MK Gantt Ministries

I was born in the winter of 1948 to an eighteen year-old cotton mill worker; unmarried and systematically abused by her father. I was sixteen months old when she left. No longer able to bear the constant beatings and verbal abuse, she walked out of the cotton mill where she worked, cashed her paycheck, got on a bus and disappeared. I lived in a foster home until I was seven years old. I had no memory of my mother or father, I knew of no brothers or sisters or cousins, aunts, uncles –– no one that I could call family other than a kindly old man named Clarence and his wife Ruby who were my foster parents. When I was seven years old my mom suddenly appeared to reclaim me and the next day I was on a bus with a woman I did not know.

My poor mom continued to flee her abuser long after he died, with me in tow from state to state, town to town, and sadly, man to man. When I was thirteen years old –– hope arrived. A young youth pastor took me under his wing and became the only father I ever knew. He led me to Christ, showed me what it meant to be a man, trained me, signed my marriage license and my ordination papers. I preached his funeral in 2011.

It has now been more than sixty years since that man put his arm around me and said, “Walk with me.” Though he is gone now, the legacy he left me remains today . . . and for more than sixty years I have been putting my arm around young people and inviting them to walk with me.