Interview with Saleem Wright

Wynnewood, PA resident, Saleem Wright, wasn't always the Holy Ghost filled, always preaching, always praising, young man that everyone sees today. He led a rough life before he came to know Christ. The 24 year-old graduate of Rowan University had to be pulled in to his calling just like a lot of other Christians. Majoring in public relations and graduating was his primary focus while he was in school. He was involved in many orgainization on campus such as: Black Culture League, NAACP, PRSSA, and EOF/MAP. It was then that he heard a message from a pastor that would change his life for the better.



Q/A with Saleem Wright

1. What kinds of organizations were you a member of or a leader of while being on campus?
a. Black Culture League, PRSSA, NAACP, Bridging the Gap, Multi Cultural Affairs, EOF/MAP

2. Now, I understand that you’re in seminary school. What exactly are you going for? Is it to become a minister or a pastor, etc?
a. I am pursuing my Masters in Divinity which is a combination of Christian Ministry and Theology.

3. What’s the name of your seminary school? Where is it located?
a. I attend Palmer Theological Seminary which is located in Philadelphia, PA

4. What made you decide that you wanted to be a minister? When did you get your confirmation that, this is what you wanted to do with your life?
a. My decision to be a minister was not my own. It was God’s plan that honestly if I had my choice I would have picked a different path. I don’t think anyone wakes up and says to themselves I want to be a minister. If they do they might have a couple of screws loose because unlike a doctor you don’t just deal with peoples lives you deal with their eternity. The process of accepting God’s call on my life took 22 years. But to make a long story short I’ll just talk about the last few.
About two years ago I heard a message from a minister that challenged the influences that I indulging in. It was the first time in a long time that I actually heard God speaking to me challenging me to change the way I was living. At the time I was involved in sex, pornography parties, fights, cursing, doing badly in school, I was selfish, prideful, and arrogant just doing what I wanted to do. My friends were just like me and my surroundings although I was in College added to my sinful lifestyle. After hearing the Lord and what he wanted me to do I made a change in my life. After I decided to make the change in my heart it seemed like God started making the external changes. I found myself not wanting to do the things that I had been doing. The lifestyle that I was living became futile, I found myself becoming distant with my friends and started gravitating to Christians for the first time in a long time. Although I “claimed” to be a Christian my lifestyle did not add up. God was changing everything that I had known to be acceptable as worthless detrimental to myself and it grieved God. After God started to change me and I was slowly becoming transformed to his will and not my own he spoke to me again.
One night while I was praying the Lord told me in a whisper to “preach.” I immediately said very sarcastically “preach what, and preach to whom.” Needless to say I did not receive an answer. I then began to laugh and said to “myself, I can and will not preach to anyone, it’s not for me.” Really looking back on it I was scared and felt unworthy that God would ask me to do such a thing. My whole life I looked at preachers as one of two things a saint or a hypocrite. I believed I wasn’t a saint therefore I categorized myself as a hypocrite and I ran from God’s call. I still honored him with my lifestyle and my circle of influence became his followers but I decided that I was not going to preach. Little did I know God had a plan B to counter my own plan. A few months went by and I God was not speaking to me. I was praying, reading my bible, fasting and trying to live according to his will but he did not speak to me. I went to a workshop on campus where a minister was talking about Godly relationships, at the end of the workshop she prayed over everyone and told each of us something different in our ear. She told me “to take the ministry that was being birthed inside of me to my pastor.” I knew it was the Lord speaking because I did not know her, never seen her or ever met her before that night and no one knew what God had told me in prayer. One would think after that I would have listened to God and answered his call but again I ran. The lifestyle I had lived and the things I had done as a result plagued my psyche. I assumed that because of my past, I was worthless and should never preach anyone’s Gospel or anyone’s word, especially Jesus who was perfect. A few weeks later I went to the schools Choir rehearsal and after rehearsal one of the choir members pulled me to the side and spoke to me. I did not know here very well so I was not sure what she was going to say. She told me that she had a dream about me. This caught me off guard because I knew she was married and so it couldn’t be what I thought so instead of interjecting I listened. She said in the dream the choir was coming from my funeral. That part really freaked me out! She said that the dream symbolized that the devil was trying to kill me. Now I’m even more scared. She said that he would not be able to though. I’m relieved a little. She said that he want to kill me for the ministry that’s being birthed inside me and that I need to take it to my pastor. It seemed like everything came full circle and I heard the Lord again. On my walk back to my apt from choir rehearsal I looked up and said God “I got you,” in other words Jesus I will preach your gospel!

5. Did you ever think that you’d be the person that you are now, as far as living a godly life?
a. No I did not think in a million years I would be who I am today. It’s weird looking back on how far God brought me.

6 So, tell me when you got saved.
a. I made the confession of salvation at 12 years old. I was at my home church CCU and I heard God speaking to me that I was a sinner in need of a savior and that Jesus was the one who could save me from my sins and from an eternity apart from God.

7. It is to my knowledge that you weren’t always in the church. As some church folk might say “You aint been saved all ya life!” Tell me a little bit about how you were before you decided that you wanted to let God lead you.
a. Church was always optional in my house. I never was forced to go. My brother and sister gravitated towards it before me. I was rarely ever seen in church unless if was to get out the house. I was saved at 12 but I didn’t really grasp a relationship with Christ until I was 22.

8. Just so we can flesh things out a bit, what does “saved” mean to you? What does being a Christian mean to you?
a. Being “saved” means that I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior. That I believe that he paid the penalty for my sins on a cross at Calvary. That if he had not died for my sins than I would be destined to spend an eternity apart from God because of my sins.
b. Being a Christian means that my lifestyle reflects the life of Christ. That upon accepting Jesus as my lord and savior I am constantly being transformed in his image and I reflect the life that he lived day to day.

9. So, what do you plan on doing once you get out of seminary school? Do you still plan on pursuing a career in your major or will you strictly minister?
a. When I graduate I plan to do ministry and teach. I use my degree in PR even now and I will use it in my ministry because PR is one of those skills that everyone needs especially people in ministry because the public is who we serve.

10. So, being that this is a blog about Christian relationships, ,I have to ask you...are you courting anyone?
a. Currently I am not courting anyone. I have prayed about this a lot and because of where I am and where I am going. I know that I need to spend time to grow as a single man. I believe that everyone should spend time to figure out who they are and who God wants them to be. If I am not able to discover my true self how can I commit myself to someone else. I think that if I never have a period of true singleness then I believe that I will never have a period of true oneness with my wife. Until I am able to be single for this season of my life I will not be able to be with my wife. I believe that being in a relationship is a selfless act and that people never understand how to be selfless because they never deal with their selfishness with God. Most people get into relationships and maintain their selfishness expecting their mate to cater to their selfishness. This is why the divorce rate is almost 70 percent, men and women cheat on each other so much, and abuse is at an all time high. Too many selfish people are getting into relationships. Until we can look at ourselves in the mirror and allow God to deal with who we are and discover who we were created to be we will never be able to be in a faithful, joyful, covenant keeping relationship.

11. If not, why? What exactly are you waiting for?
a. I think I answered it in my last question but I’m waiting until I’m whole in Christ. I don’t know when I’ll be ready because its not up to me to decide. I’m leaving it in God’s hands.
12. You were in a relationship before right?
a. Yes

13. How did that work out for you?
a. We went our separate ways

14. But, didn't you think you were going to marry her?
a. Yes

15. You don’t have to go into detail, but, I know that you wouldn’t claim marriage unless you were sure that the person was sent from God. So, now that you've broken up, what do you think about that?
a. I think it was necessary because of the place I was in my life and the place I am going to be in my life. As I stated before I need this season of my life to be with God.

16. If you had to compare your life’s story to any person in the Bible who would it be? Why do you compare yourself to that person?
a. I cannot say there is one person I would choose. I can say Peter because through my lifestyle I denied I knew Jesus. I can say Thomas because I have doubted Jesus. I can say Paul because I hated Christians before. I can say Judas because there were times in my life I felt like I betrayed Jesus. I can say Jeremiah because God had to reassure me that his call on my life was correct and that I was the right person for the job. I cannot say that there is one person.

17. Well, that concludes the interview, any encouraging words for young people that are lost? Anything you want to wrap up with?
a. I will leave people with this. Honestly I hate religion! I have always hated religion and to this day I still do. That might shock people but just because I hate religion or religions has nothing to do with my love for Jesus. People think that Christianity is supposed to be a religion. It was never supposed to be that way. It was meant to be representative of a relationship of a finite being to an infinite God through Jesus Christ. God never wanted us to be rigid, strict and bound by rules and regulations. He wanted us to be in fellowship with him and out of that relationship we would honor him by doing and abstaining from certain things. It’s like a boyfriend and girlfriend. When a guy first meets a girl he does not know her that well so he might say certain things or do certain things that she hates but the more he knows her and loves her the more he honors her and doesn’t do those things because he does not want to hurt her or lose her. The same is with God. The more we get to know Jesus the more we want to obey, love and honor him. Not out of rules but out of love. That’s my note to the unbeliever. To all Christians its real simple “don’t just give Christ your life, give him your lifestyle.” God bless!