MADISON ASSOCIATION
When Grace Akin was 43, her church — Westlawn Baptist, Huntsville — asked her to consider taking a job there as secretary and financial secretary.
She and her husband, Jim, had arrived there with their family eight years before, returning to the arsenal after he’d been stationed in Germany. They “fell in love” with the church when they visited it in 1967.
And when her husband died after returning from the Vietnam War, Akin found Westlawn to be a comforting home for her and her children.
“I told them I would consider the job, but if I wasn’t doing it well, they should let me know,” Akin said. “And I told them I would let them know if I felt like it wasn’t what God was calling me to.”
Fast forward 43 years, and Akin has spent exactly half of her life in that role, which she says is “not a job but a ministry.”
“I’ve enjoyed it and grown with it,” she said. “It’s such a sweet, loving church family, and I’ve loved the community and meeting and helping other people.”
Akin retired at the end of February, but she quickly told her congregation she isn’t leaving the church, just the office.
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” she said. “This is where we as a family stayed, and we never doubted that this is where the Lord brought us.”
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