Brother Carlos Lewis

A Tribute to Brother Carlos Lewis

I received a text message today, that Brother Carlos Lewis had gotten his promotion. Tears came to my eyes as many, many memories of Brother Carlos came to mind. I last saw Brother Carlos, the last part of 2015. Heart of God ministries goes to Hilltop Nursing Home once a month to minister. I received a call to minister at the nursing home that night. Sometimes I don’t have a lot of notice, once when I was there I was the “ram in the bush”, because the person who was scheduled to come forgot or something came up at the last minute. I am sooo glad that I obeyed the Lord on that evening. I don’t even remember what I spoke on. As we were getting ready to leave Andrea came up to me, I hadn’t seen Andrea in quite some time, so I didn’t recognize her and she explained to everyone that me and her dad had worked together for over 30 years at WJLS. I saw Brother Carlos and hugged him and the tears fell.  I was so glad to see him. Sharon said she had seen him at the V.A. hospital while she was doing an internship there and that he remembered her, but he looked frail. There are so many memories.

I met Brother Carlos Lewis back in 1979. Back then the radio station was WBKW, and due to changes in programming at the Oak Hill station, a lot of the people who had program on those stations came over to WBKW. He had a one hour show on Saturday nights. I had heard so much about him, until I was almost afraid of him. Back then, I was afraid of holiness people, because honestly, some of them were mean and hateful. He wasn’t. He like the upbeat music that I was familiar with and we got along well. There were things about Brother Carlos that were amazing over the years. He was a veteran of the Korean War. He was also a cancer survivor. He walked with a limp. He had his leg amputated as a result of the cancer, but that never stopped him. He climbed the 36 steps to WJLS each shift that he worked. He never complained. He worked there from 1980 - 2003. He had the radio program from 1979 -2011 or 2012, I am not sure on that one, because I wasn’t there when he stopped doing the program.

Everybody knew “Brother Carlos”; he had a distinct way of announcing on the radio. He would say “the weatherman says” and read the weather forecast. I was one of the people who had the pleasure of training Brother Carlos to work at the station. So many memories; He worked most Saturdays and Mondays for a while. Then other shifts as needed. Sometimes, since he was pastoring things would come up like weddings and funerals.  He was very popular. There were times when those things would inconvenience me, because I would have to go in and fill in for him. I am not going to say I didn’t complain, but I did understand. Brother Carlos and some of the pastors I knew growing up are gone now, but they were a special breed of men, who looked after their congregation, they were called out all hours of the day and night for prayer, visiting the sick and doing funerals.

He watched me grow up. I still have the clock he gave me as a housewarming present.  Our whole family knew Rev. Lewis as we called him back years ago. I went to wedding at his church, and the big convention that was held each July. I can only say it was an honor and a privilege to have known him.  When there were problems at church I would talk to him about them, he was very wise and helpful.

Brother Carlos was at my wedding as well. When the ownership changed at WJLS to First Media, things changed rapidly and Brother Carlos left. He took a leave of absence and was not allowed to come back. Things were very stressful during that time and I ended up losing my job. I always wanted to explain to him that I had nothing to do with all of things that was going on during that time. I was just glad I got to see him before he got his promotion and I plan on seeing him again in Heaven.  Brother Carlos, you fought a good fight and finished your race. It was a pleasure knowing you.