From Sewanee-
This is the story of the incredible journey the Rev.
Ricardo Sheppard, T’16, has taken. At nine years of age, he immigrated
from Trinidad and Tobago with his Baptist minister parents to the
inner-city of Brooklyn, New York. At 17, Sheppard enlisted in the
Marines. “I joined to get away from the church,” he recalls. For two
decades he has run, marched, and paced to get away from the call to
ordained ministry. Just like how gum sticks to a shoe, no matter what he
did “the call” stuck.
Serving as an infantry man in the Marines gave
Sheppard a ticket to travel the world. Even in the military, however,
the call to minister to others kept coming. “Marines kept coming to me
with their problems and I would help them out. I just could not get away
from it.” Pastoring people is not a choice for Sheppard, as he is most
comfortable and the happiest when helping and serving others.
Honorably discharged, Sheppard returned home to
Brooklyn married, with children, and within a year was incarcerated for
what he calls “robbing drug dealers.” “It sounded good, we were trying
to clean up the neighborhood and get the drugs out.” But Sheppard admits
that illegal drugs became a lucrative business and some of his choices
led him to incarceration for 12 years, three months, and 26 days.
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