Saturday, July 25, 1998

Local pastor took long, winding road to the ministry

By LORETTA FULTON Senior Staff Writer

Ken Deckard isn't positive when the moment came that he felt a call to the ministry.

He knows it wasn't as a child growing up in Kermit where his mama tried her best to make him go to church.

"When there was a big day and a lot of pretty girls at the church I'd go," he said, but that was about it.

He knows it wasn't at McMurry University where, in 1963, he became the first black athlete at the school, recruited for his blazing speed to play on the football team.

"When I went to McMurry I had to take Bible, and I hated it," he said. "I tried to get excused from chapel."

He knows it wasn't during the time he played defensive back for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"You just can't imagine the lifestyle," he said of the pro football world.

Actually, he said, "I don't think I had any inclination."

But - and this date he knows for certain - on July 6, 1980, Deckard found himself walking down the aisle of King Solomon Baptist Church asking himself, "Lord, what am I doing down here?"

It's a day he will never forget.

"Two days after Independence Day, the Lord set me free," he said.

It took another five years before Deckard realized God wanted him to be a preacher and, on June 23, 1985, he preached his first sermon on "The Master Builder."

It was a fitting title, because God had built a preacher out of a fleet-footed slender youngster from Kermit who just wanted to play football and skip chapel services at McMurry.

Now, a few pounds heavier and with a little bit of gray in his moustache, Deckard can proudly reflect on a life of triumph with a few bumps along the way.

After his brief stay with the Steelers, Deckard left to play for the Alabama Hawks of a now defunct league. While in Huntsville, Ala., he started work for the Model Cities Program, which eventually led to his returning to Abilene in February 1970 to work for the Community Action Program.

In November of that year he was named director and is still in that post to this day. His preaching is a side career, as pastor of Bethsaida Baptist Church in Anson.

Early on, Deckard encountered some obstacles in his new position, wrangling with a board of directors that at one time wanted to fire him. But he persevered and, 28 years later, those board members are gone and Deckard is still at his job.

Deckard's road to the pulpit started with a chance meeting with the Rev. C.C. Hines, then pastor of King Solomon Baptist Church. The reverend told Deckard he had heard a lot about him and was glad to meet him.

Deckard liked the minister so much that he went home and shared the encounter with his wife, who had unsuccessfully tried to get Deckard to church with her.

"That's the church I've been going to," was the reply a surprised Deckard got from his wife.

Deckard still wasn't ready for church, but his little girl started talking about the Bible and telling her daddy she knew when it rained for the first time ever because that's when Noah's flood occurred.

Deckard disagreed with his daughter's biblical interpretation, and picked up the book to point out a few things to her.

"I started reading it and stuff just started opening up," Deckard recalled.

Eventually Deckard's wife got him to church. On the same day as his conversion, July 6, 1980, Deckard stayed up until 2 o'clock in the morning reading the Bible and it was then that he knew he had to preach.

He talked to the Rev. Hines about it and was asked if he would like to be a deacon. He didn't really want to be anything, but he couldn't deny the call to preach.

He kept asking, "Why can't I just be a pew Christian?" and telling God, "Don't bother me anymore about preaching."

But with a nudge from Hines, Deckard preached his first sermon on June 23, 1985, and has been doing it ever since. He took over at the Anson church in 1993.

Looking back on his life, Deckard said he now realizes it was "just a matter of time" before he became a preacher. Born with spinal meningitis that a brother died of, Deckard wasn't expected to live, much less grow up to be a sought-after athlete.

"I think God just kind of had his hand on me all my life," he said.