OLOH, Miss. (BP) – Although he is a native of east Tennessee, First Baptist Oloh pastor Andy Baker considers this community 10 miles west of Hattiesburg home. His wife –and now their three children – are from here. He is 37 and already has 10 years of experience as a senior pastor. There have been opportunities to leave.
But Baker says he isn’t going anywhere.
“I’m a big believer that true, lasting ministry takes place over time,” Baker told Baptist Press. “You need that to build relationships. The Lord works through that for greater church health.”
You couldn’t blame the people of First Baptist for thinking otherwise. Like many smaller, rural congregations, it could be challenging to keep a pastor. Going back to 1902, the average stay was three years, a figure affected by one pastor’s seven-year tenure and another’s 10.
“I was determined to break the mold,” said Baker, in his ninth year. “God has placed me here for the long haul.”
There have been opportunities to go elsewhere, and Baker said no every time. He and his wife Elizabeth broke ground on a new home in April 2020 and moved in that October. His dad passed away last March and is buried in the church cemetery.
Those decisions underscore the resilience necessary for ministry in a small, rural setting. First Baptist has gone through a lot of change in Baker’s tenure. There has been turmoil as well as healing. Loss – like over half of his congregation who didn’t return after COVID – and gain – attendance exceeds pre-COVID figures with more than half the current membership having joined since then.
The path wasn’t hidden. It required a focus on Scripture, prayer and lifting each other up.
First steps
In August 2008 Baker was a student at William Carey University working at a Hattiesburg furniture store. First Baptist Oloh’s pastor, James Moore, walked in.
During that time, Baker sold him a couch; Moore sold him on First Baptist.
“He told me there was an opening for the youth minister position, but I wasn’t interested at the time,” Baker said. “I called back about a month later and asked if it was still available. It was, so I started that December.”
He continued classes while leading students, graduating from William Carey in August 2010 and enrolling at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary the following January. When Moore moved to another church in Texas that April, Baker became the de facto interim. Youth Wednesday nights and serving as the high school softball team’s chaplain now combined with preaching funerals and officiating weddings.
Baker was a candidate for the full-time pastorate by one search team that ended up dissolving because they couldn’t reach a unanimous decision. A second one considered him as well but decided on another candidate while moving Baker into the role of associate pastor. Keeping with First Baptist’s history, that pastor departed a little over two years later.
Baker was offered, and accepted, the role. He delivered his first sermon as senior pastor on Easter 2015. He was 27.
New steps, new lessons
Baker learned quickly that a title is one thing, but it doesn’t necessarily change how people see you.
“Because I had been here, I thought I had six-and-a-half years of [relational] equity built up,” he said. “I made some decisions and did some things I thought I could, but Day 1 as senior pastor was different.”
A lot of that had to do with becoming more aware of the dynamics in play at many small churches, especially when changes are attempted. Baker’s six-and-a-half years was something, but they struggled against those with generations built into the church.
“It was stressful, I’m not gonna lie,” he said. “We were the youngest people in the church. I was very concerned about pleasing others even if it was impossible to do so. I was the only staff member. It was a heavy load.”
That load increased in early spring 2020.
First Baptist met as usual on Sunday, March 15, even though concerns were escalating over COVID. It was also Baker’s 32nd birthday. It would be 11 weeks later, May 31, before First Baptist would meet in person again.
Like other pastors, he had to learn to preach to an empty room. Discussions over masks and social distancing joined so many others.
About 60 percent of the congregation never came back.
Stuff that works
Others were looking at First Baptist, though. Baker’s sermons connected. People checked out the website and, in the following years, began visiting and staying. Many made the drive from Hattiesburg.
There wasn’t anything fancy about it. First Baptist is liturgical, but not “high church,” Baker said. He’s an expositional preacher who works his way through the Bible. Wednesday nights include prayer but are more directed at deeper studies of Scripture.
Baker is a ‘90s kid who remembers church growth emphases built around programs. It didn’t click with him then, either.
“We don’t have anything like that, and I think it’s appealing to people,” he said. “They want authenticity, simplicity. What encourages me as a younger pastor is to see a generationally diverse church. We have 80-year-olds joining with those in their 20s and it pushes our perspective. The small group I host has retired folks and others who are 24 and have babies.”
He and Elizabeth have three children – 15, 12 and 8. Just as others invest in his family, so does Baker in them. That includes pastoral visits in homes, funerals and hospitals. He has taken to handwriting a few letters every week to members, non-members and visitors.
Small steps leave big impressions and Melanie Mansfield can testify to it.
Stuff that holds up
Mansfield has been a member of First Oloh for about a year. She has since learned about Baker’s tenure that began as student minister and included stormy times before and during COVID. There is one thing about him that stands out, though.
“Andy faithfully served with one key intent – preach the Word,” she said in response to Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s callout for stories for Pastor Appreciation Month.
She heard about the church’s growth at dinner with the Bakers.
“He attributed it to making the Word the central marker of the church,” she said. “Because of Andy’s love for God’s Word, he has instilled in us the same passion. We desire to devour books of the Bible rather than have topical lessons. We get excited about the Old Testament and continuing to discover nuggets in the New.”
A cousin of Mansfield’s, a committed agnostic, attended with her on Easter Sunday. As families milled around afterwards, the cousin and Baker got into a deep discussion.
It made an impact.
“He knew I was from Oklahoma and I wasn’t a potential member to acquire,” she told Mansfield later, “but he still spent time with me. Intentional time.”
That led to her cousin discovering salvation at 41 years old. She ended up moving to Oloh.
“She saw something different in Andy. God used a faithful pastor in rural Mississippi to minister to someone several states away and would likely rarely be seen in his church again.
“That’s Andy.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Many churches show appreciation to their pastor in October. To share an encouraging word about your pastor, visit Midwestern’s site.
