Loyal Messenger
Athens minister takes word to the street
By
Sarah
Lee
slee@onlineathens.com
 Boys
from the Nellie B neighborhood cheer during a boys vs. girls
game as minister Joe Loyal preaches the Christian faith. ''We
try to introduce them to the Lord in a way that is digestible
to them,'' said Loyal.
Jeff Blake/Staff |
Many of the kids who live off East Athens' Nellie
B Avenue don't attend church, so local minister Joe Loyal brings
the church to them -- in a green and purple truck.
For the past four years, Loyal -- an Atlanta native who moved
to Athens in 1978 -- has been preaching the tenets of the
Christian faith to inner-city children and prison inmates through
his non-denominational, non-profit Faith Today Ministries Inc.
On any given Saturday, he can be found in one of the
lower-income areas around town, handing out hot dogs, sodas and
candy from the back of the converted -- and wildly painted --
ministry-owned delivery truck that folds out and doubles as a
puppet stage, sound board and faith learning center.
''Church is boring for most kids,'' Loyal said on a recent
Saturday, standing in a grove of shade trees at the corner of
Nellie B Avenue and Cone Drive. ''We try to give them an
atmosphere where they can be themselves.''
And the kids -- many of them already hardened by the harshness
of life, says Loyal -- come out in droves to participate.
Levi Yearby, 11, Samuel Taylor, 10, Ramon Harris, 12, and Doug
Gresham, 9, who came out on this particular Saturday, all call the
mobile church ''awesome.''
''I like coming to this kind of church,'' said Samuel, who
admits he doesn't attend regular church on Sundays.
He and his friends, who are part of a group of roughly 50
children there, take great pleasure in winning the prize for
learning to diaper and feed ''the baby'' -- an excited Gresham,
who stands quietly while a cloth diaper is put on over his clothes
and who gets a baby bottle full of juice to drink -- quicker than
the girl's team, even as more shy kids peek around the trees, not
yet willing to join but curious about the excitement and music of
Loyal's ministry.
''We try to introduce them to the Lord in a way
that is digestible to them,'' said Loyal. ''We speak to them on
their own level ... because they are the future, and the
foundation of the future church.''
Regular programs in the Faith Today mobile church include
puppet shows with popular songs like ''Soul Man,'' games like
''Fruit of the Spirit'' -- where kids draw pieces of paper printed
with words such as ''love'' and ''forgiveness'' from a bucket and
everyone gets a prize -- and hot dog and hamburger cookouts where
kids can celebrate community. The flock Loyal has chosen -- ''the
ones who've already fallen through the cracks,'' he says -- hold a
special meaning for a man who admits he didn't always follow the
ways of God.
Nearly 25 years ago, Loyal was working as a territorial sales
representative for a major food company, a self-made man who had
the comfort of material wealth yet was still dissatisfied.
''One day, heading up the highway to Gainesville, I just called
out to the Lord, and while I didn't know it yet, that changed my
life,'' he noted.
He began preaching to inmates, and from there it was a natural
progression to the kids most in danger of landing in jail
themselves.
''I was called by God, not by man, to teach the youth,'' he
said. ''And when you're called by God, he prepares a way for
you.''
Loyal takes his ministry beyond Athens and spends some weekends
in communities like Washington and Winder. He will be back in
Athens today, in a neighborhood off Bailey Street.
He can also be heard at 4:30 p.m. Sundays on WBKZ-AM (880) on
his radio program, ''The Sword of the Spirit.''
''He relates to people on a different level, the young and the
old,'' said Sonya Kernaghan, a member of Free Chapel in
Gainesville and a helper in Loyal's ministry. ''He tells them
about God in a way they can comprehend.''
His ministry is a godsend for Lewis Carter, a mentally
challenged man who spent some time in jail before Loyal asked him
to help out with the ministry.
Faith Today Ministries, Carter says, is his calling as well.
''It keeps kids from running out in the street and teaches them
about God and other stuff,'' said Carter, who helps out by leading
songs and helping conduct games with the kids. ''And it gives me
something to do. ... It keeps me from being in trouble.''
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