Harold Lamar Sellers, executive director of missions for Madison Baptist Association, died Sept. 23. He was 74.
It is the second loss of a director of missions (DOM) that Madison Association has experienced in less than three years. Sellers became interim DOM in March 2009, after DOM John Long’s sudden death. The association’s executive board unanimously elected Sellers executive DOM in May 2009, according to a Huntsville Times report.
“While we were shocked by his death, we reflect on his few years in Alabama,” Gary Swafford, director of the office of associational missions and church planting for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said of Sellers. “In God’s timing, Harold Sellers arrived in Huntsville, got involved in the prayer ministry of the Madison Baptist Association and earned the love and respect of the associational leaders and beyond.
“God prepared this man to fill the gap at the sudden death of the director of missions, John Long,” Swafford continued. “Harold served extremely well for over three years and had recently announced his retirement. We were blessed by his excellent leadership and thank the Lord for sending this man of prayer for such a time as this.”
Ron Lynch, church ministries director for Madison Association, said Sellers served the association well. “Harold was a strong leader, a leader that had integrity. He loved serving. He was somebody that loved people and loved preaching. He was a great example to folks,” Lynch said. “He was a dear friend, someone we enjoyed working with. He will be missed.”
Sellers’ ministry spanned more than 50 years, with pastorates in Alabama and Texas. He had a heart for police officers, serving as chaplain to police departments in Huntsville, Ala., and Rosenberg, Texas.
Postings to the Times’ online funeral notice “guest book” give evidence of his ministry’s impact and expanse. The book holds comments of individuals from Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Georgia.
Notice of Sellers’ death also appears on the home page of Colorado Baptist Association in Wharton, Texas. The site notes that he was associate director of Coastal Plains Baptist Area (a partnership of Colorado Association and San Felipe Baptist Association in Rosenberg, Texas) from 1984 to 1986. Sellers was its director from 1987 until his retirement at the end of 2004.
He earned his college degree from Houston Baptist University. Sellers was a member of First Baptist Church, Meridianville. He previously served as interim pastor of Bethany Baptist Church, Huntsville.
He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Margaret; two children; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. (TAB)
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