Growing Up as a Pastor's Kid

In my mind, I have an image imprinted of my father always wearing a suit jacket when he served as a pastor.

On Sundays, he would wear a suit, dress shirt, and tie. I respected him for the role he played in the community. His attitude was he would love every person who walked in the door of his church. He spent his time pastoring and reaching out into the community. The church he pastored for the longest length of time was Calvary Evangelistic Center in the city of Worcester, Massachusetts. As a family, we were always in church, and during the summer we spent our time at a Christian camp. I questioned going to church as a teenager, and was told I had to go to church on Sunday mornings or I could leave the house. Well, I had a nice bedroom and my mother was the best cook in the world; I decided to go to church. By listening to my father preach, faith began to grow in my heart. He told me later in life, “In every one of my sermons there were three points to be found: God exists, God loves you, and God is able to help you.”

I gave my life to the Lord in a strange way. I was in my own bedroom, at the age of eighteen, and I told God I wanted to try being a Christian for a week. In that season of life, I was not content with my lifestyle and knew there had to be more to life. At the same time, I reasoned that if God was the maker of everything, it would be worth it to serve Him. So I took a leap of faith. The next day, I felt God had touched my life; I knew I was saved. I was working at a company called Paper World, where I purchased a decal of a rainbow and a dove and placed it on my bedroom door.

In 1983, at the age of 19, I was part of the first group of missionaries going to Haiti with my parents—where we went to plant a church, school, and medical clinic. We were carrying the building plans with us to construct our first building that would be multifunctional. In the first week…the church, school, and clinic were up and running with temporary structures. My father had served in the National Guard, and his skill set from that time surely put him in his element directing this new mission. We were like Marines that had just hit the beach.

My father explained to me how God gives us the desire to do His will. Philippians 2:13 reads, “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.” I often question if I am doing enough to please God. We know we are saved by grace, and that God calls us to work in His vineyard. He needs laborers working in His kingdom. It was God who first loved the Haitians, and called my father to serve in this part of Hispaniola. It is His mission; He gets all of the glory. I feel the Holy Spirit leading and guiding—by giving me the strength and desire to do His work. My father was a great man of God. I loved and respected my father. He taught by word and by deed. ~Charlie DeTellis