Overcoming: Through Faith, Prayer and Perseverance

By Rev. Dr. Harris T. Travis

"Overcoming: Through Faith, Prayer and Perseverance" is an honest, thought provoking, and well-crafted book about the author's ability to overcome, persevere, and alter the outcome of his life. This book shares the power of persevering through prayer and faith when faced with adversity and struggle. Readers will be motivated, inspired, and encouraged to never give up on their hopes, dreams, and aspirations.

This book shares the author's story as a patriotic forerunner who helped change the landscape of America in the workplace, military, academia, and the church. Some of his life experiences shared here may surprise you, others may anger you, while others might amuse you. This autobiography is the product of years of encouragement from family, friends, and colleagues. This is a story that needed to be told and has been masterfully crafted after years of writing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Sep 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098383039

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© Copyright 2016 by Rev. Dr. Harris T. Travis

All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the copyright owners to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical review articles.

Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Number

978-1-09838-302-2 eBook 978-1-09838-303-9

Reviewed by Kimberlee J Benart for Readers’ Favorite

If you enjoy reading inspirational memoirs, Overcoming Through Faith, Prayer and Perseverance by Reverend Dr. Harris T. Travis is for you. Although written from the perspective of the Christian faith and the African American experience of the 1940s to the 1990s, this is a quintessentially American story that can inspire people of any faith, race, creed, national origin or age to view the daily challenges in life with hopefulness, positivity, humility, and gratitude. From his boyhood in economically and socially constrained surroundings to his impressive achievements in naval avionics, engineering education, military service, civic activism, and religious leadership, you cannot help but be inspired by Dr. Travis’s determination, toughmindedness, and moral courage which are wonderfully balanced by his fairness, sense of humor, and devotion to family. A picture gallery, a list of truisms and words of wisdom, and a timeline that summarizes the many firsts of his life are included. An epilogue lists the people and organizations which influenced and assisted him along the way.

In Overcoming Through Faith, Prayer and Perseverance, Reverend Dr. Harris T. Travis gives us an autobiography that is both edifying and entertaining. The well-paced narrative flows through the chronology of his life and is utterly engaging. I didn’t want to put it down. My favorite chapter is short but impactful. Titled Rejecting the Ku Klux Klan, it gives the text of a brief speech Dr. Travis gave at an interfaith rally held in Cobb County, Georgia in 1984 to oppose a Ku Klux Klan march with a message of love, unity, brotherhood, and the breaking of social and religious barriers. That message is as timely today as it was then, and I wish it could be plastered on the front page or virtual equivalent of every news media in the country. This is the story of an inspirational life underpinned and strengthened by a deep and prayerful faith. Highly recommended.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28, KJV)

I know my calling. I’m a builder—building buildings and organizing the structure. That’s what I’ve been doing. Once I get all those in place, He’ll [God] probably take me on home, and that’s OK. I’ll feel happy, first that I knew Him, and that He allowed me to do some of His earthly work. (excerpt from Marietta Daily Journal article, Building on Faith, by Rev. Dr. Harris T. Travis, August 17, 2002)

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my wife, Georgia; our children Gail, Stephanie, Verdonna, Melvin, Reggie, Cheryl, and Eric; my ten siblings and eight grandchildren; the Zion Baptist Church Marietta family, where Everybody is somebody and Christ Jesus is Lord; and to the eighty-nine founding former slaves who impacted the Zion legacy and mine as well.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Can Any Good Thing Come Out of Sneads?

An Early Love of Learning

The Best Decision I Ever Made

Something to Stand On When Life Begins to Crumble

How To Overcome Adversities Through Prayer

Run Out of Sneads

God’s Guidance

Army Years

Satan Uses Doubt to Trick Us

Tallahassee, Florida, Bus Boycott

The Road to Tennessee State University

Student March in Nashville, Tennessee

Naval Avionics

Purdue University

New Faith Missionary Baptist Church

Southern Polytechnic State University

Growing Into a Lifestyle of Prayer

Rejecting the Ku Klux Klan

The Cost of Building Zion’s Legacy

Weathering the Storm

The Biggest Surprise of My Lifetime

Truisms and Words of Wisdom

Life Sketch of Dr. Harris T. Travis

Sixty-seven Years of Implementing Change

Epilogue

Picture Gallery

About the Author

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to God for the people who inspired me and labored in love to help make this book a reality.

Thanks to Rev. Evelyn Taylor who served as my Executive Assistant at Zion Baptist Church through thick and thin for more than twenty years.

Thanks to Deacon Gary and Reverend Jo Ludgood and Deacon Eric and Deaconess Marcia Ludgood, producers of The Legacy of Dr. Harris T. Travis (available on DVD).

Special thanks to Cheryl Hall, Joyce Clinton, Bobbie Sims, Pat Allen, Rev. Dorie Tuggle, and Verdonna Malone, who worked diligently to transcribe years of my handwritten notes and thoughts.

Special thanks to Alice Peck for utilizing her editorial skills to transform my transcribed notes into an edited manuscript draft.

A very special thanks to Beverly J. Sonnier, inspired Creative access, for editing the content of this book and for preserving my voice throughout the pages. she gently pushed me to get it done.

Finally, thanks to Zion Baptist Church, Marietta, Georgia, for your unwavering love, support, and faithfulness over the years. I will always be grateful to God for bringing us together. To God be the glory for the things He has done...

Introduction

I now know all of life’s trials and tests that God allowed me to experience, he also used to mold and shape my faithfulness. The purpose of this book is simply to motivate, inspire and encourage others to never give up on hopes, dreams, and aspirations. I view myself as a patriotic forerunner who helped change the landscape of America in the workplace, military, academia, and the church. As you read my story, I hope you will too. Some of my life experiences shared here may surprise you; others may anger you, while others might amuse you. It took years of encouragement from family, friends, and colleagues for me to get to this place of sharing