One of the last sermons Bishop Kenneth B. Spears preached at First Saint John Cathedral before he died was about fanning the flame, or making full use of the gifts God has given a person.
For his son, Kenneth Spears, that also means preserving and continuing his father’s legacy of religious, civic and community leadership.
“That’s one of the most important things about preserving the legacy, just making sure that the things that he believed in, that he stood for, what he wanted to see in the community, we don’t let that drop,” Kenneth said.
Kenneth Bernard Spears was a pastor, bishop, author, media personality and community leader in southeast Fort Worth and beyond. He died on Nov. 17 at his home, his son told the Fort Worth Report. He was 63.
Born on Sept. 24, 1962, Spears grew up in Fort Worth. He graduated from Polytechnic High School in 1981. As a teen, he played baseball, served as class president and was known for “dressing to the nines,” often sporting suits he purchased from Goodwill, his son said.
Spears attended Bishop College in Dallas on a baseball scholarship, his son said. He later went to United Theological Seminary in Texarkana where he earned his bachelor’s degree, according to the church’s website.
He earned a master’s degree from Survine Theological College in Colorado and was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Louisiana Baptist University, according to the church’s website.
While in his early 20s, he became pastor of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church in Texarkana in 1985 and led Olivet Baptist Church in Houston three years later.
In 1995 Spears moved back to his hometown and became pastor of what was then called First Saint John Missionary Baptist Church. In 2000, the church joined the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship within the Christian faith, and Spears was consecrated as bishop five years later, according to the church’s website.
The church was renamed First Saint John Cathedral in 2012.
‘Pulse’ on Fort Worth civic engagement
When Spears moved back to Fort Worth, “he wanted to have his finger on the pulse” of the city, his son said.
One way he did that was through mobilizing civic engagement and voter education in the city.
Spears founded the Tarrant County Democratic Party’s Black Voter Impact Committee in 2016, county chair Allison Campolo said.
He was known for inviting local, statewide and national candidates and elected officials to his congregation to meet the community. In 2020, Spears hosted then-Sen. Kamala Harris during her visit to Fort Worth ahead of the presidential election.
While Spears was involved in bringing civic leaders to his congregation, interpersonal moments of connecting with people about voter education sticks out to Campolo the most, she said.
“He was there for the commitment and connection, even on that personal level, however much time it took, how many conversations it took,” Campolo said.
The party plans to vote on a resolution to memorialize Spears, Campolo added.
Spears was passionate about engaging younger generations in Fort Worth local government, said Whitnee Boyd who got to know him through his visits to her church, Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church.
She remembers working with Spears and others to bring information sessions to the church on voter registration and to help younger generations understand the voting process, she said.
“If you think about just the Black community and just, historically, what the Black church has been specifically to the voter movement — Bishop never lost that. He still wanted to use that platform of ensuring that people were educated on the things that matter in the community,” Boyd said.
Spears had a way of creating a space “where people who normally wouldn’t sit together somehow found themselves breaking bread,” said Ebony Jones, who grew up in Fort Worth and knew Spears through her stepfather who was also a religious leader.
Jones got to know Spears better after she graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington and started working for Teach For America. She turned to Spears as a way to reconnect with community organizers in the city, she said.
Jones collaborated with Spears on various civic engagement events. One of the many things Jones said she admired about Spears was how he connected neighborhoods and people “across lines of difference.”
“He was a bridge in a city that has always needed one,” Jones said.
Spears was known for bringing residents together, even if they had different political viewpoints or perspectives, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker said.
Parker got to know Spears when she was chief of staff to former Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price. She and Spears’ relationship got closer after she became mayor, Parker said.
During difficult times in Fort Worth history — such as when Jacqueline Craig, a Black Fort Worth mother and her daughters were controversially arrested in 2016 and when Atatiana Jefferson was shot and killed by a Fort Worth police officer inside her home — Spears was at the center of being a problem solver and embodying a “persistence of calm and focus for the community,” Parker said.
“Bishop Spears was one of those people who knew the significance of the event, but also wanted to see Fort Worth healed,” the mayor said. “And so he was just that constant sort of father figure.”
A passion for southeast Fort Worth
Spears had a passion for the southeast side of Fort Worth and wanted to “see it be all that it could be,” his son Kenneth said.
Spears led prayer walks in the early 2010s down East Berry Street and into the Stop Six neighborhood.
It was a heightened time on the southeast side in terms of redevelopment, said Kelly Allen Gray, former District 8 City Council member and fellow Polytechnic High alum.
City and community leaders have long had a vision to improve housing, businesses, community services and schools in Fort Worth’s Historic Southside. Some say there have been few results.
“His prayer was for people to really open their eyes, open their hearts, and to understand that there is value in southeast Fort Worth,” Gray said.
In 2013, the YMCA of Metropolitan Fort Worth wanted to consolidate its McDonald and Miller Avenue branches and open a new Y in Renaissance Square off East Berry Street. A new Y was part of the city and community leaders’ vision for a health care hub in the area.
To make it work, the Y wanted to sell its McDonald branch to a multifamily developer and use the proceeds to buy the Renaissance site.
While some members in the community were in favor of the land swap, Spears and his congregation were opposed.
Having a multifamily development was “not at the forefront of what everyone wanted on that hill,” Gray recalled.
Spears, the congregation and Gray and neighboring residents “banded together to push back on a development that wanted to come there,” Gray said.
“It was never about the YMCA. It was about that particular property and what we wanted to see there, and what would thrive there,” Gray said.
In 2014 the Y launched a capital campaign to raise money for a new southeast Fort Worth facility. The facility is currently located off Moresby Street.
Tony Shuman, who served as the YMCA’s CEO at the time, recalled the Y partnering with Spears’ church and utilizing the McDonald building on Sundays or in the evenings.
“Losing that facility, I think, disappointed him some,” Shuman said. “Like I told him, I completely understand that.”
Ultimately, Spears was a “Fort Worth guy,” Shuman said. He wanted to ensure the residents in southeast Fort Worth “got the same level of commitment from our government that folks in southwest Fort Worth got.”
‘He put his stamp’
Some may remember Spears as a spiritual adviser. Others may know him as a community leader. Kenneth Spears will remember him as dad.
His father “never knew a stranger,” he said. He was the dad who taught Kenneth Spears and his brother the importance of treating people how you want to be treated.
He was the dad who wanted to make an impact in Fort Worth.
“He wanted to make sure that he put his stamp on the city, and I would say he’s done a job well done in that,” his son said.
A twilight service for Spears is scheduled at 7 p.m. on Dec. 4 at First Saint John Cathedral, according to the church’s Facebook.
A celebration of life is scheduled at 11 a.m. Dec. 5 at Travis Avenue Baptist Church.
Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org.
Disclosure: Whitnee Boyd and Ebony Jones are on Fort Worth Report’s Reader Advisory Council. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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