When Garry Ragsdale first came to Mount Zion Baptist Church, Alexandria, in 1989 he was the church’s only staff member.
“It would take me two hours just to sort through the mail every week,” he recalls with a laugh.
Now the church is a thriving hub of evangelism — in the past 30 years, they’ve celebrated nearly 2,700 baptisms and built new educational space, a new worship center and a building for middle school and high school worship.
They’ve been doing Evangelism Explosion for 30 years and every fall 35 to 40 teams get ready to go out and share the gospel again.
Roger Willmore, director of missions for Calhoun Baptist Association, said it’s an amazing story.
“Garry is homegrown,” he said. “He came to a little country church and has grown it into one of the largest in our association. He has stayed the course.”
The church celebrated Ragsdale’s three decades of ministry Feb. 3 with a tea in the Family Life Center. The event was attended by friends and family, as well as current and past members, many of which have gone on to leadership positions in other churches.
It’s been a wonderful 30 years, Ragsdale said. “The Lord has just blessed and blessed.” (Grace Thornton)
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