Posted July 29, 2008 – The Rev. C.A.W. Clark, a renowned Dallas minister – named by Ebony magazine as one of America’s 15 greatest African-American preachers of the 20th century, has died. He was 93.

:: AD ::

For more than a half-century, Caesar Arthur Walter Clark served as pastor of Dallas’ Good Street Baptist Church, which many consider the city’s first Black mega-church.

This is the passing of an era. We won't see his likes again," the Rev. Gerald Britt Jr., a vice president at Central Dallas Ministries, told The Dallas Morning News. "He was a master of the pulpit. He influenced generations of preachers.

Ordained in 1933, the Shreveport, La., native got his first assignment as pastor at Israelite Baptist Church in Longstreet, La. He was 19 at the time. He took over at Good Street in 1950.

Everybody who know anything about black Baptist life is familiar with C.A.W. Clark," said Cleophus LaRue, author of The Heart of Black Preaching, in a 2006 interview with the Dallas newspaper. "He was regarded as one of the great black preachers in the 20th century.

He was 78 in 1993 when Ebony listed him among the 15 greatest Black preachers and "the most sought-after revival preacher there is."