By Cynthia Walker Watts
The Alabama Baptist
As a young man Mike Carlisle felt God calling him into ministry. When his first sermon ended up being a total of 10 minutes he decided preaching wasn’t for him.
Mike was good at marching to his own drum. The Cincinnati, Ohio, native was a drummer with his own band in high school and sold his drum set to pay for his first semester in college.
He met Judy Allen on his first day at Campbellsville College in Kentucky. Judy was from Liberty, Kentucky, loved learning and majored in biology.
He preached that first sermon as a college student but then fought God’s call for years. After he and Judy married Mike dropped out of school to support their family and found he was very successful in cable TV management.
Encounter with God
But one night while he was driving a long, lonely stretch of road on his way home from a business trip Mike felt God clearly saying, “You’ve been hiding but I have found you.”
The same night Mike had the intense encounter with God, he went to his pastor and shared how he felt. The pastor said if Mike felt the same way the next morning to come back. Mike felt God’s hand on him even more the next day. He then quit his job and he and Judy enrolled at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. In one day he was admitted to seminary, found a house for their family, which now included 3 sons, and got a job writing for the Home Mission Board (now the North American Mission Board, NAMB).
They later moved to the Atlanta area where Mike served as vice president of strategic communications then vice president of missions and mobilization of NAMB.
In 2006, NAMB sent the Carlisles to San Diego for a Strategic Focus City evangelism emphasis.
Three years later Mike and Judy shifted their work to lead Vision San Diego, a nonprofit organization connecting businesses, schools, government, faith communities and other organizations to implement programs in San Diego County. That role positioned Mike for associational leadership.
He became director of missions (DOM) for the San Diego Southern Baptist Association (SDSBA) in 2012 and Judy came onboard as director of ministry operations, discipleship and missions.
The Carlisles have been a team in life and ministry for 57 years and their hearts are to see churches work in cooperation and truly “be the Church.”
SDSBA has 195 churches. As DOM, Mike describes his work built on four big rocks.
Built on rocks
The first rock is the associational governing body. Previously the board was all of the pastors plus one other person from each church. Now it is a board of 15 members who rotate every three years.
The second rock is communication. In addition to the SDSBA.net website, which features ministry information and training opportunities, the association has an engaging news-oriented website, San Diego Today (www.sandiegotoday.news), which features news about San Diego churches, Baptist life, discipleship and missions along with local sports and tourist information.
The third rock is preschool. The Carlisles know that to reach children and young families they need to offer preschool ministries and day care programs in the churches. The association has hired a staff member to work with the churches in building these programs.
To help the churches operate the ministries SDSBA pays the rent on the space, hires and manages staff and prepares payroll.
The final rock is discipleship or D-Groups. Ongoing training and encouragement are provided to pastors and leaders to enable them to lead disciple-making churches.
The SDSBA arranges monthly pastor training opportunities and works with 30 Southern Baptist
Spanish-speaking churches seeking the Holy Spirit’s guidance in how and where they can meet the most needs.
Judy Carlisle focuses on team building, enlisting and training leaders and mentoring pastors’ wives while “keeping my heart and ears open,” she says.
And in everything they do, the Carlisles say they keep one goal at the forefront — “to make disciples who make disciples.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Mike Carlisle also serves as president of the California Director of Missions Fellowship.
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