In the past 18 years, 12 members of Glennwood Baptist Church, Morris, have answered calls to ministry. This number is significant considering the church’s size. Pastor David Bays said Sunday School attendance usually averages 90 and approximately 125 attend worship.
Bays said he strives to preach the necessity of commitment and Christian service.
“I challenge our people to go into ministry and accept the call of ministry,” Bays said.
Eight years after participating in the church’s college program — and after earning a bachelor’s degree from Southeastern Bible College in Birmingham — Justin Dial serves as youth pastor at Calcedonia Baptist Church, Gardendale, in North Jefferson Baptist Association. He credits the encouragement he received at Glennwood, which also is in North Jefferson Association, with galvanizing his call to enter the ministry.
For Steven and Terri Myers, the call to service led not only to his work as a student pastor, but also to their service with the International Mission Board (IMB).
Steven said he felt a call to ministry in 1998, after which he attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Then, he served three years as student pastor at Candies Creek Baptist Church, in Charleston, Tenn.
In 2006, the couple were deployed by IMB to Central Asia. They returned to the United States in May 2008. Steven has since been seeking a church staff position in the Birmingham area.
Terri said growing up at Glennwood helped her learn to serve others. She saw a spirit of service exemplified by the church leadership and congregation. Then, during her studies at Dallas Baptist University, Glennwood provided a matching scholarship to help with her tuition.
Steven said the support of church members encouraged them while they were overseas.
“Glennwood has always been a blessing to us, including Sunday School classes sending us packages overseas and throwing us a baby shower when we returned, as well as being a committed prayer partner to us,” he said.
Dial credits the service of fellow Glennwood member Karl Kaetz, who taught Dial’s college Sunday School class, with inspiring him to pursue the call he felt for ministry.
“Seeing his passion ignited my own and I went from there,” Dial said.
Dial is on staff at Calcedonia with another former Glennwood member, Danny Miller. Miller has served as senior pastor of Calcedonia since April 2004.
Another member of Glennwood, Betsy Carden, also worked in missions with the IMB. From November 2003 to July 2006, Carden served in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Carden said she would like to be involved in missions again, possibly as a business professional living overseas.
She hopes to participate in another missions trip after graduating from Baylor University in December with her master’s degree.
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