When Buddy Nelson asked his college sweetheart, Becky, to marry him, she said “yes” to being a banker’s wife. But by the time they got married, she said “I do” to being a pastor’s wife.
And after 41 years in the ministry, Buddy Nelson retired as pastor of First Baptist Church, McClellan, in Anniston, on Jan. 31.
While he was earning his bachelor’s degree at Samford University in Birmingham, Nelson realized God was calling him into the ministry but resisted the pull because he and his future wife were both pastors’ kids.
“I knew what that glass house looked like,” he said with a laugh, but he soon accepted God’s call and earned a master of divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
In addition to First, McClellan, Nelson served as youth minister for First Baptist Church, Birmingham, and as pastor of Liberty Baptist Church, Leitchfield, Kentucky; First Baptist Church, Oxford; and Riverchase Baptist Church, Hoover.
Serving at First, McClellan, for more than 11 years, Nelson said of his time there, “It’s been one of the most rewarding ministries that I’ve been involved in. … It’s been a wonderful experience to just walk with this group and see it become a very healthy church.”
The couple remains members of First, McClellan, and are remaining open to whatever “new adventure” God has in store. They have two children and three grandchildren.
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