Editor’s note: April 27 is recognized as National Administrative Professionals Day. Take this opportunity to thank your church secretary or ministry assistant for the ministry they perform for your church.
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org
Officers of TBSA include, from left, Christy Tull, Malesus Baptist Church, Jackson, West Tennessee representative; Sheila Dodge, New Salem Baptist Association, Middle Tennessee representative; Mandy Wilson, Bear Cove Baptist Church, Sparta, president; Amanda Anderson, First Baptist Church, Dayton (staff) and New Union Baptist Church, Dayton (member) and Julia Binford, Leawood East Baptist Church, Cordova, vice president.
MURFREESBORO — In some churches they are ministry or administrative assistants. In others, they are secretaries.
It really doesn’t matter which title is used — ministry assistants or church secretaries — they are crucial to the work and ministry of local Tennessee Baptist Convention churches and associations, leaders across the state agree.
The Tennessee Baptist Secretaries Association was formed in 1982 under the auspices of the former Church Training Department of the Executive Board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, now Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.
Forty years later, the TBSA remains a valuable source for fellowship and training for church ministry assistants and secretaries who are on the frontline of ministry in local congregations.
The TBSA recognized its 40th anniversary during their meeting in March at Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro. The meeting is held every two years and is open to any associational or church secretary. Information about TBSA is available at tnsecretaries.org.
“The Tennessee Baptist Secretaries Association (TBSA) was created to equip and assist ministry assistants in the church and association,” said Joy Clay-Corby, a TBMB staff member who has been involved with TBSA for more than 30 years.
Heather Beard, left, liaison with the TBMB and TBSA, recognizes Joy Clay-Corby during the TBSA’s recent meeting in Murfreesboro. Clay-Coby has been involved with the association for more than 30 years.
Clay-Corby works closely with ministry assistants in Baptist associations across Tennessee.
“The organization fulfills this mission goal by providing accounting updates, legal issues, computer program updates and the list continues to grow,” she noted.
“Through the years we have seen our tools go from manual typewriters to computers we can carry in our purse or pocket,” Clay-Corby observed.
“We have come a long way, but every day new and better equipment is being discovered and brought to the small and large offices of our ministries. Because of this, our communication has increased to world-wide ministries. We are now able to communicate with our missionaries overseas or in our state instantly,” she said.
“It’s a sisterhood,” said Julia McGlown of New Covenant Baptist Church in Knoxville who has been in the association for 25 years and is a former officer. She has enjoyed the fellowship and relationships she has built over the years. “If you need help, you can call another ministry assistant.”
Millie Badgett, ministry assistant for the Knox County Baptist Association, has been involved with TBSA for about 34 years. She noted that she had not been a secretary prior to joining the KCBA staff. The association provided training for new programs (such as Excel) as they were introduced.
“The association helped me to learn to be efficient in my duties,” she said. Like McGlown, Badgett also has enjoyed the fellowship TBSA has provided. “I have met some lifelong friends,” she affirmed.
Secretaries are important as they not only work alongside a minister, but they are a huge part of the ministry, observed Heather Beard who serves as the TBMB liaison to the Tennessee Baptist Secretaries Association.
Beth Moore, compassion ministries specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, leads a session during the recent TBSA meeting in Murfreesboro.
“They are helping make an event or ministry happen by what they do — even if they think it is just something little like answering the phones. Answering the phones can be a ministry to the person on the other end. I hear stories from church secretaries on how they are able to minister to a person in need, just listening or sharing in someone’s exciting news,” she continued.
Beard observed that serving as a church secretary is not a job, but rather is a ministry. “Church secretaries/ministry assistants play such a huge role in the life of the church and they touch almost every ministry and person in the church,” she noted.
“I see my job as a ministry to my church,” said Mandy Wilson, administrative assistant at Bear Cove Baptist Church in Sparta and new president of TBSA.
“The church is my mission field and I consider it a great joy to serve the people God has placed in my church,” she continued. “The job of a church secretary, administrative assistant or ministry assistant is ever-changing.
“We are the gate keepers to our staff and problem solvers to our church. So many times what we do goes unnoticed but when we get that one person telling us ‘Thanks for what you do,’ it really does brighten our day.”
“Being a ministry assistant is a definite calling,” agreed Mary Sawyer, ministry assistant for Western District Baptist Association, based in Paris. She also has been an officer in TBSA for 10 years, including four years as president.
“To be able to serve other pastors and church members is a blessing to myself and to my family. Not only church members do we serve, but many times we are the only light for some benevolent people.
“At WDBA we offer a free dental ministry for senior adults and disabled people. Being able to show Jesus’ love to many who are in pain is one way I love to serve Him.
We never know each day whom we may come in contact with but just as He gives us grace, we must give grace to others,” Sawyer said.
Scott Shepherd, worship specialist for the TBMB and a former minister of music at First Baptist Church, Paris, observed that “church ministry assistants are invaluable to the work of Tennessee Baptists. In our overwhelmingly busy ministry lives, they provide organization and cohesion amidst the chaos.
“They’re the first voices heard when someone calls, the first smiles seen when someone visits,” said Shepherd who was on the program for the TBSA meeting.
Ministry assistants are often prophetic, he continued. “They know what we need before we know. They’re protectors, guarding our time and ensuring we don’t overextend ourselves. They’re comforters, providing calm assurance amid the stress of ministry,” Shepherd continued, adding that they also “make pastors and staff be better ministers because of the details they attend to behind the scenes.”
Steve Holt, church services director for the TBMB, agreed that a good assistant is invaluable to a pastor and church.
“The good ones have a true sense of calling from the Lord to serve Him and His Bride. They take their work very seriously and go above and beyond to make sure things run smoothly around the church office. They protect the pastor’s time and serve as an extra set of eyes and ears for the pastor,” Holt observed.
Under the leadership of Lana Rose, who served as liaison with TBSA for many years until her retirement, missions became an element of the organization, Clay-Corby said. Mission trips to pioneer states and even Canada were organized in the early 2000s, she said.
The largest group (31 people) traveled to Montana in 2006. “We were given the opportunity to minister on Indian reservations, prairies, mountains and cities. Lives were changed not only with the people that we were there to minister to, but our lives were changed also,” she said. “God truly was guiding our mission trips,” she affirmed.
As ministries continue to grow, “our assistants provide that link between church and leadership. God has blessed and provided for us a way to minister to people in different languages, countries and opened-up opportunities for us to be a witness for our Lord,” Clay-Corby said.
“I am very thankful Tennessee Baptist Mission Board sees church and association assistants in our state as partners in ministry,” she added. B&R
