My story begins in Charleston, S.C., where I was born to a 23-year-old single mother of three small children. My father, who was in the U.S. Navy at the time, was a married man, unbeknownst to my mother. Thus, I was born into drama. Unable to care for me, my biological mother gave me to my father and his wife, signing away all rights and, effectively, setting my life on a journey she would one day come to regret, in her own words.
My father was a military veteran of 21 years. His wife, the only mother I have known for most of my life, raised me as her own, accepting her husband’s infidelity. However, in this home, I faced many problems which subjected me to early childhood trauma. My father's alcoholism was at the core of most of the trauma that I would experience. I do not have a lot of fond memories of my father, as he was often gone to sea. When he was stationed on shore duty, he made my life a nightmare for most of my adolescence and teenage years.
I was a child who, by the age of 4, was on a first-grade reading level. I was a gifted student and bright child who was gradually beaten down by the weight of the aforementioned dysfunction. Growing up in a family where there was a hush culture, I was not only forced to bear the weight of early childhood trauma without any emotional support, I was also labeled and scorned when I began to act out in anger and bitterness. I was pushed into emotional isolation and, thus, I began to develop virile hatred of many whom I once trusted. I became disillusioned even towards God, though I had been raised in the Catholic Church and was even an altar boy at one point.
This young person who so loved school entered kindergarten and no longer had the desire to learn by the 7th grade. I was empty and felt that there was nothing in life that offered real hope. I lost my dignity and sense of direction, dropped out of school in the 8th grade, and never set foot in anyone's high school. Sadly, I had no one in my life that seemed to notice or care. No one came looking for me when I would run away from home long before I finally dropped out of school. I found myself in juvenile detention by age 15. By the age of 25, no longer believing that there is a god and completely submerged in debauchery, criminality, and self-hatred, I faced life in prison for attempted murder. I had committed a senseless and selfish crime of passion.
At the age of 25, I was sitting in the County jail with no skills, no purpose, and no sense of identity. I had no knowledge of God and no reason to want to live by my own account. Then something miraculous happened. A retired Swarts Creek Michigan Police Chief, Bob Ayers, who was a volunteer for “Forgotten Man Ministries”, came and witnessed to me. I will never forget the foolish thoughts I entertained, such as “what does this old white dude want with me?” Unfazed by my ignorance and spiritual blindness, Chief Ayers eventually led me to a confession of sin, repentance from dead works, and faith in God. He became my first mentor and a father figure in my life for many years to come.
I was sentenced to ten years in the Michigan Department of Corrections but ended up serving a total of 13 years of incarceration. Yet, with Bob's guidance and the support of an angel that God placed in my life, Tanja Hill, I would - Frederick Douglass, remake myself, by “luck, pluck, and gifts.” I eventually became a paralegal in the system. While there, another man came along who would impact me in a way that will forever be the defining moment in my life. His name was Gary Hopp, from Gaylord, MI. Gary was a guard in a camp who saw something in me. He took a chance on me and “got in my face,” challenging all the misdirected and ill-informed social values and concepts I held on to for dear life.
Gary taught me that I had indeed been in bondage in a manner far worse than the walls of the MDOC, even prophesying that my life would one day lead in an unprecedented manner if I would have the courage to be true to the calling he believed God had on my life. A short time later, I was released. I found myself immediately living in a homeless shelter, with no community ties, no job skills, and no resources. I did, however, have a few important tools: an uncompromising faith in God, a vision, the unending support of my angel, and a determination that I would never again be a slave to fear, bitterness, wrath, revenge, blame, and hopelessness. I also had a few words my heart carried, “If no one will help me, I will help myself, and then I will help someone else. If no one will make a job for me, I will make a job for myself, and then I will make a job for someone else.”
While in the shelter, I volunteered everyday when not looking for a job. I never told anyone I was in a shelter and never once borrowed or complained. I immediately joined a local church, and in about three weeks, I had an apartment. I could not land steady employment within a year, so I created a limited liability company. Six months later, I began getting speaking engagements for myself to talk about how to overcome a troubled past. I bought a new car within that same six-month period.
The following year I met another mentor, Jimmy Green, from Saginaw, MI. Jimmy invited me to join a leadership institute that he had created, The Great Lakes Bay Region African American Leadership Institute, from which I graduated and later advised. In this group, I began meeting leaders from across Mid Michigan who did not see me as an ex-con but a leader. They did not want to hear any excuses from me and did not accept any self-pity because of my incarceration record. They only wanted me to do what I said I would do and be where I said I would be. This group of leaders and mentors included Retired Air Force General Dave Hall, Former County Commissioner Ann Doyle, Former Diversity Officer for Dow Corning Kim Houston-Philpott and many more.
During the next few years, I became the keynote speaker at the Dow Chemical Company and Dow Corning’s Regional MLK, Jr. Celebration. I won a Frederick Douglass Service Award given by an affiliate of a National Black Women’s organization. I also created a successful Juvenile Justice non-profit sponsored by The Dow Chemical, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, McDonald’s of Outstate Michigan, The Johnny Burke Foundation, and The Saginaw Community Foundation. I became a graduate of the Saginaw County Vision 20/20 1000 Leaders Initiative, a 2010 graduate of Leadership Saginaw, a valued member of the Saginaw Chamber of Commerce Leadership Alumni Association, a member of the first Board of the Young Professionals Network of the Saginaw Chamber of Commerce and a graduate of the Henry Marsh Institute of Public Policy (Saginaw Valley State University).
For several years, inspired by my study of Frederick Douglass and Black leaders from the 18th and early 19th century, I traveled the nation as a Conservative public speaker, appeared on television and radio shows worldwide and shared the stage with some of the biggest names in Republican Politics. However, I realized that this was not where God wanted me to be.
After a while, I became too obsessed with political ideology and partisan politics and did not make any impact on the lives of those whom God had prepared me throughout my entire life to serve. Thus, I denounced what I learned as a form of idolatry in that I put my politics above sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and, consequently, spent more time dividing God's people than I was saving the lost. I then dedicated myself to preach the gospel and have never again involved myself with any form of partisan politics.
Neither Republican nor Democrat today, I choose to be a trumpet of God's Word and God's right in the affairs of His creation, focusing particular attention on serving the least among us.
God has, indeed, fully redeemed my life and given me a good name and a spiritually prosperous ministry.
After reading my story, I hope that one thing is crystal clear. The obstacles we are born into, plus our past mistakes, do not matter. By seeking repentance from dead works, faith in God, personal responsibility, and self-determination, we can turn our humble beginnings and failures into stepping stones to success.
We can indeed overcome the impossible because nothing is impossible for God!
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