Sophia East (1906–1996)
Minister Pilot Mountain, NC “I don’t think I ought to have to do anything toward coxing anybody to become a Christian. You don’t coax people. You live the life in their presence. You love them.” Sophia East began her church ministry as a lay reader, and in 1964 became an elder in the United Methodist Church, one of two black women ordained in the Western North Carolina Conference. As pastor of four small rural churches, she traveled the backwoods to bring word and song to the few gathered together in modest places, believing, “The church is becoming too much conformed with the world.” < > |