Any Christian would have to accept the Rev. Robert C. Scott’s reason for leaving St. Louis’ historic Central Baptist Church to lead St. Paul Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“I had the sense that this is where God is leading me,” Scott said. “He is calling me to another place to do a wider ministry.”
Scott, 47, has been senior pastor at Central Baptist in Midtown since 1999. It has some 1,500 congregants on the roll, with 750-900 people attending church on Sundays, between the two services. St. Paul has roughly three times as many worshippers, with 5,000 people on the roll and a sanctuary that seats about 2,500.
He was not looking to leave St. Louis or Central Baptist, but was recruited by St. Paul after Rev. Gregory Moss retired. Hailed by the city’s daily paper as “one of Charlotte’s most prominent activist pastors,” Moss had led St. Paul for 17 years.
A cohort of five pastors submitted to St. Paul their suggestions for a new pastor. From an initial list of 10 prospects, two were invited to Charlotte to preach. Scott made his visit over the July 4 weekend. When he was selected, the decision was put to a vote, Scott said, with 98 percent of the congregation agreeing with the deacon board.
The offer was made, and on Monday, August 29, after “prayerful deliberation,” Scott decided that God was leading him to Charlotte – and away from St. Louis.
“It was a tough decision,” Scott said. “I love Central. God has done amazing work with us here. We have expanded our footprint, as far as our community is concerned, and had a great impact for our community.”
He reflected on his work with Pastor Freddy J. Clark of Shalom Church (City of Peace) in convening the Call to Oneness in 2008.
“We were trying to get our community, particularly African-American men, to deal with issues of violence,” Scott said. “We were really onto something.”
Of course, the St. Louis region has seen improvements since 2008. With the eruption of Ferguson in 2014, the nation (and, indeed, the world) became aware of the grievances of the black community in St. Louis. However, Scott does not feel as if he is leaving just as the tide is turning.
“I daresay St. Louis is making some headway, but it has such a long way to go,” he said. “The issues are so entrenched systemically, it is going to take a lot of work. The Ferguson Commission was really able to underline the issues, but there is still such a long way to go. We are still scratching the surface.”
In his new pulpit, he will face similar issues – and be expected to lead. The pastor he is replacing is close to Rev. William J. Barber II, president of the North Carolina NAACP, and St. Paul is “intricately involved” with the Moral Mondays movement that Barber founded (and that was transplanted to St. Louis via the Ferguson movement).
“St. Paul has a history of engaging in front-line social justice,” Scott said, and furthering that legacy was critical in its search for a new pastor.
On the level of bricks and mortar, Scott is joining a church in the midst of realizing a $17 million housing development. “I have an opportunity to do greater work, as far as the Kingdom is concerned,” Barber said.
He also is returning home, in a sense. A native of Monticello, Mississippi, he left home at 21 to attend seminary at Duke University Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. He lived in Greensboro as a student and pastored about an hour and 10 minutes above Charlotte in the small town of Lexington.
But he also is leaving the only home that his daughter, Charis, who will be 7 in October, has ever known.
“She has questions about moving,” Scott said. “She has never moved before. But children tend to be resilient, and it’s a wonderful opportunity for her to see another part of the country.”
He and his wife, Pier Scott, are also leaving a web of supportive family. His sister, Catina Scott Williams, and Pier’s parents, Dayle and Carolyn Curry, live here. “They have been a great help and blessing to us, and will be greatly missed,” Scott said.
He also will miss the guys he plays basketball with three days a week at the Kirkwood YMCA, his Omega Psi Phi brothers in the local chapter, the local ministers in the Baptist Union he fellowships with on Tuesdays, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Gateway Arch – and The St. Louis American.
“I have traveled the width and breadth of this great land and preached in quite a lot of pulpits in those great cities, and am yet to see another African-American newspaper as good as The St. Louis American,” Scott said. “I will miss it every Thursday.”
He will lead his last service at Central Baptist on September 18. “Though I am leaving, this is the Lord’s church,” he said he plans to tell the flock, “and the best days are ahead. The next person will take them to higher heights in the community and the Kingdom.”
Central Baptist has not yet selected an interim pastor. Willie Nobles, chair of the deacon board, will lead the search for the next pastor, in consultation with Rev. Muriel Johnson, Area 5 minister of the Great Rivers Region of American Baptist Churches.
His first service leading St. Paul will be October 2. He said, “I plan to focus on high expectations, being a difference-maker and building on the legacy of my predecessors.”
