Pastor Travis: A Positive Male Role Model

Another unique aspect of my life is having a pastor for a father. Living as a pastor’s son has always been interesting, and this experience has allowed me to learn much about working with varying types of people from numerous walks of life. Being a pastor is not a high paying job, so I have also learned to be frugal and creative with money due to living in a low income

Robert Greenleaf was the first individual to introduce the concept of a servant leader. Greenleaf was born in 1904 in Terre Haute, Indian. In 1970, after spending the majority of his professional career with AT&T as their director of management development, he released an essay entitled “The Servant as Leader”. This essay described the servant leadership style in detail. Greenleaf stated that he believed the best leader is one who is a servant first. He stated that there were a few key factors for being a servant leader which included; listening, persuasion, access to intuition and foresight, and use of language.

What I learned and understood about my father through conversations with my older siblings was about the impact of the loss of my grandfather (my father’s father) at an early age, heavy responsibilities taken on at an early age (hardship of the Depression era) to help support his mother and younger siblings. This led him to a strong sense of responsibility and a deep faith. But it all made him seem emotionally unavailable. The hard times for black families dealing with racial discrimination and the horrors of Jim Crow led to strictness that he, in all likelihood, felt was necessary for the survival of his children. There simply was no place for lighthearted fun. This greater understanding led to a stronger connection with my father, and an appreciation for such things as his devotion to having taken care of his family, his integrity, compassion for those less fortunate than himself, and the commitment as a deacon and Sunday school teacher.

I. He gave my brother and I a better life full of support in whatever we do.

Who was William Barret Travis? Born and raised in South Carolina, he studied law and found work as a teacher before marrying young, at the age of 19. His wife, Rosanna Cato, was one of his students. In 1831, after working as an attorney and a newspaper editor, Travis made the decision to abandon his failing marriage and make a new start in Texas. (He was also likely facing mounting debts.) He left his wife, young son and unborn daughter in South Carolina and applied for a land grant in the new colony formed by Stephen F. Austin.

“Servant Leadership” throughout history has always been a vital concept to grasp as leaders, however the actual term was not coined until the 1970’s by Robert Greenleaf in his essay The Servant as a Leader. Greenleaf depicts the concept of servant leadership as being a servant first meaning the leader is always willing, ready, and eager to assist those around them in order to create the best environment for everyone to work towards achieving goals.

Brother Antoine Hollings is a youth pastor at my church of whom I go to seek advice. He was very easy to understand and could relate to the problems we faced at school. He knew what it felt like being in our shoes, such as living unsaved and hanging with the wrong people. He would always tell us stories about the mistakes he made and why we shouldn’t do it. With him I have someone to confine my worries and fears to without my parents finding out.

Camp Ozark and its partner youth group, Ozone helped me in high school to develop my relationship with The Lord and my purpose to serve Him. The leaders and counselors that I knew encouraged me and guided me as I got to know Jesus. They are one of my biggest influences in wanting to do ministry in college and after. My relationship with my dad was something that hindered my self-perception and my relationship with Jesus. We had a tough relationship, as he fought a lot with my mom and also dealt with depression. I had a hard time understanding God as a perfect father, but over time I have come to learn what it means to have a perfect Heavenly Father, one that loves me unconditionally and rejoices in me. I have always had high expectations for

Dwight Lyman Moody, one of the famous and well-known evangelist in America. Moody was born on February 5, 1837 as the sixth child of Edwin and Betsy Holton Moody in Northfield of Massachusetts. D.L. Moody’s formal education have ended in the fifth grade, and he quickly got tired of spending his life in a farm. Therefore, he decided to abandon his home at age 17 and tried to seek for an employment in Boston. While searching for a job, he was having difficulty to find a secure and desirable position that he ever wanted, so he gave up and asked to his uncle, Samuel Holton for a job. Luckily, his uncle hired him for work in the retail shoe store that he owned. However, his uncle wanted to keep and protect this young boy Moody from misbehavior,

Currently my family and I attend the Enola First Church of God which is tucked away into a cul de sac off of the Wertzville road scarcely situated beyond the Enola boundary in which Pastor George Jensen presides. We have been attending this church for the past 20 years, mostly due to the charismatic Pastor Jensen’s unique aptitude to transverse biblical studies into effortless understanding concerning life’s day-to-day circumstances.

Pastor Steve is a wonderful preacher. However, this is the first church I have been at where the associate pastors don’t speak unless the head pastor is out of town. I enjoy all the different ways that each of the pastors preach, and I would enjoy an opportunity for them to speak more.

My parents divorced when I was five, so I was raised in a single parent home by my mother. My aunt and mother both instilled in me what it means to be a strong, independent, God fearing woman. From the time I was born I attended church regularly, praise dancing and singing in the choir. Being able to touch someone while ministering the word of God is one of the greatest privliges I’ve had.

My mother was involved in our church heavily so I grew up going to church and volunteering, making my relationship with God very strong. My brother was involved in boy scouts and baseball. I was dragged to all the baseball games ever since I was three years old, which made me have a love for sports. Eventually seeing my brother have fun and being involved in Boy Scouts encouraged me to go into Girl Scouts. Being in Girl Scouts since the

I really enjoyed executing this interview. It was a privilege to be able to include my interviewee in my assignment, as he has been supporting my decision to further my education and proceed with my calling through Christ. Bill Kidd has been an associate pastor for over 7 years at Bethel Baptist Church. Pastor Kidd was in school at the same time as myself and we always were able to connect and relate to each other whenever we got together at meetings or other gatherings. I look up to and respect his achievement in ministry and I am looking forward to learning from him as I pursue my role in ministry.

Interviewing several pastors can be eye opening in that you will begin to see different character qualities, disciplines and where they are in their spiritual journey. My intention was to interview several pastors, however, I was unable to obtain the responses needed to complete a study such as that. I did get to meet with one pastor, and I believe that it was truly difficult for him to answer most of the questions even after giving him some time to think about each question. My interview was with a very intelligent and spiritual man named Les Harvey. He is currently serving at the Church of the Highlands Greystone campus under many great leaders.