Gary Sullivant***, a deacon and member of Southside Baptist Church in Pine Bluff, explained to a group of youth how faith helped him to overcome adversities, including the death of two family members.
Sullivant was a guest speaker Thursday at Chester Hynes Community Center’s Summer Enrichment Program. Children ages 12-15, who are part of Team Hunter, listened to Sullivant’s story.
Sullivant said while growing up, his dad owned five liquor stores and he had all the material possessions wanted. He felt like he was on top of the world, but he soon got a wake up call.
He graduated from Pine Bluff High School in 1968 and failed at two colleges before his dad decided to bring him home to work in the family business. He recalled one day going out to get his mother’s car washed and when he got back to liquor store he noticed his mom was missing.
Sullivant said when he got into the back of the store where the safe was, he saw that the store had been robbed and his mother had been murdered.
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The three men responsible for killing his mother in Little Rock killed eight more people before being arrested. One man committed suicide, due to guilt, while the others are still in prison, Sullivant said.
At first he looked at the situation from a racist point of view, but he has turned from that, he said.
Sullivant said that when he was baptized the first time he did not truly accept Jesus in his life, but it was on his way home from a fishing trip when he felt that the Lord was speaking to him.
“I just felt something in my heart bothering me that wouldn’t go away, and it turns out it was the Holy Spirit tugging at my heart.”
Sullivant recalls being saved with his wife at a revival in Star City. He said he began reading the Bible and found out the key in accepting the Lord is believing and faith.
“Faith in Jesus is something you can’t see, you just have to believe.”
After that experience, Sullivant left the liquor business and quit smoking, drinking and swearing. He told the youth how he had three children of his own and how tragedy struck again one of his sons.
He began to choke up as he told the story of how his son, who was in college at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1997, had spinal meningitis and died at the age of 19.
“For three years, I couldn’t talk about my son without crying,” Sullivant said.
Sullivant said he had a hard time dealing with his mother’s death, but losing his child was like losing his right arm. He said that if he could get up and still speak about the Lord through the hardships in his life he knows that he is a true believer.
Laura Hildreth, director of Chester Hynes and Merrill Community centers, said she met Sullivant three years ago and he has been a close friend ever since.
Hildreth also asked the principal of Watson Chapel Junior High School, Henry Webb, to speak since the children would soon be in junior high. Webb explained that they will have many choices while in school and encouraged them to choose the right path in making those choices.
Jerricka Kelly, who is a mentor in the program, came down for two weeks from Dallas to be at the program. Kelly told them they should feel very loved for the people who have taken the time to visit them.
The Team Hunter Program is a project for children who want to participate in summer programs. Torii Hunter, professional baseball player for the Los Angeles Angels, and his wife Katrina Hunter, founded and fund the program.
Kelly, who is a Pine Bluff native, told Hildreth about the program and helped get the program started. Hildreth said Kelly was responsible for getting the program started.
***This article has been corrected from its original version to correct a name misspelling. To view the correction notice, click here.