Ray Batson has been surrounded by ministry his entire life.
Ray Batson is one of five brothers who served as Baptist ministers in South Carolina.And today, even in retirement, Batson is still ministering. The Alcolu native was one of six sons of the late Paul Otis Batson, who was a South Carolina Baptist pastor for several decades.
He and four of his brothers followed a call to ministry. He attended Southern Seminary with his brother, Lloyd, and was ordained in a double-ordination ceremony at Clarendon Baptist Church in Alcolu with his brother, Frances. Those three, along with brothers Paul Jr. and Joel, served a cumulative 195 years in South Carolina Baptist ministries.
Even though his was a family of ministers, Batson said he never felt pressured to pursue ministry; still, he remembers a very personal call from the Lord.
“I was a student at North Greenville, and one Sunday I felt sick, but I didn’t know what was going on,” said Batson. “When I got home from church that night, I locked the door and fell down at the bunk beds, crying and praying.
“I told the Lord, ‘I know something is happening. If you are saying you want me to give my life in ministry, here is my life, use me.’ I got up, and it was like a ton of bricks had been lifted off me.”
Batson said he never questioned his call.
“It is just as vivid today as it was then,” said Batson. “I never regretted it. I am glad that God saw something in me that he could use for his glory.”
After graduating from Southern Seminary, Batson moved back to South Carolina, where he began a ministry career that included pastorates at Lake Swamp Baptist Church in Timmonsville, Unity Baptist Church in Simpsonville, and Campobello and Green Street Baptist churches in Spartanburg.
Batson, who spends six days a week as a volunteer chaplain at Emory Johns Creek Hospital near Atlanta, has been known to dress up for special holidays while visiting patients and their family members.In 1968, Batson was called to direct missions for three Spartanburg-area associations, where he served until 1983. He then became director of missions for Union Association until his retirement in 1991. During his years in associational ministry, Batson worked with 180 churches and 650 pastors.
“I set out to be a pastor to the pastors,” he said of leading associations. “I developed programs for them and also wrote them on their birthdays, wedding anniversaries and their church anniversaries.”
After his retirement, he and his wife, Nancy, became active at Fernwood Baptist Church in Spartanburg, where Batson served two terms as a deacon. For the last five years, he has served as a volunteer chaplain at Emory Johns Creek Hospital near Atlanta. He spends six days a week visiting patients and family members.
Throughout his ministry, Batson said his top priority was leading people to a relationship with Jesus. One story from those opportunities came on a mission trip to Tanzania many years ago.
“We approached people in a squatter’s village inviting them to a crusade,” he said. “We were talking about the love of Christ, and a man came running to me and said, ‘If God loves us like you say he does, why are we are in this condition?’
“It was the hardest question I have ever had to answer,” Batson remembered. “I told him, ‘I can’t tell you why you are in this condition except that we live in a sinful world. But I can guarantee you the Lord Jesus loves you.”
The man became a Christian that night.
Batson said he would encourage those entering the ministry to stay close to God.
“I would tell them to be sure of their salvation and their call,” he said. “I would tell them to stay with the word of God without compromise and be dedicated to live a life committed to the Savior with a spirit of gentleness, love and compassion.”