(Photo courtesy of Michelle Wilson)

                   Rev. Foster and Sylvia Gentry celebrating 48 years of ministry.



                                                                                                                                 (Photo by Karen Brewer)

  The Gentry family at the reception in their honor at Pickens View Wesleyan.


        Rev. Foster Gentry fulfilled his grandmother’s dream for someone in the family to become a preacher. He retired in 2005, after serving 48 years in the ministry, the last 15 years as Pastor of Pickens View Wesleyan Church in Pickens, South Carolina.
        “I had always been brought up in church,” he told this writer, in an interview with The Christian View. “My parents, Thomas Herbert Gentry and Rosa Lee Howard Gentry, were strong Christians and had taken me to church since I was a baby. I was the youngest of seven children. We lived in the Arial community and went to Arial Wesleyan Methodist Church. From the time I was seven years old, my Dad was in and out of the hospital with sickness, until he died when I was 17 years old. My Dad was a good man, and, when he died, it was tough for us. His death made me think more of the significance of living and dying. I was in the 11th grade when he passed away, and when I gave my heart to the Lord. I felt that the Lord wanted me to go into some part of ministry. I tried to walk, step by step, and follow the Lord.”

While a student at then Central Wesleyan College (now known as Southern Wesleyan University), Gentry served as Assistant Pastor at Arial Wesleyan Church in Easley. He took his first pastorate a year later, in July, 1958, one month after graduating with honors with a degree in Bible and Theology, and three months after marrying his wife, Sylvia, a native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama whom he met in college. After pastoring at Welcome Wesleyan Church in the Ebenezer community in Oconee County for five years (1958-1963), Gentry served as Pastor of First Wesleyan Church in Easley for six years (1963-1969). After 15 years as Pastor of Carlisle Wesleyan Church in Spartanburg (1969-1984), he returned to Welcome Wesleyan Church for another six years (1984-1990), before coming to Pickens View Wesleyan Church in 1990.

“The church here is a very good church to pastor,” said Gentry. “They are kind and loving. They have a lot of confidence in the Pastor and hold him in high esteem. We’ve really enjoyed our time here. We’ve been fortunate to see the church grow.”

The growth in membership has been evident in physical changes around the church, such as the purchase of property, for more ample parking, the construction of a new fellowship building, the refurbishment of the auditorium, and the purchase of a new organ.

“We have an excellent music ministry,” said Gentry, crediting the church’s Music Director, Nancy Edwards, wife of Rev. Lewis Edwards, the church’s Associate Pastor who has succeeded Gentry as Pastor.  “We have a lot of people who are talented musically,” said Gentry. “We have a variety with contemporary and traditional, with the choir and soloists and groups.”

Sylvia Gentry served as Music Director and sang solos when Gentry was Pastor of Carlisle Wesleyan Church. “She was a Sunday School teacher of one of the larger classes there,” he added. “She also worked with the children and with missions. She was the Director of the Young Missionary Workers Band (YMWB), which was changed to the Wesleyan Kids for Missions (WKFM), and was also Director of the Wesleyan Women’s Missions Program. She has been very active.”

She has also taught an adult Sunday School class at Pickens View Wesleyan Church. “Here, at Pickens View, my main job has been Director of our Intercessory Prayer Ministry,” she said. “We have commitment Sunday the last Sunday in September, and we ask people to commit one hour a week, to come to the prayer room and pray.  We always place a special emphasis on the National Day of Prayer,” she added. Eighty people came that day, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., to pray.”

Another prayer ministry of the church includes Monday nights, when the men and ladies have separate, hour-long prayer meetings.

“Being a Pastor’s wife has been challenging, but we’ve had a good life,” she said. “I’ve always tried to help Foster. We’ve had a good marriage and good churches to pastor.”

A retired teacher, Sylvia taught elementary age students for 30 years, in Pickens, Spartanburg, and Oconee Counties.

In 2005, Sylvia began battling cancer for the second time—this time lymphoma, the first time colon cancer in 1979. Both times, their church was very supportive. “A favorite scripture for her then was Isaiah 41:10,” said her husband. “In the New King James Version, it says, Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

“I like Isaiah 40:31, too, which is, Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.

“Philippians 4:13 has always been special: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

“He preached on that when we were at Carlisle in Spartanburg,” said Sylvia. “One of the ladies of the church cross-stitched that verse for him and framed it.”

“I also like the book of First John,” said Gentry. “A lot from that book relates to my life.”

A strong mentor in Gentry’s life was his sister’s husband, Charles Shirley. “My brother-in-law influenced my life quite a bit,” he said. “I was a young teen when my sister married him. He took a lot of interest in me. After he got saved, he felt the call to the ministry. He first went to Holmes Bible College in Greenville, then to Central Wesleyan College, and then he received his Ph.D. from Bob Jones University. He was quite instrumental in guiding and helping me. My Dad had died when I was 17, so he became a father figure for me during that time. After I started pastoring, if I ran into a problem, I’d usually go visit and talk with him.”

Gentry has served as a member of several district boards and committees.  He was elected as Assistant District Superintendent (1980-1992, 1994-1999), District Secretary (1971-1978), a member of the District Board of Administration (1969-1999, 2000-2004), Chair of the District Board of Ministerial Standing (1980-1992, 1994-1999), and eight times as a Delegate to the General Conference of the Wesleyan Church. He has served as District Youth President, Director of the Senior Youth Camp, Editor of the South Carolina District Challenger, Chair of the Table Rock Wesleyan Camp Development Agency, and Chair of the ‘Together We Can’ Stewardship Promotion for Table Rock Wesleyan Camp.

Gentry said that the theme of his service to God can be found in the song “Ready” by C.D. Tillman: “Ready to go, ready to stay, Ready my place to fill; Ready for service, lowly or great, Ready to do His will.”

The Gentrys have two sons. Dean (Foster Dean, Jr.) and his wife, Deana, live in Liberty and have a son, Ross. Steven and his wife, Cathy, live in Powdersville and have adopted a daughter, Gabriella, and a son, Samuel, from Guatemala.

Enjoying their grandchildren at the home they built at the Table Rock Wesleyan Camp above Pickens will be welcomed during the Gentrys’ retirement.

“It has been a real honor to work with Pastor Gentry these last 11 years,” said Rev. Lewis Edwards. “Our relationship goes back many years before, in various church work in our district. My wife, Nancy, and I have known Pastor and Mrs. Gentry for a number of years. We really love them and appreciate their work and their support, not only for Pickens View, but for the community. They have been influential in Pickens County and elsewhere. They have had a great ministry. They’ll be missed here, but God is going to use them in other areas and even back here at our church. We appreciate their lives and testimony.”

Upon Gentry’s retirement, Pickens View Wesleyan Church honored him and his wife for their years of service to the church and to Christian ministry. The church donated $10,000 to Southern Wesleyan University in their honor to be used as a scholarship for students studying for the ministry.

The check and gifts, including a prayer shawl crocheted by Helen Day for Sylvia Gentry, were presented during a special service at Pickens View Wesleyan Church.

Also during the retirement service, Superintendent Rev. Buddy Rampey spoke on the importance of Living a Legacy. “The pastoral ministry of Foster Gentry could be summarized in the following way – He left every church significantly better than he found it,” Rampey said. “All of us want to sense that we have made a contribution in making this world a better place, and, for those who are Christians, we believe that we can live in such a way that we can alter the very makeup of eternity. In order to leave a legacy, we must live a legacy. Foster and Sylvia Gentry have lived and served in such a way that there is no doubt that they are leaving behind a marvelous legacy.”