Audio File
Transcript
My name is Darwin Spencer. I’m 15 years old.
My name is Angelo Burrgher. I am 17 years old and we interviewed Reverend Sheldon Stormer on July 30th, 2015.
I’m actually from Homewood, and I grew up in Swissvale. Growing up, I couldn’t have asked for a better family; I couldn’t ask for better friends, better teachers, everything was a good fit. The police were more community oriented when I was growing up. Everybody knew each other. Everybody knew the cops. The cops knew everybody because the cops were living in Swissvale. It’s not like that anymore.
But I think the things that I struggle with the most of my childhood was the fact that as a youngster, everybody outgrew me and I was a small guy, so I was picked on and ridiculed, constantly. Intimidated, messed with, teased. That was a tough thing for me, lasted for about 10 years until I started wrestling and boxing. Then that came to a screeching halt.
Athleticism runs in our family and Maurice Stoudemire is our cousin, plays in the NBA. I have brothers who were involved in karate. I got a brother who still bodybuilding at age 47. I got power lifters in my family. My cousin Jeff Stoudemire was a good boxer and I was a professional boxer from 1984 till 1992 when I stopped fighting.
When I was 10 years old, I always wanted to be a combat soldier, because in 1972, during the Olympics that year, there was a terrorist attack where there were 11 Israelis killed by Palestinians and at the tender age of 10, I wanted to get them then. I wanted to get the bad guys, so I went in the army eight years later. Was six years that I did in the United States Army. Ohh man, I wouldn’t trade those six years for a PhD or a doctorate degree. None of that. When I look back on my life, a lot of my dreams have come true. I looked up to my cousin Bill Price. We call him Lucky. We kind of looked up to him because he was involved with the martial arts and we kind of liked that. We were going through that Bruce Lee era during that time. Everybody wanted to be like Bruce Lee.
In 1983, I heard a sermon that was called “Straddling the fence.” Either you’re going to be this way, or you’re going to be that way. Basically. So I went forth and I and I surrendered my life to Jesus and asked a lot of questions, a lot of research.
I’m a resident advisor when I work with people who have mental health issues, and I’m also, as a minister, I have a program that’s called Ex Health Community Outreach. I do different programs from anti bullying programs to teaching self-defense classes to Bible studies to field trips, tutoring, strong emphasis on black history and black culture as well.
The main goal that I have in life, the main mission and the most important thing I have, of course, my relationship with Jesus, but is to reach out to as many African American males that I could possibly reach out to, in one way or another. My latest book is called Ministering to the African American Male, and I felt driven to write that book because I’ve lost so many. When I say I’ve lost so many, they were students I had at a school. There were students that I had at an outreach program. There were students that I had at my youth group and I lost many of them to gun violence. I lost many of them to the judicial system. I lost many of them to just dropping out of school and living reckless lives with no goal.
As you get older, you realize that nothing lasts forever, and everything is basically temporary, so a lot of times I have to remind myself, and it’s not always easy, and it’s a quote that says “and this too shall pass.” That’s one of the things that kind of gets me through some difficult situations.
I often look at success through monetary and lucrative gain, and I understand that whole concept. I go to work every day, sometimes 6-7 days a week. I haven’t missed a day of work in years. That’s success. Still married to my wife. That’s success.
Focus on your education. Have goals. And surround yourself by positive people and I would just like to suggest to strive to be the best whatever you do.
Don’t settle for mediocrity; When people are going left, you go right. When they’re going up, go down. When they go West, you go East. When they say it’s too cold? You go out there. When it’s too hot, you don’t complain, you do it.