Mobile’s Walters to retire after 50-plus years in ministry

James Walters was 16 years old when he first stepped into the pulpit at Hephzibah Baptist Church, Troy, to preach the gospel. Over the past 50 years, he has not strayed from that calling. 
  
Now Walters is preparing for the next phase of his ministry after announcing his December retirement from First Baptist Church, Mobile, in Mobile Baptist Association, where he has served as pastor for 22 years.
  
Raised in Troy, Walters received a preaching license during his senior year in high school. His feelings about becoming a minister were confirmed by his English teacher who told him he was gifted for the ministry and his mother who did not reveal her feelings until his decision was made.
  
“I was born a premature baby at home, weighing a little over 3 pounds, and was close to death,” Walters said. “My mother prayed that if the Lord would save me that she would dedicate me to the ministry, but she never told me that until I made the decision to preach.”
  
After graduating from high school, Walters began attending Howard College (now Samford University) in Birmingham, where he had more preaching opportunities. 
  
“I did supply preaching and participated in H-Days, where students would go out and preach in different churches throughout the state,” Walters said. “It was a wonderful way for young ministers to train and get experience.”
  
Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and English in 1959, he began serving as pastor of Oak Grove Baptist Church, Pinson, while teaching math and physical education and coaching various sports at the Alabama Boys Industrial School in Roebuck. 
  
“I was working seven days a week about 10 to 12 hours every day,” Walters said. “There were times when it was tiring, but it was invigorating and fulfilling.”
  
Two years later, he began attending Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and served as assistant pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky. After earning a master of divinity degree in 1964, Walters completed a two-year internship as assistant pastor of First Baptist Church, Montgomery, and served as associate pastor of the church from 1966 to 1968. “That was a great experience to be able to start out in a church the caliber of First Baptist Church, Montgomery, under the capable leadership of Dr. J.R. White,” he said.
  
For the next 16 years, Walters served as pastor of First Baptist Church, Opp, and First Baptist Church, Clanton. In 1984, he became pastor of First, Mobile, in Mobile Baptist Association. 
  
“Moving from Clanton to First, Mobile, was moving from a strong church to a downtown, urban church, which was challenging. It was more a missions calling. I felt God leading me to that church as strong a sense of call as it was for me when I first felt the call into the ministry. It’s been a very fulfilling pastorate. It has been a church that has been ecumenical, working with other religious groups and seeking to meet the needs of an inner city.”
  
Although the church had experienced a downward membership trend since the 1960s, Walters helped it develop a strong community presence by modeling Christian compassion and ministering to people’s needs, according to deacon Gary Minton.
  
“Many downtown churches are in precarious situations because most people are moving out to the suburbs,” Minton said. “He (Walters) has maintained a strong membership and has drawn people from the Mobile area and from the eastern shore of Baldwin County. He has been a true shepherd to the people and has brought the church through a time of transition and maintained a remarkably high quality of service within and through the church.”
  
Margaret Mangham, who joined First, Mobile, in 1985, believes Walters’ leadership has developed better fellowship within the church, stronger outreach to the community and improved relationships across racial lines.
  
“He cares about people and nurturing them, and he’s interested in community ministries,” she said. “He has encouraged us to focus outside our church walls and outside our immediate membership to really look at needs in our community. He will be difficult to replace as a pastor. He is really a servant leader and has encouraged all of us to be the same.”
  
Walters is thankful for the support he has received from his various congregations and his wife, Sarah, whom he calls his “strength” and “greatest asset.” He now looks forward to the next chapter of his life. “I don’t plan to quit the ministry,” he said. “I plan to continue to be active and do some interim work or supply work — any way I can continue to serve the Lord. I’m just amazed that God can take a boy that was raised in a rural part of south Alabama and give me the opportunity to be with people in ways that maybe no other professional can be involved.”
  
The Wal­terses will move to Birmingham to be near their daughter and her family.