Former Alabama Baptist Convention presidents, Rev. Dewey Corder 80, (L) and the Rev. Harper Shannon, 89 (R). | Alabama Baptist Convention
The Alabama Baptist Convention recently lost two former presidents just days apart to complications from the new coronavirus and dementia. The Rev. Harper Shannon was 89 when he passed from progressive dementia Wednesday while the Rev. Dewey Corder was 80 when he died from COVID-19 on Christmas Day.
Rick Lance, state missionary and executive director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions remembered both men in a statement Thursday.
“Dewey Corder was a true gentleman. He was one of the most cheerful men I have known. Every time I talked to him, he was upbeat as he talked about how the Lord was blessing him and his ministry,” Lance wrote of Corder.
Former state Baptist president, Trussville pastor, dies of COVID-19
Updated Dec 29, 2020;
Posted Dec 28, 2020
The Rev. Dewey Corder died on Christmas. He was a longtime pastor and former president of the state Baptist Convention. (AL.com File photo by Dave Dieter/Huntsville Times)
Facebook Share
He was 80.
Corder was known for “his faithfulness, complete integrity, never changing,” his wife said.
“He was always honest about what he thought about Jesus,” she said. “That was his main thrust: Do you know Jesus?”
Corder was president of the state Baptist Convention from 1992-94, and led some of the discussions with Samford University after the university’s board of directors voted in 1994 to break legal ties with the state convention.