Walnut Hill Man Called As Pastor Of Brooks Memorial Baptist Church

April 9, 2008

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Brooks Memorial Baptist Church in Atmore has called Rev. James Boyd of Walnut Hill as their new pastor, and he is ready to go to work for the Lord.

“I am extremely excited to be called as the Brooks pastor,” Boyd said. “I have a vision and a plan for Brooks, and I am ready to go to work.”

Boyd, 64, retired about a year ago after serving as pastor at Walnut Hill Baptist Church.

“I was retired, sitting in that barber shop in Walnut Hill getting my hair cut when my cellphone rang, and it was the chairman of the deacons at Brooks asking if I would preach that Sunday,” he said. After preaching that Sunday, heerved for 10 months as the interim pastor at Brooks Memorial prior to be called as their pastor this past Sunday.

He said he was looking forward from the very beginning to serving the Lord at Brooks. He said he was glad the moment had arrived when he and his wife Ellen were standing outside the sanctuary last Sunday morning, waiting for the church to vote on their new pastor.

“When the doors opened after the vote, it was one of the most humbling experiences of my life,” he said. “They whole church just clapped for us.”

The vote? 106-0.

“I’m ready now; that vision takes me to the community and to the mission field, and with things in the church,” he said Tuesday as had lunch with 43 others at a Senior’s Luncheon at the church. “It’s about worship. Worship is not something we do. It is not something that you just do; it is something you have and experience each and every time.”

That mission field work Boyd mentioned in already underway at Brooks Memorial. Six church members just returned last week from Reynosa, Mexico, after helping to build three homes in the slums, just across the Rio Grande from McAllen, Texas.

Those missionaries will give their testimony at 6:00 this Sunday evening at the church, including a slideshow of pictures from the Mexican mission trip.

“There are just so many ways to spread the gospel,” Boyd said. “God is not nearly concerned about the technique as he is about the spreading of the gospel.”

As Brooks Memorial moves forward, Boyd said he is looking forward to working on growth in the church’s children and youth programs, and the church plans to hire a youth director in the not so distant future. And he said is looking forward to the church’s “Outrigger Island” Vacation Bible School to be held in June.

A special Commitment Ceremony where Boyd will be officially installed as the Brooks Memorial pastor will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 20, with a fellowship luncheon to follow.

The Boyds currently reside on their “Dream Acres Farm” in Walnut Hill.

Sunday School is at 9:30 every Sunday at Brooks Memorial Baptist Church on McRae Street, followed by morning worship at 10:30. Sunday evening services are at 6:00, and Wednesday evening services are at 6:30.

Boyd will preach a Spring Revival at the First Baptist Church of Century Friday and Saturday, April 25 and 26 at 6:30 and Sunday morning, April 27 at 11:00.

Pictured above: Rev. James and Ellen Boyd of Walnut Hill at Brooks Memorial Baptist Church in Atmore Tuesday afternoon. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.

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