How do you celebrate a milestone birthday?

If you’re Brother John Wright, former local NAACP Branch President, civil rights worker and preacher, it’s at The 23rd Avenue Church of Christ, the church he founded, with family, spiritual family members and friends around him.

For Wright, who turned 80 Sunday, it was a chance to thank God, continue to encourage the flock, receive a few accolades and look back on nearly a half-century of serving others.

“When I first met you, I was in trouble, what a way to meet somebody,” said member Orlando Green, one of 50 who showed up to honor Wright. “I’ve been watching you over the years and I learned a lot. You just taught me how to ‘man up,’ period.”

A tribute to ‘Pops’

“Pops, me and him have come a mighty long way,” member Warren Mitchell said. “He took me down to Illinois, got me a job, and took me back and forth to work for two weeks. Who can find a man who’d do that?” It was a bittersweet afternoon for the man many call “Pops” and consider a spiritual and substitute father. Wright, a father of 10, grandfather of 22 and great-grandfather of 21, shed tears and shared laughs, though he grew tired after the two-hour event. He had recently finished six weeks of radiation for pancreatic cancer and is now undergoing chemotherapy once a week.

Wright says he looks to his Lord’s sufferings and says he’s ready to walk down whatever path God has prepared for him.

“I thank God for every moment of my life,” he said. “I think whatever is coming to you is coming, you just be prepared. You have to live the life you are given. I don’t know when I’m going to heaven, but I feel I’m at the end of what God has for me to do here.”

Wright fought racism in the 1970s, endured racial incidents and an arson attack against his residential property. But good things happened, too, said Brother Stanley Washington, who has worked with Wright as the church’s financial secretary since 1993.

“He’s been instrumental in getting minorities in the police department and fire department,” Washington said. “He was able to do a lot of things throughout the city. I learned so much from him and he’d tell me to do some things as a man as well.”

Still planning

Wright hasn’t given up. He’s still planning, even talking to his children about starting a family business. But he’s also content to let others take the helm, such as Brother Charles Gates, the current pastor whom he chose to succeed him when he retired in 2005.

“I’m just blessed over 30 years, if not more, just to know him,” Gates said. “It’s been a long journey and Brother Wright has seen it all in this city and at this location. The work was started years ago by Brother Wright but through that family, it grew. If we look back at where we once were, we can be appreciative of where we are today.”

Prison ministry

Between testimonies by other members, a song by a trio that drove down from the Central Church of Christ in Milwaukee and a sweet refrain of Happy Birthday by his great-grandchildren, Wright treasured the words of fellow believers and exhorted them to continue the work like visiting those in jail, something he did for years.

“I met Brother Wright in jail,” said James Brown, who was running the video camera at the service. “My wife was trying to get me to come to church. He talked to me. Two weeks later I was baptized. I’ve been struggling but I’m still here. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”

Wright can be assured that his lessons will continue in others like 43-year-old Janice Osborne.

“I helped him out at his store every day,” said Osborne, who’s been attending the church since sixth grade. “Just being around him, I was learning to help (others.) He was always out helping someone so now I am that way, too.”