Someone You Should Know
Debbie Early
Second Baptist Church, Fort Payne
DeKalb Baptist Association
Favorite Verse: Zephaniah 3:17
Favorite Hymn: “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”
Hobbies: Restoring and repairing furniture, writing plays, hunting bargains, going to antique auctions, spending time with grandchildren
Family Status: Married 32 years to husband, Mike; daughter, Caitlin (husband, Wade); son, Joel (wife, Jalisa); two grandchildren
Debbie Early, 54, of Fort Payne, sees her ministry as helping people experience missions and evangelism. She has coordinated missions trips and serves as her church’s Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) director, DeKalb Association’s WMU director and Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions board member. She is a Sunday School teacher, choir member, youth drama director and coordinater of her church’s Hallelujah Harvest Festival, which attracts about 1,000 visitors each year. Early retired after 32 years as an educator with DeKalb County Board of Education.
Q: What influences in your life pointed you to Christ at the beginning of your faith journey?
A: I didn’t become a Christian until I was an adult. My husband was a Christian. I would see him read his Bible and question why. … It wasn’t until a pastor asked my husband and me if we were Christians and my husband shared his testimony that I realized I didn’t have that. That was on a Wednesday night. … I became a Christian the following Sunday.
Q: When and how were you led into your ministry work?
A: I think I had been a Christian maybe a month when they asked me to take over what was then Baptist Young Women (BYW), a part of WMU. … And just over 20 years ago, we started going with Carpenters for Christ and have had the opportunity to build several churches. That is a big passion of mine. I’m actually the “saw lady.” … It all was born out of mission work and leading BYW as a young Christian.
Q: What do you get from your ministry work?
A: Fulfillment, a sense that in some way I’m giving back, a sense of humility. Joy. Probably tired and aching bones too. The sense of — no matter what we do — it is never enough. Anything He requires of me is not too much.
Q: What difference will this ministry work make for you in the future?
A: I hope the ministry keeps me young, keeps me active and opens the door for others to come to know Him. I want to see my grandchildren come to know the Lord. I hope my husband and I can do more traveling together in missions.
Q: What difference has Jesus Christ made in your life?
A: Oh goodness. How do you even explain the difference? You go through life looking for something that will fill the void in your life. And when you come to know Christ, you realize it was a need to get to know the Creator. … He’s given me a different way of looking at other people. He has given me a love that I don’t understand.
—By Leigh Pritchett, Correspondent, The Alabama Baptist
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