Wadesboro native writes real life tale of rags to riches

RALEIGH — Elder Joey Spencer has written a novel, “From the Bench to the Board” detailing his experiences living on the street as a homeless man to his journey becoming a board member and pastor. Though he may live a good distance away in Raleigh now, Wadesboro continues to hold his heart and Spencer wants to share the news of his success with the people whose memories he cherishes.

A Wadesboro native, Spencer lived happily in his hometown until 2017, when the urge for a change suddenly took hold of him.

Caring for his brother until his death, Wadesboro just wasn’t the same for Spencer without him, so he packed up his pickup truck and hightailed it to Raleigh after his death, figuring the capitol city to be as good a place as any to roll the dice on a new beginning.

Despite how easy it would be for him to return to the surety of his hometown, he persevered in Raleigh — even endeavoring to live inside his pickup truck when, through a twist of fate, he became homeless for the first time in his life.

“One day I was sitting in the park on a bench in downtown Raleigh. It was a beautiful day,” Spencer remembers. “I was deciding what to do, if I should come back home to Wadesboro, [when] a homeless person came and sat beside me. [She] told me her story, [and] she had a spirit about her that didn’t match the situation she was in. She was consoling me, [saying] I had options. She had faith that the Lord was going to take care of her, [and it] inspired me, touched my heart. She passed away shortly afterwards, and it started my journey of homeless street outreach,” explains Spencer.

The experience with the woman whose rare faith became his muse led him to eventually pen “From the Bench to the Board,” a novel about his experiences on the street and how he got his life back on track.

He states he hopes in his book readers find encouragement to keep their faith, never give up, and to put all their trust in the Lord to direct their path.

After living on the streets for some time, Spencer was eventually assigned to a temporary men’s shelter where a case manager assisted him with obtaining benefits, a job, an apartment, and a car.

Proving you can’t keep a good man down, in 2018 Spencer became pastor of Evangelism and Street Outreach. He is now an ordained elder at Macedonia New Life Nondenominational Church. Also in 2018, Spencer says he was blessed to have met his beloved wife, a school teacher.

Feeling things were finally on track in his life, Spencer returned to the men’s shelter, this time as a volunteer. Eager to give back, and to show others it could be done, Spencer leaped at the chance when asked to serve on the Advisory Committee Board.

“I started my street outreach ministry called Bread Of Life Outreach Ministry Weekend Meals Provider,” recalls Spencer.

Next, Spencer was nominated for Board Of Directors, accepted for three years, and is now a city staffed employee at the same shelter as a weekend meals provider where the group serves close to 1,000 hot meals in a day.

Spencer says living on the streets changed his whole perspective on life, and taught him how precious we, as human beings, all are.

“It has taught me that all we have is God, and each other. I know this is my divine calling — I know this is my purpose because it fulfills me. It gives me an opportunity to share the love of Jesus to those less fortunate, and those in need. My reward is when a person who has lost everything, is encouraged and touched by what the Lord has chosen me to do,” explains Spencer of why writing “From the Bench to the Board” was so important to him.

Like so many modern day authors, Spencer waffled between self-publishing and shopping his manuscript around with the big publishing houses.

“I decided to self-publish my book because the contents started out as me writing a journal. Then, it transformed into my “Journey,” and for me, my intention was that it was only for me. It was therapeutic and I enjoyed writing it, until one morning after prayer, it came to me that my story could be encouraging to others,” he shared.

Never tiring at marveling at how the Lord uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things, Spencer says he feels honored to be of service to his readers- hopeful his work is seen as “My experiences to encourage, and not as to shine a light on anyone but Jesus… and no one else. My heart is free and I thank God for choosing me to work in His kingdom.”

When Spencer stands back and looks at how the jumbled puzzle pieces of his life have come together, he is in awe and admiration at his life’s ever-evolving picture, remaining amazed by the Lord’s continued perfection of his landscape.

Spencer’s book, “From the Bench to the Board” is available through www.amazon.com., Barnes and Noble stores, and www.xlibris.com bookstore.