Robert D. Howard

Rev. Robert Dallas Howard, 83, went Home to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Friday, March 3. 2023. The family is extremely grateful to the folks at Cabarrus Family Medicine, the wonderful nurses in the Atrium Cabarrus - Cardiac ICU, and Hospice of Union County.

A funeral service will be held Tuesday, March 7, 2023, at 2:00 pm, at Miami Baptist Church, 6701 Miami Church Road, Concord, NC 28025 where he was a member and former pastor. The service will be officiated by Rev. Scott Faw, Rev. Eddie Barbee, and Rev. Lewis Whittington. Interment will be at Happy Valley Memorial Park in Elizabethton, Tennessee.

The family will receive friends from 6 to 8:00 pm Monday, March 6, at Lady’s Funeral Home, 268 N. Cannon Blvd., Kannapolis, NC 28083. He will also lie in-state from 12:30 - 1:30 pm prior to the service Tuesday.

Mr. Howard was born April 29, 1939, to the late Dallas R. Howard and Carrie Combs Howard, and grew up in Elizabethton, Tennessee. He was called to the ministry sometime around the age of 18. He served as a Baptist pastor for 60 years, finally retiring for the second time in August 2021, and was blessed to serve in only 4 different churches. He pastored Robertson Creek Baptist Church in Bulls Gap, Tennessee from 1961 - 1973, Austin Grove Baptist Church in Marshville, NC from 1973 - 1988, Lakewood Baptist Church in Kannapolis, NC from 1988 - 2007, and Miami Baptist Church in Mt. Pleasant, NC from 2007 - 2021. He had a tremendous heart for people and sought to minister to any and all, whether they were part of his congregation or not. He was the embodiment of the name “Pastor,” not unlike a line from a song he always taught to the church’s children - “A Sermon in Shoes.”

Robert is survived by his son Barry Howard and wife, Sabrina of Matthews; his daughter, Donna Howard Belk and husband Randy of Lincolnton; three grandchildren, Christopher Olin Belk, Macie Caroline Belk, and Samuel Robert Dallas Howard; and many nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Miami Baptist Church Building Fund, c/o Linda Eliff, 6701 Miami Church Road, Concord, NC 28025.