English
Korean
Spanish
I’ve been the pastor of Smyrna Baptist Church [in Atlanta, Texas] for more than 38 years. This is the first church, and the only church, I’ve pastored.
I wasn’t raised in church. In fact, I can probably count on one hand how many times I was in church prior to junior high. But when I was a freshman in high school, I used to walk the streets of Algerita, Texas [near San Saba]. I knew my parents loved me. I loved my brothers and my sister, but there was such a gnawing inside of me and I would just walk. I started running around with some kids who just loved each other, and they laughed all the time. They saw delight and joy in so many things. In order to be with them, I started going to church. And over a period of months, I gained knowledge of God’s love for me, of my problem—which was sin—and God’s solution, which was Jesus.
One Sunday morning, I was sitting by one of these young ladies and when the invitation started, I had such a pull within me that I started shuffling my feet and fidgeting. The young lady stepped out into the middle aisle to let me out and I went up and talked to Brother Powers and told him I needed to be saved. He sent me back with the deacon. He didn’t share any Scripture, but he said, “Gene, if you will ask Jesus to forgive you of your sin and take control of your life and be your Lord and Savior, He will save you just like that.” And as much as I understood, I did.
You know, I share with folks that when you trust Christ, it doesn’t mean everything is going to be OK. That very next year, my dad died of cancer. Our family just kind of fell apart. I lived with my older brother, I lived with my older sister, I lived with an aunt. Through all this I’d gotten out of church. I was miserable. But still, God reminded me, “You are not your own. You’ve been bought at a price.”
My senior year, I had a family that just loved me back into the church and a pastor who started meeting with me to talk about spiritual growth, about discipleship, prayer, and studying God’s Word. And I started growing.
My second year of junior college, I felt God calling me into the ministry. I thought I would be the oldest youth minister in Texas. I’d served full-time at First Baptist Liberty City for four years when my pastor, Bruce Wells, asked me one day, “Gene, what is God saying to you? What’s God doing in your life?” I answered that I loved serving the church, but I felt like something was missing. He asked if God might be changing my calling.
I asked, “Can He do that?” And he said, “You knucklehead! You know He can.” He counseled me to pray about it. I did and God confirmed a call to the preaching ministry that summer.
I stayed there another year and a half. When Bruce went on a visit, I went with him. When he visited someone who was lost, I was with him. He tried to teach me everything that a pastor should do, and the things a pastor should never do. I really believe that’s why I’ve been here at Smyrna [so long], because there was a foundation laid.
“God was faithful to always call to me and say, ‘Come and join me on what I’m doing and trust me even though you don’t understand what I’m doing.’ That is the one thing that really, really stands out.”
My wife, Celeta, and I have raised our family here at Smyrna. We have four children and 11 grandchildren. And for our time in Atlanta, we’ve lived in a parsonage. Currently, we are building a home of our own.
This church has had problems like any other church. Because there’s a trust and a compassion from the congregation to the pastor and the pastor to the congregation, we’ve weathered some crazy things together. But God has always been the focus, and He has walked us right through.
I’ve learned that God is faithful, that regardless of the circumstances, regardless of whether I understood or not, God was faithful to always call to me and say, “Come and join me on what I’m doing and trust me even though you don’t understand what I’m doing.” That is the one thing that really, really stands out.
One advantage of staying in one church for a long time is you truly come to know the heart of your people, and they come to know your heart. I tell our folks all the time, “Y’all, if you’re coming because of the pastor, then you’re here for the wrong reason.” It’s never for any person except the Lord Jesus Christ. If we keep our focus on Him, then we’re going to find harmony in the church and will know the purpose for which God has called us—and that is to make Christ known.
Want to share a story of what God is doing in your life or your church?
