When David Tew became pastor of First Baptist Church, Madison, the church was just over 100 years old. The young pastor and his wife, Melody, had one small child. Now Rachael is 19 and a sophomore at Samford. She has two brothers, Wesley, 16, and Jonathan, 10.
Tew came to Madison well versed in Baptist life, having grown up in a pastor’s family.
His father, Earl Tew, has served Baptists on several levels: director of missions for Birmingham Association, 12 years; pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church, Birmingham, 21 years; several other pastorates throughout the state; eight years as a board member of the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) and first vice president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention. For the past five years, he has been serving as the pastor of First Baptist Church, Hoover.
All three children in the family answered a call to Baptist work.
The Tews’ only daughter, Delane, served 12 years as a missionary in Japan and five years with the national Woman’s Missionary Union auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention. Now she teaches history at Judson College, the state Baptist women’s school. The Tews’ other son, Mark, serves as Judson’s executive vice president.
Madison’s pastor Tew noted American culture and churches have had several decades of change.
“Churches have to work harder today to build a common foundational Christian doctrine,” Tew said. “A significant part is understanding who you are and why you believe what you believe. If we don’t teach that to them, they won’t know. It is not a part of shared culture now.”
Keeping informed
“Today people need to be well informed,” he said. “There are not many ways people can be kept informed about religious life in Alabama. You certainly can’t do it yourself.”
Tew said the state Baptist paper plays an important role in helping churches with this task. His church provides the paper to every family.
“The Alabama Baptist becomes the way of saying, ‘This is who Alabama Baptists are.’ This is an important tool by which we teach what it means to be a Baptist,” he said. “The more they know about Baptists, the stronger we are going to be as a congregation.”
Tew said the paper helps draw connecting lines between churches and institutions. Its news stories give Baptists a common place to start in discussing things, he added.
“I believe the more people know, the better they serve,” he said. “Part of that has to do with just trusting the laity.
“It is a wise pastor who doesn’t try to screen people from knowing what is happening elsewhere.”
For about three years First, Madison, has used a local edition of The Alabama Baptist to deliver its newsletter. “It is economical and efficient,” Tew said. “We are producing a high-quality newsletter, and it is costing us less money. We spend much less time doing it. We are getting very good value for our money.”
In the 17 years since Tew came to Madison, the town near Huntsville has undergone remarkable growth. First, Madison, has responded with new programs and buildings. The current sanctuary and additional educational space was completed two and a half years ago. The sanctuary seats 450 to 500 comfortably, and two morning services are held.
“This has been a very rewarding 17 years,” Tew said. “It is a very caring church” that has brought “the richest blessings.”
He points to the lengthy tenure of staffers Mark and Mary Jo Gessner (15 years) and secretary Elizabeth Bridges (11 years).
Caring community
“That says a lot about the quality of lay leadership and the caring community that First Baptist has established,” Tew said.
“Our biggest challenge is continuing to adapt our ministry to a rapidly changing community,” he said. “It affects the way we do outreach, the ministries we offer and the approaches that we take.
“The vast majority of people moving to Madison these days are not looking for a church,” he noted. “We have to take the initiative in presenting ourselves to them. We have to get out the message of the church. Still, the irreducible way is people bringing people — personal relationships.”
The church enjoys a good working relationship with Madison Baptist Association. Responding to the growing number of Koreans in the area, connections were made through the association to get a Korean congregation started at the church last January.
“The Korean congregation has been very exciting and interesting to work with,” Tew said. “I continue to be excited about how much it energizes the church to be in partnership with the association.”
When 50 Baptists from the association went on a nine-day missions trip to Philadelphia in June, nine of the participants were members of Madison First Baptist. The group helped a Ukrainian church provide sessions of Vacation Bible School and did construction work in inner-city row houses.
The Madison church also teams up with other local churches to support The Vine Pastoral Counseling Center, which has two full-time professional counselors and three who work part time. The church provides administrative space and is one of four counseling sites.
Combining Baptist distinctives with a spirit of cooperation, First, Madison, is building a strong congregation of members who are better prepared to serve.
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