VALDOSTA — I first met Elder Leon Henderson not too long after I began working here 35 years ago. As pastor of Christ Gospel Church, he would submit Sermons of the Week and church briefs news. He was a custodian at Morningside Christian School where my children attended pre-school. Throughout the years as he has changed churches, he continues to bring not only his church announcements but his words of encouragement as well. He’s even brought me a bowl of the delicious Brunswick stew he made.

When I walked in the door of his home for an interview Tuesday morning, Bro. Leon was fixing collard greens for a surprise dinner for his wife which also included baked chicken with sautéed vegetables, rice, cornbread muffins and sweet potatoes topped with nuts.

This wasn’t a once-in-a-blue-moon occasion. Although his wife is a good cook, he will sometimes have dinner prepared for her when she comes home from her job as a paraprofessional at S.L. Mason Elementary School. (He’s home because a back injury while working at the Valdosta State College warehouse years ago placed him on disability. He said he has $80,000 worth of steel rods in his back after two surgeries and excruciating pain. He had to take a pain pill during the interview.)

Henderson and the former Lavonia Fluit have been together 50 years, married for 45 of those years.

“We started dating when she was 13 and have been together ever since,” Leon said. “We’re still dating.”

Before Levi Strauss and Co. closed, he would go to his wife’s workplace there and leave a wrapped toiletry from a gift set for her. He would greet her with another toiletry from the set at the door when she came home, and the third would await her in her room.

“I appreciate you; I love you,” he would tell his wife.

“It’s just doing what I’m supposed to — to be an example to my children and grandchildren.”

Henderson’s great love for his wife extends to their four children (Leon B. Henderson and Cassandra Thornton of Birmingham, Randi Hughley of Valdosta and Tina Danzey of Virginia), his 11 grandchildren, his one great-grandchild — and to everyone with whom he comes into contact. His calling has been to use his gifts from God (talents) to show the love of God to others, something he says anyone can do.

“Helping other people is my life. God uses ordinary men to do His work,” he said, exhibiting his humble nature.

His lesson of serving others came at an early age growing up in a family of 11 in a Hudson Dockett home. Leon said his dad made $55 a week working for the Langdale mill, and later he would receive a $60 a month retirement from the company.

“We were poor, but we didn’t know it because we helped each other,” Leon said.

He has been an encourager all his life. His sister, Bessie Herring of Jacksonville, Fla., remembers: “Leon always kept me laughing and crying. I remember when there were times when I would have a bad day, he would find a way to joke with me and turn my day into a good day. God could not have given me a better brother.”

His leadership abilities began to show at Pinevale High School where he was the drum major leading the band. (His love of music had begun when he was 12 with his singing, which would one day take him to Carnegie Symphony Hall to perform as a soloist.)



‘Young love’

Lavonia was 18, but he was only 17 when they married.

“My dad had to sign for me,” he said.

It was his wife who, by her godly example, led her husband to profess his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ when he was 23 years old.

“Nearly 38 years ago, Bro. Leon was passing by the church (Evangel Temple) and heard the organ music, came in and began singing,” said the Rev. Dr. Henry E. Wright II, senior pastor at Evangel, where Leon serves as an associate pastor. “He has a melodious voice. As time passed, he began attending services. He and his family joined the church; he gave his life to the Lord and has been a Christian since that time.

“Bro. Henderson does not meet a stranger. He is very outgoing. He has a great personality and lots of charisma.”

Wright said Henderson is a “good organizer.” He went before mayor and council to get help in enlisting merchants to participate in a special day for senior citizens that he organized. Seniors were bused from nursing homes to Mathis where they were treated with a meal, a program of good music, and gifts from the merchants.

Henderson also brings both the races together through an event he established nine years ago.

“As associate minister of the church, he has reached out to the community and brought pastors and parishioners together in fellowship for Good Friday services held at Evangel Temple Church for a number of years,” Wright said. “He and his wife, Lavonia, are supportive to this ministry.”

Among the white ministers who have spoken at the black church’s event are Carroll Joye of Open Bible Baptist Church; Gene Wisehart Sr., former pastor of Faith Baptist Church; the Rev. Dr. Wayne Robertson of Morningside Baptist Church; and Phil West of Valdosta’s First Baptist Church.



‘My brother from another mother’

Last September at his request, Crossroads Baptist Church came to worship with Evangel members at a joint Fifth Sunday night service. Crossroads brought their choir and orchestra to perform, and Pastor Ken Alford of Crossroads preached.

“I first met Leon Henderson when he dropped by our church in the early spring of last year to invite me to participate in the Good Friday service at his church, Evangel Temple,” Alford said. “It was obvious to me the very first time that I met Leon that he was a wonderful man of God. His smile lights up the entire room, and his excitement for the Lord is contagious. I called him ‘my brother from another mother,’ and he got a big kick out of that description. Every time that we have had the chance to visit, he has always lifted me up and left me smiling. He is a model of a man who loves his wife, his children, his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and most importantly, his Lord.”

Pastors from Trinity Presbyterian and Southland Church have also read Scriptures or prayed at Good Friday services.

“We are all in this fish pond together,” Leon said. “We have to swim together. Christ came forth to show love. We are our brothers’ keepers. Let’s look around and see who we can help. We need more Good Samaritans today. We see our brothers and sisters in need. Even in our economy, we can help each other.

“The whole key is loving each other and reaching out to our brothers. If we aren’t working together, how can we show the world the way?”