My name is Master Sergeant Alex J. McGowan, and I grew up in Mount Olive, Mississippi. Like many in my small community, I grew up in poverty on dangerous streets with discouraging role models and confusing social expectations which was a burden to me.
My mother raised me the best she could without a husband and father for her children. I have one brother and five sisters. We lived house to house and faced many days without the basic necessities of life. Just getting by day to day was a struggle. The absence of a father and family structure led me to engage in criminal activities.
As a troubled middle and junior high school student, I found myself becoming accustomed to monthly suspension. Pastor Tony tried to challenge and help me during my days in school and on the streets. In May 1997, one of
my gang friends was shot and killed. A few months later, I was permanently expelled from school. Due to my behavior and an unacceptable crime, I was locked up and then sent to Oakley Training School, a juvenile correctional facility in Mississippi. It is Mississippi’s only facility for children referred to the juvenile correctional system.
The same day I was released from Oakley Training School, I ran into Pastor Tony! He talked to me about getting my life back on track as I had refused to hear God’s calling on my life years before when he tried to help me. Throughout my life, I only knew hopelessness, and from that I developed a destructive mindset. This day was different!
Pastor Tony shared the Word of God with me in a way I had never heard before. This time, I repented and surrendered my life to Christ. My life didn’t instantly get better. I still struggled and probably would have given up… but Pastor Tony saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. I started attending Youth Leadership Development meetings where he mentored several other kids from the community. He helped me get back into school and accepted full responsibility for my behavior, becoming the role model I desperately needed.
In 1998, Pastor Tony purchased a building, now known as Mount Olive Ministries. He started several Programs to reach out and rescue many in other communities. He gave me opportunities to mentor some of the younger kids, to help with homework assignments and the summer youth sporting events. I lived in an environment where I could have easily slipped back into the negative lifestyle of gang banging and drug dealing. However, the ministry kept me occupied, out of trouble, and a few dollars in my pockets to get the things I needed. I am forever grateful.
In 1999, I enlisted in the Active Duty (AD) United States Army. As of today, I am married and the father of two boys and a girl. I have been deployed five times and have received several military awards.
There are many different paths one can take in life. I am so thankful to God for using Pastor Tony to rescue me from the path I was on as a teenager.
