Friday in the church where he preached and ministered to those who walked in his shoes.
Christian,
51, was a prison guard who battled heroin addiction before he lost his
job and was sentenced to prison in 1996 for theft. Upon his release in
1997, he joined a church in Newark where his father, a retired pastor,
was working.
He decided to
follow in his father's footsteps and became a minister, which led him to
this community where drugs and violence are daily problems. He became
pastor of Christian Love Baptist Church in 2000. The church, which had
just a dozen members, has since grown to a congregation of 6,000.
One
of those congregants was Shalga Hightower, who met Christian after her
daughter, Iofemi, was killed along with two other college-bound friends
in a Newark schoolyard in 2007 in a crime that made national headlines.
Hightower
called Christian "an awesome man of God" who helped her through the
difficult times after her daughter's death, which included a period of
homelessness."He was there for me through my ups and downs," she said. "He was my best friend, my confidant, my mentor. Just a giving, loving person."
He was known for being a pastor to whom wanted murderers, drug dealers and other criminals could turn: Christian would encourage them to do what was right and turn themselves in.
"Regardless of how incorrect or how bad the circumstance was, there needs to be a place where you are honest with God," he told The Star-Ledger in 2008.
In
a statement, Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. said
Christian's energetic sermons, dynamic personality and kind words
inspired everyone he met. "It didn't matter who you were because Rev.
Ron welcomed people from all walks of life into his church and into his
own life," he said.
Christian is survived by his wife and five children.
Source: AP
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