The Rev. Emmanuel Shanka Morris, senior lead pastor of NorthDavidson Church in North Carolina, slept two nights on the open deck of a ship. The people around him were dying of cholera, and he watched as the dead were thrown overboard.
Morris could have been next, but God carried him through to reach the United States.
Morris fled from Liberia during the Liberian Civil War in the ’90s. He stayed in a refugee camp for two years in Ghana before reaching the U.S.
During the war in Liberia, on the boat and in the camp, Morris saw death and brokenness. He saw people suffering. However, even as the bombs fell and people were dying around him, Morris knew God had not forsaken him.
“What drew me to ministry was not a vision,” Morris said. “It was a burden, a holy burden, to speak life where death has lingered, to build bridges where walls have been raised and to serve people who have been silenced, scattered or forgotten.”
God called, and he answered.
He started a ministry in the refugee camp with the Sunday school superintendent from his Baptist Church in Liberia. God was with them as they loved the people around them.
“In the midst of that displacement, I discovered the anchoring power of hope, aligned to live without a pulpit, to preach without a microphone and to shepherd hearts in the absence of certainty,” Morris said.
Even on the ship to the U.S., surrounded by the sick and the dying, Morris knew God was with him.
God carried him to the U.S. where he became the lead pastor for NorthDavidson Church in North Carolina. There, he also saw a need in the community.
He was the first Black lead pastor there, and most of the congregation was white. He wanted to integrate other cultures into their church body to reach out to the community.
“I didn't go there to maintain tradition,” Morris said. “I went there to embody transformation. For I believe that the gospel was for all people, and I dare to pursue integration. The day I decided to do it, that decision cost me dearly. Within three months, all 335 members left the church. But even in that loss, I gained clarity.”
He said he did not blame the people for leaving, but he could not ignore his own convictions. He said he lived for conviction, not for convenience. He lived for God’s kingdom, not just culture.
His church now has one of the fastest growing congregations, and they have people from all over the globe, he said.
Morris continues to follow God’s calling to love others. Morris kicked off the Samuel Kaboo Morris appreciation week at Chapel on Oct. 27. He said Kaboo’s story is not just history but also a living testimony.
“He was not supposed to survive,” Morris said. “He was not supposed to try. But grace re-wrote his story, and in doing so, God gave us a mirror, a reflection of what it means to be chosen, what it means to be called and commissioned. So to being able (to) represent the power of divine identity: though stripped of his royal title, because he was a prince, he never lost his spiritual inheritance. Though enslaved, he would never truly bound; though far from home, he carried heaven within him.”
Morris said Prince Kaboo’s story reminds hearers that when God calls someone, nothing will stop them from bearing fruit.
Morris himself can attest to God’s faithfulness. Just as God brought him through his trials, God will carry others through theirs, he said, because God is the same God of yesterday, today and tomorrow. He said God, in his time and mercy, will carry them through.
Morris encourages students to move forward in God’s calling for them. He said God placed Taylor University students at Taylor for a purpose. They are a generation called to live courageously, love sacrificially and lead prophetically, no matter the trials they face, he said.
“For God does not waste pain,” Morris said. “He redeemed it. He repurposed it, and he uses it to shape their voices. So (when) they shoot (the) heart, it scars. Let the scars testify for them. …They should never forget that the kingdom of God is not built by comfort; it is built by courage. They will be stretched, they will be misunderstood, but if they stay rooted in Christ, they will bear fruit that remains.”
