Pastor Alest Coleman

The Life of Pastor Alest Coleman began on May 20th, 1940 in Tylertown, MS. She was the 3rd child born to Odis and Georgeane Craft Anthony. Alest sought the Lord early in her life and was baptized in the river in Mississippi. In the early 1950’s Alest relocated with her parents and six siblings to Oakland, CA. As a young girl, Alest was known by her middle name and was affectionately nicknamed “Nippy” by a family member in Mississippi. She attended Thompkins Elementary School, Lowell Junior High, and McClymonds High School. During her matriculation, she won several spelling bees. Alest graduated from McClymonds in 1959, married the late Larry Mathis and to this brief union her son Cardell Van Mathis was born in 1957. She then continued her studies, attending Laney College and began studying nursing. Ever climbing, Alest attended Real Estate school and obtained her Real Estate License. She has also received her Doctor of Divinity Degree from Universal School of Ministry in Brooklyn, New York which is a division of The International Theological Seminary Van Nuys, California. Later in life Alest married Emery Gibbs, on July 29, 1975 and to this union was born one daughter, Emery Terrencia Gibbs, on July 28th, 1976. Tragically, just two months prior to Emery’s birth, her husband Emery Gibbs passed away on May 26, 1976. As a single mother and a widow, Alest continued to diligently serve the Lord and travel abroad as a missionary to Haiti and various other countries. While witnessing and serving at Equator Faith Mission, Alest met and married James Coleman on December 8, 1979. Together they raised their daughter Emery in the fear of the Lord. On October 5, 1979 Maurice Mathis, her first grandson was born. Excited to be a young grandmother, Alest traveled with Emery as a toddler all the way to Germany where Cardell was stationed in the Army to see Maurice. Her years of service and dedication to the Lord included singing in the youth choir at St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Oakland where the family joined in the early 1950’s under the leadership of Rev. C.J. Anderson. Alest later united with Havenscourt Community Church in Oakland in 1971, under Rev. Claude E. Wilson -- where she served as President of the Gospel Choir. In the mid 1970’s, Alest joined The Equator Faith Mission in Oakland, where Bishop Joseph and Berta Wigfall where she was active as a Missionary to Haiti and was a dedicated teacher of after school religious instruction. She was a fervent prayer-warrior, full of wisdom, love and faith who loved to sing and testify about the goodness of the Lord. She became a Licensed Vocational Nurse and began working for the VA Memorial Hospital. While working nights as a nurse she studied to be a Realtor during the day. Alest purchased her first home at the age of 21 on Howell Street in Oakland and continued to excel in the real estate industry. Later she invested in a travel business through a friend who worked for a travel agency that was about to be sold. She owned and Operated A & T Travel Agency for 33 years. She enjoyed providing personal service to people in the community because she was a people person. Her late husband James Coleman who worked with her would often state that she wasn’t operating a business she was operating a mission. Alest loved to travel for business and pleasure, especially with her mother and family. Two of her dream destinations were Alaska and the Holy Land, where she visited four times. In November of 2000 Dr. Alest Coleman along with her late husband Dr. James Coleman founded “The Church in The Way,” and she likewise was the President and Founder of “Saints Organized for Action” (SOFA) a community outreach ministry operating a 20 bed Shelter and Transitional facility in two locations. Also for the past twenty (20) years she has been affiliated with The Young Voice Mission serving in the capacity of teacher, preacher, and counselor. This affiliation involves feeding the hungry and winning souls to Christ. Dr. Coleman’s, “good works” are in many foreign lands. For the past thirty (30) years she has organized many ministry teams to spread the Gospel in Rio de Janiero, Brazil; Port au Prince, Haiti; Grand Cayman Islands, St. Thomas V.I. and the Phillipines. She was also a trustee for Universal Mission Inc. of Brooklyn, New York which operates a school in Bombay, Jamaica. Dr. Coleman, has been self-employed since the age of twenty-two as a Real Estate Agent and at one time owned and operated a Professional School Of Real Estate. She is presently the CEO of A&T Travel Agency, in which she employed ex-offenders, women from transitional housing, and disadvantaged students. The business goal of the agency is to promote self-esteem and encourage people to become entrepreneurs. Dr. Coleman gives special thanks to her mother Missionary Georgeane Craft-Anthony who taught her the ways of Christ by loving God and her fellow-man. She believed that God is using her experiences to encourage his people and win the souls of the lost- at any cost! Some of her favorite Scriptures are: Phil. 4 :5-6 ;Ephesians 4:28; Joshua 1:8 and Psalms 23:91; one of her strong motivational tools is derived from a passage in Proverbs:” One soul is worth the whole world and everything that is in it”. Her favorite song is” Jesus Use Me “. Alest’s smile was beautiful and contagious. She was extremely witty and had a way with words. Her son also had that same knack with words and she always believed in him. She was very close to her siblings and always mentioned that her mother always taught them to stick together. She often quoted a poem she had learned in her childhood called, “Learn to stick to right.” Alest loved the word of God and shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone she came in contact with. People would dial her telephone number and were encouraged by her voicemail saying: “Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning! – Psalm 30:5”. Some of her favorite says were: “ A Quitter never wins and a winner never Quits!” and “This one life will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” Alest leaves to mourn and cherish her memory her son Cardell Mathis of Oakland, CA; her daughter Emery Terrencia (Pastor Chris) Williams of Antioch, CA; one grandson, Maurice R. Mathis of Oakland, two great-grandchildren, Sienna and Maurice Mathis; her beloved siblings, Andrew Anthony of Oakland, CA; Ruby Armstrong(Otis),Rose Abrams(Eddie) of Austin TX; Willie B. Anthony(Etta) of Oakland CA; Gloria Oliver (Nate) of Oakland, CA and Bobbie Mack(Carlton) of Austin, TX; three aunts, Clota Craft, Violene Craft and Ida Killingsworth, and the two special people that she cared for, Barbara Quinones and Elvonno Taylor; and a host of nephews, nieces, cousins, and friends.

Tributes

Pastor Alest Coleman

May 20, 1940 - July 21, 2015