WS Chronicle

Photo by Timothy Ramsey

BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY 

THE CHRONICLE

Rev. Derwin L. Montgomery answered the call on his life and preached his initial sermon on June 5, 2005, at the young age of 16.  Under the direction of Dr. James W. Abrams Jr., Senior Pastor of St. James Baptist Church in Hopkins, South Carolina, Montgomery was ordained in October 2010.

In April 2012, Montgomery was installed as senior pastor of the First Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. This past Sunday, April 2, he and the congregation celebrated his fifth anniversary.  The guest speaker was Abrams, who was accompanied by several members of St. James Baptist Church.

According to the church, Montgomery, 28, is a young and energetic leader for his time.  He has and continues to dedicate his life to service in mankind and believes anyone can come back from anything with God.

“It’s good to have time for anniversaries because it’s good to celebrate, but for me it’s often a time for reflection,” Montgomery said.  “It’s not about one person when you have pastoral anniversaries, even though it often looks that way, but for me it’s a time for re-commitment to what we are doing and how we are doing what we are doing.”

The St. James Baptist Church Choir sang throughout the service.  A solo song and poem tribute was dedicated to Montgomery by Sister Mary Jackson and the Youth Department.

Abrams sermon was titled “Walking with God.” Toward the end of his sermon, he gave Montgomery some encouraging words for him to persevere through the years as he is pastor of First Calvary Baptist. Following the Abrams sermon, the different ministries presented Montgomery with gifts. A special gift from visiting church St. James was also presented to Montgomery.

After receiving his gifts Montgomery, took the mic and gave a heartfelt thank you to everyone that was involved with putting the service together along with everyone in attendance. He then gave gifts of his own to many of those who helped make the service run as smoothly as it did. Montgomery then gave a special thanks to his family and close friends.

“I try to do something every time we have a celebration of some sort,” Montgomery went on to say. “I can’t be pastor and do what I’m doing absent of any of those people, so we have to take the time out and say thank you.

That doesn’t happen by accident; you have to be intentional.”

Montgomery, who represents the East Ward on the Winston-Salem City Council, became the youngest elected official in North Carolina when he first won the seat in 2009 as a 21-year-old college junior at Winston-Salem State University and the youngest African-American elected official in the country. For the past three years, Montgomery has been the executive director of the Bethesda Center for the Homeless. Also, Montgomery is a leading director in the newly formed The Chronicle Media Group, LLC, which is buying The Chronicle. The sale is expected to be finalized in May. Montgomery says he is excited about the new opportunity.

“All of this further encapsulates for me the truth that this life is not my own,” he continued. “When you walk with God sometimes you go places you never knew you could go. If there ever is a day where I am questioned if there really is a God, all I have to do is look at my own life and can tell there is truly a God and he continues to move in so many ways.”