Kelly marks 20th year at Valleydale

At only 31 years old, Calvin Kelly became senior pastor of Valleydale Baptist Church, Birmingham, in 1984. Younger than many of his 150 members, Kelly — who is celebrating his 20th anniversary with the church — brought a new, challenging perspective to the church, which has resulted in tremendous growth and stronger relationships with Jesus Christ, members say. 
   
Valleydale personnel committee chairman Jim Godfrey said, “I remember when Calvin came, he reached out to me and called me one night and wanted to meet with me. From that first meeting, he challenged me to be a better Christian, a deeper Christian and I could see that he was going to lead the church in a great way.”
   
Librarian Chris Morgan agreed. “We knew what a job he had ahead of him … but he had the training and the background that we needed here at Valleydale,” she said.
   
After receiving a bachelor’s degree from Mississippi State University, Kelly went on to receive master’s and doctoral degrees of ministry from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
   
Before serving at Valleydale, Kelly led McCool Baptist Church, McCool, Miss., 1979–1981 and served as associate pastor of Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Montgomery, 1981–1984.
   
During the past 20 years, Kelly and his wife, Paula, have worked diligently to help Valleydale reach its potential. 
   
“God just let us see the potential of Valleydale being an exploding church for His Kingdom,” he said. “It has definitely exceeded the vision that I had for the church.”
   
Kelly said his wife has been invaluable to him as a behind-the-scenes problem solver and organizer. She has also served faithfully in the worship ministry as organist since 1984 and on staff as orchestra coordinator since 1992. Under her leadership, the worship ministry has thrived and the orchestra has grown from a few instrumentalists to more than 30.
   
When Kelly joined the church staff, Valleydale also needed an organist. “I’m convinced they only called me as pastor in order to gain my wife, Paula, who is an accomplished organist — a good organist is a lot harder to find,” Kelly said.
   
Their daughters, Hillary and Allisa, were 3 years old and 3 months old when they came to Valleydale. “This is the only church our daughters remember,” Kelly said.
   
Under his leadership, Valleydale has experienced four capital fund-raising campaigns and three building additions to accommodate its tremendous growth. For many years, the church held three worship services and two Bible study hours to accommodate its swelling congregation.
   
Currently, the church averages 1,800 Sunday worshipers and its annual budget has grown from $188,795 to $4,347,200. In addition, more than 5,000 people have been baptized at Valleydale through the years.
   
In its largest endeavor to date, Valleydale recently sold its old campus to Southeastern Bible College and fully relocated to a new 90,525-square-foot multipurpose facility just one mile east of I-65 on Valleydale Road.
   
A $16.5 million project, the church has completed phase one of construction, which includes a worship center, worship suite, recreation areas and preschool children’s space. Construction for phase two is underway and will be open for use by year end 2004. It includes a children’s theater, student ministry center, coffee cafe and library.
   
“I am extremely humbled and grateful,” Kelly said. “God has certainly allowed this growth but without willing people to follow and join arms and hands it would not have been possible.”