Churches across the state will be celebrating “Read The Alabama Baptist Day” this coming Sunday, July 29. But Pastor Bobby Eads and First Baptist Church, Hazel Green, have been placing a special emphasis on the state Baptist paper for eight months. That is how long the church north of Huntsville has been combining its newsletter, “A Good Word,” with the paper.
The church has a lot of good news to report. And Eads says he has always enjoyed reading The Alabama Baptist. So it seemed natural to put the two together.
The growing congregation needs more space, and a new building is in the works. The building will house a new sanctuary seating 900, plus room in the balcony. It will also include staff offices, a chapel, nursery facilities, choir rooms, music offices and a fellowship hall with a commercial-type kitchen.
“The church has experienced great growth,” Eads said. “We have experienced typical growing pains: space limitations, need for more workers, budget strains and so forth. But these people are willing to do things differently. We haven’t had any “we’ve never done it that way before.’ ”
Eads said one of the church’s strengths is that its original members in 1966 were willing not only to accept new people into the fellowship but also to share leadership with them. That attitude has continued.
“We have learned to get along and work together and be one in the family of God. We are not perfect,” he noted. “We have our problems. But the church is a loving church.”
Contractors’ bids on the new building are due by July 27, and a church vote on the contractor is expected in early August.
During the last six years, 10 church members have been called into the ministry.
Don Andrews recently graduated from the Baptist College of Florida (BCF) in Graceville. He will be serving as pastor of Haven Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo., as well as beginning his studies at Midwestern Seminary there.
His younger brother, Jack, is a student at BCF. Eads said, “Jack has great Bible memory. He memorizes Scripture like this,” the pastor said, snapping his fingers.
Another product of the Hazel Green church, Don Thoms, has already spent a year at Midwestern Seminary. An engineer at NASA before he surrendered to the ministry, Thoms is considering service as a minister of education and music.
Jeff Holcomb is interested in getting his Ph.D. and teaching the Bible at a college. “He is a computer whiz,” Eads said.
One of Hazel Green’s church members is halfway through a two-year commitment as a missionary journeyman in an undisclosed country doing humanitarian relief work. Eads said “Jason” (not his real name) is having a strong influence. “He e-mails us about once a month. People have been fleeing to an area where they have no place to live and no food to eat. Children were eating grass to stay alive.”
Jason started a food ministry there. One day he felt an overwhelming urge to add a particular group of people to the food list.
He later discovered that a friend of his had been visiting those people the same day. She had asked them if she could pray for their needs in the name of Jesus.
When the people found out they had been added to the food list, they were “overjoyed that Jesus had answered their prayers,” Jason said. “They were amazed that Jesus answered so quickly. They were giving Him the credit that He so richly deserves!”
Jason may soon have an opportunity to speak to an influential person in that foreign country. “Pray that the Father will give me the words to say, so that [the official], like the others, will place the glory where it belongs,” he said.
Spreading that kind of good news is a regular part of The Alabama Baptist. And Eads said he is a faithful reader of the paper.
“I read it from cover to cover,” he said. “I look forward to it each week. I liked to read it even as a young person. I like to keep up with Baptist life.
“I know our members read the paper. It gives them information about what Baptists are doing all over Alabama and the world. Mostly I hear things like, ‘Did you read about this or that church in The Alabama Baptist?’ ”
The Hazel Green church started using a local edition of The Alabama Baptist to deliver its news-
letter in November 2000. Eads said, “It has been beneficial. It shortened the (preparation) time from six hours to 30–45 minutes.”
Church secretary Lisa Broadway agreed. “It saves a lot of time. And it’s easy!”
Dave Spiers, minister of education and music, said, “I have been very pleased. It not only cut down the time, it also saves a lot of money. Really, I think its a ‘no-brainer’ situation for churches.”
Born in Walker County, Eads graduated from Walker College and The University of Alabama. He received a degree from New Orleans Seminary in 1986. Eads has served on church staffs in Louisiana and Florida.
He served as associate pastor/minister of education and youth at Bethel Baptist Church in St. Clair Association. Prior to coming to Hazel Green in 1994, he was pastor of Union Springs Baptist Church in Chilton Association.
Eads and his wife, the former Susie Owens, have a son, Nathan, who turned 13 on July 14, and a daughter, Kelsey, 6.
Whenever Eads includes a “Pastor’s Perspective” in the newsletter, he always closes it with: “Say a good word about our Lord; say a good word about our church.”
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