This is a groundbreaking study in the African American religious experience. Never before has there been a published collection of oral African American ""call"" stories that treats them as a genre worthy of scholarly analysis. This volume of eighty-six stories was collected in tape-recorded interviews over a six year period from 1985 to 1991. Significantly, this unique, in-depth study represents at least eight different Christian denominations. Many of the men and women who share their ""call"" story in this volume are nationally and internationally known. William H. Myers is Professor of New Testament and Black Church Studies at Ashland Theological Seminary, Ashland, Ohio, and is the president and CEO of the McCreary Center for African American Religious Studies. Born in Stonewall, Mississippi, Myers received a PhD degree in religious studies in 1991 from the University of Pittsburgh.