Man with many titles

During the past years, Jack Wright has been known by many different names: coach, pastor, plumber, electrician, program director, carpenter, chaplain, building supervisor, chairman.
   
But one name and position encompasses them all as Wright has been serving the churches of Clarke Association for 37 years as director of missions (DOM). 
   
And those other names? Well, Wright said, they’re just part of serving his association and community.
  
Upon his retirement March 4, Wright was the longest-tenured DOM currently serving in the state, and probably one of the longest serving in the history of the state, said Steve Cloues, associate in the office of associational missions and church planting for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
   
“I’ve been in the state 20-some-odd years, and he’s always been here,” said Cloues. “He tends to do it all.”
   
Wright came to Clarke Association in 1968 after serving as associate pastor of Oakdale Baptist Church, Montgomery, for nearly seven years.
   
“When I was recommended (as Clarke DOM), I felt called to it,” Wright said, “and I just didn’t feel led to leave. I always had something else that had to be done.”
   
Those other things included building three new associational offices, presiding over associational meetings and programs, beginning a care center to provide food and clothing for those in need and serving as camp director of the association’s summer camp for students aged 9–14, Camp Morvin. 
   
Wright said when he first began as the camp’s program director during his first year as DOM, he told those in charge that he knew how to change a light bulb, knew a little about working on a car, and nothing else. But in the years since, Wright has learned how to work on plumbing and electricity, place shingles and siding, and do carpentry work.
   
He said he learned those skills by observation and took on the tasks himself with the help of some associational volunteers to save the association money.
   
The payoff for Wright has been seeing 709 children make professions of faith (including his four children who were saved) and 713 rededicate their lives to Christ.
   
Wright, who is a member of Grove Hill Baptist Church, said he has seen change in the way churches participate in associational ministries. Gone are the days of the great, association-wide Brotherhood and Sunday School organizational meetings. In their places have come churches with their own ministries.
   
“We’ve redirected community missions to the churches,” Wright said.
   
He said so many people are busy with so many activities such as Little League and Dixie Youth Football that it is hard to gather a large group together at one time.
   
So ministries like the association’s Care Center have extended their reach into the churches. Wright said about two years ago the idea for a community emergency fund grew out of the Care Center. Funded by donations from churches, the fund helps those in need pay their bills on a one-time basis.
   
Wright himself has reached out to the community, serving as chaplain for the state troopers, the Clarke County Sheriff’s Department and Grove Hill Hospital. He has also successfully fought against the sale of liquor in Clarke County as chairman of Citizens for Moral Responsibility, a position he plans to continue to hold.
   
Wright also reached out to the young men of Clarke County, serving as a volunteer baseball coach from 1982 until last year. He has coached at the Little League and high school levels, even leading Clarke County High School to win the Class 3A area championship as head coach in 1986.
   
“My main purpose was to help them with their personal lives and their relationships to church and ­Jesus,” he said. “I saw some wonderful things come out of it.”
   
In between all these activities, Wright even found time to be involved in the Alabama Baptist Conference of Directors of Associational Missions, serving as president-elect 1998–1999 and as president 1999–2000.
  
In 2003, Samford University honored Wright as Rural Director of Missions of the Year.
   
Wright’s leadership will be missed, according to Al Dykeman, pastor of West Bend Baptist Church, Coffeeville. “He’s on top of everything,” Dykeman said of his DOM, whom he’s known for 27 years. “Anything we needed in any area, he was willing to help us with. He’s brought Clarke Association a long way.”
   
But all this would not have been possible without one person: Wright’s wife, Shirley.
   
“She’s been my right-hand person,” Wright said. 
   
Dykeman agreed, noting that, “You can’t say anything about Jack without talking about Shirley, because she’s been a tremendous help. She’s always been active and around.”
   
Working as associational secretary and clerk, Shirley helped her husband with a number of ministries, including Camp Morvin.
   
And it seems the Wrights plan to stay active. Besides continuing their work in the community, they plan to spend time traveling and playing with grandchildren.
   
Wright will also serve as interim DOM until a new DOM is selected and plans to finish the association’s history that he began in 1980. 
   
“I’m glad he’s staying in this area,” Dykeman said. “He’s from Oklahoma, but after 37 years in Grove Hill, he’s an Alabamian.”
   
Wright has also been called as pastor of Gosport Baptist Church, Whatley. Wright preached there in 1979 and was asked back as guest preacher. That expanded into serving as interim pastor for the past 25 years. On March 6, the day after his retirement celebration at Grove Hill Baptist Church, Gosport called Wright as pastor and he accepted, agreeing to lead the church’s bimonthly services.
   
And although he has plenty to keep him busy, Wright said there is plenty he will miss about being DOM. 
   
“Looking back, I wonder where all the time went,” he said. “You can’t spend 37 years doing something you like to do and get paid for it and not miss it.”