Pastor Tyran Meredith Interview

With a Passport filled with stamps, this Detroit pastor travels around the world sharing a message of faith and community. Tyran Meredith a Detroit native is living a dream. “I can hardly believe it myself.” he said, sitting in a suburban cafe. “I really wanted to be a Financial Planner but God had other plans for me.” Tyran is the senior pastor of the Detroit House of Judah Church on the cities Northwest side. The church was formed for the purpose of helping the poor and displaced in and around the city. But before long, their programs began to stretch across the entire globe. In 2002, Tyran joined an organization called Kingdom Global Ministries (KGM) and before he knew it, he was off and running. “My first trip was to the Philippines. Right away I wanted to establish our church as a solution bringing entity. We didn't want to be a church that just gave out fish. We wanted to teach them how to fish. So we funded a food program in one of the villages there and we worked with their staff on how to structure deals that would enable them to be self sufficient in the future.” Pastor Tyran's favorite place to travel overseas is London. He's been there five times. His latest excursion was to Germany and then on to Africa. “Christianity is more than preaching and singing on Sundays.” He said, “Christianity is also about caring for people, even in other parts of the world. Many of our church members now travel abroad and have friends that they call and visit. Our entire church thinks global.” One program for the youth is called Futures. This program was designed to prepare young people for life as an adult, And of course, an annual trip is apart of the curriculum.

Some years ago, I worked with an organization that took some inner city kids on a flight to Chicago. A few of the boys dressed in shirt and tie. When we asked them why they dressed up, they said, “We thought you had to wear a tie when you got on a plane.” It hit me then that there are a lot of Detroit teenagers that have never been on a plane before or ever been outside of Michigan. So, I vowed to take a group of teenagers on a trip someplace in the world every year.” This year the church took a group of teens on a cruise to the Bahamas. Next year they plan to go to Washington, DC. I asked Pastor Tyran where he would be personally traveling next and he said, “One of my trips will be to Vanuatu, a place I have never been before; to teach at a Bible college and to help in a building project. And from there I will be stopping over in Australia to speak at a church that Sunday morning. My overall philosophy is this. The only way we can show the love of God to people displaced int he world is by being his hands and reaching out. It's very rewarding. I plan to do this for the rest of my life.”