“God set it up and I know he’s going to be with us every step of the way.”- Pastor Cedric Halbert
Cedric Halbert is proud to call himself “a man of God.” He has his own Christian podcast called “Fight for Your Dreams” where he interviews intriguing individuals and preaches the gospel via the Internet.
Church and school served as the only retreat for the children. Halbert’s parents owned and operated Crown Café (later named Crown Southern Cafeteria) on Martin Luther King Dr. and Jefferson for 30 years.
Cedric said “faith” was instilled in him at childhood. He described his parents, Ernest O’Neal and Lou Lee Halbert, as “church-going folk.” Every Sunday his parents marched their seven children to Calvary Missionary Baptist Church within walking distance of their home at 1214 N. Garrison not far from the old Pruitt-Igoe housing complex site.
Church and school served as the only retreat for the children. Halbert’s parents owned and operated Crown Café (later named Crown Southern Cafeteria) on Martin Luther King Dr. and Jefferson for 30 years.
As a boy, Cedric recalled lifting bags of produce that weighed more than he did. Sports and extracurricular activities at school were forbidden by Ernest, Sr., who told his kids, “ya’ll gonna work.” Growing up, Cedric did everything at the soul food restaurant from busing tables, washing dishes, to janitorial duties to serving customers. Today, he appreciates those hard days of labor.
“We had an excellent upbringing,” Cedric said. “It made me a man and taught me to appreciate hard work. My dad taught us how to work without going out there lying and cheating. It was a military style upbringing, but it taught us discipline.”
Cedric said he learned another valuable lesson from his parents:
“They always told us to love one another, like Christ loved us.”
It was that lesson that motivated Cedric to make a sacrifice for his eldest brother, Ernest Adams, Jr. who has suffered from kidney failure for years. Ernest, who receives weekly dialysis treatments, needs a kidney transplant. Another family member had volunteered, but due to health reasons, was unable to donate. Cedric said his older brother shared the depressing news but didn’t want to talk much about other possible options.
That conversation motivated Cedric to ask his brother for his physician’s phone number. He called, talked to the doctors and after many, many tests and tons of paperwork, Cedric learned that he was indeed a match. The kidney transplant operation is scheduled for mid-April at Barnes/Jewish Hospital.
Both Cedric, 50, and Ernest, 62, have had COVID-19; in July 2020 and December 2021, respectively. Although Cedric, who works for the county parks department, was out of commission for two months, he was never hospitalized. Ernest recovered as well, which was a miracle of sorts, given the dire possibilities.
Side effects of COVID-19 can includedamage to kidney cells with septic shock, increase in blood clotting and possible infection of the kidney. And, according to the National Kidney Foundation, “People living with kidney disease at any stage and kidney transplant recipients may not have as much protection against COVID-19, even if they are fully vaccinated.”
Dr. Kendra Holmes, President and CEO of Affinia Healthcare, who knows Pastor Halbert, also spoke to the dangers of kidney illnesses related to COVID infections:
“We are seeing an increase in kidney disease after covid,” Holmes said adding, “studies indicate more than 30% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 develop kidney injury, and more than 50% of patients in intensive care with kidney injury may require dialysis.”
As a COVID survivor, Cedric said he’s aware of the risks involved with donating a kidney to his brother. His wife, Gwen, and his two daughters, Shyanne and Marissa, also expressed fears that something might go wrong in the process.
“They’ve kinda calmed down now, but they were afraid at first,” Cedric recalled. “But I told them, ‘I have to do what God tells me.’ That doesn’t mean you don’t have fears every now and then, but I trust God will bring us through this.”
Cedric said that stepping up to give Ernest a chance at a better life is a humbling experience. Being ten years apart, he idolized his older brother. They came up at a time and neighborhood where crime was at an all-time high. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the homicide rate in St. Louis in the 1970s was high, peaking at 265 in 1979. Only two years since then (1993 and 2020 with 267 and 265 murders respectively) have had such high numbers.
“It was rough, man,” Cedric confessed. “The gang violence and drug-selling…If it wasn’t for being grounded in a good family, I probably would have gotten into some stuff I had no business getting into.”
The Halbert children grew up in a neighborhood where they had to learn how to fight. Cedric recalled how Ernest, an amateur boxer, forced his younger brothers to strap on gloves and battle each other in the basement of their home. Ernest was also a good baseball player who, against his father’s wishes, became a semi-pro player. Cedric cherishes memories of Ernest taking him and his other brother, Mark, to the old Bush stadium to watch Cardinal baseball games.
Cedric said he may be retiring from his job of 22 years soon to become a fulltime preacher. Because of his growing ministry and his marriage of more than 25 years, Cedric says he’s “extremely blessed.” Sharing his blessings, he said, is rooted in his upbringing. When he received the news that he was a match and able to donate his kidney to his older brother, Cedric said he was “overjoyed” and has no time for fear.
“God set it up and I know he’s going to be with us every step of the way.”
Sylvester Brown Jr. is The St. Louis American’s inaugural Deaconess Fellow.
