‘Pastors don’t ever really retire’

Pastors don’t ever really retire — at least that’s what Jim Ham, interim pastor of Shepherd Baptist Church, Fayette, says.

After 23 years of serving churches as a full-time pastor, Ham retired Jan. 1, 1988. Although he didn’t know exactly what was ahead, he trusted that God had a plan for his retirement.

God had always had a plan for his life — Ham knew this was true. When he was 38, Ham surrendered to the call to preach, spent the next few years in school at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and then served five churches in Mississippi and Louisiana during his career as a pastor.

When he retired and moved with his wife, Billie, to Northport, Ham embarked on the next phase of God’s plan — he was asked to serve as interim pastor at a Tuscaloosa church. That was the beginning of a series of 17 interim pastorates in the 17 years after his “retirement.”

Of the more than 3,200 Southern Baptist churches in Alabama, approximately 300 will be in transition at any time, and most of those will hire an interim pastor, according to Dale Huff, director of the office of LeaderCare and church administration for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. That interim pastor, Huff said, sometimes deals with a congregation experiencing a range of problems including anger, bitterness and discouragement.

Ham said he has faced many of those problems as interim pastor in several churches that were experiencing difficulties. He said his method of assisting those churches was “to try in the power of Jesus to exhibit God’s love for them and for their church. They would just gradually begin to love Jesus more and love each other more, and somehow some of the bitterness would go.”

Getting a church past the bitterness, Ham said, is essential for the church to grow and move forward. “If people get to where they put Jesus first, most everything else will take care of itself,” he said.

Showing love is a favorite topic for Ham. In every church he has served, he made an effort to know everyone in the church and express friendliness and hospitality to them. One way Ham did that was to quickly learn names. He made it a practice to arrive at church on Sunday mornings before the congregation gathered. He would enlist the help of a few deacons, and as people approached the church, he depended on the deacons to help him learn names. Before long, he would be able to personally call the names of every church member.

Huff agreed that it is important for an interim pastor to quickly connect with church members. In fact, he said the interim pastor is sometimes jokingly referred to as the “faster pastor” because an average interim term is only about nine months.

Ham also takes the time to visit those in need. He visits church members who are sick or in the hospital or nursing home. He said he believes those personal contacts help him show love to the church family.

In 2000, Ham’s wife died after an extended illness. He spent the year before her death caring for her full time and had not accepted an interim position. Two months after her death, however, Ham began preaching at a church in Fayette Baptist Association. He said the kindness of the people and the blessings he received during those first months after his wife’s death were so meaningful to him and helped him get through one of the most difficult times of his life.

Three years ago, Ham moved to Fayette and continued to accept interim positions in both Tuscaloosa Baptist Association as well as Fayette Association, including Shepherd Baptist. With so many interim pastorates during the past few years, Ham enjoys friendships with people in both associations.

Whenever someone says they have heard good things about him, he responds with a laugh, “Well I started most of those rumors myself, you know.”

Larry Barnes, director of missions for Fayette Association, said Ham “possesses a remarkable blending of experience, wisdom, relational skills and anointed preaching. This God-given combination has enabled him to experience great fruitfulness during his ‘retirement’ years.”

Ham said he expects to serve as an interim pastor or supply preacher as long as his health permits. “I don’t feel like I’ve done a whole lot,” he said. “It’s just that I’ve always been blessed to be where God was doing something.”