Reverend G. Calvin McCutchen Sr. is pastor emeritus of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Tulsa. After the church was destroyed during the 1921 Race Riot, the congregation worshipped in a basement until a new building could be funded in 1952. A year later, the Rev. McCutchen, who earned doctorate degrees in theology and letters, became assistant pastor of Mount Zion. He became head pastor in 1957 and served in that position for 50 years. In 2007 he said, “I used to ask my family to take me to the Hills of Kentucky to be buried. But I’ve decided that here I have served, and here will be my final resting place.”

Originally published in This Land, Vol. 5, Issue 10, May 15, 2014.