WASHINGTON — Azariah McKenzie, the first executive secretary/treasurer for the Caribbean Baptist Fellowship (CBF) and Baptist World Alliance (BWA) regional secretary for the Caribbean, died April 21.
Prior to being BWA regional secretary, McKenzie served 19 years as general secretary of the Jamaica Baptist Union (JBU), 10 years as president of the CBF and as a vice president of the BWA.
McKenzie played a major role in passing a law by the Parliament of Jamaica in 1969 that made it impossible for churches or pastors to dispose of Baptist land or other property without the permission of the JBU and thwarted any attempt to pull an existing church out of the Jamaican convention.
He also played a significant role in the formation of the United Theological College of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, the major institution of theological education and ministerial training in the English-speaking Caribbean.
In active ministry for more than 40 years prior to his retirement from the CBF and the BWA in 1995, the Jamaican held degrees from Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Conn., and the University of Leeds in England, in addition to his studies at Calabar Theological College in Jamaica and the British School, Rawdon Baptist College and Andover Newton Theological Seminary in the United States.
McKenzie is survived by Marion, his wife for 53 years, and his son, Everton.
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