When Hugh Chambliss retired as director of missions with the Madison Baptist Association in 1988, he anticipated traveling with his wife, Faye.
And the Chamblisses have traveled extensively, with five trips to Europe.
What has separated the Chamblisses from others their age is they are using their travel experiences in Europe to continue his ministry. The couple recently returned from Norway, where Chambliss served as interim pastor in the country’s only English-speaking church from Nov. 10, 1999, to Feb. 8.
The interim work was but one in a series that began in 1993 for Chambliss.
“This type of ministry is a crowning of our ministry,” he said. “When we retired 12 years ago, we didn’t know what life held for us.”
Along with his work at the North Sea Baptist Church, Stavenger, Norway, Chambliss has also served as an interim pastor three times at Stukley Baptist Church, Stukley, England, and once at Calvary Baptist Church, Naples, Italy.
Chambliss, 76, said he played with the idea of serving as interim at churches outside the United States when he retired, but nothing ever came of the idea. Dale Huff, then-director of church-minister relations/church administration with the State Board of Missions, approached Chambliss in 1993 after someone from the Stukley Church contacted him.
The Chamblisses were in Stukley from October 1993 to January 1994. They returned a second time from April to June 1994, after the church’s new pastor withdrew his nomination because of illness.
“We didn’t stay home that time, we went back pretty quickly,” Chambliss said.
The couple returned to Europe in 1995, when Chambliss served as interim at the Italian church from September to December of that year, followed by a third stint at First, Stukley, from September to November 1996.
“We were very happy in Norway,” Chambliss said of his most recent assignment. “Of course, we’ve been very happy in all these places.”
Chambliss also followed in the footsteps of another Alabamian. He said Charles and Sandy Smith led the church in Norway for five years before Smith resigned to return to Alabama and continue his education.
The location may have been different, but he easily found a congregation he could relate to. “The people in the church, many of them are Americans,” he said.
Learning about different people and cultures has been the most exciting part of the overseas interims, Mrs. Chambliss said .
She described the English as “happy go lucky” and always smiling, adding the best part of Norway is the scenery, along with the respect everyone shows others.
Chambliss served as pastor of Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Vestavia Hills, from 1951-1961. Following that he served as director of missions with Gadsden Baptist Association from 1961-1966 and as director of missions of Madison Baptist Association from 1966-1988. Chambliss also served as pastor of Benton Baptist near Selma from 1989-1993.
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