Asheville Pastor Advocates for Social Justice

By Wallace Bohanan –

Spencer Hardaway was reared in Cleveland, Ohio, along with two older sisters, by their mother.

She taught him a strong work ethic both by example and by telling him, “Do the best you can. God opens doors that no man can close—you can do anything you put your mind to.” He credits her for instilling within him the values of faith, hope, and love.

Hardaway served in the military reserves in 1978 as an Engineer, and later went on active duty as an Army Chaplin in 1994. In between those years, he earned a BA in Public Administration before enrolling in Winebrenner Theological Seminary in 1989, from which he received his Master of Divinity.

Hardaway became an Army chaplain to help soldiers deal with their struggles in combat or on the home front. He says he could sense the presence of God and wanted to share that with the men and women he served. From 2003 to 2004 he was mobilized with the 4th Infantry, but remained stateside; in 2009 and 2010 he was deployed to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Spencer Hardaway is now retired as a Lieutenant Colonel (Airborne) from the U.S. Army, and works full time with his parishioners and the community of Asheville, where he is Pastor of Rock Hill Missionary Baptist Church. He told us he would much rather be called “pastor” than “reverend.”

“The word ‘Pastor’ denotes someone who is more approachable and more relationship-oriented,” he says. “In the book of Jeremiah 3:15 it says, ‘I will give you pastors …which shall feed you with knowledge and with understanding.’”

For Pastor Hardaway, that knowledge and understanding—education—is vitally important in impacting social justice. He has a saying that he imparts to children: “Learn all you can, and Can all you learn. Think about that! When you have canned fruits and vegetables, you have preserved them for future use. When you ‘can’ knowledge, you save it for whatever future time you need to apply it,” he says.

To help children learn, Pastor Hardaway has started an after-school program at Rock Hill Missionary Baptist Church, which also offers the “Project Lighten Up Community Summer Day Camp.” The program will serve students in grades K-8 and be both educational and recreational. The aim is to keep the camp affordable, so money is raised through donations and fundraisers to support the camp and to award scholarships.

Pastor Hardaway’s devotion to education and to children is reflected in his own family. He and his wife of 37 years, lifelong friend, and close companion, Anita, have three daughters, all college-educated and now married. Mattea (Tadarreio) of Newport News, Va.; Elisa (Philemon) of Fayetteville, NC; and Kyla of Houston, TX. Daughters: Mattea and Elisa have given the Hardaways two granddaughters; Chelsea, Samira, and a new born grandson; Philemon. And recently added to our house my great-nephews and niece Mystical, VirNasia, Virgil and Malik.

When asked how he got into the ministry, Pastor Hardaway responded, “God called and I answered. What I learned from my mother is, ‘Have faith in God, others and yourself; love God, others and yourself; and have hope that tomorrow will be better.’” He considers himself an eternal optimist.

Pastor Hardaway believes in being approachable when he works in the church and community. He believes the biggest congregation is outside the church building, and that is where he goes to work on issues that impact the lives of people. He says that part of his calling is to reach out to the community like Jesus; he also believes that the church has been and should be in the forefront in confronting social issues.