GENEVA, Ala. (AP) - You could say preaching runs in the Harvey family.
James Harvey began preaching more than 40 years ago. Two of his brothers were also preachers.
His sons, Pierre Harvey and Curtis Harvey, started preaching when they were in their 20s. And their younger brother, Rodney Harvey, will preach his initial sermon on Sunday, Jan. 29, at 2:30 p.m. at his father’s church, St. Elizabeth Missionary Baptist Church in Geneva.
Interestingly enough, neither James Harvey nor his sons initially wanted to be church pastors.
“I had two brothers that the spirit was on them . and they started preaching,” James Harvey, 69, said. Two brothers, he said, seemed to be enough for God. “And I thought, ’You don’t need me.’ But I got to the point I was running red lights and stopping at green lights.”
In other words, ignoring the call to preach had him feeling confused. So, he allowed his blood pressure to decide for him. During a visit to his doctor to have his normally-high blood pressure checked, James Harvey made a deal with God: If his blood pressure was normal, he’d accept his calling. To his own and his doctor’s surprise, James Harvey’s blood pressure was normal. He enrolled in theology courses and eventually became pastor of St. Elizabeth Missionary Baptist Church in Geneva, where he is still pastor today.
“It never was hard to me because I love preaching and I love seeing people saved,” James Harvey said.
Pierre Harvey, 45, began preaching when he was 21 years old and is currently pastor of St. Peter Missionary Baptist Church in Abbeville. Curtis Harvey, 47, preached his first sermon in 1996 and led his first church in Newville in the mid-2000s around the same time he began serving on the Houston County Commission. Six years ago, Curtis Harvey helped start a new non-denominational church, Rhema Rock Church, which currently meets at Beverlye Magnet School in Dothan.
Growing up preacher’s kids, both Pierre and Curtis said they knew early on that their Christian faith and church would always be important to them. But neither believed they would ever become church pastors.
“After I accepted the calling, it took me years to adjust because it’s like another world,” Pierre Harvey said. “People judge you with everything you do, everything you say. They look at it as a life that you’re supposed to be perfect in, and no one is perfect.”
For Curtis Harvey, starting a new church has been one of the most exciting things he said God has led him to do.
“It is exciting,” he said. “I’ve never been scared. I’ve probably been more anxious, but God has taught me patience in that . You don’t have a deacon board or women’s board or men’s board or any of that. You’re just kind of starting from ground zero. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”
Rodney Harvey, who lives in Augusta, Georgia, was like his father in the sense that he thought with two brothers as preachers, God didn’t need him. After serving in the Air Force, Rodney began a career in cyber security. Then, one day he called his father and said he wanted to be a teacher. Then, he told his father he felt called to preach.
Rodney, now 40, said while he did his own thing after leaving home, he knew when he was a child that preaching was in his blood. He even mimicked his father’s sermons on Mondays at his babysitter’s home with a tree stump as his podium. He was around 5 years old at the time.
“She had a tree stump and for months I would mimic my daddy’s whole sermon,” Rodney said in a phone interview. “People would walk by and I would do whatever he did - hitting the stump and I’m preaching and sometimes people actually stopped and listened . Even back then, it was in me.”
For James Harvey, having his three sons accept the calling to preach is humbling.
“We’re proud that we could give God three sons,” he said.
The responsibility of being a pastor is a serious one, James Harvey said.
“I’ve never been afraid to get up and preach,” he said. “I think my greatest fear is that after all this preaching, there is something left that I could have done that I didn’t do . that would have brought someone to the Lord.”
___
Information from: The Dothan Eagle, https://www.dothaneagle.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.