By Ryan Vasquez ⎹ Reporter
Students, faculty and community members were welcomed to the Paul W. Powell Chapel with music and songs led by the seminary worship team Monday morning for Truett Seminary’s E.K. Bailey Preaching Celebration.
Dr. Warren Stewart Sr., pastor of First Institutional Baptist Church of Phoenix, opened up the sermon with a simple question: “What do you do when you can’t get no help nowhere?”
This was a reoccurring theme throughout the two-day event remembering the life, work and ministry of Dr. E.K. Bailey. As part of Monday night’s events, Stewart, a prominent member of the Baptist leadership community and a civil rights activist, received the 2026 Honoree Award.
Stewart was recognized for his efforts and influence as a Baptist leader and minister both nationally and in his home state of Arizona. Stewart notably formed the coalitions Arizonans for Martin Luther King Jr. State Holiday and Victory Together Inc. The coalition fought to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday in Arizona and succeeded in 1992. In 2015, he was inducted into the 30th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr. College of Clergy & Laity–Board of Preachers.
Stewart, a mentee of Bailey before his death, said he was very grateful for the award.
“It is an honor that I never imagined in my life would come to be, so I’m very [humbled],” Stewart said.
Stewart preached a sermon both Monday night and Tuesday morning, which was followed by a catered lunch at noon.
His Tuesday sermon focused on Revelation 5:1-10, which describes Jesus as the only being in Heaven, on earth and under the earth with the ability to open the seven scrolls described in the passage. He discussed this as a time in the world when no one could get any help anywhere.
“It was really an introduction into my message that the essence of the good news of Jesus Christ is that only Jesus can open the door for any person,” Stewart said.
Many students were in attendance, a fact Stewart noticed and enjoyed.
“The very fact that young people have been coming to chapel, whether or not they are required or not, gives me hope in the future generation,” Stewart said.
Madison Patton, a fourth-year Master of Divinity student at Truett Seminary from Lexington, Ky., attended Tuesday’s sermon and appreciated its message.
“I enjoyed … his embodiment of prophetic preaching,” Patton said. “If you try to find a simple definition of what it means to be a prophetic preacher, it means to preach truth to power. I certainly believe that not only did Dr. Stewart embody that, but I believe he executed it in our Black preaching tradition and in a way that really moved the minds of not only seminarians.”
Stewart’s sermon emphasized that weeping turns into worshipping, which turns into the working of the Spirit.
“The message we preach is so essential,” Stewart said. “It can give people life abundantly and life forever.”
Stewart also said Christ is for everyone, and anyone can come to Christ.
“God created this world and created us equally, made like him, but in diversity, in equity and in inclusion,” Stewart said.
