Biographical Sketch
The Rev. Rhett D. Baird was called in the spring
of 2004 by the High Street Church to be its third settled minister
and the first minister to experience the beautiful 100-year-old
building on the corner of High and Orange since its renovation
in the historic district of Macon.
Background
Rev. Baird brings a rich background of experience
to Macon. After ten years serving the Unitarian Universalist
Fellowship of Fayetteville, Arkansas, he was named minister
emeritus. Prior to Fayetteville, he worked as a chaplain for
a year at the Emory University complex of hospitals, with an
emphasis in the neuropsychiatric and geriatric areas. In the
1970’s, he was the director of an Economic Opportunity
program combating poverty in a rural area near Atlanta and the
director of the Atlanta Region Open Housing Coalition. He has
served financial institutions in Atlanta, the Bahamas and Canada.
While working as the financial officer for the Center for the
Visually Impaired (formerly the Atlanta Area Services for the
Blind), he was a country circuit-riding, lay minister, on the
weekends for thirteen years, to five Universalist churches established
in the 19th and very early 20th centuries.
Rev. Baird completed his studies for the ministry
at Emory’s Candler School of Theology, where he graduated
with honors. His undergraduate degree is in economics. Part
of his preparation for the ministry included an internship at
the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta and a 3-month
clinical pastoral education program at Atlanta’s Grady
Hospital.
Current Activities and Memberships
Rev. Baird spent the first three months of 2008
on sabbatical at the Tubman African American Museum in Macon.
His ministry has been enriched by that experience as he gathered
stories that gave him a deeper understanding of the extraordinary
intersections between the histories of Unitarian Universalists
and African Americans.
High Street Church became a teaching congregation
for the first time when Rev. Baird supervised the internship
of Fred Howard during the 2007-2008 church year. As a part of
High Street’s Social Responsibility Committee, Rev. Baird
reads stories to a kindergarten class every week at Harley Elementary
School. He initiated an “altar-call” for gifts of
new books to benefit the children at a Title I school. Rev.
Baird is often seen around town in a red suit at Christmas time
– at Elam Alexander Academy, at Hartley School, in front
of K-Mart ringing the Salvation Army bell, and who knows where
else.
Current memberships include the Association of
Professional Chaplains, the Unitarian Universalist Ministers
Association, the Emory University Alumni Association, the American
Civil Liberties Union, and the Macon-Bibb Chapter of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Rev. Baird also serves on the MLK, Jr. Annual
Breakfast Committee, as well as the World AIDS Day Interfaith
Worship Service Committee. For several years, he has been a
regular contributor as a columnist for the Macon Telegraph.
As a member of the Macon Rotary Club, Rev. Baird
has written grants that have secured Rotary International and
local support to promote world peace and secured district level
and local support to purchase dictionaries for each one of the
1,825 fifth graders in the Bibb County School System.
In his work with the Unitarian Universalist Association,
Rev. Baird is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Funding
Panel for Social Responsibility which provides grants totaling
more than $200,000 per year for social justice work.
Some Highlights Prior to Macon
Rev. Baird’s work and commitment to justice
and fairness with respect to advocating equal treatment under
the law, without regard to affectional orientation, was profiled
in the January, 2003 issue of The Advocate, a national periodical.
In the spring of 2004, Rev. Baird shared with
the Fayetteville congregation a “Peace and Justice Hero
Award” given by Fayetteville’s OMNI Center for Peace,
Justice and Ecology. In addition, he was selected by the faculty
of the School of Social Work at the University of Arkansas to
receive their first annual “Honorary Social Worker of
the Year” award.
He received the Highest Honor Award for the most
outstanding chaplaincy research project (23 chaplains) during
the advanced clinical pastoral care program at Emory University
Hospital.
Rev. Baird was recognized in 1986 by the Unitarian
Universalist Mid-South District board as an “Unsung Hero”
for his service as a lay minister to the Universalist churches.
Personal
Rev. Baird is married to Rhonda Rook Baird of
Atlanta, and they have three adult daughters, two sons-in-law
and one granddaughter.
