by Danny Tennial
Special to the Tri-State Defender

(Dr. Rosalyn Regina Nichols is pastor of Freedom’s Chapel Christian Church (DOC) at 2768 Colony Park Drive. Dr. Nichols, along with a faithful group, organized the church in 2001. She is a dynamic, passionate and empathetic preacher, teacher and pastor who believes that freedom in Christ gives one the liberty to live and the responsibility to serve.)   

The Tri-State Defender: How long have you been in the ministry?

Dr. Rosalyn Regina Nichols is pastor of Freedom’s Chapel Christian Church (DOC)

Dr. Nichols: I acknowledged my call in 1990 and began seminary in the spring of 1993. Just before graduation in December 1995, I was licensed and ordained for Christian Ministry by the Tennessee Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) at Mississippi Blvd Church under the leadership of Dr. Alvin O’Neal Jackson, and took my first ministerial assignment following graduation from Memphis Theological Seminary in June 1996 with Dr. Fred C. Lofton at Metropolitan Baptist Church.  

So, having said all of that I suppose if you consider employment to be the criteria then it would be 13 years. However, I consider the day I accepted my call into ministry in 1990 as my starting point. So for me it feels more like 19 years.

 TSD: How long have you served as a pastor?

Dr. Nichols: I have been blessed to serve the people of Freedom’s Chapel Christian Church (DOC) as their pastor since our inception on the 1st Sunday of November 2001, marking eight years of life together recently on November 1, 2009.

TSD: What has been your greatest challenge as a pastor?

Dr. Nichols: The greatest challenge I suppose has been in finding the balance between my role as a pastor and my own personal walk with God as a believer. Like the old TV show – “Mission Impossible” – in which a recording would say, “This is your mission, if you choose to accept it,” pasturing is a wonderfully demanding mission, if you choose to accept it. But I believe it is most rewarding when I am able to remember to be available to be fed as I feed my people. I must be willing to be pastored as much as I am willing to a pastor.  

 TSD: What has been your greatest fulfillment as a pastor?

Dr. Nichols: I am blessed to pastor a group of people who are sincerely interested in growing in their relationship with God. From the babies to the elders, they have taken seriously the requirement to be responsible for their own personal growth. As a result I have had the blessed privilege of literally watching God move in the lives of folks as they grow closer in their relationship with God.

TSD: How do you see yourself as a minister?

Dr. Nichols: As I have grown in ministry and in my role as both minister/pastor, I have come to appreciate the words of Jeremiah 3.15: “I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”  I believe God has given me a shepherd’s heart…. I care deeply for my folks and strive to make myself available to them for guidance and support. I strive to live the words of Isaiah 50.4: “The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens – wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.”  I strive to be like Jesus as a servant leader who cared for those who are often overlooked regardless of race, gender, orientation or socioeconomic background. I am here to serve, not to be served.   

But don’t get me wrong, as was true with Jesus in his exchange with the one of the ten who came back to say thank you after his sight had been restored, I do like to hear, “Thank you pastor, every now and then.”

TSD: How do you want to be remembered as a servant of God?

Dr. Nichols: I suppose at the end of the day I want someone to have encountered a woman of faith who lived out her faith openly and honestly, warts and all, who worked faithfully to practice what she preached and to live as an integrated, forthright, determined child of God. My maternal grandmother taught our family the words of the Proverbs 22.1: “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.” I want someone to remember my good name more than my accolades or any things I accumulate.

My parents were encouragers in the lives of so many people…. I come from a long line and legacy of people who lived their lives in ways that sowed good seeds into the lives of others. I want to be remembered for having built upon this rich legacy that has been given to me.