Retired Gordo pastor leaves legacy

On the first Sunday in September, Hershel Owen and his wife, Kaye, sat in a pew of a church in Branson, Mo., listening to the preacher speak. It was a beautiful morning and Owen said the preaching was good.
   
“But I felt like I had left off part of my clothes or something,” he said with a laugh. It was the first Sunday in more than 40 years that Owen had not preached a sermon.
   
On the last Sunday in August, he retired as pastor of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Gordo, a position he held for 34 years. Before that, he was pastor of  two other small churches in Hale County and Tuscaloosa. 
   
Even when he left one church to go to another, Owen said he never missed a Sunday at the pulpit. Family vacations always began after church on Sunday and went through the following Saturday.
   
“It’s just my own conviction as the leader of the church to set an example,” he said. “To be in my place on the Lord’s day is very, very important.”
   
Though he has retired, Owen hasn’t exactly given up the pulpit. He has served as a guest preacher every Sunday since he returned from Branson, and he has no intention of slowing down.
   
“The word retire may be incorrect,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve retired as much as just changed directions. I don’t plan to just go fishing and sit around.
   
“I still study and prepare a message each week,” said Owen. “I don’t know what is God’s will for me, but I know it’s time to do something else.”
   
His departure saddened some church members, like deacon Rickey Reece, who had come to depend on Owen’s guidance and leadership.
   
“You knew that he was going to be there every Sunday, no matter what,” said Reece.
Owen officiated at the wedding of Reece and his wife, Karen, and baptized the Reeces’ two children at Mount Pleasant.
   
Though he understands and supports Owen’s decision to leave, deacon Toby Kelley said it has been difficult for the church.
   
“Most of us have never known another preacher,” he said, noting that the church last searched for a new minister 35 years ago.
   
“Nobody really knows what to do,” Kelley said. “We’ve never looked for a new preacher.”
But Kelley said he knows Owen is listening to God and following His prompting.
   
“He wants to do what God wants him to do, and we understand that,” he said. “He’s just a great man, and he’s been like family to all of us.”