WS Chronicle

By Busta Brown

On November 1, 1997, a pastor’s life was saved. Not only in the physical, but the spiritual as well.

“I came from East Winston-Salem. I came from a great family, but I got out there. I had some struggles with drugs and the crime scene, which caused me to do some time in jail,” said Pastor Jayson Sloan. When you meet Jayson, his vibe is continuously turned up to 100 percent and it’s contagious. His confident and inspiring spirit dominated the room, leaving no room for negativity. His vibe screamed, “This is a judgment-free zone.”

And that’s what we need in our pastors today. His story is very relatable for today’s youth – a streetwise young man, yet lost and confused spiritually. In 1998 all of that changed. “When I was out in the streets, the reality was there was something deep on the inside of me. When I came to St. Peter’s World Outreach, it spoke to me.”

It’s one of the largest congregations in the Triad, yet one Sunday morning he felt that word was just for him. “I felt like I was the only one Bishop was talking to. Line upon line, precept upon precept.” After that Sunday morning, Sloan’s life was never the same. He told me, “Busta, I kid you not. I didn’t date for three years. I had a Playstation and a Bible. I didn’t answer my phone, nothing.”

His newfound salvation wasn’t an overnight sensation, but he did immediately benefit a few coworkers. “When I first got saved, I was still selling drugs on a smaller scale. The next day, it was on a Monday.

I went back to my job in Rural Hall and saw some friends that owed me some money, and I told all of them to keep your money. I told them I’m outta the game and I don’t want to talk about that. From that day, November 1, 1997, I haven’t touched any drugs, I haven’t drunk alcohol; I was solid.”

Pastor Sloan developed a prayer life and a hunger for the word of God. “I kid you not, that day there was something released inside of me, that still burns inside of me ‘til this very day. I’m not perfect, I still make mistakes, but it sustains me.”

He credits the head of the nearly 3,000 members of St. Peter’s World Outreach, Bishop James C. Hash Sr. and his wife Joyce Hash, for the phenomenal man he’s become. “When I joined in 1998, I got great teaching and leadership and an opportunity to work in my gift, which is working with kids. I also found my wife and my life working in youth ministry.” He started with small roles in the church. “I was driving the van and collected money. That was it. And I was satisfied with that. I never wanted to be the youth pastor or any of that, I just wanted to serve.” He’s a great example of how humble and honest servants become the greatest leaders. Sloan is on his way to greatness.

Pastor Sloan serves as a Pastoral Director over Gen One at St Peter’s World Outreach Center and is a member of an awesome organization called The Clergy Action Team, which is responsible for providing services to address the mental and emotional needs of at-risk and or gang-involved youth and their families. Their mission is to decrease the amount of youth who join gangs and give them options to a better way of life. They work closely with WSPD Gang Task Force. Since the organization started, along with their partnership with WSPD Task Force, gang recruitment has gone down significantly, from nearly 2,000 members down to 600.

I asked Pastor Sloan to paint a picture with his words about what The Clergy Action Team does with at risk youth and their families. Get some tissue, because this story is a tearjerker. “Let’s be honest, gang is a way to network for our youth and a way to get their needs met. The community centers are not the way it used to be when I was growing up. It used to be that it takes a village to raise a child. Walking up and down 14th Street, going to MLK, Carl Russell, that was everything to us as kids.” That’s why Jayson is very passionate about youth. He doesn’t mind putting boots on the ground and meeting them where they are, both mentally and spiritually. “I tell them there’s nothing special about me. I’ll tell you all the mistakes I’ve made and all the issues I had. If it wasn’t for God giving me another chance, I wouldn’t be here. Some kids need more than a second chance, sometimes you need 12 chances or more.” What I dig about the humble and wise young pastor, he understands that every child is different, and is willing to give each child the chances they need individually.

Now get ready for the tears and tissue. One day he received a phone call from his Clergy Action Team member Pam Peoples Joyner. “I’ll never forget one particular time she called me. She said, ‘Jayson, are you free?’ I said yes, and she said, ‘Let’s go.’ So I met her at the house of young mother and her teenaged son. The young man had torn up the house. The mother said she didn’t want anything to do with him. When we arrived, the young man was outside, so we went in to talk to the mother. After seeing the house, I told Pam to let me go outside to handle him and you got mom.” The mother was in her early 30s, her son was in high school, and his father was much older and absent in the young man’s life. Pastor Sloan stepped outside to speak with the extremely angry young man. “I told him I’m not the police and my only agenda is to know what can I do for you. ‘What can I do to better serve you?’” he asked the young man. The young man told Sloan that he and his mother get high together and he doesn’t see her as a mother.

Keep your tissues near and go to our YouTube channel, winstonsalem Chronicle, to hear the rest of  this story. Pastor Jayson Sloan also talks about how watching his grandmother and some local businessmen taught him some very valuable life lessons. Pastor Jayson Sloan is married to Mia Hash Sloan and they are the parents of three beautiful children, J’Lysa Robinson, Jayson James Sloan and Jillian Isabella Sloan. He’s a proud alumnus of Winston Salem State University. He has also successfully completed two certifications from Duke University in Non-Profit Management and Executive Non-Profit Management.