After directing more than 20 Easter pageants, 1,700 choir practices and 6,500 pieces of music, Rick Willis, longtime minister of music at Bellevue Baptist Church, Gadsden, has resigned.
A graduate of Mississippi College in Clinton and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Willis holds a bachelor’s degree in music and a master’s degree in church music.
He served at two Florida churches before moving to Gadsden to serve as minister of music and youth at Bellevue Baptist in 1984. Since that time, his title has shifted to minister of music and then to associate pastor and minister of music and education.
Willis also has performed more than 35 wedding ceremonies, several of which were former students he led as youth minister.
He and his wife of 40 years, Judy, will move to Georgia to be closer to their daughter and grandchildren, but Willis will not be immediately starting a new position.
“We just felt a strong moving in the Lord that it was time for us to move in another direction,” Willis said, noting that he is too young to retire just yet.
His last Sunday at Bellevue was Feb. 22 and the church honored the couple with a reception.
Share with others: