In Defense—A Day to Testify
An Interview with Rene Rochester
by Will Penner
When we moved from the all-black neighborhood of my childhood to a middle-class, white, suburban area, it was like we were
making a movie: "Look Who's Coming to the Neighborhood."
My sister and I were the only two black students in our school.
I got into trouble a lot. I got in fights, because I wouldn't take the
name-calling. I also got bored with the academics. I was a bright kid who'd been placed in the lowest educational track because of the color of my skin.
One day I was sitting outside the school office, and I overheard someone in the office say, "colored kids can't learn like our kids."
I wasn't supposed to hear that, but I did; and it upset me.
Years later, I was facing the most difficult academic challenge of my
life—graduate school statistics—and it was killing me. A few faculty
members from my department weren't convinced I could succeed at a reserach university. So after only a semester, my advisor told me I was being dismissed from the doctoral program at the University of Texas on the basis of being academically incompetent. In my mind, all I heard was: "colored kids can't learn."
Q: René, I know you as a speaker, but how would you describe what it is that you do?
A: Probably the best answer I can give is that I'm an ordained coach. I love to help coach and empower people to do whatever it is they do better. I like to help people understand and learn, like Jesus when he said to "take my yoke upon you, and learn from me" (Matthew 11:29).
Q: Have you always enjoyed public speaking?
A: Oh, no! It's funny too, because I've always liked sports, and I've never minded playing ball or running track in front of a crowd—as witnessed by my being so close to going to the Olympics in 1980 before the U.S. boycotted the games. But I was terrified of public speaking. But that's where God wanted me, and I started being asked to speak at lots of athletic banquets, and that's how God opened that door.
Q: So your niche is speaking to crowds of athletes?
A: Sometimes. Though basically, I'm a teacher at heart. I taught high school, either part or full-time for 15 years, and I think a lot of my pedagogical skills came through the classroom. We've all known teachers who intellectually knew a whole lot, but they just couldn't seem to communicate effectively. So, I have grown to really enjoy the pedagogy—the art of teaching. I mean, if I'm scrubbing toilets, I'm going to teach somebody something: "Do you ever feel your life is going down the commode?"
Q: I see. So you try to bring spiritual significance to the temporal tasks?
A: I love to infuse everything I do with the Word of God. I believe everyone needs grounding in the Word, and those of us who work with kids need to be diplomatic with the keys to the kingdom of God. We need to speak about life from the presuppositions found in the Word of God. But I think the reason we don't do it is, basically...we're lazy. The apostle Paul said we must study to rightly explain the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
Q: How are we lazy?
A: The significance of God is all around us, but most of us won't study scripture enough to help others make the cognitive leap to understand that things which deal with life deal with God, too. Instead, we tend to compartmentalize our faith, so that nothing we do at church has significance the rest of the time, and vice-versa.
Q: Did that influence your decisions to go back to graduate school?
A: I was quite happy with life the way it was going. I enjoyed teaching, coaching, and speaking some on the weekends. I didn't want to go back to school—I was a wild undergrad, and I don't take standardized tests well. So, for me to go to graduate school at a research institution seemed ludicrous. But God kept speaking to me out of scripture. First of "the children of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do" (1 Chronicles 12:32). Then I was drawn to where Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were taken over to the "public school" of the Chaldeans (Daniel 1:3-7). I felt God calling me to the University of Texas graduate program to use me there.
Q: So instead of this just being preparation for ministry, you're saying the graduate school itself was a mission field for you?
A: Absolutely. The University of Texas was fertile ground for me. I was the first African-American to earn a Ph.D. from the Health Education department, and believe me, God's hand was all over that one.
Q: Why health education?
A: This is actually where the seeds of my current ministry were sewn. I resonate with Paul's wish for us to be complete in "spirit and soul and body" (1 Thessalonians 5:23). I wanted to strengthen, educate, and train individuals in a holistic manner; and I understand the definition of health as the total physical, social, emotional, and spiritual well-being of someone. I got my masters there, and initially applied to the Ed Psych dept. for the Ph.D., because I'm fascinated by neuroscience (learning how the brain works). I'm intrigued by Jesus' saying that we should love God with our entire mind.
Q: I understand the many difficulties of graduate school (I'm still a dissertation away from a Ph.D. myself). What was the hardest part for you?
A: In the health education department at UT, they really pride themselves on statistical analysis. I had no grounding in statistics at the time, and I was drowning. I dropped the class, and I
didn't do great that fall. So when Jan. 15 rolled around, I was called into my
advisor's office. He told me I'd been
dismissed from the program because I was scholastically incompetent. As I sat in the chair at 30 something years old, I was
devastated. That's when I again heard that voice I mentioned earlier: "colored kids can't learn as well as our kids."
Q: What kind of effect did that have on you?
A: Actually, I appreciate getting to talk about my background, because it's easier to understand where I'm coming from with that knowledge. Without question, the model I use for ministry has developed out of the pain I went through. I now understand when the Psalmist said, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I may learn your statutes" (Psalm 119:68).
Q: But you did end up with your degree. How did that happen?
A: Well, for the next month and a half, I was in a blue funk. How do I tell my mother I was dropped from the program? What do I say to the students I teach and coach (to whom I normally challenge: Get a good education! Press on toward the goal! Do the best you can! You can do it!)? God really broke me during that season. But finally, a friend convinced me to appeal the school's decision.
Q: Good for you.
A: Yeah, but I had to appeal to the dean of the department. She had taught me when I was a wild, unchurched, undergrad; and I had flunked her course. But I took her class again after I became a Christian, when I was sitting in the front row paying attention. So she had seen a change in me once before, and she liked what she saw. It's now nine years later, and by God's sovereignty, she's now the Dean for me to appeal to. I walked into her office and she called me by name. She said that if I could get through the basic language of statistics, I could probably make it. So, I was reinstated on a probationary basis.
Q: Quite a serendipitous moment, having a former professor who'd seen your commitment level.
A: I really believe that God moves people like pawns on a chessboard to put us where we need to be. Another example of that is the woman who'd originally said I couldn't cut it at a research institution, prompting my dismissal. Later on, not only did she sit on my committee, but she edited my whole dissertation. God truly "turned the heart of the king" (Ezra 6:22).
Q: So what was your dissertation about?
A: It's called the PHAT-STAR model, and it stands for "Preventive Holistic Adolescent Training Saving Teens at Risk." I call it a Bio-Psycho-Social-Theological model—combining Biology, Sociology, Psychology, and Theology. Visually, a star's five points represent our senses. Once you begin to sense something, there's got to be a connection in the connecting neurons. That extends to a motor neuron to where a behavior pattern is established. Kinesthetically and neurologically, we create a pattern after living a certain way for so long. That's why Jesus said, "repent," or metanoia—change your way of thinking. When I change my way of thinking, scientifically, my pattern of life is going to change.
Q: Wait a minute. I also attended a secular institution for my graduate degree. Didn't you raise some eyebrows with the theological piece?
A: The night before my oral defense, I met with a few friends who are prayer partners, and one of them said, "René, tomorrow is a day to testify." I said, "Are you out of your mind? I am getting my doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin, not the First-Holy-Ghost-Trinity University!" But he wouldn't budge—he just kept repeating that he felt tomorrow was a day to testify. Well, the next day after my presentation, the statistician asked the first question. This scared me to death because of my run-ins with statistics. But what he asked took me by surprise even more: "René, we know where you got your Biology, Neurology, and Kinesiology background; but where did you get your theology background?" Now I was nervous, and I was not expecting this type of question. I just dropped to my knees and said, "kneeology."
Q: You're kidding.
A: I don't know where it came from. I was nervous. Of course, they all looked at me strangely; I even saw a few furrowed brows. Then, as I stood up, I remembered my friend's words: tomorrow is a day to testify. So I looked up at him and said, "I believe that as a Christian woman, I have a mandate given by God to study myself to be approved unto God in order rightly divide the word of truth"(2 Timothy 2:15). And if you believe that the Word of God is truth—that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1) —then you know that if there is any internal validity or reliability in any study, it must have an omniscient presence. God is omni-science, and in science, the truth will bear out—he's in there somewhere." So I just put it out on the table. It was all out there, and I had no idea where the questions were going to go from there.
Q: What was the response?
A: The statistician leaned back in his chair and said, "good answer."
Q: That's unbelievable. I can't imagine this at a secular research institution like UT.
A: Well, I believe we are called to shed light in dark places, and I like to explain science through the presuppositions of the Word. It's important to speak
biblical principles in secular settings. Another professor asked, "You mentioned five senses in your STAR model, has anyone ever asked you about a sixth sense? How do you handle that?" So, I would say, "I believe your sixth sense is your seed of faith, and that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17).
Q: But you get asked to speak at a lot of secular events, right? Do people get nervous about inviting you to these genres?
A: No. It's important to be diplomatic. I always speak from biblical principles, but I am not always free to share so directly. Either way, though, the truth is still being proclaimed. This is why I know it's important to educate and strengthen people to be diplomatic wherever God places them—this is my real ministry. I'm currently taking the PHAT-STAR model to athletes, though I'm talking mostly about the STAR part of the model, really working that idea about being the scholar-athlete. I sit on the National Board of FCA, so I have venues there. But mostly I'm talking to school districts, health departments, police academies, and other educational instituions. So God has been opening doors in the secular settings for me to equip those who are pouring their energies into this generation.
Q: That's what Youthworker is about, too—equipping the youth ministry professional to better minister to teens. If you had one parting bit of wisdom for our readers, what would it be?
A: I used to run the relay as an undergrad, and one of the ways you can get disqualified is when you run out of your exchange zone. If you hand off the baton too early or (more often) too late, your team is out of the race. Adults who work with young people need to be willing to hand off the baton. Often, we don't want to let go of the stick. We raise perpetual followers instead of leaders—especially in youth ministry. We need to trust that they're going to carry the baton. We know we're called to sow the seeds of our faith into the lives of our youth. We can count the number of seeds in the apple, but we can never count the number of apples in a seed. Keep sowing!
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