Barry Black - From the Hood to the Hill: A Story of Overcoming

FROM THE HOOD
TO THE HILL

Praise for
FROM THE HOOD TO THE HILL

Barry Black is a leader among leaders. Brilliant and articulate, yet humble and approachable, he is a force for integrity, goodness, and compassion on Capitol Hill. Barry leads in the Jesus-style by serving instead of demanding. God has blessed his life in an unusual way. Because he is blessed with a photographic memory, this narrative, From the Hood to the Hill, is a fascinating read.

DR. RICK WARREN
Best-Selling Author,
The Purpose Driven Life, and
Pastor, Saddleback Church,
Lake Forest, CA

From a wonderfully unique man comes a powerfully unique story. Barry Black is a testimony to Gods faithfulness and grace.

MAX LUCADO
Pastor, Oak Hills Church,
San Antonio, TX

This is an inspiring autobiography by an outstanding man of God, a great leader, a powerful preacher, and a true patriot. Here is truly an American story of how a person of modest beginnings can rise to heights of personal and professional success. Barry Black is my cherished friend. Im honored that he succeeded me as Chaplain of the United States Senate. From the Hood to the Hill is a stirring and power-packed book of the way God uses whom He chooses.

DR. LLOYD J. OGILVIE
Former US Senate Chaplain

Barry Blacks story is more than inspirationalits a template for success. No one talks the talk better than Chaplain Black. In From the Hood to the Hill, he also shows how to walk the walk on your faith journey.

JON KYL
US Senator

Chaplain Barry Black embodies the best of the American Spirit and the Christian traditiona man of great erudition who has never forgotten his humble roots; a man of great faith who remains open to all the wisdom of all people; a man of great seriousness who knows how to laugh. The Senate and the country are grateful for his service.

BARACK OBAMA
US Senator

From start to finish, From the Hood to the Hill is a wonderful book, full of great stories, deep humility, sound wisdom, and best of all, the authentic voice of Senate Chaplain Barry Black. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and you will too.

ROBERT C. BENNETT
US Senator

Copyright 2006 by Rear Admiral Barry C. Black, CHC, USN (Ret.)

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Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked CEV are from THE CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH VERSION of the Bible, Copyright 1991, 1995 by the American Bible Society. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations noted KJV are from The Holy Bible, KING JAMES VERSION.

Scripture quotations marked The Message are taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the NEW KING JAMES VERSION. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Black, Barry C.
From the hood to the hill : a story of overcoming / Barry C. Black.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-10: 0-7852-1881-5 (hardcover)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7852-1881-4 (hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-7852-8900-3 (trade paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7852-8900-5 (trade paper)
1. Black, Barry C. 2. Christian biography. 3. United States. Congress. Senate ChaplainsBiography. 4. AdmiralsUnited StatesBiography. I. Title.
BR1725.B573A3 2006
277.3'082092dc22

2006008218

Printed in the United States of America

07 08 09 10 11 RRD 5 4 3 2 1

For my dear mother,
Pearline

CONTENTS

I wondered what she thought of us, this social worker, Miss Jenkins.

Opening the doors of all our closets, she seemed satisfied that no adult male lived with us, one of the requirements for receiving public assistance. File folder in hand, she stared sympathetically at our sparse furniture as she spoke in almost a whisper to my mother. I waited to exhale as she repeatedly glanced at our carpetless cement floors. I prayed that no rat would make an ill-timed pilgrimage to another hole in the wall, and that the roaches would stay in their citadels. My siblings and I sat patiently, remembering that children should be seen and not heard, and I let my mind wander in a leisurely daydream.

I pictured this social worker in an office, like one Id seen on The Dick Van Dyke Show. On her cubicle wall, the ink is almost dry on her master of social work degree. A file labeled Black, Pearline sits on her cluttered desk. Beside the folder is a sheet of paper with Predictor at the top.

Miss Jenkins opens the folder.

Pearline Black, she muses. African-American mother of five girls and three boys. Residence, a Baltimore housing project. The childrens father, alcoholic and mostly absent.

With a shudder, she picks up a pen and starts making notes on the Predictor sheet.

The three boyslikely candidates for incarceration or early death.
The five girlslikely candidates for unwed pregnancies and welfare.
And with a sigh, she closes the folder and puts it away.

But Ive got good news for that social worker who visited my home so long ago. The pathology I imagined didnt happen. In spite of unpromising beginnings, my siblings and I bucked the statistics and turned out fine. One of the boys even became a two-star Navy admiral and the first African-American Navy chief of chaplains. Later, he was selected as the sixty-second chaplain of the US Senate. I am that child.

From the hood to the Hill. How did it happen?

Thats what Id like to reveal to you in this book. And right up front, I want to state that the critical factor in this happy ending was a sovereign Providence. God was working strongly in my life.

But just as important, God wasnt someone I discovered for myselfIve had a lot of help.

Early in life, my mother, Pearline, convinced me that God had created me for something special. You are different, Gods child, she kept telling me. Never forget that. She took my siblings and me to church with her. She worked hard to give me a Christian education.She planted in my spirit a love for the sacred Scriptures.

And God smiled on her efforts and blessed them. He gave me a love for learning and a willingness to search for wisdom across literatures wide spectrum. He provided me with good memorization and public-speaking skills. He raised up friends for me, mentors who served as encouragers, advisors, and confidants. And He gave me brothers and sisters who, by their sometimes idiosyncratic tactics, helped burn away much of my dross.

God also opened and closed doors on my behalf, and used my own marital and parenting challenges to make me less selfish. He implanted in me a resolve to weather lifes tragedies and setbacks, and He developed my ability to see them as opportunities to climb higher on faiths ladder.