The 50-Year Pastoral Journey of Pastor Freddie Starling

MACOMB – 'Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.' - Peter 4:10-11 These are the words – and scripture – that the 83-year-old Pastor Freddie Starling of Mt. Calvary Church of God in Christ (COGIC) has lived by his entire life, dedicating his life's work and mission to God. Starling, who is one of the longest-serving pastors in Macomb, recently celebrated 50 years of leading the Macomb church. While he just celebrated his golden anniversary, which included a Jubilee Celebration May 4, he has been ministering for 53 years. He began leading his first church, St. James A.M.E., in 1972, along with his late wife, Mother Vivienne Starling, whom he married in September 1968. Mother Vivienne passed away Nov. 12, 2021, at the age of 94.

The Beginning of a Lifetime of Service

Pastor Starling was born in Crossett, AR, whose family made their way to the Keokuk, Iowa region when he was about six years old. The family returned to their farm in Arkansas a few years later, but Iowa remained on the horizon for Starling. His upbringing included a strong reliance on the Lord and faith (and a grandfather who was a pastor) and included a stint at Shorter College, an A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal) Christian School in Little Rock, AR.

'I was raised in the church, from childhood to college, and my dad never ceased to pray for us. You could hear him praying a half a block away,' Starling said. 'Faith has always been a part of my life, and I've remained strong in my conviction since I've been a child, but I had to find myself. I went to college, I tried my hand at boxing, I worked in factories, I owned nightclubs and I did odd jobs.'

He returned to the Hawkeye State as a young man, working first at a hospital in Burlington, then at an ammunition plant. When he was laid off from the plant, he made his way to Rock Island to work in the John Deere foundry; however, a back injury forced him to leave the foundry and he made his way back to Burlington. It was also around that time that he was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he served about 18 days before he was discharged due to his back injury.

'I had surgery and then I did odd jobs around Burlington, including for my aunt who owned about five houses there. I've always worked, so I continued to do what I could, wherever I could,' he explained.

A Call from God

'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.'

Pastor Starling likes to fish, so that has always been his go-to for taking some time for himself. It was on Oct. 20, 1971, after a day of fishing he returned to his home in Burlington. It was around dark when he received his calling.

'It was divine intervention and I never will forget it. I went into my house and came back out into my backyard,' Pastor Starling shared. 'I was taken up like Ezekiel.'

In Ezekiel 3:14, the prophet Ezekiel recounts being 'taken up' by the Spirit and carried away, experiencing a strong sense of anger and bitterness as a result of his task of prophesying to a hardened people.

'He picked me up and I heard a voice and a noise like wings,' he explained. 'I knew it was a message from God and it set the stage for the next 50 years of my life, but I tried to fight it at first.

'I refused to accept the calling. I knew I should and that I had to, but I didn't want to accept it,' Pastor Starling stressed. 'For two weeks I fought it. I had excuses, all kinds of excuses. Eventually, I knew I had one choice and if I didn't do it, I would expire. And I had all sorts of signs – I was on a ladder and fell and didn't get hurt, I saw a rainbow on the floor. I finally gave up and went to church (St. John's A.M.E. in Burlington) to my friend Pastor Robert Clay. I realized this was the seed that had been watered since my childhood and it finally germinated. I knew this calling was my purpose and what I'd do for the rest of my days.'

Tending to His Flock

While most ministers go the 'traditional' route, that is seminary or theology school and then become ordained, Pastor Starling took an unconventional route to church leadership. He first did 'trial sermons' at Pastor Clay's Burlington church, and in January 1972, his friend took him to the Monmouth's St. James A.M.E., which needed a minister.

'Because of my lifelong dedication to God, they saw something in me so I was placed in the church, where Mother Vivienne and I served for two years,' Pastor Starling said. 'The Lord has always taught me and opened the scriptures to me. He gave me the tongue of the learned.'

Within the A.M.E. structure, the minister typically has attended school for four to six years, and is ordained. In Pastor Starling's case, he received his license within one year because of his success leading the church. The only thing he could not do was 'marry or bury' because he wasn't officially ordained.

'We accomplished so much at our first church. We landscaped the property, we were able to obtain more finances to care for the church and we were able to pay off the church's mortgage,' he added. 'I preached every Sunday, and we were appreciated. The Lord was there to guide and help me.'

According to Starling, each year the A.M.E. holds a national conference in which the bishops hand off assignments to the pastors. It was during Starling's second year, out of 100 or so preachers at the national conference, he was the only one not given an assignment, so he and Mother Vivienne were no longer going to lead the Monmouth church they had called home for two years.

'I could serve the church, but since I couldn't marry or bury as I was not yet ordained, they had to bring in a pastor who could do all of those things,' Starling explained. 'But all of this was by the grace of God. The Lord had already spoken to me, and he gave me four chapters in Revelations to study. He showed me those scriptures and told me to 'Go down the road a little further because there is a pond that has never been fished in.' And since I'm a fisherman, he was speaking my language.'

It was that message, along with two signs, that led the Starlings on the road to find the 'unfished pond.' During the day when heading to Monmouth from Burlington to get their belongings, doves filled the sky on his left and as soon as he hit the bridge going into Illinois, they were gone. On the way home that evening, a flash of lightning brightened the night sky from Monmouth to the bridge. Again, like the doves, as soon as the Starlings hit the Mississippi River bridge, the lightning was gone.

'My wife bought a 1973 Catalina trailer and we loaded it up and evangelized throughout the U.S. to find that pond,' Starling laughed. 'We lived and were guided by faith.

The Next – and Not-Yet-Final – Chapter

'We started with a revival in the Burlington Park, and from there, we went to Ft. Madison to lead another revival. That very year, when there was usually a revival in the Ft. Madison Park, there wasn't one and there we were. We showed up not even knowing there wasn't a revival that year,' Pastor declared. 'We went to Keokuk, then Muscatine, Iowa City and then we evangelized out of state for some time.'

Eventually, they returned to back to square one, aka Burlington. The couple went to Union Baptist, where they remained in good standing, and a minister they knew, William Horneay, was running a revival in Quincy and invited Pastor Starling to take part. It was the Quincy revival that set the wheels in motion for the rest of Pastor Starling's story.

A WIU student, Debbie Mann asked Pastor Scales if he knew of a preacher who would come to the university to lead the students, and at the Quincy event, Pastor Scales introduced Mann and Starling.

'I'd been everywhere looking for that pond: Iowa, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Illinois, and in Quincy, the Lord finally showed me where to go,' he chuckled.

On the last Sunday of April in 1975, Mann called Starling and asked him to come to WIU to lead about 10 students in worship and then to join them at Mt.

Calvary COGIC. At the time, the church was only one level, which is now the current church's basement.

Before Pastor Starling even set foot in – or saw the church in person – he saw exactly what was there.

'I saw the building exactly as it was and I'd never been there before. That's when I knew this was the unfished pond,' Starling explained.

'Three mothers – Clark, Daniels and Coleman – were leading the church and arranging for preachers because their pastor, Pastor Derrick who led the church, along with churches in Rock Island, Galesburg, East Moline and Kewanee, was ill. I went with the WIU students and was invited to preach. Then they wanted me to keep coming back, so I did for about a month.

'After a month, I stood on the front steps and Pastor Derek told me to come on up, that there was plenty of room for me,' he said. 'I was home.'

After about six months of preaching at the Macomb church, Starling was taken to Chicago and was ordained by the Church of God in Christ and he was officially appointed to Mt. Calvary COGIC. Along with his ministry at Mt. Calvary, Starling started a campus ministry at Western and later, he also ran Bible classes at the former Robert Morris College in Carthage.

'The Lord had fulfilled the vision,' Starling wistfully added.

In addition to leading the Mt. Calvary COGIC, he preached at Gospel Temple COGIC in Keokuk for 33 years and Faith Temple COGIC for the past 45 years (and continues to preach there today). He was also active in the state prison ministry at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Ft. Madison for over 30 years and jail ministry for over 15 years. Pastor Starling has also ministered at a halfway house from 2011-2019, and in his 53 years of ministry, he has only missed ONE day of church. He currently serves at Mt. Calvary on the first and third Sundays of the month. Along with leading the churches, under Pastor Starling's leadership, more than 55 ministers have been called to preach across the United States, representing a variety of denominations, including Baptist, Methodist, COGIC, Independent and Assembly of God.

One of those individuals called to preach includes Elder Allen Henderson of Macomb. Henderson began his work with Mt. Calvary COGIC in 2000, and continues to serve as a church Elder. He said that Pastor Starling has been a blessing.

'He reminds me of a classic Timex watch, he's running as good today as he did 25 years ago,' Henderson said. 'I don't know where I would be today without him.'

Pastor Starling goes over the scriptures every morning and every night. He never misses the Lord's Prayer and John Chapter 15, among a few others. These 'feed his spirit and soul' daily.

If ministering and sharing the word of the Lord hasn't been enough over the years, in 1978, Pastor Starling, along with a few dedicated members, had $2,800 and a blueprint to build on to the church. Six men, which included the pastor, renovated the church with their own hands, including building and installing 32 gables from a pattern that Charlie Cox designed – and without one splinter or injury, he pointed out. Even though he just turned 83 on May 29, he's still willing to go where he's needed and can still get on a roof to help with repairs.

'When we began working on the church, these men just showed up. Four Black brothers and two white brothers we didn't even know. We didn't call them, they just arrived,' he recalled. 'We ate, slept and worked at the church until our work was done. We prayed before we went up every day and we didn’t have one accident.'

He also wanted to point out that while they started with only $2,800, the money started to roll in for the renovations, including $10,000 from the Fellheimers. The couple stopped by the church and asked who the contractors were, to which Starling replied, 'We're the builders and the contractors.' The storied Macomb couple known for their generosity were so impressed, they gave the church another $10,000 to finish the renovations and expansion.

To honor his legacy, the Mt. Calvary Church of God in Christ has raised funds, and is continuing to do so, to break ground on the Freddie and Vivienne Starling Community Center directly east of the church on East Pierce Street.

As for the motivation that keeps him going, it's simple: this is the reason God put him in his mother's womb.

When asked how long he'll continue to serve at Mt. Calvary, Starling said he'll do it until he walks – or is carted – out of the church.

'I have no inkling to retire. Even if I've saved only one soul over the years, it was worth it all,' he laughed.

'But I give all the credit to the Lord and my parents, who raised me through the Lord. I'll continue to do this until He calls me home.'