By Felix Hoover

For YourNewColumbus.com

Posted 06-16-09

 

 

He took to the stage in a production of the French comedy in the 1965-66 school year, when he was a junior at Eastmoor High School.

 

Students also built a radio station and Reeves decided to program R&B, and to pattern himself after Les Brown, then a personality at WVKO.

 

Reeves spent time in radio and TV and still is heard on the radio, but with gospel rather than R&B. He serves in the role seemingly destined even before his school days, a calling that eventually would make him Elder Michael D. Reeves Sr.

 

"My mother said, 'You're going to be a minister, no ifs, ands or buts,' " Elder Reeves said recently in his office at Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church at 3161 E. Fifth Ave.

 

A few cousins and other relatives down the line had been pastors, but Reeves entered the church even before his father, who became a Iay pastor and assistant at his church.

 

Mike Reeves started delivering sermons when he was five and by the time he reached Eastmoor Junior High School, buddies assigned him the logical nickname -- "Preacher."

 

."I always loved church and I loved preachers," he said. "I have had so many pastors in my life who put their arms around me."

 

Reeves grew up in Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church where he was embraced by Elder C.D. Brooks and was influenced by Brooks' sense of fashion.

 

"He always wore French cuffs, so today I wear French cuffs and cufflinks because of Elder Brooks," Reeves said.

 

Another clergymen who made a lasting impression was Pastor F.L. Jordan, Reeves' predecessor at Corinthian.

 

"We became like father and son," Reeves said.

 

When Reeves bought a house, he soon discovered it was up the street from Jordan.

"When he became ailing, I was like his second son," Reeves said.

 

After Jordan's death, the congregation was entrusted to Reeves, who has been a pastor for 35 years, including the past 33 at Corinthian.

 

"It was in God's plan for me," Reeves said. "The last 33 years has been an awesome experience."

 

He said that he's amazed at the congregation's growth and outreach since its founding 50 years ago.

 

"We have a food pantry that's one of the best in the city," Reeves said.

 

Two measures of that success include the way workers pack boxes and the number of people involved, but a third carries more weight.

 

"People talk about how well they've been treated," Reeves said. "We believe in helping those in need , those who are less fortunate."

 

When Krumm Recreation Center was identified as one of the facilities to be closed because of the city's recent budgetary cuts, Corinthian joined with other community groups and came to its rescue. The park is to reopen in June and the church wants to encourage people to use it, Reeves said.

 

The church's work can't be completed within its four walls, he said.

 

"If Jesus were walking the Earth today, he would be out in the streets with the people,"Reeves said.

 

Corinthian is part of the Ohio Baptist State Convention, the National Baptist Convention USA and the American Baptist Churches USA, but its appeal is really nondenominational, Reeves said.

 

"The name is our address," he said. "It doesn't necessarily define who we are."

 

Corinthian holds an annual revival, but Reeves doesn't consider himself an Evangelist."

 

"I'm a pastor," he said.

 

Some churches place a premium on silence, but the noise at Corinthian comes from young people, much to the delight of Reeves.

 

"We try to keep our young people excited," he said. "On Tuesday, it's like a performing arts center. We have them in performing ministries as mimes, puppeteers, spiritual dancers and choir members."

 

Through the years he has been aided in the development of these programs by his wife, Minister Deborah Reeves. They are the parents of three grown children, the Rev. Michael Jr., Bryan and John.

 

Columbus has been blessed with some of the finest clergy and strongest congregations, yet has much work to do in publicizing its good works, Reeves said.