A White Preacher From Atlanta’s Inner City, Holding Out An Olive Branch to All Who Will Receive It

A Caucasian Missionary In a Sea of Black

by Rev. Paul J. Bern

This story starts by my being unable to find work in the technology sector, where I had been working for the last 16 years. So, after a fair amount of job searching, I found work as a contract courier delivery driver for a certain courier company based here in Atlanta. I owned a small pickup truck with a camper shell on its bed, so I had an ideal vehicle for the job. After working there for 3 years, I suffered a stroke and a pacemaker implant just 4 months after my 50th birthday. As a result of my 2-year recovery from this nasty setback, I eventually ended up being homeless. I had been forced to quit my occupation as a courier driver because I could no longer handle the large boxes I formerly had in my truck on a daily basis.

My Long Journey to Homelessness

I managed to get back on my feet again after a 4-month job search to find IT jobs that fit my previous career working in IT. I finally got a job working at IBM’s call center situated in northwest Atlanta, but the job ended after about a year. I worked at several more places after that, and I noticed that I was having more difficulties setting up interviews in between jobs as time went on. This went on for seven years altogether. By that time I was fifty-eight years old, and finding work had become increasingly difficult. Eventually I ended up homeless again, and age discrimination is what I think was the primary reason why. So I wound up in a program for disabled people (by this time it was three years later and I was on disability) and, after a lengthy 4-year wait, I finally got my own furnished apartment. It’s very modest, only about 900 square feet altogether, but it sure is better than sleeping under bridges or in my vehicle.

Founding An Online Church As My Way of Thanking God For My Survival

Since I have more time on my hands as I’ve gotten older, I went into the ministry as a nondenominational pastor of an online church. It gives me something to do while I try and help people any way I can, and all without having to leave home. The organization’s name is The Social Gospel Worship and…