www.people.vcu.edu/~jcsouth/slideshows/brown
By: Ben Brown
It’s a white 1985 Oldsmobile station wagon. The model is called the Custom Cruiser.
However, to several kids in the Manchester, Bainbridge and Hillside Court areas, this is not just some old station wagon; this is the church bus. And the driver is the Rev. Dr. Thomas W. Sweat, 57. Everyone around here calls him Pastor Tom.
“That’s what people know me as,” Sweat said.
Brinnay Bell, 11, chuckled as she smiled showing all of her teeth. “Pastor Tom is funny when he drives his car,” Brinnay said. She usually gets a ride with Pastor Tom to most church events. Sweat shrugged his shoulders, wrinkling his black argyle sweater and letting out a bit of a grin.
Pastor Tom then moved through the room shaking hands and hugging people. The smile never left his face as his cheek-bones lifted up his thin, black-framed glasses.
Sweat is the senior pastor at Central United Methodist Church, 1211 Porter Street. He hasn’t served a full year there, but he is bringing new programs and hopes to revitalize the community in the Manchester area.
“My concern is people are not congregating. I want folks to come together and get to know each other,” Sweat said.
That was the idea behind God’s Garden, one of Sweat’s ideas. It’s not much of a garden now; in fact, it’s just an empty lot next to the church that has been plowed and tilled over. Fruits and vegetables will be growing there soon, Sweat said.
Getting to know each other was also the inspiration for the “dog run” as Pastor Tom calls it. It’s a fenced area where people can let their dogs roam and the owners can get to know each other.
“It’s a gesture of ‘Hey, you’re important to us,’” Sweat said.
He hasn’t always been in the role of a pastor in an urban area. Most of the churches where he served in the past are suburban. Pastor Tom got the opportunity to serve at Central United Methodist and accepted the offer.
“I just didn’t want to see it die,” said Sweat.
Apparently several churches that are struggling have shut their doors for good and closed. Sweat would not stand for this at Central.
“I felt compelled and had a compassion for churches in transition, usually in lower economic communities, and I had a real concern about what was happening to these churches,” he said.
Central United Methodist Church used to boast more than 1,000 members. The church can trace its roots back to 1786, and the building that Central uses now has a cornerstone laid in 1900.
Sweat shared the history of how the community changed and people moved to the suburbs.
Just before Sweat took the job, the church was averaging about 40 people for a Sunday morning service and a choir of seven people.
Many people would see this as a lost cause, but Sweat didn’t. He accepted the position at Central knowing this would be different. With a smaller church comes a smaller budget.
“I did take a cut in salary, but that was my choice, my decision,” Sweat said.
A cut in salary meant that Sweat had to find a couple of odd jobs to make ends meet. Another position opened up, and he jumped on the opportunity. Pastor Tom is not only the senior pastor and the bus driver, but he has another title, too.
“I’m also the church custodian now.” Sweat said he doesn’t mind the work, and he’s at the church anyhow.
“I look at it as a good workout,” Sweat said with a grin.
Ann Shultz is a member and Central United Methodist Church. She says that Sweat is a hard worker.
“Tom is not afraid to get in there and roll up his sleeves and work right along with you,” Shultz said.
Why does he work so hard?
Sweat wet his lips and breathed in through his nose and said: “I still want to believe that some of the best years for this church are in the future.”
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