Church Alive Ministries
Pikeville, North Carolina 27863
919-988-9268

• Education: Pastor Charles graduated in 1984 from Holmes College of The Bible in Greenville, SC with a B.S. in Bible and Christian Education. His wife, Michelle, holds a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology from East Carolina University in Greenville, NC and is a Clinical Coordinator for the Family Preservation Program with the Methodist Home for Children.
• Experience: Pastor Charles grew up in the Pentecostal Holiness Church and was ordained in 1982. After graduating from Holmes College of the Bible in 1984, Charles pastored six P. H. Churches in the North Carolina Conference in Eastern North Carolina (Weldon, Sanford, Benson, Wilmington, Newton Grove and Goldsboro). In 1995 he and Michelle founded Church Alive Ministries in Goldsboro, North Carolina.
• Comment to those looking at my sermons: Nothing ever prints like it preaches!
• Sermon or series that made a difference: Judges 3- Sermon on Ehud, the left-handed Benjamite.
• One of my favorite illustrations: A young boy brought peanut butter sandwiches to school every day for lunch and complained loudly every day that he hated peanut butter. Exasperated, his friend suggested one day that he tell his mom not to make peanut butter sandwiches for him any more. The boy go angry and said, "Don’t talk about my mom...I make my own lunch!" I used this illustration to explain how we often blame God or the devil for our problems we create ourselves.
• Family: Pastor Charles is 52 years old and has been married to his wife, Michelle, for 34 years. They have two grown children, Chip and Angela and two grandsons, Austin, 12, and Harrison, 7 and a granddaughter, Charlianna who is one.
• What my parents think of my sermons: They are now both deceased but my mother carried tapes of my sermons across the U.S. when she and my dad traveled. However, she was my strongest critic. My father loved sermons that I finished in under 20 minutes! He always bragged on those.
• What my spouse (really) thinks of my sermons: She has taken the role of my now-deceased mother and has become my greatest fan and critic at the same time. Her honesty is very helpful.
• Best advice given to me about preaching: K.I.S.S.- Keep it Simple, Stupid
• Books that have had an impact: Bible (of course)
• Hobbies: Pastor Charles is a private pilot and owns his own single-engine airplane he uses for relaxation and personal travel.
• If I could Preach one more time, I would say...: I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith and I have finished my course.
• Something funny that happened while preaching: I had an elderly gentlemen in my first pastorate that kept turing the thermostat after I adjusted it. He did this three or four times while I was preaching, walking with a cane from the back pew of the church, noisily to the front of the little church. I finally told him to leave it alone! And he did! It was hot but he was cold. We never did see eye-to-eye! The congregation was waiting to see who would win the battle of the thermostat.
• What I want on my tombstone: I told you my feet were killing me!