December Edition

RENEWAL OF A CALL

Tuscaloosa pastor in right place at right time

Story and photos by Terri Byrd, Baptists Today Contributing Writer

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — “I remember it like it was yesterday,” said Mary An Wilson of her call to ministry when she was but 11 years old.

            Wilson recently became the pastor of Woodland Forest Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa, Ala., at the age of 66. But she recounts the earlier experience with clarity.

            “When I was 11, I was at a worship service and, during the invitation, something happened inside of me that was so otherworldly that I remember looking around to see if other people had felt anything,” said Wilson. “I knew then that God was calling me to the ministry, but it wasn’t a time when women were accepted in most ministry areas.”

            Mary An remembers really paying attention in church as a teenager, memorizing the words the ministers said during baptisms, the Lord’s Supper and weddings. Yet at that time, the only woman she knew who worked in the church was an organist. And the only other women ministers she knew of were missionaries.

            “I knew as a teenager that my mom wouldn’t let me become a missionary and move away,” she had resolved.

            After high school, Mary An attended Judson College, a Baptist-related women’s college in Marion, Ala., where she pursued degrees in biology and chemistry.

            “I was strongly influenced by the presence of Oma Dell Franklin Ely who was our (Baptist Student Union) director,” said Wilson. “She was the first woman I’d met who had a seminary degree and was working in ministry.”

            Ely encouraged Mary An in her spiritual growth and her heart for ministry. However, it was the mid-1960s and Ely made sure that Mary An knew that the only reason she was able to be the BSU director at Judson was because it was an all-female college.

            Seminary was on Mary An’s agenda following college graduation until her father opposed the idea. So she turned her attention to a career, and later graduate studies, in microbiology.

            Mary An had met Ron Wilson, a student at Samford University who also served a church in Bessemer, Ala., as minister of music. Their relationship grew following her graduation and led to marriage while he finished his college degree.

            Then the couple headed to Fort Worth, Texas, where Ron began studies at Southwestern Seminary while Mary An worked as a microbiologist. After Ron completed seminary, they returned to Alabama where he served as a minister of music and their family began to grow. Mary An resolved that her earlier clear call to ministry would be lived out as the wife of a minister and an active worker in the church.

            A few years later Ron joined the staff of First Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa. Mary An became the children’s choir coordinator and the church music secretary.

            “During those years I discovered how important relationships are,” she said. “Our relationships with God and with each other. I had 60 to 70 volunteers who served in 14 children’s choirs. The relationships I shared with some of those people were very important to me.”

            Wilson points to a “Walk to Emmaus” weekend in 1991 in which a young United Methodist pastor Lona Lynn Euler-Higgs spoke on “The Means of Grace.” Mary An said she cried for four hours straight that day, when “I saw what I had lost because my denomination basically rejected both me and my call.”

            Between 1997 and 2001, Mary An explored spiritual formation and directorship through the Upper Room Academy and Sursum Corda. Her call to ministry was strongly reaffirmed.

            In 1998, Mary An was invited to offer a prayer at an Alabama Cooperative Baptist Fellowship event. When she arrived at the meeting, she sat on the front pew to wait for the service to begin. Mart Gray, Alabama CBF coordinator at that time, invited Mary An to sit on the platform of the church.

            “It was the first time that I remember being treated like a minister and invited to sit with the other ministers,” she said. “But some people weren’t happy that I had gone.”

            Changes were taking place at the church they served. After 25 years as music minister, Ron was asked to become minister of senior adults. A shift in musical style occurred, and Mary An’s work came to an end.

            “It was 1999 and I decided that I would just retire early,” said Mary An. “I told Ron that I wasn’t going to do anything and that if someone needed help with something, they could call me.”

            The next morning, Jonathan Ivy, pastor of Woodland Forest Baptist Church, a small congregation in Tuscaloosa called. He asked Mary An if she would be willing to help him in
ministry at Woodland Forest.

            “I asked, ‘With what?’ He said, ‘Everything.’”

            Jonathan called Mary An for 10 days in a row, and she finally agreed to meet with him. After three hours of drinking coffee at Cracker Barrel, she agreed to try it for six months.

            She began as associate pastor in October1999 and was ordained the following year. She and Jonathan worked together until he resigned early this year. In September, Woodland Forest called Mary An to be pastor.

            The April 27 tornadoes that ripped across the Southeast tore through Tuscaloosa, killing dozens and leaving thousands without homes. The Woodland Forest facilities were left intact, but homes all around them were destroyed.

            “Thankfully, Marsha Sprayberry, director of Project Blessings, had recently renovated the home of one of our church families,” said Wilson. “She said that she decided to join our little church because she was looking for a church that helps people.”

            When the tornadoes came, Woodland Forest opened up the church building and Marsha and Mary An organized the efforts of Project Blessings and the church family from the church’s old gymnasium.

            “For days we had 18 wheelers arriving from all over the U.S. bringing supplies to the area,” said Wilson. “We fed 2,000 people a day for the first couple of weeks and then fed hundreds for weeks after that. We clothed hundreds of people and gave away supplies (food, personal hygiene items, diapers, etc.) in the tens of thousands.”

            “For a church that has only 45 to 50 people on Sunday morning,” she added, “God gave us the resources to help thousands in our community when tragedy came.”

Pastor Mary An Wilson (fourth from left) has found her congregation eager to respond to community needs.             Clothing left over from the tornadoes response could have been given to another agency, but after prayer and conversation the church decided they had been given an opportunity to continue a ministry. Various agencies in Tuscaloosa now refer people to Woodland Forest’s clothes distribution.

            “We have a long way to go,” said Mary An. “We’re a small, multi-ethnic church with few financial resources. But we have an energy to move forward and continue to be the presence of God to this community.”

            Mary An said the church is beginning to see growth from youth and young families. “I’m praying that God will show us the changes we need to make and the courage to make them.”

            Walking around the church grounds, she has a twinkle in her eyes and a spring in her step. She is here for a season and intends to do all she can to minister with the people of Woodland Forest during the time at hand.

            “I feel so blessed,” she said. “I walk around and feel God is in this place. Who would have ever thought that this little church could do so much to help so many and that I would be here to be a part of it?”

            “I always knew that God had called me to be a pastor,” she said with a smile. “It just took me 55 years to get here.”