Vance pastor finds niche with after-school Bible clubs

Wanted: a full-time seminary student who can serve as a father to a 2-year-old, a pastor of a church and an administrator for a growing after-school Bible club program.”
   
That wasn’t exactly what the want ad said when Brian Carroll pulled the flier from his mailbox at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School, but that’s what his life became when he took the advertised job with Discovery Clubs of Alabama (DCA) in December.
   
The memory makes Carroll laugh. “I guess you could say I became a trivocational pastor when I took on this position.”
   
Carroll, DCA mission development director, juggles a full course load at Beeson with his third year of serving as pastor of Vance Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa Association and spending time with his wife, Heather, and 2-year-old son, Gabe.
   
“It’s busy,” Carroll said. “My palm pilot is my best friend.”
   
But he quickly added that he loves it — though his life is a balancing act, all of his passions for ministry play into the mix in one form or another.
   
“Some who were close to me told me they saw gifts in me for the pastorate, but even though I felt I was to do that, I was still figuring out exactly what I was called to do,” Carroll said. “Then I learned Discovery Clubs was looking for a pastor to do this (administrative and promotional) side of the ministry.”
   
Before attending Beeson and accepting the Vance pastorate, Carroll spent more than five years working as director of a Boys and Girls Club in Cedartown, Ga.
   
After that, the position at DCA made sense, he said. “It incorporates everything I’ve ever done, plus my passions for administration, missions and working with children.”
   
During the 20–25 hours he’s on the DCA clock each week, he facilitates existing clubs and makes visits and phone calls to pastors who might be willing to help start new ones.
   
“Our vision is that churches will embrace the opportunity to minister to the students and will work with them on the level of building and relationships,” Carroll said. “That’s the ideal. We want to take hold of this chance to spread the gospel in our public schools.”