Dothan-area pastor, secretary near 30th year as team

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it — at least that’s the way the members of Pilgrim Home Baptist Church, Wicksburg, near Newton, seem to feel. 
   
Pastor Ed “Buddy” Hood and church secretary Carol Cox have got the daily workings of the church down to an art — the two have carried out the charge to minister to the body of Christ with a professional relationship spanning almost 30 years.
   
Hood, originally from Selma, became the pastor of Pilgrim Home Baptist in 1974.  Cox, who grew up a member of the church, took the job of  secretary three years later, and the two have been partners ministering to the church they love ever since. 
   
“Carol has to have me to do her job, and I have to have her to do my job. What I forget, she remembers, and what she forgets, I remember,” Hood said with a laugh. “We complement each other very well.”
   
The job requirements for a good church secretary go beyond typing speed and shorthand skills, Hood said. To work in a church, a secretary needs to have a strong spiritual walk. 
   
Cox has always viewed being secretary as a ministry rather than a job, Hood said, as she is never moody or short with people but always kind and considerate as she puts in countless hours beyond what is required of her.
   
“A Christian is not called part time,” he said. “Carol’s been an excellent secretary, and everybody in the church depends on her.”
   
Cox wears many hats at Pilgrim Home besides that of secretary. She also teaches Bible study and serves as organist.
   
“I couldn’t ask for a better person to be secretary of this church,” Hood said. “The day she retires, I’ll retire.”
   
Cox said she is inspired by Hood’s wisdom, longsuffering and perseverance. “Buddy has helped me tremendously to grow spiritually,” she said. “Through his leadership, not only have I grown but the entire church has grown. He doesn’t know the number of lives he has affected for God.”
   
Cox also said she admires Hood’s willingness to love people perceived by most as unlovable.
   
“In every church, you have unlovable people,” she said. “Buddy leads by love.”
   
Cox said she also appreciates that Hood allows her to work at her own pace, without pressuring her. “I’m scared she’d quit if I didn’t,” he joked.
   
Cox and Hood have witnessed many changes during their time of working together.Before the days of computers, Pilgrim Home’s bulletins were made by stencil and mimeograph.
   
Ink would get everywhere and the paper had to be laid on the stencil perfectly or the job would have to be started all over.
   
“I thought I’d died and gone to heaven when we got a copy machine,” Cox said.
   
Now Cox completes tasks via computer, which Hood refuses to learn to operate. 
   
“Sometimes I’m in my office and I’ll hear her talking to that computer,” Hood laughed. “I don’t touch it.”
   
Besides facing challenges performing office duties, Hood and Cox remember plenty of trying times in other areas of their service.
   
They both help with the youth committee, and duties include chaperoning trips. From getting lost driving cross-country and relying on earplugs to sleep on missions trips to surviving snakes, spiders and capsizing on canoe trips, Cox and Hood have had many adventures during their time at Pilgrim Home.
   
Through their years working together, the pastor and secretary have never had any major personality conflicts, according to Hood.
   
“It’s never been about us,” he said. “‘Self’ has never been in the way.”
Cox agreed. 
   
“It’s all about a mutual love of God,” she said.