Have you ever imagined what it would be like to go to work with your parents or follow your father’s footsteps into the family business? Or what about a total reversal where father and son switch roles?
While these scenarios are somewhat of a rarity in the ministry, there are several known father-son connections in Alabama Baptist life, and the blessings and benefits of these familial connections can be plentiful.
Take Pastor Rob Jackson, for example. His late father, Bob Jackson, had previously served Buck Run Baptist Church in Kentucky and was called again as pastor there in 1990. Experiencing a staff shortage at the time, the church then invited Rob Jackson to join them as associate pastor. The father and son served eight years together, but that would not be the only such experience.
A few years ago Central Baptist Church, Decatur, where Rob Jackson serves as pastor, was preparing to move and needed an associate pastor with relocation experience. A search committee member eventually asked about Bob Jackson, and he accepted the position.
“Dad was more than just a mentor, more than just my dad,” Rob Jackson said of how they supported each other in ministry. “Dad was my best friend.”
Before Bob Jackson passed away in 2012, the father and son had worked side by side in ministry a total of 13 years — and they worked together like “hand in glove,” Rob Jackson said. “It was a perfect fit.”
Rob Jackson learned a lot from all those years spent by his father’s side in ministry. He said his father was someone who truly loved God with all his heart and loved people, and he added that growing up and seeing his father the same behind closed doors as he was in front of others was one of the blessings of their shared ministry call.
Another father-son duo, Vince and Mark Whittington, share approximately 25 years of a mutual ministry call.
Vince Whittington, interim pastor of White Springs Baptist Church, Rainbow City, had a business career before entering the ministry. Saved at 29 years old, it was not long after that he felt the call into ministry and eventually served as pastor of several Alabama Baptist churches.
His son, Mark Whittington, pastor of First Baptist Church, Uriah, sensed a call into ministry in high school.
Mark Whittington’s upbringing was one marked by “a strong Christian emphasis in our home,” he said, adding that his dad was very instrumental in the family setting of being a godly husband and father.
Mark Whittington attributes much of how he approaches ministry to his father’s pastoral nature. “A lot of my greatest joy is the pastoral side of ministry, and I feel like I got a lot of that from him,” he said. “His personality is very people-oriented. He’s very much a giver of grace.”
The father and son serve churches on virtually opposite ends of the state, but the physical distance doesn’t prevent them from gleaning valuable wisdom from one another and sharing ministry materials. “If I discover something meaningful in my walk with the Lord … I’ll share something with him,” Vince Whittington noted.
While one may assume wisdom and influence naturally flow from the senior down to the junior, that isn’t always the case, said Vince Whittington. He acknowledged his son has been a “strength” for him, in part due to his age and as a person in tune with the younger generations.
“I’m just thrilled God has allowed me to have a son in ministry,” he said. “To have your children involved in ministry — I think there’s nothing like that.”
Keith Pugh, pastor of Open Door Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, also is thankful for this season of life serving in ministry with his son, K.J. Pugh.
Along with a mutual ministry calling, the father and son also share the place in which they minister — K.J. Pugh is the associate pastor of education and missions at Open Door Baptist.
“It is a great blessing to see him every day at the office,” Keith Pugh said, noting several ways he and his son support each other in ministry. “We pray for each other and try to encourage each other by our heart for ministry. He comes to me for guidance and … I am quick to bounce things off him as well.”
K.J. Pugh, who, like Mark Whittington, sensed a call into vocational ministry while in high school, said his father encouraged him through that experience but by and large let him work through it on his own.
“We prayed and talked together as a family but it was the Lord who had His hand on K.J. and that was very evident,” Keith Pugh added. “I never tried to influence him to go into ministry but when God called him, I have tried to encourage him.”
Mark Whittington had a similar experience during his own ministry call in 1987. He recalled how his father remained by his side during that time yet never dictated the decisions he should make.
When supporting each other in ministry work, K.J. Pugh said he and his father have different gifts and excel in different aspects of ministry. “For the most part we compliment one another, so that we are stronger together than we are apart.”
One element of ministry Keith Pugh noted in his son is his teaching ability. “[K.J.] writes all of our Sunday School material for our adult Sunday School classes,” he said. “He is a great resource for any questions about Scripture or church history. His knowledge really amazes me at times.”
K.J. Pugh said he has received ministry guidance and encouragement from his father not only in word but also in how his father has modeled how to act and minister to others. “I have learned from my father to invest time in people,” he said. “Every touch made upon a life will have ripple effects in eternity.”
He added that one of the “unforeseen benefits” of fathers and sons serving together is the relational freedom. “We can speak freely with one another because we know love and respect will always be there,” he said.
And the opportunity to have a wise, live resource in ministry only a phone call away is special for Mark Whittington. “Probably one of the greatest blessings of having a father in ministry is … that open access,” he said.
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