The Rev. Dr. Rawleigh Quarles, Sr. can easily be described as a trailblazer.
When he was just 21 years old, he became a firefighter with the Roanoke City Fire Department and rose the ranks to become their first Black Fire Chief.
After five and half years of service as Fire Chief, Quarles felt a different calling: to serve under the God he worshipped.
“I realized that God’s call was more important, and I just submitted and surrendered to his will and to his calling,” Quarles said.
Now, after 30 years of presiding over crowds at Staunton Avenue Church of God, he is finally calling an end to an illustrious career as a trailblazing firefighter and pastor who always served his community.
The subject for his final sermon was “Divinely Called and Commissioned: To Proclaim/Preach the Word of God” and drew from the Book of Ezekiel, where Ezekiel was divinely called by God to become a prophet.
Quarles related to Ezekiel’s calling with his own calling to the ministry and his commission to the Church.
“I wouldn’t have the ability to have even be Fire Chief and serve had it not been for the Lord,” Quarles said. “I wouldn’t be able to serve as pastor here for thirty years had it not been for the grace of God.”
The church was packed with people waiting to hear Quarles’ final sermon, while gifts and balloons were given to him in honor of his lifetime achievements.
Meanwhile, Quarles still plans on helping the ministry and ministering to the public if and when he is asked to, even in his retirement.
