CENTRE, Ala. (BP) – Jeff Chambers grew up at Noah Baptist Church, which sits on a hill just off County Road 16 about a half-mile east of John’s Crossroads. Fields border it on two sides. A concrete table that hosted many outdoor potlucks for homecomings and all-day singings stands in front of a pavilion. A small graveyard is out back on the other side, beyond the fellowship hall.
Long before he was the pastor there, Chambers was a kid at Noah, then a teenager, college student and young man. Messages heard in Sunday School and from the pulpit drew him into understanding that God had issued a call to ministry.
He credits a legacy that placed a high view on Scripture.
“Historically, Noah Baptist has focused on the Word of God,” said Chambers, pastor there for 15 years. “To see people called out of the church, people have got to be fed from the Word of God. When the church is not focused on Christ, that church is not going to be effective locally, regionally or globally.”
Noah represents many Southern Baptist churches. Founded in 1941, Sunday School attendance peaked at around 100 in the 1970s. Now that figure is in the 30s, but members have continued ministry through visitation and outreach efforts like Vacation Bible School while growing in other ways, such as a recent mission trip to Coldwater, Mich.
Noah’s footprint can’t be adequately measured by an attendance board like the one hanging behind its choir. It is better ascertained by the number of those who have moved forward into vocational ministry.
Perry Whorton was the first, doing so in the late 1960s and pastoring local churches in the Cherokee and Lookout Mountain Baptist associations. His nephew, Rodger Whorton, followed suit with churches in Alabama and Georgia and currently serves as an intentional interim. Doug New’s ministry included 17 years at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Carrollton, Ga., and contained the church’s greatest growth period.
The cycle repeats. Jeff McElroy, Jr., was still a baby when his dad, Jeff Sr., was Noah’s pastor, but would return as the church’s pastor for four years, preceding Chambers. Jacob, Jeff Jr.’s son who was a child at Noah, has also acknowledged a call to preach and is currently in Bible college.
Others have stepped into ministry roles outside of the pastorate.
Lloyd Borden, now in his 80s, didn’t become a preacher. He served as a deacon at Noah, though, and has led Lookout Mountain Baptist Association for the last 21 years. His son, Adam, is an evangelist who played bass for 11 years with the legendary Gold City quartet. Though not directly a ministerial role, the author of this article grew up at Noah, served as president for his college BCM, went on missions for two years through the North American Mission Board and currently serves as an elder at his church.
Sunday School attendance remains a key metric at Noah, reflecting the congregation’s discipleship focus. That number peaked under Pastor Clinton Green, who would go on to lead other churches, most notably 26 years at Pine Grove Baptist in Cartersville, Ga.
His time at Noah was influential, though, as several entered the ministry during and after his tenure.
“Clinton influenced me, as did another pastor after him, Jake Cash,” said Chambers. “Jake was uneducated, but taught himself to read and write after he was called to preach. His wife would read the Bible to him, and he would memorize it.
“He would eventually learn to read and write, but he would also stand in the pulpit and preach Scripture without even opening his Bible, sometimes. I checked him time and again and never caught him missing a verse.”
Chambers also credits his Sunday School teacher, Nancy Baker, the wife of then-pastor Joe Dale Baker, with his discipleship.
“She shaped me as a kid and was no-nonsense in the way she taught from the Bible,” he said.
Noah remains among those churches that hold Sunday evening services. It’s no longer called Training Union, but the chairman of deacons leads a Bible study that precedes worship and the sermon. His son served through the International Mission Board and met his future wife, another IMB missionary. The couple went on to attend New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is preparing to return to the mission field. The deacon chair and his son’s name are being withheld for security purposes.
Chambers points to the advantages of a smaller church, where people can tell whether or not you’re growing in the Lord and help is a phone call away. Roles become defined and honed, like a ladies’ ministry that springs into action like Seal Team Six when a grieving family needs a meal set up in the fellowship hall after a funeral.
“The pastor knows the people, and you have a relationship with each family,” he said. “Regardless of the size of the church, we can do missions. We can do VBS here or go across the country and tell people about Jesus. It doesn’t matter the size of the church if you’ve got the heart for missions.”
That heart was put on display the first week of June, when a half-dozen Noah members took the trip to Michigan, where they knocked on doors and handed out tracts on behalf of a new church plant.
It was the church’s first mission trip.
Jay Chambers, pastor of South Litchfield Baptist in Litchfield, Mich., was the coordinating pastor of the church Noah members served. Starting this Sunday, he will also be serving as pastor of Flourish Covenant Church in Coldwater, planted through the Send Network and Cedar Bluff First Baptist Church in Cedar Bluff, Ala.
He sees Noah’s emphasis in several areas as affecting people like himself.
“They strongly emphasize the presence of salvation,” Chambers said. “I think that when you hold a strong emphasis on the fact that human beings have to stand before God, you create an urgency that manifests itself in a call to ministry.
“They also have a high view of ministry, of the calling. Ministry is looked at as a prophetic calling … not a vocation to consider. It’s imposed on you supernaturally.”
His third observation ties in with the first two.
“Noah has, historically, placed a high emphasis on church training and discipleship … with four meeting points on Sunday. They ensure their pastor is a gifted preacher and teacher. That combination brings an emphasis on the Christian experience and practical godliness.
“It’s all over that church, and God has blessed them.”
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