We shared Velma Sebring’s story in 2004, 2013 and again in 2017. It only seemed right to keep honoring her legacy — nearly right up until she died in June at 99 years old, she was setting records for faithfulness.
She started teaching Sunday School in 1942 at age 17, and she kept going until she was 98. The last 66 of those years were spent at Center Point Baptist Church, Scottsboro.
And over the years, she led many people to follow Christ.
“I just say, ‘Lord, thank You.’ And then all you can do is cry, just cry. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it,” Sebring said when she was honored in 2017 for 74 years of teaching.
That year, Kirk Griggs, Sunday School director for Center Point Baptist, said, “Ms. Velma’s faithfulness has been an inspiration to generations at Center Point. Teaching Sunday School for 74 years means 74 years of faithfulness. She is an example to me and to all of our wonderful Sunday School teachers. Perhaps most of all, she still teaches with a smile on her face and joy in her heart. She is a true jewel.”
When Sebring first started teaching, she was “terrified,” she said back in 2017. She had only “pretend” taught her six younger siblings on the wagon in her family barn.
But she felt drawn to ministry.
“I used to think, ‘Well, maybe I will be a missionary.’ Really and truly we are all missionaries,” she said.
So Sebring moved from the wagon to under a tree.
“The church (Randall’s Chapel United Methodist Church, Scottsboro) just had one room, so we went across the road under this little tree and sat on the ground,” she said in 2004. “As I remember, I think the only Bible we had was the New Testament.”
She passed along her legacy to her family, including great-granddaughter Reagan Wallace, who started teaching Sunday School at 13 years old.
Over the years, Sebring invited people to Sunday School and kept inviting.
“I’ve never had a thought of quitting,” she said. “If the Lord gives it to you, be willing to share it.”
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