Mesa View Baptist Church

Membership: 300

Pastor: Darrow Perkins

Age: 46

Born: Baton Rouge, La

Formation: Andersonville Theological Seminary, Camilla, Ga.; U.S. Marine Corps (1983–2003)

Years Ordained: 19

San Diego Reader: What is your favorite subject on which to preach?

PD: That salvation comes through Jesus Christ. That’s the bottom line. We can talk about feelings and emotions; we can talk about how to overcome certain things, but the reality of it all is that Jesus is the whole theme of the Bible overall. So, therefore, that’s where our focus needs to be.

SDR: What is your main concern as a member of the clergy?

PD: My main concern is that people have education and knowledge of the Scriptures tied into an intimate relationship with God overall. I feel if you’re educated in and have knowledge of the Word, that will of course build on your relationship with the Lord. Scripture is very clear when it says that “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). So, therefore, if we’re going to be victorious and know that our victory is in Jesus, we have got to be knowledgeable about who the Lord is. That’s a general observation; I’m finding that in Christendom, for the most part, people have the tendency of expecting everything they need during the Sunday-morning worship hour.

SDR:Why did you become a minister?

PD: I like to joke with people and tell people I had a drug problem. What I mean by that, my mom made sure I made it to church on Sundays — so I like to say she “drug” me to church.…After I joined the military, I actually found the need to attend church on my own and for myself, not because my mother wanted me to. So when I became really serious about the Lord, I served as a deacon in the church, and as I was serving as a deacon I felt something tugging on my heart that there was something else in ministry the Lord wanted me to do. Soon after, I realized what it was — the preaching ministry.

SDR: Where do you go when you die?

PD: Scripturally, we are going to spend eternity with the Lord. Paul makes the statement that “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). We understand that once we die, we are translated or transferred. I can almost think of it like Star Trek — “Beam me up, Scotty!” Once we die here on this side, we actually find ourselves in the presence of the Lord, and what we do on this side will determine our location with the Lord. Here’s what I’m getting at: if we accept Christ as Lord and Savior, Scripture teaches us that we will be with him in eternity; if we deny him or reject him, then Scripture teaches that we will be separated from him in eternity. So, based on Scripture, there are two locations — heaven and hell. As far as the afterlife is concerned, there’s a lake of fire (Revelations 19:21) so that if you deny or reject Christ completely, you will spend eternity in the lake of fire to be tormented day and night forever. Because Jesus knows me and I know him personally and have accepted him as Lord and Savior...based on what I believe, I’m going to spend eternity with Jesus.