REV. GIBBS pg 10
Vol 16, No. 5 • October 2016
REV. THOMAS pg 11
News You Can Use
Adkins Passes On Lessons Learned at Ripley Church In Own Ministry guidance of First Evangelistical pasBy Lucy Weber tor Ronnie Gibbs. The Rev. Alphonso Adkins "Pastor made a great can pinpoint the exact emphasis on Christian educamoment he answered the Lord's tion," Adkins said. "He was call to ministry. passionate about laughter. He told It was the second Sunday in July us you can't be too serious, that 1996. He had already been a deacon God can't use us if we are. at First Evangelistical Baptist Christians can have fun too. I apply Church in Ripley for about a year, that lesson now, especially with the studying and teaching Sunday School. youth so they can see their minister "I was 36 when I accepted my be loose in a Christian way." calling to ministry," Adkins now serves Adkins said. "My as the pastor of Wolf preparation began Creek Missionary when I sat on the Baptist Church in deacons' minBooneville. He istry. God had preached his first been ministering sermon as the to me in every senior pastor song, every there on Easter word, so I Sunday 2011. answered the Adkins call." stayed for two Adkins years at First preached his Evangelistical. first sermon He moved to that September Rock Hill on the third Baptist Church chapter of the Dr. Rev. Alphonso Adkins in northern book of Micah, Tippah County where he served for 12 years. "Don't make plans without God." Adkins was the oldest member of the Fav He graduated from American Baptist Theological Institute in Jackson, Tenn., and Five, the group of young pastors learning is now enrolled in the doctoral program at how to lead a church under the spiritual Jacksonville Theological Return Address: P.O. Box 1292 Corinth, MS 38835 Seminary. Like Ronnie Gibbs served as his mentor, Adkins has mentored young ministers through POSTAL PATRON the years and seen young men confess their calling to the minsee ADKINS pg 4
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Tucker found service to God as member of Fav Five By Lucy Weber Rev Jonathan Tucker remembers the joy. At 17, he was a high school junior at Blue Mountain High School when he answered the call that led to his life as a servant of the Lord. "I had experienced God at a younger age, not thinking I was ready. Then, my grandfather passed at the end of 1993. The calling was so intense that I decided to surrender," he said. "In the beginning of 1994 I accepted my calling." The Rev. Ronnie Gibbs, the pastor then and still today at First Evangelistical Church of Ripley offered that 17-year-old a position as associate pastor - the first one at the church. Tucker was soon joined by Rev. Gibbs' son Derrick as a music leader and Rev. Gibbs' nephew see TUCKER pg 4
Rev. Jonathan Tucker
Gibbs credits Ripley church for his growth in ministry By Lucy Weber The Rev. Lowell Gibbs compares his mentor and uncle, the Rev. Ronnie Gibbs, to an old-school football coach. An athlete in college, the younger Gibbs said his uncle, the longtime pastor at First Evangelistical Baptist Church in Ripley, reminds him of the legendary Vince Lombardi. "He had a tough love approach. He was so thorough. He made us what we are today." The "us" is the Fav Five, the group of young and upcoming pastors that Ronnie Gibbs mentored about 20 years ago at the church. A dynamic group of men with deep faith, the Fav Five have grown in their ministries through the years, spreading their messages of faith throughout the north Mississippi area and into Alabama. Lowell Gibbs said his training in those days with the other members of the Fav Five was so complete that "when I went to seminary, it was a breeze." Since 2008, Lowell Gibbs has served as senior pasRev. Lowell Gibbs
see GIBBS pg 4