New Mt. Zion Baptist Church

Local ministers called on for every kind of advice and then some
By THOMAS LANGFORDSunday, January 25, 2009

Orangeburg has several dozen churches with 250 to 1,000 members. Scores of them call on their preachers for advice every week.

The Rev. Jerome Anderson of New Mt. Zion Baptist Church on Amelia Street hears from and advises members every day between meetings, funerals and weddings.

"Family problems lead my list," he says. "In 20 years of service, I have dealt with these constantly and gradually discovered a lot about human relationships, particularly those between husbands and wives.

"One of the big, if not the biggest factors is that most men view life from a rational prospective while women observe and react from a more emotional prospective. A lady may tell me, 'I say things and he looks at me strangely. Often I have to repeat myself several times.' At times this can become funny."

'You didn't bring the chairs'

"Once my wife was working with a church group to give a party at our house. She asked me to pick up four long tables at the church hall and bring them home.

"'Is that all you want?' I asked. 'What about chairs?'

"'Yes.'

"Arriving with the tables, she looked at me questioningly. 'You didn't bring the chairs.' This expectancy by wives that their husband read the details of their thoughts occurs between couples all the time, and in hundreds of different circumstances.

"Keep in mind the basic missions of males and females since the beginning of time. While growing up, men learn to be providers for the home while women learn to be the emotional caretakers of their families. For 50 centuries of mankind, these missions have changed very slightly."

Jerome says that a lot of his counsel goes to college-age youths, especially girls who are trying to find the right young fellows to date. Interestingly, they often end up with boyfriends who are much like their own fathers and reflect some of the same characteristics. Not infrequently, these fathers are unavailable, inexperienced in expressing love, or unfaithful.

"Because all individuals are different, my advice, based on years of counseling, nearly always varies from that I have given others."

Under 50s need the most help

"The largest segment of parishioners I work with are people under 50. About 35 percent are having a relationship with someone outside of their marriages. There are many, many causes for this infidelity. I particularly like helping them gain insight into their own personalities and into a deeper relationship with God in order to aid their decisions."

Jerome also counsels often with children. For two years, he worked at Brawner Psychiatric Institute in Atlanta, teaching them ways to control their anger and manage their conflicts with more skill. He found this to be one of the most enriching experiences of his career.

Asked if there are longtime members in churches who frequently give advice to pastors, he replies that nearly every church seems to have staunch, dedicated, lady members who don't hesitate to tell their ministers how long they should preach as well as what they should preach about.

"If there is a church supper in progress, they don't hesitate to advise you which members' food you should eat as well as which you shouldn't," he says. "Occasionally, one of them will mention a name and say flatly, 'She can't cook'.

"We seldom get this kind of advice from the men. I think that these ladies have been called on all their married lives to give motherly advice in their homes, and it's human nature for them to continue to pass this on to friends."

Jerome graduated from Georgia Southern University in 1981 with a degree in business. During a sales career, he served at the United Metropolitan Baptist Church in Winston-Salem for five years, then enrolled to study for his master's in divinity at the Duke University Divinity School. He came to New Mt. Zion in January of 2000. He looks forward to studying for his doctorate in the future.

He and his wife, Tina, are busy raising Angel, 14; Auston, 12, and Alyria, 3.