10 Years of Preaching

Wednesday, April 15, 1998, was a day that will forever be branded into my heart, my mind and my soul. Not because it was the deadline that good ole Uncle Sam has mandated that our taxes be filed with the IRS, but rather it was the day that my life would never be the same again. For on this warm Wednesday night, I began the journey of fulfilling the purpose that God had placed for my life before I was conceived in my mother's womb, by preaching my initial sermon from the pulpit of the historic New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, NJ. I preached a message out of Luke 23:33 entitled The Importance of Calvary. I wish I had a chance to do that message over again (LOL).

Prior to that moment, I had worked in various companies performing various jobs but never feeling like this was where I was supposed to be. However, when I finally answered the call of the Lord, two years before, I knew that this is what God had planned for my life, to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to this world.

As I allow my mind to go back to that period in my life, I will have to be honest and say that it was not an easy journey to get to my initial sermon moment. Because I was fortunate to be mentored and prepared for that moment by my Pastor, Joe A. Carter, and he made certain that I was ready for that step. For about 2 years, I had to endure a rigorous preparation schedule of study with Pastor Carter, where every week we would travel to the book store so that I could build a library of materials needed to not only preach my initial sermon, but for the sermons that would soon follow. He would make me stand in the pulput in front of him and other preachers to get a sense of pulpit presence and to ensure that I will deliver the message in a way that the people would clearly see what I was trying to convey. Each effort of delivering my message in front of him was met with severe criticism, which at that time, I thought was borderline cruelty, but in fact I am grateful that he was hard on me. Because I have seen preachers get up to preach their initial sermons and had no input nor training from their Pastors. I want young men and women who are thinking of answering a call on their life, to get with a Pastor who cares enough about the Gospel to ensure that when you stand up before the people, you have already proven that you are serious about your call.

These first 10 years have been a blur, but one thing I can be thankful for over many other things is that the best is yet to come for me and my ministry. I have been fortunate to be able to preach in many different arenas in many different states in this country, but I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of where the Lord will allow me to preach. I have been fortunate to pastor 2 congregations, but my second congregation has not even begun to realize the heights in God that we both are soon to soar to. I have been fortunate to sit at the table with great Pastors, great Politicians and great people, but greater days are ahead for me in the Lord where influence in a number of different sectors will be realized.

1998 was a great year for me, not just because of my initial sermon, but a few months after that day, the Lord allowed me to meet the woman who would soon be both my partner in ministry, but also my partner in life, my wonderful wife Penny. Thank You Lord for 1998!