White Oak pastor’s ministry involves mind and body
BY JACK McDUFFIE Staff Writer
A line of small children in martial arts uniforms watch as their instructor prepares to take them through their paces. But before the instructor begins the karate lesson, he asks the students to recite several Bible verses from memory.
The instructor is Reverend Dr. Darryl Covington, pastor of White Oak Baptist Church and President of Karate For Christ International, a Christian martial arts fellowship with more than 10,000 members in 50 states and 28 foreign countries. The class is one of several he instructs for different age groups in the fellowship hall at his pastorate.
Martial arts have been a part of Covington’s life since he was a small child growing up in Mississippi. And his knowledge of the martial arts has propelled him to a position of prominence in the sport. He has coached the United States National Team in the World Games in 2000 and in the World Cup in 2003.
More importantly, Covington says, he has incorporated Karate For Christ into his ministry not only to instill self-discipline in the youth of his congregation but to attract others who may not know Christ.
Though Covington has been pastor of White Oak Baptist a little over a year, he is no stranger to the congregation. His grandfather, Reverend J. C. Ray, was the church’s pastor for about 16 years and when Covington was a small child, he would visit his grandfather for the summer in White Oak.
It is while he was visiting his grandfather one summer that he says he first felt the call to the ministry. However, it was not until he was a college student more than a decade later that he heeded the call.
Born in Spruce Pine and raised in a small town in southern Mississippi, Covington moved with his parents to Prattville, Alabama, when he was 16. It was in Prattville that he met the girl he would later marry during his senior year of college.
After graduating from Prattville High School, he enlisted in the Army and was assigned to a unit at Fort Bragg that is now a part of the 82nd Airborne. While at Fort Bragg, he would visit White Oak Baptist frequently on weekends.
He was discharged four years later in 1991, shortly after Desert Storm and enrolled in Auburn University in the Army’s Green to Gold commissioning program. During this period he remained in the Army as a reservist.
It was while at Auburn that he says he yielded to the call into the ministry and prepared to enter seminary upon graduation. After completing a Bachelor of Science in biology at Auburn in 1995, he entered New Orleans Theological Seminary and soon afterward, accepted his first pastorate at a small church in Clear Creek, Mississippi.
He completed his Master of Divinity degree from Trinity Theological Seminary, a non-affiliated seminary in Newberg, Indiana, through an extension program in January 1997. He was accepted into a doctoral program offered through Southwestern Theological Seminary, where he completed a Doctor of Ministry degree.
While in the doctoral program, he accepted the call of First Baptist Church of Jamestown, Kentucky, in 1998, a church with more than 1,100 members. In 2000, he accepted the call of another church in Straight Bayou, Mississippi, where he would remain until he was called by White Oak Baptist.
In 2002, he was awarded a PhD from Indiana University in a Korean studies discipline.
He says he first learned of the vacancy at White Oak Baptist through a friend, David Price, a fellow member of Karate For Christ, who attended the church.
“He sent me an email and told me they were looking for a pastor,” said Covington. "I told him there was no way I was going to pastor a church my grandfather had pastured. He ignored what I said and asked me to send him my resume. I sent him a little information in an email but never did send him my full resume.
“I didn’t hear from them (White Oak Baptist) for four months and thought they weren’t interested,” he said. “Then one day Kenneth Register, who was chair of the Pastor Search Committee, called me in the fall of 2003 and asked if I was still interested.”
Covington said it was a bit ironic that Register asked in that way, because he had never indicated that he was interested at the time.
“I told him I hadn’t heard anything from them in a while and hadn’t really thought about it, but agreed to preach a trial sermon,” said Covington. "I came here in November and preached the trial sermon. The church voted to call me as their new pastor, but initially I turned them down.
“But LeRoy (Register) called Kenneth and told him that he thought I had missed God (God’s will), and that the Pastor Search Committee ought to call me again,” he explained. “So they called me again, and I agreed to come…and here I am.”
Covington says he became involved in Karate For Christ while in college at Auburn in the early 1990s.
“At the time I joined, there were only 46 members,” said Covington. “It is a Christian martial arts fellowship that has no denominational affiliation. Anyone can join who ascribes to our Statement of Faith, and we have members from many different denominations.”
Covington says he has started Karate programs at his last three pastorates and all are still active. In addition, he has written three books that have been published on Christian martial arts and teaching Christian martial arts.
Presently the program at White Oak Baptist Church has 80 members. Covington said the program has attracted new members into the congregation.
Covington assumed the presidency of Karate For Christ International about the time he became pastor at White Oak. “You might say this (the pastor’s study at the parsonage) is the headquarters for the organization,” he said.
Covington said the organization communicates primarily by email and the Internet. He will go on a 19-day mission trip to the Phillipines and China this summer, where he will be working with a Karate For Christ member in China.
Covington and his wife, Brenda, have two daughters, 9-year-old Mikayla and Miriah, who is eight.
http://www.bladenjournal.com/articles/2005/06/03/news/religion/religion.txt
Crotty for Christ?