For the men in the Mims family, ministry has become a bit of a family business.
Randal Mims — along with his two sons, Andy and Terry — all serve in ministry. Not only are they all ministers, their three churches are all in the same association.
Randal, who currently serves as pastor of Concord Baptist Church, Clanton, was initially trained in the construction industry but said he always felt called to “do something special” within the church. He tried driving the church bus, teaching Sunday School, being an interpreter for his church’s deaf ministry and more but didn’t quite feel like he’d found his niche. He thought he wanted to preach. Finally a pastor asked him, “Who do you think put the ‘want to’ in you?”
Randal began as an interim pastor, traveling around to churches and filling in for other pastors when they were unable to preach. Eventually he took on a church of his own and has since been the pastor of five churches. In many cases he was working as a bivocational pastor, also working as a handyman to supplement his work in the church.
Terry, the younger of the two brothers, said, “I don’t know many pastors that will go in and fix a member’s toilet, which my dad does. He’s done lots of physical things for his members through the years in addition to spiritual things.”
It was this example Randal set for his sons — one of true service and shepherding — that inspired Andy and Terry to follow in his footsteps.
Andy, who serves as pastor of Mulberry Baptist Church, Maplesville, said, “We didn’t see something different at home than what everyone saw at church. It was good for us to see that consistency as kids. He was always the same. He didn’t have another life he hid at home.”
Randal is quick to point out, though, that his sons’ gift for ministry doesn’t come from him. It is God-given.
“The Lord has given them both a pastor’s heart. I didn’t hand it down to them,” he said.
Both Andy and Terry started out in other professions before entering the ministry. Andy worked in construction (trained as both a welder and a carpenter) but felt “a fire put in him” and wanted to do something to serve the Lord.
“I wanted to preach, but I wanted to make sure that’s what God wanted me to do and not just what I wanted to do because that’s what my daddy did,” Andy said. “I started preaching and filling in for other pastors and felt like I was being called to be a pastor at a church of my own.”
Terry was close to completing a program at a technical school to become a heating and air technician when he felt like he wasn’t on the right path.
“I felt there was something else I should be doing, but didn’t know what it was, so I began praying about it,” said Terry, who’s now the youth minister for Providence Baptist Church #2, Clanton.
Terry became a part of Life Action Ministries, a group that travels around the country sharing the Bible. He started doing things like sound work and truck driving for them, traveling from California to New York to Florida and everywhere in between.
“Every night I was hearing a message about revival and families,” Terry recalled. “God directed me to leave that ministry in 2002, and I began to talk to the pastor at Providence Baptist Church #2 and started working part time on the youth staff. Now I’ve been there for 13 years.”
Terry still works part time at the church, supplementing his ministry work with other jobs including construction and heating and air. He currently works at a bird farm with game birds like quail and pheasants.
Supporting each other
Since the three Mims are all within Chilton Baptist Association they see each other at pastor conferences and support each other’s events when possible. Last summer, for example, Randal’s church hosted a block party. They went door-to-door inviting people in the neighborhood to attend. Both Andy and Terry also brought members from their church to the event, doubling the block party’s attendance.
“I’m thankful we live so close together now — all in the same association,” Randal said. “It’s pretty near heaven. I don’t know how long the Lord will let us stay so close, but I’m loving it.”
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