Ed Carey: 'God Has Really Taken Us On a Ride'

MIAMI (May 9, 2002) - It's a long way from Los Angeles where his ministry career started, but Ed Carey likes the coast-to-coast journey on which God has taken him.

Palmetto Covenant Church, which Carey has served the past four years as senior pastor, is at a far different place, too. Since Carey arrived, the congregation has grown from 60 to around 500. With 14 different nationalities represented, it gets more different by the week. The pews are gone. An energetic worship service is in place. But the cross remains very visible in the building the church is now using.

Carey, whose wife, Anita, is an assistant pastor and directs the church's preschool serving 20 children, hopes to keep it that way, even if Palmetto's place of residence changes in the near future - the church hopes to purchase property. "We have a vision direct from God, and it's pretty big," Carey says.

Palmetto Covenant's diversity makes Carey's job unique compared to those of many Covenant pastors. Many in the congregation are from Caribbean countries and there are other Spanish-speaking people in the congregation. An interpreter is used in the worship services.

In order to handle the rapidly growing ministry, 10 volunteer ministers have been enlisted. They have been trained, their spiritual gifts have been identified and they are working in specialized ministries within the church. Some work specifically with Spanish-speaking people and a Haitian contingent. Others work with youth and music. "They stepped up, they've helped carry the load," Carey said of his core lay leaders. "Pastor Michael Rose has done a great job with the youth and Pastor Larry Walker (the pastor of worship) has been tremendous. I'm very fortunate."

Carey carried a load of ministry experience to Miami, though there was no deep interest as a youth. Carey had a church background, but didn't take his faith seriously until he moved from Birmingham, Alabama, to Compton, California, and become "a streetwise kid." Dr. Benjamin Reed, a visiting preacher at the church the Careys were attending, challenged Carey about his faith and eventually Carey committed his life to Christ.

"He was a streetwise preacher, he knew what was going on," Carey said. "He saw through me right away and challenged me."

At Reed's urging, Carey began studying the Bible in earnest and became interested in a sports ministry at the church Reed served in nearby Inglewood. Carey, a three-sport athlete in high school, served as athletic director for the church's sports ministry program while working full-time as a technical illustrator at Lockheed Aircraft. Los Angeles Lakers stars Magic Johnson, A.C. Green and James Worthy were often seen around the church mentoring some of the teens and playing an occasional game of basketball with them.

"The goal was to pull kids off the street away from gangs," Carey said. "When there was a murder among the gangs, they'd have the funeral at our church. We'd recruit kids out of both rival gangs to get them to play together. It developed into a serious outreach ministry."

After seven years, Carey and his family left Southern California for Georgia, where he served four years at Atlanta's Community Church of God under pastor Rudolph Smith. There, Carey said, "Ministry took on a whole new meaning," as he recalled his work with about 150 homeless people in a church neighborhood program.

Carey didn't discover the Covenant church until he was a pastor for an independent church in Atlanta. He met with Southeast Conference Supt. Kurt Miercke, Church Growth and Evangelism Executive Director Jim Persson and Atlanta Covenant Pastor Robert Owens, who now serves as associate superintendent for the Southeast Conference. Owens knew Carey's brother, Samuel, from California - the brother served a church across the street from Carey's home in Compton. He urged Carey to serve as a Covenant pastor in Miami, where a hurricane had recently destroyed the area around a neighborhood church.

"When they showed me the video of Palmetto Covenant, my wife and I jumped, - we felt God's spirit moving," Carey said. "My wife said we might be interested in coming to Miami and after we got home, the whole thing shook me up."

Miercke met with Carey again in Atlanta and shortly thereafter the Careys went to Palmetto Covenant and preached during worship services. By then Carey said, "I had fallen in love with the people. And God has really taken us on a ride here."

To learn more about Palmetto Covenant Church and its ministries, contact Carey by telephone at 305-238-7852 or by email at ecareyy@bellsouth.net.

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