From Florida to Fellowship: the “Awesome” Journey of Pastor Charles Jenkins

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

Chicago’s Fellowship Missionary Baptist Churchhas been fertile ground for gospel music since Rev. Dr. Clay Evans founded the church more than sixty years ago.

Fellowship’s first minster of music was Willie Webb, an original Roberta Martin Singer and sometime accompanist for Mahalia Jackson.  Rev. Milton Brunson, founder of the Thompson Community Singers, sang solos with the Fellowship choir, known as the “Ship.”  Legend has it Sam Cooke attended services at Fellowship.  The Ship’s commitment to the traditional Chicagosound earned it many awards and accolades over the years.

Evans has retired, but Fellowship remains on the gospel music charts, courtesy of a praise and worship anthem called “Awesome,” written by the church’s new pastor, Rev. Charles Jenkins.

Jenkins spoke with TBGB about becoming the second pastor in Fellowship’s 62-year history, the new single, and the church’s forthcoming CD.

Jenkins was born in St. Petersburg, Floridaand grew up attending 10^th Street Church of God.  “That’s all I knew until I became a teenager,” he said.  “But there was a Baptist church in the neighborhood where there was a choir.  Everybody was a member, so that piqued my interest.”

Jenkins later served as minister of music for Bethel AME in St. Petersburg and was licensed to preach at sixteen years old.  Two years later, he was ordained at Mount Zion Progressive Baptist Church.  “In my first year of preaching the gospel,” Jenkins recalled, “I must have gotten over 70 invitations, so I was speaking all over the place.” 

He had taken seven years of classical piano lessons, and even considered minoring in music in college, “but the pulpit overwhelmed the piano and I zeroed in on the Bible.” 

Still, music was rooted deep in the minister’s soul.  “I was writing songs, but I had not formally thought about placing them on albums or shopping them,” he said.  “It wasn’t until Teddy Campbell—the drummer on the Tonight Show—and his wife, Tina Campbell—one half of Mary Mary—heard my stuff and told me I should do something with it.  Then Israel [Houghton] heard it and said the same thing.” 

Israel recorded Jenkins’ “You’ve Been a Friend” as part of his GRAMMY Award-winning album, Israel and New Breed – Alive in South Africa.

Jenkins describes his becoming pastor of Fellowship as a “God story.” 

He arrived in Chicagoin January 1996 to study at Moody Bible Institute.  “I was sitting at my desk during summer school in May of 1996 when the Lord placed it on my heart that I would lead Fellowship.  Now, I didn’t know of Fellowship, I didn’t know Rev. Clay Evans.  I told my mother and my girlfriend (now my wife) and one of my dearest friends, Pastor Craig Oliver, that the Lord put this word, ‘Fellowship,’ in my mind and said that I would lead a church there.  Pastor Oliver knew Rev. Evans and he thought I was crazy!” 

Meanwhile, the African American Religious Connection (AARC), a consortium Evans had created, was looking to build up its youth division.  The AARC called Jenkins to see if he would be interested in working with this new division.  Jenkins put a proposal together. 

“I showed up at the church to drop [the proposal] off, but I ended up presenting my proposal that day at a meeting that I had no idea was taking place.”  Among the meeting attendees was Evans himself.  Jenkins recalled: “In his own words, Rev. Evans said that at the moment I opened my mouth, God yelled in his ear: ‘That’s your successor.’

“Little did I know that the church had been praying for five years for a successor.  God ordered my steps and ordered his, and here I am, almost twelve years being the Senior Pastor.  It’s a humbling honor.”

One of Jenkins’s many pastoral duties was creating a record label for the church called Inspired People.  The label recently signed an exclusive worldwide distribution agreement with EMI Gospel/EMI Christian Music Group.  Pastor Charles Jenkins Presents Fellowship Chicago Live’s debut project, The Best of Both Worlds, will be in stores and available online June 12, 2012. 

The hit single, “Awesome,” is already available via digital outlets and hit the Billboard Top Gospel Songs chart.  It is currently #7.

“’Awesome’ is a celebration of who God is and what He does,” Jenkins said.  “It’s a worship song that’s easy to sing, and everybody has a testimony of why God is awesome.  It has been phenomenal as people all around the world—from Africa to Europe to the islands—are singing out that He moves mountains and hides us from the rain.”

Like “Awesome,” most of the songs on the album are newly-composed.  EMI gospel artist Anita Wilson, who is worship leader at Fellowship, leads “Praise On My Mind” and “Worthy Is Your Name.”

Then there is the “Fellowship Medley.” 

Jenkins explained: “Rev. Evans recorded 25 albums, and so I wanted our album to open with a tribute to some of the best of Fellowship’s music history.  The church’s theme song, ‘What a Fellowship,’ opens the record.  I am very humbled and honored that Rev. Clay Evans is singing that song on this record.  His sister, longtime music minister LouDella Evans Reid, comes in on the second part of the medley to lead ‘New Name in Glory,’ which is a foot-stomper.  It closes with ‘I’ve Got a Testimony,’ which is a house-shaker!  We got them all in seven minutes of foot-stomping, hand-clapping from beginning to end!”

What does Pastor Jenkins hope people come away with, upon hearing the album? 

“I hope people come away with a sense of a love for God, a commitment to sing to Him, and a personal deep devotion.  I also hope they feel a sense of unity within the body of Christ, with both old-schoolers and new-schoolers, long-timers and newcomers, and what it means for us to all sing to God together.”

For more information, visit www.fellowshipchicagomusic.com