Autaugaville Baptist Church celebrated Pastor Garner Clark’s 20 years of service March 14, highlighting two decades of the church’s growth and expansion with a note-burning ceremony.
The church paid off the note on a new fellowship hall, raising $300,000 in a year for the project, far ahead of the anticipated five years. It is the second fellowship hall the church has built during the past 20 years and the latest in a series of renovations and improvements to church property including: enlarging the sanctuary, vestibule and choir loft; adding classrooms, restrooms and a new nursery; modernizing the kitchen; paving parking lots; and creating a drive-through loading zone.
Curtis Jackson, church treasurer and member for the past 50 years, credits Clark’s leadership for continued growth. “He’s loved as much today as when he first got here. He’s certainly done a super job.”
Clark, on the other hand, points to the people for progress made. That progress includes a Sunday School enrollment that has increased from the 40s to about 200, a church budget that has increased from about $40,000 to $300,000, an increase in Cooperative Program gifts from $3,000 to $30,000 and increases in other missions giving. The church gave $8,000 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions last year, an increase from $1,000 20 years ago.
In addition, the congregation also has started organizations like RAs and Brotherhood. More than 50 people have been trained in FAITH, and last year the church took 43 men to a Promise Keepers rally. Autaugaville Baptist also opened a family counseling center two years ago.
“I attribute it to the people of the church,” said Clark of the growth, noting that most of it has been in the past five years. Autaugaville has a population of about 1,200 inside the city limits. The church has adopted the phrase “A church alive is worth the drive,” because it attracts members from Prattville and Statesville about 10 miles away.
To celebrate Clark’s anniversary, the church conducted a special service followed by dinner. Jackson, who is mayor of Autaugaville, presented Clark with a city proclamation. The church’s oldest member, Caroline Seals, age 98, sent a written message, and Eula Mae White, age 95, spoke. College student Kyle Carter recited a poem written especially for his pastor, and other church members, using photos and recollections, recounted highlights of Clark’s 20-year pastorate.
From Clark’s viewpoint these include setting and meeting goals. “We’ve never set a goal that we haven’t reached,” he said. “I attribute that to the people. If you give them a vision, they work to accomplish that vision.” To aid in that process, five years ago the church set up a vision committee that mapped out five phases for growth, all of which have been accomplished. The committee will meet soon to plan the next phase, according to Clark.
The church also “never had a struggle for finances,” according to Clark, and the past two decades have been devoid of major conflicts. “It’s been a smooth 20 years.”
The church was established in 1853, and Clark has had the longest pastorate.
When asked about the low points in the past two decades, Clark again pointed to the people, noting the deaths of valuable church leaders and a flood in the early 1990s that displaced many in the congregation. “We had to work through that. That was a struggle for us,” he said.
The celebration service was attended by about 300, including classmates of Clark’s Autauga High School class of ’62 and members of the neighboring Autaugaville Methodist Church. The two churches regularly join with other city churches on community service projects.
The church gave Clark and his wife, Jo, an art teacher at Prattville Junior High, $5,000 earmarked for home improvements. Clark lives in a 16-room 1889 Victorian house in Prattville that belonged to his family. He hosts his church family on his one-acre yard for an annual cookout featuring a bluegrass gospel band. The Clarks have a son, Garner Jr., and daughter, Rebekah, both of Montgomery.
For Pastor Appreciation Day two years ago, the church paid for Clark to work on his doctorate in counseling from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
He earned his master’s from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. He was pastor of one church in Kentucky before returning to his native Alabama. He was also pastor of McGehee Road Baptist Church in Montgomery.
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