Harold Hancock is retiring as missions minister from First Baptist Church, Montgomery, where he has served since 1989.
“Missions is my passion,” Hancock said of his work. In fact, he and his wife, Helen, served as missionaries in South Korea with the then-Foreign (now International) Mission Board from 1971 until 1980. His background was in music ministry, so he worked as a church music promoter among Korean Baptist churches. “I look upon it as God let me be a church musician so I could be a missionary.”
He took First, Montgomery, from sending one missions team per year to sending 40 per year, according to Kenny Hoomes, associate pastor for spiritual maturity/senior adults at the Montgomery Baptist Association church. “We’ve had teams on five different continents at the same time,” he said. The church, where Jay Wolf serves as pastor, has sent teams to Congo, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Guatemala, Cuba, Colombia, Brazil, Thailand, South Korea, China, Ukraine, Czech Republic and England, among other places.
“I’ve personally been in 60 countries,” Hancock said. “God has blessed me greatly just to see the world and see the lostness of the world.” In all this, his wife has worked by his side. He celebrated 50 years in the ministry this fall, and the couple will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in the spring.
Retirement doesn’t mean the Hancocks will be spending much time in their rocking chairs though. The two have launched a missions partnership with Sequoia Community Church, Ottawa, to provide missions support through the Eastern Canada Mission Center. (TAB)
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