Shelby DOM retiring, preparing for next phase of ministry

For Charles Stroud, associational ministry is the work of a team, not one man. It takes the heart of a missionary, which is why Stroud prefers the title associational missionary instead of director of missions. Above all, associational ministry needs to be based on prayer, he said.
   
These philosophies have helped him through 17 years of ministry as director of missions (DOM) of Shelby Baptist Association. 
   
And Dec. 31, Stroud will continue practicing those as he begins three months of prayer seeking God’s will for his retirement.
   
Stroud said he and his wife, Mildred, plan to take life “at a slower pace” as they look to fulfill God’s work for their retirement years. Stroud is looking at ministries that range from supply preaching to helping other directors of missions to volunteer missionary work with the International Mission Board. 
   
He will also have his work cut out for him as president of the Alabama Baptist Conference of Directors of Associational Missions. Even though he is retiring, Stroud said the group is “letting him stay on.”
   
Before he begins this new phase of life, however, Stroud is continuing the work of Shelby Association and teaching his successor, Hugh Richardson, all about it.
   
“The (first) day I came here, I felt smaller and smaller,” Richardson said. “It’s a large ministry and I’m just grateful we have a larger God.”
   
On Jan. 1, he will begin leading a ministry that has had years to develop under Stroud’s leadership.
   
Those years have been filled with the expansion of the association’s ministries, development of its churches and the beginning of a prayer network that has helped sustain and connect its diverse network of churches. “None of these churches can develop their ministry … or grow … without a strong prayer base,” Stroud said. “I want to help (Shelby Association) churches really have a major prayer ministry and to model that as an association.”
   
This principle has taken root through the work of the association’s Intercessory Prayer Ministry.
   
Begun Sept. 27, 2001, the network employs a group of about 70 volunteers from churches associationwide. These volunteers pray in the associational office’s prayer room for one hour one Thursday a month, totaling 12 hours of prayer every Thursday. Stroud said the ministry does not stop except for Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, if the holiday falls on a Thursday.
   
Richardson has already been the recipient of the benefits of this ministry, as participants send prayergrams to those for whom they pray.
   
Since his election as DOM, Richardson said he’s received several of these. “It’s encouraging to have folks say they’re praying for you,” Richardson said.
   
One of Stroud’s most enjoyable moments in associational ministry also came about through prayer. He prayer walked to every one of Shelby Association’s 63 churches, carrying greetings and prayer to celebrate the association’s 150th anniversary.
   
Stroud said he walked 240 miles in 17 days to build a sense of connection between the association’s diverse churches. Geographically the association stretches from growing Helena to rural Vincent to college-town Montevallo, so its churches are in all stages of growth and demographic areas.
   
Since his marathon prayer walk, Stroud has seen “more of an endeavor to work together. The churches have really taken up the concept of (Shelby Association) as their Jerusalem.”
   
That concept is one Stroud has desired to grow in the churches since he came to Shelby Association in 1988. “I really wanted to help the churches grow and develop in ministry,” Stroud said. “(Serving as DOM) has been an opportunity to assist churches in carrying out their mission in Jerusalem — to enlarge their ministry beyond the local church.” 
   
This expansion can be seen in the association’s four spheres of ministry. Developed through triannual strategy-planning retreats involving pastors, associational leaders and staff, these spheres are: church and community ministries, new work ministry, language mission ministries and family life ministries.
   
Stroud said the first two spheres have been well developed during the past 11 years. With 100 percent of Shelby Association’s churches participating in at least one of the association’s 23 ministries, he said variety and volunteers are key to the ministries’ successes.
   
“Each church can identify in at least one way or another with the ministries of the association,” Stroud said. “This is the (churches’) ministry; we just coordinate it on an associational level.”
   
Debbie Snyder, Shelby Association church and community ministries director, also credits Stroud’s leadership for the ministries’ successes. “Brother Charles is a yes person,” Snyder said. “He has said, ‘Yes,’ to what God has wanted him to do at every turn.”
   
One ministry area Stroud said yes to was that of family life ministries. Born out of work during his sabbatical, this encourages churches to help pastors meet the needs of their own families. “So many pastors have a challenging time,” he said. “Their family life suffers because of their responsibilities to their church.” 
   
Stroud experienced this during his 30 years as a pastor, first in Cincinnati, then at four Alabama Baptist churches before becoming DOM. During this time, he and his first wife, Betty, who passed away in 1998, raised three sons.
   
Stroud studied at Samford University’s Resource Center for Pastoral Excellence and gathered other resources to develop concepts that the associational leadership has been working to incorporate into the association and its churches.
   
Although Stroud and his associational team have accomplished much, much is left to be done, he said. But Stroud feels he is leaving the work in good hands. “I’m sure (Hugh) will enrich the ministries and maybe develop more ministries,” Stroud said. ”A good, solid foundation has been laid, and the association will continue to grow.”
   
In his last column in the association’s newsletter, Stroud said he believes the best is yet to come, both for the association and himself. “I’ve always been very optimistic,” Stroud said. “I really do feel like the best days are ahead.”