H. Beecher Hicks to Step Down as Pastor of D.C.\u2019s Metropolitan Baptist Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"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\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/02\/h-beecher-hicks-to-step-down-as-pastor-of-d-c-s-metropolitan-baptist-church.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"H. Beecher Hicks to Step Down as Pastor of D.C.\u2019s Metropolitan Baptist Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/02\/h-beecher-hicks-to-step-down-as-pastor-of-d-c-s-metropolitan-baptist-church.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-02-14T07:26:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/02\/h-beecher-hicks-to-step-down-as-pastor-of-d-c-s-metropolitan-baptist-church.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/02\/h-beecher-hicks-to-step-down-as-pastor-of-d-c-s-metropolitan-baptist-church.html\",\"name\":\"H. Beecher Hicks to Step Down as Pastor of D.C.\u2019s Metropolitan Baptist Church\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-02-14T07:26:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-02-14T07:26:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\"},\"description\":\"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\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/02\/h-beecher-hicks-to-step-down-as-pastor-of-d-c-s-metropolitan-baptist-church.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/02\/h-beecher-hicks-to-step-down-as-pastor-of-d-c-s-metropolitan-baptist-church.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/02\/h-beecher-hicks-to-step-down-as-pastor-of-d-c-s-metropolitan-baptist-church.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"H. Beecher Hicks to Step Down as Pastor of D.C.\u2019s Metropolitan Baptist Church\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/\",\"name\":\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Contributor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/admin\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"H. Beecher Hicks to Step Down as Pastor of D.C.\u2019s Metropolitan Baptist Church","description":"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","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/02\/h-beecher-hicks-to-step-down-as-pastor-of-d-c-s-metropolitan-baptist-church.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"H. Beecher Hicks to Step Down as Pastor of D.C.\u2019s Metropolitan Baptist Church","og_description":"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","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/02\/h-beecher-hicks-to-step-down-as-pastor-of-d-c-s-metropolitan-baptist-church.html","og_site_name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","article_published_time":"2014-02-14T07:26:00+00:00","author":"Guest Contributor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Contributor","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/02\/h-beecher-hicks-to-step-down-as-pastor-of-d-c-s-metropolitan-baptist-church.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/02\/h-beecher-hicks-to-step-down-as-pastor-of-d-c-s-metropolitan-baptist-church.html","name":"H. Beecher Hicks to Step Down as Pastor of D.C.\u2019s Metropolitan Baptist Church","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-02-14T07:26:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-02-14T07:26:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2"},"description":"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","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/02\/h-beecher-hicks-to-step-down-as-pastor-of-d-c-s-metropolitan-baptist-church.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/02\/h-beecher-hicks-to-step-down-as-pastor-of-d-c-s-metropolitan-baptist-church.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/02\/h-beecher-hicks-to-step-down-as-pastor-of-d-c-s-metropolitan-baptist-church.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"H. Beecher Hicks to Step Down as Pastor of D.C.\u2019s Metropolitan Baptist Church"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/","name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2","name":"Guest Contributor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Guest Contributor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/admin"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":891,"date":"2014-02-14T07:26:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-14T07:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/02\/h-beecher-hicks-to-step-down-as-pastor-of-d-c-s-metropolitan-baptist-church.html"},"modified":"2014-02-14T07:26:00","modified_gmt":"2014-02-14T07:26:00","slug":"h-beecher-hicks-to-step-down-as-pastor-of-d-c-s-metropolitan-baptist-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/02\/h-beecher-hicks-to-step-down-as-pastor-of-d-c-s-metropolitan-baptist-church.html","title":{"rendered":"H. Beecher Hicks to Step Down as Pastor of D.C.\u2019s Metropolitan Baptist Church"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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.<\/p>\n

According to several church members in attendance, Hicks said he had been diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease. Hicks told church members that a committee has begun forming a succession plan.<\/p>\n

Hicks became pastor of Metropolitan in 1977, and under his guidance it became one of the District\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Read the rest here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"