First Baptist Church, Athens
Limestone Baptist Association
Favorite Verse: Psalm 23
Favorite Hymn: “It Is Well With My Soul”
Hobbies: Reading and cross-stitching
Family Status: idowed after 52 years of marriage to Billy; three children, John, Harold and Phyllis; six grand-
sons; and six great-grandchildren
Bessie Marie Woodfin, 83, has been a member of First, Athens, for 67 years. She has taught Sunday School for 50 years. She was Woman’s Missionary Union director at First, Athens, for 20 years and a two-term board member for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. She also is a former board member for the Alabama Baptist Historical Commission.
Q: How did you come to know the Lord?
A: A revival preacher (in 1945) preached that “all have sinned and come short,” and I finally realized that “all” included me. I was about 15.
Q: How did you become involved in teaching Sunday School?
A: I remember the man who called me and asked me if I would teach. I had been in a church training class. He asked me if I would teach a group of senior girls. I started teaching senior girls and then I started teaching single adults.
Q: What is the most rewarding aspect of teaching Sunday School?
A: It’s amazing how many people come up to me now [and say] “Do you remember me? You taught me years ago.” It’s seeing the results in the lives of people, I think, [that] means the most to me and knowing that I’m where I’m supposed to be — that I’m doing what I’m supposed to do.
Q: What difference has Jesus made in your life?
A: I just don’t understand how you survive in the world we live in without having the hope that Christians have. That hope is not “iffy” — that hope is definite eternity with the Lord.
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