BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – Pastor Tommy Lewis, the now retired leader of Bethel Baptist Church in Pratt City, was trying to hold his composure to talk about the passing of his good friend, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, calling him a great man.
Their friendship goes back decades. Pastor Lewis told us about traveling with Jackson to Iowa during one of Jackson’s bids for the presidency – first in 1984 and then again in 1988 – and other travels around the nation and traveling to Africa with Jackson.
Lewis shared pictures showing the two of them together back in March 2025 ahead of the annual Bloody Sunday Bridge Crossing commemoration in Selma, even though he was in poor health.
“That was a highlight for him because when my wife and I walked in, he looked and he was trying to get up out of the chair, and I just started running toward him because I knew that was not going to happen,” said Lewis. “And he grabbed my hand and he looked at me and he said, this might be my last time coming. But I had to come here before I went there.”
Pastor Lewis said Jackson would make a point of instructing his family to bring him to visit him in Birmingham…