TONY ROACH SR. 2023

BY KATIE NOAH GIBSON

eacher. Evangelist. Doctor. Minister. Husband, father and grandfather. Dr. Tony E. Roach Sr. (’79 M.S.) has many titles, all of which are important to his character. But the most important title is threefold, and one he shares with every other human being: body, soul and spirit.

“We are threefold spiritual beings,” Roach explains, discussing his popular teaching model (and the subject of several of his books), God’s Love Bank. “When you understand that you are a spirit and a soul, housed in a body, you can transcend race, age and ethnicity.”

Roach, founding minister and retired lead evangelist of Abilene’s Minda Street Church of Christ, and 2023 recipient of the Dale and Rita Brown Outlive Your Life Award, developed the God’s Love Bank curriculum to help people of all backgrounds connect with God’s love so they can live healthy, fulfilling lives.

Raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Roach struggled with literacy as a teenager, dropping out of school in the 10th grade because he couldn’t read. Eventually, he returned to graduate, earning his high school diploma and then a bachelor’s degree from Hiram College.

“I began my career in banking,” he recalls. “I went through management training and even had my own bank branch to manage.” But Roach soon felt a powerful call to full-time ministry, eventually moving to Abilene to pursue a master’s degree at ACU.

During his time as a graduate student, Roach heard about a defunct congregation in Abilene that wanted to sell its building. He and his wife, Candyce, planted the Minda Street church on that property in 1979, and it quickly became known as the most multicultural congregation in Abilene.

“We started baptizing a lot of people fast,” Roach recalls. “This was when ‘multicultural’ wasn’t popular, but we were attracting and training people from all races and nations. Minda Street became known as the ‘rainbow church.’”

Roach served as lead evangelist of Minda Street for nearly 40 years, stepping into the role of minister emeritus in 2016. During that time, Minda Street baptized thousands of people and trained eight elders, four deacons and 22 preachers, most of whom are still doing ministry work today. Roach believes the message of God’s love transcends race and nationality: “We were able to reach people from all ethnic groups, and that [message] transforms people.”

During Roach’s early years in Abilene, he met Dr. Royce Money (’64), who encouraged him to apply to ACU’s D.Min. program. Roach became part of the third class of students in the program, and the first Black student to earn a D.Min. degree.

Later, during Money’s years as president, the two men had many conversations about increasing diversity at Abilene Christian: How to attract more Black students to the university and create a welcoming experience for them. Their conversations led to a seminal meeting of Black and white preachers from various Churches of Christ, who gathered in Abilene in Fall 1998 to discuss racial and theological divisions in their fellowship.

After hours of prayer and dscussion, Money recalls, he asked the group, “Where do we go from here?” There was silence in the room, until Roach spoke up and suggested, “You could start with an apology.”

Money took Roach at his word. The following year, he offered a public apology for ACU’s past discriminatory practices at Southwestern Christian College in Terrell, Texas, during its 50th anniversary celebration. “I wasn’t sure what the reaction was going to be,” Money recalls. “But I’d barely gotten two sentences in when I began to hear applause, and some amens and hallelujahs. It was a day I’ll never forget.”

The ACU president reprised his apology at Bible Lectureship in February 2000, and he and Roach went on national TV to discuss the apologies and the beginnings of reconciliation among Churches of Christ. “It seemed like the right thing to do,” Money says, “and I’ll always be thankful for Tony and his willingness to ask the hard questions.”

The two men have continued their conversations about race, theology and inclusion in churches, and have facilitated other multiracial meetings of ministers and leaders.

“Tony has never lost his love and his passion for people who weren’t exactly on the same page theologically as he was,” Money says. “He’s well respected in a variety of situations, working with people along the broad spectrum of Churches of Christ. He has a deep perspective on where everybody’s coming from.”

Roach continues to teach workshops on the God’s Love Bank curriculum, traveling around the country from his home in Irving, Texas, as well as remaining involved at Minda Street. His latest book, The Gift Journey, explores the ways the Holy Spirit guides Christians to develop their gifts for God’s glory.

“We are living in interesting times,” Roach says of the last several turbulent years, including the COVID-19 pandemic. “That’s one reason it’s so important to know who you are and where you come from.”

He believes Christians can accomplish great things if they dedicate themselves – body, soul and spirit – to discerning the work of God in their lives. That’s a legacy worth leaving, and one Roach has made it his mission to keep on building. 