Rev. LeRoy Attles: Heavenly grace and community service, The

New Crisis, The, Mar/Apr 2000 by Crowe, Steve

Despite all the church activities and social programs, Rev. Attles' greatest joy comes from being a pastor: "Seeing people blessed when they realize that God is real. That's what it is." Teen-agers make the passage into adulthood; drug addicts and former prisoners put their lives back together; people are healed of ailments. Some 95 men and women have heard the call to ministry at St. Paul's over the past 22 years.

Rev. Attles' own children are doing well: daughter Kanice Johns, a minister in Ellendale, Del.; son LeRoy a computer engineer in Atlanta; and son Louis, a pastor in Morristown, N.J.

It is possible that the Rev Attles' ministry at St. Paul's is coming to an end. He is one of 26 pastors seeking to become one of two new bishops in the 19-district AME church when the conference convenes this July If chosen, Rev. Attles expects he would be assigned to South Africa. And then he'd be wishing that the man who had the greatest influence on his life could be there: the late Frank Norman Williams, a former scoutmaster who later became his mentor in ministry. It was Williams who vouched for the boy so his mother would let him go to summer camp. In fact, Rev. Attles says, "A lot of things happened in my life on his word."

One day, no doubt, many will say the same about the Rev Dr. LeRoy Attles.

Steve Crowe is a freelance writer and a lecturer in journalism at Boston University and Gordon College.