Today we’d like to introduce you to Rohan Peart.
Hi Rohan, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My name is Rohan Peart. I was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and migrated to the United States with my family at the age of eight. I was raised in Baltimore, Maryland, alongside my parents and two sisters.
At 12 years old, a doctor informed my mother and me that I had a learning disability that would limit my ability to comprehend and communicate effectively. When my mother insisted that she and my father believed I would one day become a great preacher, the doctor responded bluntly, in front of me, “Don’t fill his head with false hopes. He will never be able to articulate himself properly—especially not in front of a group of people.”
Those words felt like a life sentence—one that trapped me in insecurity, low self-esteem, and a sense of inevitable failure. What I didn’t know at the time was that God had a different plan for my life. It would take years before I came to believe that for myself.
Not long after that diagnosis, my parents divorced. With my father gone and my mother struggling to manage me, I drifted into the streets of Baltimore. There, I found a sense of acceptance among the wrong influences—smoking, drinking, and occasionally selling drugs. Beneath it all, I was angry, hurting, and at times suicidal—a young man overwhelmed by emotions I didn’t know how to process.
That season of my life reminds me of a line from Tupac Shakur’s “Dear Mama”: “I hung around with the thugs, and even though they sold drugs, they showed a young brother love.” I was searching for belonging and purpose. Even though those environments couldn’t satisfy the deeper need within me, I settled for what was available—an imitation of the love, peace, and purpose I truly desired.
During those years, my relationship with my father grew increasingly distant. I resented him for leaving, yet admired him deeply. His commanding presence and booming voice could fill any room, and I longed to hear that voice speak to me with kindness instead of criticism. I knew he loved me—I just wasn’t sure he liked me. What I didn’t understand then was that he hadn’t been taught how to love well himself. His own father had left when he was an infant, and he never had the opportunity to know him. While that didn’t excuse the pain, it helped explain it.
Everything began to change when I was 15 years old. One Saturday evening, my father unexpectedly showed up at my Uncle Wayne’s house, where I was staying. There was something different about him—he carried a peace I had never seen before. He invited me to attend church with him the next day.
That single invitation changed everything.
The following morning, as I stepped into that worship service, I encountered God in a way that transformed my life. I wept my way to salvation and experienced a deep sense of healing. From that moment forward, everything shifted. Over the next year, my father and I spent countless hours talking—about God, the Bible, and the restoration of our relationship.
At 16, I returned to Jamaica and preached my first sermon, reconnecting with both my calling and my cultural roots. In direct contrast to the doctor’s prognosis, I discovered that I could not only articulate myself—but that God had given me a voice with purpose. Today, I carry a message that is both compassionate and challenging, reaching people across cultures and backgrounds with the love of God.
I now have the privilege of serving as the pastor of Soul Winners Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, where my wife, Sheretha, and I minister to our congregation and the greater Hickory Hill community. After 18 years of marriage, she remains my greatest partner in life and ministry—her wisdom, humility, and quiet strength have sustained me through every season. Together, we are the proud parents of two wonderful children, Shalom (10) and RJ (7).
My passion is simple: to see lives transformed and hurting people healed.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
– My younger sister LaToya, passed away in 2005, from a car accident. She was the first casualty in the state of Georgia in 2005. The car accident happened about 11:05pm or so, and she passed around 12:02am New years day. That shook our family to the core.
– A year after my sister’s accident I was also in a car accident. My vehicle was t-boned by a drunk driver. My left hip was broken, and I was recovering for 3 months to get back to normal.
– In 2023 I fell from a 20 foot ladder while cutting a tree limb at my Church. Both of my lungs collapsed, I had 10 broken ribs, a broken shoulder, and several neck fractures. I wasn’t able to breathe on my own, so they had to put me on a breathing machine. 5 of my ribs were so badly broken, it could have possibly punctured my lungs if they were not operated on. To add to that, I almost lost my life 4 times over a 12 day period in the ICU. At one point it got so bad they had to put me in a machine called a Roto prone for 16 hours, as a last ditch effort to save my life. The purpose of the Roto Prone was to turn me onto my stomach, to provide continuous rotational therapy to help open my collapsed lungs. It’s for patients who have Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. That was the name of my diagnosis. A male nurse told me that when he saw them put me in the Roto Prone, the general consensus in the ICU was that I wouldn’t survive. He told me that of all the people he ever saw them put in that machine, he only knew of one other person to have survived it. She was an 18 year old girl who only regained full cognitive ability one year after coming out of that machine. Keep in mind he was telling me this about a week after I had come out of the same machine he was referring to. He said, “I’m not into all this God stuff. But you’re the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a miracle.” My wife, my family, and my Church family, prayed me back to life. And my wife nursed me back to health. And loved me back to being myself again.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
This is a full circle moment for me, because I am Pastoring the Church my wife belonged to as a teenager. When we moved from Atlanta to Memphis 10 years ago to take on this assignment, women were not allowed to minister to the congregation. They could not even approach the podium. I did a series of Bible Studies called, “Should women preach?” It stirred up a hornets nest. Some people embraced it, and others left the Church. But the teaching brought such clarity and understanding concerning the roles of women in ministry. Insomuch that the first woman to ever preach at Soul Winners on a Sunday morning is, Pastor Paula Coleman Hollins, the daughter of the founding pastor, Paul F. Coleman. Talk about a full circle moment. Since then I have ordained multiple women to ministry, who continue to serve our congregation, the Hickory Hill community, and the body of Christ.
At Soul Winners we believe the Church is the school that the believers in Christ attend to identify their callings, develop their gifts, and graduate them into the service of God’s Kingdom.
I often say, “God doesn’t want weekend worshippers and Sunday morning Saints. He wants us to graduate from sitting to serving.”
I am also a published author. My most recent book is “A.L.I.E.N.S Awakened Lives Invading Every Nation Supernaturally. God, His Kingdom and You.”. This book sums up what I believe my purpose is in life. To help people understand who God is as it relates to them, and who they are as it relates to Him.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
My advice for those who are just starting out is “Find your Elizabeth.” Elizabeth was the Virgin Mary’s cousin. When the Angel Gabriel told Mary she was pregnant with the baby Jesus, the first thing he instructed her to do was to connect with her cousin Elizabeth, who was farther along in her miraculous pregnancy than Mary was in hers.
When you are just starting out in whatever you believe you’re supposed to be doing in this world, you need to connect with someone who is farther along in achieving their goals than you are in achieving yours. Instead of reinventing the wheel. find someone who can help you navigate the path in front of you, Just like Elizbeth helped Mary navigate the uncharted path in front of her.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rohanpeart.com
- Instagram: Rohan Peart
- Facebook: Rohan Peart
- Twitter: Rohan Peart
- Youtube: www.aftersundaytv.com
