East Liberty’s Wynn noted for leadership

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that God is good,” said Charles Wynn, who recently retired after 19 years as director of missions for East Liberty Baptist Association (ELBA) and 47 years in Southern Baptist ministry.
   
And through the years, God’s goodness shown through Wynn to the people of the association, the surrounding area and other parts of the nation. 
   
In 2004, he led 55 volunteers to Pennsylvania. And when volunteers from Pennsylvania came to Alabama the next year to repay the favor, the association’s largest undertaking under Wynn’s leadership took off. Some 300-plus local volunteers, as well as a host of prayer volunteers and support workers, launched a missions project called Mission Endeavor.
   
“We were able to host 12 backyard Bible clubs, repaired 30 homes and had three block parties throughout the county,” he said. “We uncovered more than 500 prospects in our county that wanted more information about the churches in our association.” 
   
In 2003, Wynn coordinated 47 volunteers from ELBA churches, ranging from age 8 to 73, for a missions endeavor to Osceola, Iowa, to participate in construction work, backyard Bible clubs, door-to-door evangelism and ministry to bikers. “They (church members in Osceola) told us that because we had been there, their church had an identity in the community,” he said.
   
During the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, the association sponsored an Olympic Rest Stop Ministry along Interstate 85 for those traveling to the Olympic Games. People from 38 states, Washington, D.C., and 16 countries visited the rest stop with 15 professions of faith in Jesus Christ recorded at the site.
   
“You’ve got to get out there where people are and share the gospel with them. Missions projects give people an opportunity to see firsthand what is going on. Missions starts at home,” Wynn said.
   
In East Liberty Association, he has spearheaded its annual MEGA Day training conference, which compacts the leadership training for all facets of Baptist church work such as Sunday School, discipleship, missions, deacons and children’s ministry into one Saturday. Wynn also served as president of the Alabama Baptist Conference of Directors of Missions in 2001–2002.
   
In the midst of a busy schedule of promoting missions and assisting churches, he also has filled the role of spiritual mentor to pastors.
   
“He is the one we have looked to as our Bible study guide,” said Gary Swafford, director of the office of associational missions and church planting for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. “He is outstanding in the Bible study materials he writes, and people call on him to teach those. In many cases, the other directors of missions ask him to come to their association and preview his studies for their pastors.
   
“Charles has a servant-leadership style. In spite of the fact that he is an outstanding student and teacher, he is a very humble man. He communicates and relates well to all types of people because of that humble spirit. He is a man called of the Lord and has served the Lord well through these many years.”
   
But he is not the only member of the Wynn family to do so. His wife, Clara, retired in November 2005 after eight years as ELBA’s administrative assistant.
   
“The two of them have a sold-out commitment to the Lord and a love of people,” Swafford said.
   
“My cup of tea is teaching,” Wynn said. “It’s been rewarding and given me a sense of fulfillment because it was what God has called me to do.”