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Spiritual Path To Ministry
Last week I reflected upon the 48th anniversary of my ordination and 38th year as pastor of the Plymouth United Church of Christ in Detroit, Michigan. I was not called to preach as a child. My path to ministry began as a professional musician at age 16 which I continued until I was 21. In the photo, I played trombone in an R&B band. At age 19, my father asked me to establish a junior high youth ministry for our church. I enjoyed working with the children so much, it caused me to admit to myself that I could do that type of work for the rest of my life and find meaning, purpose, and find satisfaction. I told the band that if we did not have a recording contract by the time I graduated from Wayne State University in Detroit, I was finished with the music and would go into the ministry.

1st Black College Tour 1972 –
At 19 years of age, while still playing in the band, I began with a handful of boys and girls in my church who were in junior high school. That small group of children rapidly grew to over 100 youth, with a Sunday night weekly attendance of 40 or more children. I talked with them about spiritual issues, and encouraged each youth to express their feelings about big issues like life, death, and love. Our weekly meetings would end with a devotional in the sanctuary and then a party on the lower level with records and dancing. The high point of the two years that I worked with this group were the 1st organized black college tours from our church, with the 1st tour attracting 80 youth who made the trip on two greyhound buses. I encouraged the children to raise money as a group to pay for these trips so that every child could travel for free. The itinerary on the 1st black college tour in 1972 included Fisk university in Nashville, Dillard university in New Orleans, Talladega College, in Alabama, Morehouse and Spelman College in Atlanta GA and Lemoyne- Owen College in Memphis. A high point of that trip was meeting and introducing the youth to Coretta Scott King at the new King Memorial Center.
these photos show the buses leaving for the Black College Tour from our former church building which was located at 514 Garfield St. at the corner of Beaubien. in Detroit. (Current location of the Kresgee Eye Clinic) Parents and families of the youth gathered to say goodbye as the buses departed.




Yale Divinity School



1973-1976  I had a great spiritual experience at Yale Divinity School. However, my 2 greatest experiences while at Yale was serving as the director of the Yale gospel choir for 2 1/2 years, and serving as the pastor of the Black Church at Yale my last two years on campus. I found that there were a lot of things that attracted me to Denise, but some of the main ones were that she was a founder of the black church at Yale, and had a Christian upbringing in the AME church. 48 years later, we are still married.



Meting Denise


Arriving in the fall of 1973, hi the first hour I registered for classes and receive the keys to my dormitory room. The second hour on campus in New Haven CT, I walked downtown to purchase sheets. Who should I meet but Denise Page! When i met her, in the sheet department of Macy’s, I said to myself, look what the lord has brought me! His things turned out, her roommate was Caroline Jackson, the granddaughter of a treasure at our church in Detroit. Caroline provided a formal introduction and the rest is history. Three years later, we married in Detroit.


Working at Central Congregational Church

Divinity School Graduation 1976
During my time in divinity school, i worked at the Central Congregational Church in New Orleans LA for two summers. This is the church that my dad pastored before we move to Detroit. I worked under the reverend William Green, where he allowed me to visit the sick, build a youth ministry, and occasionally preach. My second summer in New Orleans I served as the licentiate minister  because Rev. Green had departed from the church, which gave me an opportunity to preach for 10 weeks each Sunday. This was a tremendous experience and opportunity for me to understand and learn many of the lessons of


what it means to be a pastor of a church. Broadcast Featuring Rev. Lawrence Rodgers
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Take a look at last Saturday’s show featuring the reverend Lawrence Rodgers of second Baptist Church talking about Elijah and the Ravens

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