Pastor James Perry, Jr.’s Empowerment Worship Center enjoying continuous growth as it celebrates its fifth anniversary
Andre Johnson 
HEAVENLY PROMOTION --- After just two years since its inception, EWC --- which is nearly 100 members --- relocated to a more traditional edifice, which is its current establishment at 31 Calhoun Avenue in Greenville.
In other words, even his notable athletic smarts that ultimately landed him a basketball scholarship at Lander University weren’t merely enough to keep him from following in the massive footsteps of his father, longtime Alabama pastor James Perry, Sr.
Without question, James Perry, Jr. had dreams.
Some big dreams.
Some major dreams.
Some monumental, massive dreams, mind you.
As far as he was concerned, those dreams had virtually nothing to do with standing in a pulpit, deck out in some fancy robe, spreading the Gospel to the masses.
Heck, Perry, Jr. would be the first to tell you that given his immense size — he stands at 6-foot-4 — that mirrored that of a power forward or a defensive lineman, he clung to lofty aspirations of becoming a big name athlete.
Nevertheless, as a preacher’s kid (or P. K.) whom, like a many of his peers who shared a similar lifestyle, Perry, Jr. soon discovered that he can run all he wants, but he can’t hide.
In other words, even his notable athletic smarts that ultimately landed him a basketball scholarship at Lander University weren’t merely enough to prevent him from following in the massive footsteps of his father, longtime Alabama pastor James Perry, Sr.
“Everybody said I was going to be a preacher,” Perry, Jr., the Founder and Senior Pastor of Empowerment Worship Center in Greenville, South Carolina, told Making Headline News this week. “I played for a very good (high school) program and I wanted to get away from home because my father was strict.”
So prudish in that preaching for Perry, Jr. wasn’t merely an option. Rather it was a prerequisite, of sorts, particularly as it pertained to surviving the wrath of his father, who currently pastors United Church of God in Alabama.
“I didn’t want to preach,” Perry, Jr. said. “I preached because he made me preach. So when I got up to preach, I would get up and repeat what he preached.”
To his distinct credit, Perry, Jr. didn’t just repeat that about which his father routinely shared before the masses. He eventually began to practice what he preached.
Today, unlike never before, it’s safe to assume that Perry, Jr. has gone from breaking ankles on the basketball court to essentially helping worldly individuals break away from their sinful ways and, most importantly make peace with God.
Having been preaching the gospel for nearly two decades, Perry, Jr. is just hours away from celebrating a commendable milestone for what undoubtedly is becoming a pretty stellar pastoral career for this Charlotte, North Carolina native.
On Friday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. EST, Empowerment Worship Center will celebrate its Fifth Church Anniversary during an assembly in which the featured speaker will be Curtis Johnson, the Senior Pastor of Valley Brook Outreach Baptist Church of Pelzer, South Carolina.
For Perry, Jr., arriving at such a notable stage in his pastoral career is one in which he admittedly labeled “refreshing,” in large part because of the tumultuous events leading to his accepting his God-mandated calling.
Aside from following his father’s strict orders to preach as a child, Perry, Jr. and his nine siblings endured arguably the darkest chapter of their lives when their mother, Alice Marie Perry, died as a result of an aneurysm.
She was 48. Perry, Jr. was just 26 at the time.
“That was one of the biggest tragedies in my family and it tore my family up,” Perry, Jr., 44, the oldest of his parents’ 10 children, said of his mother’s untimely demise. “She always said, ‘You’re going to preach.’ And when she passed way, a lot of things started to happen in my life. And I said, ‘You know what? This is what I’m supposed to be doing.”
The rest, as they say, was history.
All of that running from the pulpit had officially come to an end — and for all the right reasons.
Perry, Jr. made his official preaching debut at the age of 28 and, to his credit, coupled with the divine calling upon his life, he hasn’t looked back since.
After having served under the direction of Greenville-area pastor, Bishop Terry McCaskill, for approximately 15 years, Perry, Jr. witnessed his ministerial career soar to greater heights when God gave him the vision to assume the role as a pastor in 2011.
Consequently, he had become empowered to start Empowerment Worship Center in the comfortable confines of his home, although he and his handful of members sensed they couldn’t become too comfortable in his crib, given the church’s rapid growth.
With close to 30 members, Perry, Jr. moved his church to a nearby hotel, where services were held in a conference room.
Then after just two years since its inception, EWC — which is nearing 100 members — relocated to a more traditional edifice, which is its current establishment at 31 Calhoun Avenue in Greenville.
So much for his father’s strict, nuts-and-bolts countenance that suggested, among other things, that his young, gifted athlete was destined to execute spiritual slam dunks and assists, of sorts, before those whom needed to witness them the most.
BECOME EMPOWERED: http://empowermentworshipcenter.org/.
“I think for me, man, I ran for so many years because my father made me do it,” Perry, Jr. said. “But by (age) 14, I became more relevant because of who I was. God began to use people to say things to remind me.”
Among those individuals who reminded him of his calling was his wife, Lisa, his college sweetheart to whom Perry, Jr. had gone into covenant in 1993. The couple has three children: Jamekole, 22; Samuel, 13; and Jonathan, 9.
A progressive church that continues to build on a solid foundation, Perry, Jr. said what he deems mostly intriguing about his congregation’s latest move is that its present location is equipped with a gymnasium which, as he tells it, allows him to enjoy the best of both worlds — basketball and pastoring.
“Well, I love basketball for one,” said Perry, Jr. a Greenville-area AAU hoops coach for a 13-and-under team. “I love mentoring the youth and I love pastoring. Having a gym at my church makes it so much. I mean, it’s hard work, but it’s community service. You don’t do this kind of work for money, because the need is so great. You’re touching the lives of a lot of kids out there.”
In his case, for five years and counting.
All while living out his assortment of dreams in the process.
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Andre Johnson is Founder and Publisher for Making Headline News. A 2000 graduate of the University of Memphis School of Journalism and a former staff reporter the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper, Johnson covers the NBA Southwest Division from Dallas, Texas. To reach Johnson, send an email to [email protected]. Also, follow him on Twitter @AJ_Journalist.
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