'God’s Warrior': Fayetteville-area preacher details his mission since age 5

Sometimes things take a long time.

But the Rev. Tony Harrington believes that can be part of God’s plan.

Call him a witness.

I first met Harrington, who is from Scotland County and an associate pastor, in December of 2005, when he reached out over a letter and we sat down and talked. He is tall, pleasant and speaks with a gravelly voice that carries.

Harrington had started collecting material for a book titled, “God’s Warrior,” which is a nickname he has adopted. The book is partly his life story and a guide for Christian living, particularly related to preparation for Christ’s second coming, a core belief in Christianity.

“God wants his children straight,” Harrington told me at the time, explaining why he was going to write the book.

Time passed. I did not hear anything for a long while.

But lo and behold, “God’s Warrior” was finally published last spring by Christian Faith Publishing and is available at Harrington’s website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other outlets.

“I told you we would see each other again,” he said when we met recently at a coffee shop. “You probably don’t even remember.”

Harrington said God does not work on Harrington’s time.

“I already knew this,” he said. “You have to live it and work it out, then He will direct you.

“I been through a lot, and I’m still here and it’s all about His grace.”

Letters from presidents

In the meantime, Harrington has busily written many letters. He is a prolific letter-writer and the old school practice has stood him in good stead, as over the years he has received responses from the likes of former presidents Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush and celebrities like broadcaster and activist Tavis Smiley and televangelists Rick Warren and Creflo Dollar.

At the coffee shop, Harrington showed me a response from President Joe Biden, dated April 28, 2023. Harrington had sent the president a copy of “God’s Warrior” and Biden thanked him for the thoughtful gift and the warm generosity.

“Our country faces many challenges,” Biden wrote, “but this is the time for Americans to set aside our differences, to try to understand one another and to strive to make the promise of a just, prosperous and secure Nation a reality for all.”

The president added: “If we look ahead in our uniquely American way and set our sights on the Nation we know we can be, we will meet this moment.”

Harrington attached the letter to the inside of the back cover of a copy of “God’s Warrior” he carries with him. In that copy, he includes extensive highlighting of certain passages with a yellow marker, so he can easily guide anyone interested through the most important parts of his life growing up, his work and personal life and his meeting all kinds of people in Scotland County.

A Laurinburg connection

To my surprise, a key figure in “God’s Warrior” is one Mr. Robert Currie Jr., a Laurinburg resident. Currie in the past frequently called in to comment on the Friday radio show I do with my brothers called MP3 on the WIDU radio network.

Currie, who is white, has an encyclopedic knowledge of Black history that goes beyond what many people, Black or white, possess. Like Harrington, he is also an author and prolific letter writer — despite suffering from dyslexia.

Harrington met Currie years ago in the Laurinburg Walmart, according to the book's account. Harrington wrote that his mind was on the holiday season and how he was planning “to spoil my two granddaughters.”

Currie was assembling bicycles, Harrington said, and the two men struck up a conversation. They had a laugh over how Harrington was not mechanically inclined, and if he were to attempt to assemble the children's toys the holiday would be over before the children received them.

Currie then surprised Harrington when he strongly encouraged Harrington in his Christian mission. The minister had not yet shared the mission.

“I stopped in my tracks,” Harrington writes. “How did he …?”

Currie gave Harrington a copy of his own book, “Uncle Tom’s Trailer,” which among other things discusses race relations and its impact on economics. Harrington considers the book a major influence and his meeting with Currie in line with a vision he wrote about in his book about a white man he would meet “fourteen days before the millennium.”

The origin story for ‘God's Warrior’

Harrington shares words of wisdom from several figures in his life including his great-grandmother and his grandfather, both devout Christians.

He says his great-grandmother, “Gramma,” visited frequently and then moved into their family’s house after her husband, who is Harrington's great-grandfather, died.

His family lived in a wooden shack on a farm, he says, and had to place buckets inside when it rained because of holes in the roof.

But when Gramma arrived: “An overwhelming amount of love was bestowed upon me by her.”

She told young Tony, age 5, that he had the gift of gab and told him the words that would eventually lead him into ministry and what he believes is prophecy: “It is time for you to read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, then sum it up in three sentences,” she told him, Harrison recounts in “God’s Warrior.”

Harrington says the book describes that: “All those things that are supposed to happen — did happen.”

He added: “The rest is just a sermon because the scripture says at the end, the sermon has to go around the world.”

He said it was God’s plan.

“Everything works on His time,” he said. “You can see it was a long time coming.”

It’s like that sometimes.

Opinion Editor Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559. 

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: 'God’s Warrior': Minister near Fayetteville, NC on a mission in new book