The Rev. Clifford Weaver Jr. incorporated wide-screen TVs and other video imagery into the service when he pastored a church in Mississippi.
He spent five years at Providence Baptist Church in Gautier before returning to his native Atlanta. Here, he turned his self-taught knowledge of computers and visual technology into a marketing business -- Techno Media Films. He also penned a name for himself: "The Video Bishop."
His business, which catered to churches and companies, became his ministry. He helped them create Web sites, video commercials and presentations. Sometimes he charged. Sometimes he didn't. He also hosted "The Video Bishop Gospel Show," an online broadcast.
"He did some miraculous things," said his mother, Catherine Weaver of Austell. "He didn't ever pastor again, but he put his whole heart into his business. It was all about ministry for him."
Eddie Crane of Jonesboro and Mr. Weaver often teamed up on projects. Mr. Crane did the audio; Mr. Weaver handled the video production, Mr. Crane said, and often took it to the next level.
"We got together to fix each other's problems," he said. "He wanted things right on both ends. He could video your project or function and turn it into a brand new experience. His work was the best."
Mr. Weaver was 16 when he joined Simpson Road Baptist Church in Atlanta. There, he sang in the choir and played drums. The Turner High grad didn't want to attend college so he joined local bands as a drummer. When his mother suggested he pay rent, he moved out. He lived with band mates at first, then eventually settled in with his father, now deceased.
By then in his mid-20s, Mr. Weaver had started drinking alcohol heavily. It consumed his life to the point he spent three months in an addiction program. When he emerged, he devoted himself to spreading the word of God, his mother said.
"God picked him flat up off the ground," she said. "And after that, all he wanted more than anything was to help people."
Weeks ago, the ordained minister thought he was having a recurring bout with the flu. He went to the emergency room at DeKalb Medical Center's Hillandale campus. He had pneumonia.
On Nov. 25, Clifford Ranoldo Weaver Jr. of Stone Mountain died from complications of pneumonia and lung-related issues. He was 48. The funeral will be 1 p.m. Saturday at Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Atlanta. Tri-Cities Funeral Home of Lithonia is handling arrangements.
After his struggle with alcohol, Mr. Weaver attended Atlanta's Carver Bible College, but completed his studies at the New Orleans Baptist Seminary. He was called to Providence Baptist, where he served as pastor from 2000 to 2005. He returned to Atlanta just before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in August 2005.
As a kid, Mr. Weaver displayed an entrepreneurial mind. He would buy candy, then sell it to the neighborhood children. He was always telling his mother to look into business ventures he'd seen in TV infomercials.
"He'd order them for me," his mother said. "He always had a business mind."
Mr. Weaver's personality looms large on a Web site for his business. In it, he writes the "greatest investment that one can make is not in cars, houses or any other inanimate object. The greatest investment that can be made is one made in the lives of people."
Additional survivors include his wife, Mattie Weaver; a son, Clifford Ranoldo Weaver III; two stepsons, De'Andre Braxton and Douglas Braxton; two step-daughters, Douglissa Braxton-Brown and Erica Baylard; all of Stone Mountain; a brother, Ricardo Q. Weaver of Austell; and a sister, Melanye Yolanda Gray of Tacoma, Wash.
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