Detroit, MI
‘Prince of the pulpit’: Detroit pastor emeritus Rev. Charles Gilchrist Adams dies at 86
Detroit — The Rev. Charles Gilchrist Adams, a towering figure as the pastor and then pastor emeritus of Detroit’s historic Hartford Memorial Baptist Church on the Detroit’s northwest side, where he earned the reputation of “a preacher’s preacher,” died Wednesday afternoon, his family said.
He died following a long bout with pneumonia and after cardiac arrest, said his sister, Edith Clifton, who said he was surrounded by his family. He was 86.
“He was my only sibling and my best friend,” said Clifton, 88. “We talked almost every day.”
Rev. Adams emerged on the scene of the religious community in 1962, when he became pastor of the historic Concord Baptist Church, one of the oldest Black churches in Boston, Massachusetts, according to relatives. From that pulpit, he went on to shape a religious following, was hailed internationally, spoke before the United Nations and met with U.S. presidents.
Back home in Detroit, he nurtured his flock and his community, his followers said.
In 1967, he became pastor of Hartford Memorial Baptist Church. The church would later move to 18700 James Couzens in the late ’70s, where he would grow the congregation from several hundred to nearly 10,000. In 2017, it was recognized by Michigan historical officials as the first church for African Americans on the city’s northwest side. It was described as a prestigious place where leaders have sought social justice and where mourners flocked to bid farewell to famous figures.
The church has been the funeral site for high-profile figures — singers, educators, activists and others. It has seen politicians ranging from Al Gore to Geoffrey Fieger greet attendees on the campaign trail.
When Rev. Adams retired from the pulpit in October 2019, his son and successor, the Rev. Charles Christian Adams, vowed to continue his father’s works.
“My father did groundbreaking work … I’m humbled to be a part of that line, and I know that there are great expectations to move the church upward and onward yet still maintain its character and its activity in the life of the city and beyond,” he said at the time.
Rev. Adams was born in Detroit on Dec. 13, 1936, and attended Detroit Public Schools. He graduated from Cass Technical High School.
He went on to attend Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, a historically Black college and university, for two years, then transferred to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Harvard Divinity School, graduating with honors from both institutions. Rev. Adams went on to become a doctoral fellow in Union Theological Seminary in New York City, according to a biography on Hartford’s website.
“He shared with me all the scholarly things that was involved in,” Clifton said. “All of the time that he was at Harvard and he was away. We would read the same books.”
He would earn a reputation as the “Harvard Whooper,” a celebratory form and style of oration in the Black Church that marks the close of a sermon, with cadence and musical vocalizations.
He retired from the iconic church in 2019 after 52 years in the pulpit, drawing the many thousands to its pews with his thundering, impassioned voice. It was his work as well to tend to his flock’s earthly needs as well as spiritual that catapulted him into an internationally renowned religious leader. Rev. Adams bought land in the city to spark redevelopment and create jobs, launched services to help senior citizens, children and families.
He was hailed by Ebony magazine as among the nation’s greatest Black preachers and most influential African Americans. To his countless parishioners, he was a “man born to be a minister” and remained an unforgettable figure whose efforts inspired them.
News of Rev. Adams’ death spread quickly on social media, where memories, photos and tributes could been seen honoring the beloved “pulpit giant.”
Leaders among Detroit’s Black Church community described him as “a preacher’s preacher” and a “prince of the pulpit.”
“Adams could start a message, and within five minutes, the people would be on their feet; that’s just how impactful he was,” said the Rev. Wendell Anthony, Detroit Branch NAACP president and pastor of Detroit’s Fellowship Chapel. “I pray for his son, Christian, and his family and church. I know he had been out of the pulpit for a while, but the pulpit was always in him.”
Rev. Adams became president of the NAACP Detroit Branch in 1984, the church said. During his leadership, he successfully called for a boycott of Dearborn businesses after officials moved to ban nonresidents from the city’s parks.
Anthony said Rev. Adams would be remembered most as “an uncompromising voice of that what was courageous, rooted in justice, and using the Black Church as a voice to uplift people.”
Bishop Charles H. Ellis III, senior pastor of Greater Grace Temple in Detroit, called Adams a “social justice warrior for the marginalized.”
Ellis’ church, which hosted the funeral of civil rights icon Rosa Parks, was where Rev. Adams was remembered for rendering a punctuated speech at her 2005 funeral by reciting “thank you” in different languages.
“A true friend indeed to the Ellis and Greater Grace Temple families,” Ellis said, adding that the two congregations were neighbors for more than 20 years when his church was located at Seven Mile Road and Schaefer Highway before moving near Telegraph Road in 2002.
In addition to his sister and son, Rev. Adams is survived by his wife, Agnes Adams; and daughter Dr. Tara Adams Washington. Funeral arrangements were incomplete late Wednesday, relatives said.
jaimery@detroitnews.com