It was April 19. There were a lot of “whereases” said that Sunday at First Baptist Church, Holly Pond, in East Cullman Baptist Association.
WHEREAS, Rev. Horace R. Hall has served the Lord selflessly and willingly and made his life a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Lord Jesus Christ; and
WHEREAS, Rev. Horace R. Hall has been attentive to the congregation’s needs during sickness, death and times of heartache and distress …
They were followed up with a few “be it further resolveds.”
Hall looked around to make sure somebody else wasn’t being recognized. Even after seven years behind the pulpit in front of him and 34 years behind all the others, he couldn’t imagine how in the world he could be worth all that fuss, all those certificates. And don’t forget the letters of appreciation.
Keith Hinson of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions got up and read one. So did Randy Makemson, director of missions (DOM) for East Cullman Association, and East Cullman’s former DOM Jack Joyner.
Hall wasn’t expecting it. No sir, he really wasn’t.
“All I knew is that they were planning a retirement celebration,” Hall said. “I didn’t know what it was going to be until I saw the program.”
Of course, he should be used to it. He has already retired once from full-time pastoral work, back in 2001, after 22 years at nearby First Baptist Church, Fairview, in Cullman. That congregation had a service for him, too.
But this was different. For one, it was the first time in the history of First, Holly Pond, that a pastor actually retired. But the main thing was that it wasn’t just a celebration of Hall’s time at the church, which called him out of retirement to be its interim pastor and then insisted he was the one God wanted there full time.
This was a celebration of a man’s entire ministry: from answering the call at Cottondale Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa Baptist Association in 1966 to his time at Beulah Baptist; New Hope Baptist; New Haven Baptist; Flatwood Baptist; Shiloh Baptist; First, Fairview; and the list goes on.
That’s 41 years serving the Lord in the state of Alabama — 32 of them in East Cullman Association alone.
The fuss was deserved — just ask Hall’s wife.
“What can I say? He’s the best,” Charlie May Hall said. “He’s very much a people person. I guess if you could classify his ministry, it would be one of healing and encouragement. When we went to Holly Pond, one of the men on the (search) committee said they needed a big teddy bear to hug them.”
Robin Henderson thinks the church found the best teddy bear out there.
“He’s the master of being a pastor,” said Henderson, chairman of the deacons at and special events coordinator for First, Holly Pond. “No one can say anything bad about him. He’s just a good person. He’s gentle; he’s meek. He just has a lot of good qualities.”
Hall chuckled.
“Well those are his words,” he said. “Somebody else may have another description, but [Robin] is a pretty honest guy so I trust it.”
But there was that one time at Beulah Baptist Church, Dothan, Hall’s first church, where, he said, he learned quite a lot.
“Someone came to me and said, ‘Brother Hall, you’ve offended one of our families,’” Hall said. “He said they weren’t coming back.”
Hall didn’t know how. He thought about the sermon he preached. He thought about the Scripture he quoted. He couldn’t make any sense of it, even as he was apologizing to the family members and even as they were accepting.
“To this day, I don’t know how I offended those folks but that’s OK,” Hall said. “They came back faithful. And about six months after that, this lady came forward. She said she’d never known the type of forgiveness from God that I gave that family and that she needed to be saved.”
That woman was just one of the 38 people he baptized at Beulah Baptist in his first five months on the job.
“So I’ve been a big proponent of forgiveness, hopefully by example,” Hall said. “It’s really been a pattern of my ministerial life.”
A ministerial life not even two retirements can slow down — since April 19, he’s already performed five funerals.
“I’m not quitting,” Hall said. “I’m still available for preaching opportunities, weekend revivals, Bible conferences. That’s been my life for 40 years.”
To contact him, call 256-796-7363.
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