Rev. John Wesley Shipp Sr.

Rev. John Wesley Shipp, Sr., died on Friday, June 3, 2022, at the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, NJ. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 9, 11 AM, at Oakhurst Baptist Church, 222 East Lake Drive, Decatur, GA. A graveside service will be held on Monday, July 11, time TBD, at Rosewood Memorial Park in Virginia Beach, VA. He is preceded in death by his wife of 64 years, Shirley Louise Bryant, and her ashes will also be interred on July 11. Wesley Shipp was born in Princess Anne County, VA, on March 2, 1932, to Ruth Kellam Murden and Andrew Wesley Shipp. In 1957 he was ordained to the full-time gospel ministry in the Baptist church. He graduated from the University of Richmond, VA, in 1967, with a double-major in religion and philosophy; in 1970, he received his Master of Divinity degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Committed to examining the biases with which they had been raised, Wesley and Shirley took unpopular stands for the human rights of Black people and, later, of members of the LGBTQ+ community. In Wake Forest, NC, in 1969, their home was riddled with buckshot while their teenage children entertained their friends and classmates, both Black and White, inside. Rev. Shipp was fired from his pastorate the next morning for having allowed an integrated party to take place in his home. Shipp went from there to pastor 23rd and Broadway Baptist Church, a congregation whose members were committed to building a “beloved community” in the West End of Louisville, KY. He pastored an American Baptist church in Elizabeth, NJ, from 1980 until 1993, leading two area churches through a highly successful merger to become First Baptist Church of Cranford/Elizabeth. During that time First Baptist became a multiracial and multicultural congregation. When diabetic retinopathy began to take his eyesight, Rev. Shipp retired, but went on to serve as interim pastor, not only for his former church in New Jersey, but for churches in central Philadelphia, upstate New York, and San Jose, CA. Wesley is survived by his three children, Karen Bryant Shipp, John Wesley Shipp, Jr., and F. Bryant Shipp; his daughter-in-law Virginia Louise Shipp; and his grandchildren, Benjamin Wesley Shipp and Danielle Louise Shipp. Memorial gifts in J. Wesley Shipp’s name may be made to the human rights organization of your choice.

Rev. John Wesley Shipp Sr.

March 2, 1932 - June 3, 2022