Continuing life’s work

A couple who came to serve as interim pastors at Morning Star Baptist Church in Spokane have decided after 14 months there that they will stay on a bit.

The Rev. Drs. Arthur (Art) and Leotta Jarrett chose the interim ministry after serving two Baptist churches in San Mateo, Calif. Art retired two years ago from the church, and Leotta from her work in education.

However, she says, “Our concept is that a Christian never retires. There is always a need. We just pray to ask God to enlarge our territory. The idea to remain in Spokane emerged as people asked us to stay.”

The Jarretts were offered three opportunities for a next assignment, but turned them down, at first thinking they would return to their home in California.

Instead, Leotta became involved with the education committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Spokane chapter.

The committee addresses injustices and inequities in the Spokane school system, helping families of students of color gain a voice for their concerns about harassment, textbook choices, student treatment, WASL tests and accessibility of times for parent-teacher association meetings.

She also is teaching a course, “My Voice Is Important: Let Me Speak,” at Spokane Falls Community College.

“Some people tend to be introverts, so there is not a chance their voices will be heard in family, church or the community,” she says. “Their voices are quelled on issues of truth, identity or cultural needs.”

Leotta also leads workshops for American Baptist women and preaches on Sundays when invited.

In April, she started the Inland Northwest Ministers’ Wives and Ministers’ Widows Fellowship, which has 15 members who meet monthly. It is part of an international body of 4,500 women of many races from the Caribbean, Africa, Canada, Central America and the United States.

“There’s much we can all do in the community if we go beyond the four walls of the church,” Leotta says.

Art is developing Full Proof Ministries to provide interdenominational training for church leaders and workers in Spokane. The program covers the Old and New Testaments, Christian theology, sermon preparation, Christian education, leadership development, church history, ethics, discipleship, worship and church management.

By “full proof” he means for people to be fully prepared, equipped and informed so they will be effective in building churches and God’s kingdom, “earnestly striving for excellence in glorifying God,” Art says.

The Jarretts’ English is accented by their roots in Nassau, Bahamas. Art left at 17 to study in the U.S., eventually receiving his doctorate in religion from California Graduate School of Theology in Glendale, Calif. At Morehouse College in Atlanta, one classmate was Martin Luther King Jr., who led the civil rights movement in which the Jarretts later participated.

Art returned to Nassau and in 1948 became pastor of the church Leotta attended. They were married in 1950.

At a Cambridge University extension program, Leotta studied to be an elementary teacher. Eventually, she served as assistant principal to art at a school in Andros, the largest island in the Bahamas.

She joined Art for his first assignment as a pastor in Chattanooga, Tenn. He later taught with the Oklahoma Baptist School of Religion at Langston University until he was called to Pilgrim Baptist in San Mateo in 1965, during the height of the civil rights movement.

The Jarretts participated in the civil rights movement and marches, including King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C. They helped calm black students in San Mateo schools after King’s assassination in 1968 and worked to integrate schools there.

In California, Leotta continued to pursue her dream, earning an array of degrees – a lifetime teaching certificate, a bachelor’s degree in sociology, master’s degrees in counseling and in education and administration, and a Doctor of Education in international and multicultural education – all while rearing three daughters and a son and teaching for 32 years in San Mateo public schools.

In 1999, Leotta was ordained, empowering her to serve churches as a pastor along with Art.

“While we have had the privilege of many opportunities for education and work, we identify with the needs of those who have not had those opportunities,” she says.

Their roots inspire that humility. Art and Leotta visit family in the Bahamas twice a year.

Leotta’s father was a naturalized U.S. citizen because he served in the American military in World War I.

“He wanted us to be educated in the United States,” she says. “It was instilled in us to take advantage of any privileges we were given – to honor and respect them.”

The Jarretts took that attitude into churches they served, coming to “comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable,” Art says.

“Churches can be set in their ways,” he says. “Even domestics think they are elite, but slowly we encouraged people in our churches to go to school, earn GED diplomas, go to junior colleges and become certified in early childhood education or as a dental assistant.”

For example, one man worked from the kitchen into a top office at a hospital, and a woman who scrubbed hospital halls became supervisor of maintenance.

The Jarretts set up a career guidance program, so young people could begin to dream and succeed in careers.

“It’s a privilege and blessing to serve others,” Leotta says, with Art completing the thought: “It’s also an obligation.”