Byron Sellers

Our beloved Children’s Pastor, Byron Wayne Sellers went to be with Jesus on May 22nd, 2021. It was unexpected and tragic for his family and ours. This page stands in honor of the life, ministry, impact, and legacy of the life he lived so generously. In the following words you will get to learn more about his life and what made this man such a special person to our church and community. Before his passing, Byron was working on an autobiography that he would be able to leave to encourage others. Below is an excerpt written by Byron himself about his unique life journey.

Growing up, I was a typical young teenage boy. I like anything with a ball and anything outside. Baseball, basketball, football, skateboarding, swimming. My brother and I were always in the neighborhood, in a pool, or on a ball field. My life was good. My family was good. My parents took us to church on Sunday and Wednesday. I had a great youth group and had the best friends. On this particular Sunday night, our pastor asked me and three other boys to take some tables that we had borrowed to another church nearby. I jumped in the cab of a truck with three of my friends and made one of the biggest mistakes of my life. We were on the way and it started to rain. Tracey was driving when we went around a curve and ran off the road. He overcorrected and ran off the other side of the road. The truck started flipping and Jason went through the windshield and cleared the glass. I followed him out the window at 45 mph and hit the hood of the truck and bounced onto the ground. My life changed in a matter of seconds, and in one wrong move I went from being athletic, popular, having everything in my life the way I wanted it to be, to being limited, being paralyzed, and being dependent on everybody for everything. My life completely turned upside. That night, I was laying on the ground and could hear my friends asking if I was ok and the sirens. I opened my eyes but couldn’t see anything. My friend was standing over me and asked what he could do and told him to turn my head straight. Then the EMT’s arrived and I heard them saying, “that’s one of those Sellers boys.” I was loaded in the ambulance and taken to the hospital. Once I arrived at the hospital I heard my mom crying and the doctors telling her it looked like I would be paralyzed. I spent the next 6 months in the hospital at Chapel Hill. I was in rehab and learning how to do almost everything again. I was paralyzed from the chest down and had to learn how to use my arms with braces to feed myself, brush my teeth, shave, and almost everything.

I was mad at God and asked why a lot. I couldn’t understand how a good God would allow this to happen to me. I was a good baseball player and had a great life. I was a good kid and did the right thing. I got good grades and obeyed my parents. I was running an errand for the church so I didn’t deserve this. Being paralyzed did not just change my life, it changed my family's life. My parents had to help me with everything, all the basic daily things. My brother didn’t have a friend to play ball and run around with. Everything was different..

I graduated from high school with the help of tutors and my parents. I went to college at St. Andrews in Laurinburg and I had to learn how to find people to help me with the most basic of things. While I was in college, a group of college students that were Christians invited me to do things with them. They invited me to church, dinners, and events. They even invited me to Walmart to hang out. One day we went to Walmart, about six of us and we were just hanging out in the toy aisle being obnoxious college kids. I was driving my wheelchair at the end of an aisle and I got hit with a football. My first thought was, WOW this abuse throwing a football at a person that can’t walk or hold a football. Then, I found myself playing dodgeball around Walmart. The goal of the game was to tag me with a football, but I was faster than my friends!

This was the beginning of my emotional healing. I realized that these were my friends and that I could have a life in the chair. I had spent a lot of time shaking my fist at God and asking why or trying to negotiate with God. I even prayed and asked to just heal my hands if He wouldn’t heal my legs. God used these college students to minster to me and show me that there was life if I chose to live it. At this point, I began to pray and ask God to show me how he wanted to use me. Not only was healing emotionally, I was healing spiritually. All because a group of people showed me kindness. My story and my life, no matter how you look at it, it was not fair from a human perspective. But God took it, and He used it, and He ended up giving me opportunities to reach out and minister to people in ways that I would have never been able to do if I wasn’t in this situation. There are hard days and days I want to give up, but what keeps me going are the promises in His good book. I know that God has a purpose and plan for my life and my situation, and I know that He will fulfill his promises to never leave me or forsake. I know that He is preparing an eternal home for me in heaven one day. - Byron Sellers

Byron went on to graduate from St. Andrews University with a bachelor's degree in Psychology and Religion. He later went on to obtain his Master’s in counseling from Columbia International University. The Lord blessed Byron with an amazing love for people, teaching, and sharing God’s word to all that would listen. His sense of humor was also a gift that was able to lighten any difficult situation. Byron came to Charlotte to work for Joni and Friends International, a ministry for those with special needs, and served there as the camp pastor for “Camp Celebrate” in Tennessee for many years. Byron served and worked in various capacities at Steele Creek Church. His most recent position was serving his church family as their beloved Children’s Ministry Pastor. In his free time, Byron loved sports of all kinds, but particularly loved Tarheel basketball. He loved spending time with family and soaking up the sun in any setting. Byron and Scarlet traveled on several mission trips together spreading the love and gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Nairobi, Kenya and Dominican Republic. Byron touched, and continues to touch the lives of both locally and globally for the glory of God.

To support the church in its ministry to families with special needs or disabilities you can donate to the Byron Sellers Memorial Fund.

You can also learn more about his story through the book published by his wife, Scarlet: When the Rubber Meets the Road