The Rev. Kenneth J. Sampson has two voices.
One is soft and comforting almost a whisper when he talks about everyday things, like the weather. The other is fiery and so passionate that it shakes the walls of his small church on Newcomb.
"He is the stereotypical African-American preacher," jokes Jenny a member of Youth with a Mission, a ministry organization that works with Sampson's church New Home Missionary Baptist Church. New Home is justly named because the first one was just a room, recalls Sampson.
"I had to preach with my back literally against the wall," he says pointing to the weathered photographs in his office of his first church. The new church is no that grander he admits but "I make the most out of it and compared to what we had it's a palace."
He makes the most of his limited space. Every week the homeless are served a hot meal, countless prayer and bible studies meet there, his building is lent out to various organizations like the Boy Scouts, for meetings. Out of all the programs his church is involved in, the foreign mission work in Ghana is the closest to his heart.
"My heart is there because of the need," he says.
Rev. Sampson has been involved with mission work for over 20 years; he credits the pastor at his childhood church with inspiring him to establish a chapter of the National Baptist Foreign Missions at his small church in Bayview Hunters Point.
Sampson and his congregation travel to Obuasi, Ghana, West Africa every year not only spread Christianity but to also supply their supporters with much needed resources.
"Babies die from anemia and diarrhea," he says. "They shouldn't be dying from curable ailments these day in age."
To alleviate this crisis Sampson's congregation, together with other participating churches, raised enough money and donated an ambulance and renovated the prenatal ward of the community hospital, Dr. J.C. Sams Hospital.
Besides the hospital, his other project is Bryant Mission School. "I'm most proud of this because it was built brick by brick," he says.
The school was built on land donated by a tribal chief so children, who previously were not able to attend school because of the high tuition, can get a decent education.
Rev. Sampson's congregation believes in his mission work so much that last year he raised over $5,000 on offerings from his church alone.
"You've seen this neighborhood," he says referring to the neglected district of Bayview Hunters Point. "They must really care to offer so much to others."
Rev. Sampson travels to Ghana twice a year but he leaves his congregation in the hands of his wife, who sings in the choir, his personal secretary "my girl-Friday" and Rev. Steve Williams.
"He is still missed because he is such a giving man," says Williams.
Born and raised in Bayview Hunters Point, Rev. Sampson, 51, never imagined he would become a pastor but others did.
"Everyone said 'that boy is going to be a preacher', I guess because I was so loud," he laughs. "But not me, no way, I did everything I could to run away."
Sampson ran away from the church but not from community service and attended City College where he learned to speak Swahili. "I wanted to join the Peace Corps," he sighs. "I wanted to do everything."
He never made it to the Peace Corps but instead to San Francisco State University. Where he majored in Urban Planning. After 29 years of managing Albertson's grocery store, he was "called" to the ministry, as he likes to put it.
"I went back to my pastor and told him I wanted to be a minister, he said 'It's about time.'" says Sampson.