Eddie Rodney Bowling, pastor of Grace Point Baptist Church, Somerville, died of a heart attack April 7 in his Morgan Baptist Association (MBA) church. He was 46.
“He had an enormous heart and was a people person. I counted him a friend,” said Donnell Brown, MBA director of missions. “He was just was one of those guys you couldn’t help but like and it certainly is a sad day. He was very gregarious and never met a stranger. He was going to make a mark somehow anytime he passed by you.”
A graduate of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Bowling served as pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church, Somerville, in MBA and Flint River Baptist Church, Hazel Green, in Madison Baptist Association before following God’s leading nearly three years ago to plant a church in Somerville — Grace Point Baptist — which moved into its own building six months ago and now averages more than 100 in Sunday morning attendance. He also served churches in Louisiana and Mississippi.
“When he came to Flint River, it wasn’t a large church but it flourished under his leadership. And that was the vision he had for Grace Point — that it would be a great place of worship and fellowship, a cutting-edge church that addressed the needs of a new generation,” Brown said.
Even though he was great at ministering to people of all ages, “he had a magnetism about him that attracted young folks,” Brown said. “I remember he came to a pastors conference one time and had a young man in tow who was in high school and had surrendered to the ministry. Rodney was tutoring him and mentoring him. … That’s the kind guy he was.”
Bowling is survived by his wife, Johnna; two sons, one daughter; his parents and three brothers. (TAB
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