still lives in Norcross) started a half-century ago.
“What we say matters,” Ahmad Dawson says. “ … We live in a broken society and a broken world.”
Phil Luciano is a Journal Star columnist. He can be reached at pluciano@pjstar.com, facebook.com/philluciano and (309) 686-3155. Follow him on Twitter.com/LucianoPhil.
