Roy Cordle said he was around 16 when the Holy Spirit started working on him about becoming a pastor. He preached his first sermon in August 1967 at the church where his father served as pastor — Mount Pisgah Baptist, Pell City. He was working simultaneously at a local supermarket, where he worked his way up from bag boy to manager — a job he said God used to prepare him to relate to people, even difficult ones.
“You’ve never felt the wrath of anyone until you smash a lady’s loaf of bread,” he said with a laugh.
Over those years, God affirmed Cordle’s call to ministry. He earned two bachelor’s degrees, a master’s degree and two doctoral degrees, all the while serving as a bivocational pastor. He served at a number of Alabama Baptist churches, including First Baptist, DeArmanville; Calvary Baptist, Oxford; and Louis Street Baptist, Gadsden.
He “retired” from Riddles Bend Baptist Church, Rainbow City, a few years back, but five months after moving back to Anniston, he accepted an interim pastor position at New Haven Baptist Church. Five years later, he was still their pastor, then he accepted the call to Refuge Baptist Church, Lincoln, where he’s been for the past three years.
Maintaining long relationships, seeing people come to faith and seeing the fruit of Bible study — those have been Cordle’s “greatest joys,” he said.
Refuge Baptist honored his 50 years in ministry with a plaque and a luncheon in August. Cordle and his wife, Joan, have one married daughter, Jacque, and a granddaughter. (Grace Thornton)
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