Gary Woods, 63, of Dora believes his mission is to help others. He became a Christian and joined his church in 1969 and has served as deacon, head deacon and vice moderator or moderator for business meetings, among other responsibilities. He is a construction discipline lead at Southern Company for Alabama Power.
Ministry description: Helper
Church: Dora Second Missionary Baptist Church in Walker Baptist Association
Life verse: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
Describe where you focus your greatest ministry efforts. Calling shut-ins and others; checking on widows and widowers, former pastors and the spouse of each; making repairs for the church and people in the community; putting out hand sanitizer; checking to see that the FM 88.3 connection works properly for those listening to the sermon broadcast.
Q: Who was or is one of the most influential people in your faith life? Why?
A: The most would probably be George (G.W.) Campbell. To go with that would be a couple of pastors and their wives: Ray and Sue Key and Frank and Pat McCowen. And the other would be my mother, Helen Woods. She used to be the WMU director and the Vacation Bible School director.
Q: Tell about a “turning point” in your life and how God was involved.
A: When I learned to be in church for all services, not just pick and choose when I was going. Not to go hunting and fishing instead of going to church. When I learned to also give my tithes, whether I was at church or not. When I had children, one of the best pieces of advice I got at that time was, “Don’t go anywhere you can’t take your kids.” This got me focused on being involved in church and staying involved. God has richly blessed me in many ways with family and friends and material things.
Q: What has God been teaching you lately?
A: Patience and giving back. To reach out to others to continue to learn from them or to help them.
Q: If there were one thing you could tell your younger self about faith, what would it be?
A: I would like to tell my younger self a lot of things. Not to take things for granted about people knowing how to live for Christ. Because we live in America, (we think all people) know about Jesus. But it’s just head knowledge, not heart knowledge. (I would tell myself) to be more dedicated to the Lord.
Q: Have you ever read a book or heard a song that changed the way you think about God and faith? What was it and what did you learn from it?
A: “In His Steps” — it shows how we overlook people less fortunate. We wind up, maybe not intentionally, looking at people as “how are they going to help me or the church” instead of letting the Lord determine how they are going to contribute.
Q: Does your church have any special traditions that mean a lot to you? What are they?
A: Our church always has a very welcoming spirit to love each other. (When) visitors come in, we try to welcome them. At our homecoming we have hundreds of people who come back who have attended our church and moved on … and are helping in other places. Some are preachers; some are teachers; one is a director of an association now. We also distribute fruit baskets every Christmas to shut-ins. This ministry has really grown and been a blessing for all involved.
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