Reaching generations

AT A GLANCE
>> Name: The Rev. James W. Hanson.
>> Age: 67.
>> Occupation: Baptist minister.
>> Church: Rose of Sharon Missionary Baptist Church, 1615 E. Murphy St.
>> Hobby: Golfing.

It wasn't fortune or fame that lured the Rev. J.W. Hanson into church work.

In fact, the 67-year-old pastor of Odessa's Rose of Sharon Missionary Baptist Church still remembers the financial struggles and criticism of his early preaching years.

After graduation from Paul Quinn College, an African Methodist Episcopal School in Waco, Hanson earned only $17 a week from his first church in Roby.

"The preaching aspect is a calling that the average young man really wouldn't want to go into," he said. "For me, it was a calling I could not ignore."

Despite small salaries and small congregations of the past, Hanson still follows that calling today - a path of church and community work he's been on for more than 40 years, mostly in the same church. In August, he will celebrate 35 years as pastor of Rose of Sharon Missionary Baptist.

But Hanson didn't intend to stay that long when he visited Odessa in 1972.

He had pastored two Texas churches, ministered in New Mexico on an American Indian reservation and run a Christian bookstore near Abilene, but the calling continued, unexpectedly, to the Odessa church that was then at 301 Fitch Ave.

"I came up here and preached, and they called me - I wasn't expecting it," Hanson said.

"I guess they liked what they heard.

"I thought I would be here for a short amount of time and then move on, but as the years went by, I fell in love with the people and the town - Odessa's been real good to me," he said.

Hanson, in turn, has been good to the city - recognized as a reliable source of spiritual guidance and community involvement, said Jo Ann Davenport Littleton, president of the Black Cultural Council of Odessa.

The Castanettes Social, Civic and Arts Club honored Hanson as the 2008 Distinguished Odessan at the Man of the Year Awards Luncheon and Male Style Show on March 1.

"Anybody who knows Rev. Hanson knows he's a man of our town - he's always on the go, making things happen," Littleton said. "He's definitely God sent. If there's a need in the community, people call him - they don't even have to be a member of his church, he's there."

Hanson said he believes in being a pastor to the whole community, meeting people where they are. That mentality has motivated his push for trying to build a Family Life Center at the church, with a gymnasium and additional classrooms for young people.

The proposed $1.5 million facility will be used for outreach to at-risk youth in south Odessa - something the pastor is passionate about because he grew up in a single-parent home with five siblings, where church made an impact.

"We were drug addicts growing up - drug to church, drug to Sunday school and drug to revivals," he said. "That's one of the reasons it's so dear to me - just because you grow up in a single-parent family doesn't mean that you can't make it."

Challenges of the past helped strengthen faith for the future, Hanson said. The biggest challenge of his ministry was building the church's current facility at 1615 E. Murphy St. when local banks refused to loan the Southside church $200,000 even though it had $114,000 in the bank.

Hanson said his members gave and moved into the $475,000 building in 1985 - they paid it off in nine years.
An "old Baptist" by self-description, Hanson said his presently active congregation of 275 people worships with a culture of its own, which usually involves feedback that occasionally lasts until 1:30 p.m. on Sundays.

"We vocal," he said. "I don't like a quiet sermon - I like them to talk back to me. Now I don't like noise, but I do like worship."

Odessan Bernadine Spears enjoys worship at Rose of Sharon and has attended for 29 years. The 56-year-old church member said the church's programs and Hanson's dynamic preaching motivated her to join.

"Rev. Hanson preaches the word of God and does not take from the word - he puts it down to a level that everyone can understand," she said.

When personal issues arise, Spears said she has confidence in trusting her pastor for guidance - a man with a respected foundation and shepherd's heart.

"He's fun, but understanding," she said. "He's a leader who's compassionate enough to listen, but firm enough to tell you the truth even though it hurts."

Hanson said he tries to edify people with biblical principles, and he hopes to continue as a pastor for at least three more years. His health is OK, but he's already thought about passing the torch in the future.

For now, Hanson keeps preaching the same message in a ministry that's changed with the city.

"There are some pastors who will say and do anything to draw a crowd, and that's way beyond me," he said. "I'm the same every time you see me - I'm gonna tell you the truth whether you reject it or accept it."