Pastor Fred Foster of Villa Rica’s Assembly of the Saints Deliverance Church was called to God as a teenager in a blinding white light that appeared one night through his bedroom window.
Days earlier, a local church held a “street meeting” on the road where he lived with his family. Foster thought it would be fun to buzz the meeting with his bicycle and stir up dust from the unpaved street onto the missionaries’ pretty white dresses. After being admonished by the missionaries to give his life to God, Foster rode away and didn’t think much about it.
The church set up a revival on Foster’s street, and his mother, brothers and sister went. Foster chose to stay home. His siblings, however, returned with candy they got from the church, which was enough to entice Foster to attend himself.
A few nights later, Foster awoke to a bright light shining in through his bedroom window.
“I thought someone was out there in a car shining their headlights through my window,” said Foster. “I ran outside, but there was nobody out there.”
The next night at the revival, the preacher called to Foster.
“The pastor said, ‘Young man, God wants to save you. He’s called you with his light. Last night, you got up and you went to your window and looked for where that light came from, but you didn’t find anything.’ And that got me. That’s when I surrendered my life to God.”
Years later, after working at a chemical company near Marietta prior to his full-time ministry, Foster developed the habit of going to his doctor for a physical exam every six months.
The purpose of Foster’s exams — like all physical exams — is to find health problems early, when they’re easiest to treat.
In 2004, the results of Foster’s prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, test came back high. Six months later, the results were higher still.
“That’s when they diagnosed the prostate cancer,” said Foster. “They sent me to a urologist, and they had to do surgery to take the cancer out of my prostate, but I didn’t have to have chemotherapy or radiation or anything like that. I’m doing good now, but I still have my PSA done every six months.”
In many ways, Foster is the exception to the rule. Called to the ministry as a teenager, he’s steered the congregation of Assembly of Saints Deliverance Church in Villa Rica from its humble beginnings of three members — one of whom was Foster’s mother — to numbering almost 150 today. He is a devoted husband and father to his five children. He followed the Lord’s calling from his life and career in Marietta back to his hometown of Villa Rica to establish his ministry and cultivate it with care.
And today, along with a growing congregation and a vibrant church, Foster is also blessed with good health. He preaches the gospel in a deep baritone that resonates in his barrel of a chest. And he focuses not only on the spiritual health of the men in his church, but their physical health as well.
Foster has helped arrange health screening events to be held at the church, and he’s focused on issues of unique concern among his congregation and of special concern to him, such as prostate cancer.
“Prostate cancer is higher among black men,” said Foster. “They’re afraid of going to the physician or they don’t want to go until they’re hurting, and then it’s too late. But like the old folks say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Not only do black men suffer a higher incidence of prostate cancer than white men — being 1.6 times more likely to develop prostate cancer in their lifetimes — but the mortality rate for black men is more than twice as high.
“While researchers are still working to understand why the disease occurs more often in black men, they have concluded that one reason the mortality rate is so high is because the disease is often found in its later stages, where it may have spread and the damage is done,” said John Pearson, MD, a board-certified urologist with West Georgia Urology and a member of the medical staff at Tanner Health System.
With this in mind, Tanner and West Georgia Urology are partnering to offer a free prostate screening event targeted toward African-American men. The event will be held Thursday, Feb. 25, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton. Registration is available by calling 770.214.CARE (2273).
“It’s very important to take care of this early and not wait until it’s too late,” said Foster.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men and the second-leading cause of cancer-related death. Fortunately, as Foster would testify, it’s also extremely treatable if detected early.
While most health guidelines call for prostate screening to begin for men at age 50, Dr. Pearson stressed that African-American men should probably begin receiving screening at age 40 because of the prevalence of the disease.
Though the screening event at Tanner is aiming to reach African-American men age 40 or older, the screenings are available to any man age 50 or older or with a family history of prostate cancer.
“You need to get a screening so you can get ahead of the cancer and find it before it can spread to other parts of your body,” said Foster. “You need to find it so you can be sound for your family. It’s part of taking good care of yourself.”