I was born in the City of Roses, Portland, Oregon, on March 7, 1955. I am the third child born to the union of Charles Warren and Perlene Helen White. I have two elder brothers, Manfred and Cedric, and one elder sister, Laura; and one younger sister, Irene. My mother died in January of 1991, my father died in January of 1994.
On August 2, 1980, a wonderful young lady by the name of Yolanda Renee, said “I do” to committing our lives together. Yolanda, completed West Georgia in 1979, and completed her Master’s in Social Work, from the University of Kansas, in 1984. Our union has been blessed with two sons: Christopher Raphael 38, and Jason Rashad 34.
I finished Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, June of 1969. I was Vice President and President of the Student Body when we renamed the School, from Highland. I graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1973. In 1977 I graduated with a B. S. Degree in Psychology from Morris Brown College in Atlanta. My Seminary degree comes from the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta in 1980. I finished my Ph.D. work in Pastoral Care and Theology at School of Theology Claremont but paused on my dissertation. Further studies at Phillips School of Religion, Enid, Oklahoma, St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri, and Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.
In my earliest childhood I felt the call to preach. I have always desired to be a preacher. (No, my father was not a preacher.) I accepted the call to preach in the summer of 1969. I was licensed to preach in Bethel A.M.E. Church, Portland, under the pastoral leadership of Reverend A. Lee Henderson. I was fourteen years of age. I pastored my first church when I was 17 years old, Bailey A.M.E., Everett, Washington. To be painfully honest I had no idea what I was doing. Thank God for the people of God for truly letting me practice on them! In the African Methodist Church, there are two ordinations; deacon and elder. I received my deacons orders in 1973, and my elders orders in 1975. My pastoral journey has been filled with an abundance of blessings, some of which I will share: