Varnville First: A Sending Church

Left to right: Heyward Evans, pastor, Yemassee Baptist Church; Jordan Ayer, pastor, Mount Olive Baptist Church, Early Branch; Joseph Williams, pastor, Sycamore Baptist Church; Tommy Kelly, pastor of Varnville First Baptist Church; Brandon Corley, associate pastor/minister of children and youth, Varnville First; Chris Mills, licensed to preach by Varnville First; Howard Black, regional FCA representative and interim pastor, Ehrhardt Baptist Church; and Brice Noll, ordained to the ministry by Varnville First and minister to young adults at Varnville First. Not pictured: Joseph Douglas, South Carolina National Guard chaplain and associate pastor of Restoration Church, Charleston. All these young men have been licensed and/or ordained in the last five years by Varnville First Baptist Church.
Rudy Gray

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Varnville First Baptist Church takes pride in being called a “sending church.” It has not always been that way.

According to Pastor Tommy Kelly, the church “sent out only one pastor in the first 150 years, but we have ordained or licensed seven in the last five years. God has shown us our purpose is to send out people to serve. I tell our folks that the strength of a church is not when the doors are open, but when they are closed.”

The old phrase “Gather for worship — depart to serve” takes on special significance at Varnville First. As a result of the emphasis on members serving in the community, a byproduct has been seven men called to vocational ministry. Each one has a unique testimony to share.

Brice Noll and Chris Mills were licensed and ordained respectively on Nov. 15, 2020. Kelly stated that Noll came out of a drug background, but is now on staff at Varnville First as minister to young adults. Kelly pointed out, “Brice started a Bible study on Friday evenings in a local park to help drug addicts. He was attracting people who would not normally come to church. When the weather started to turn colder, he asked me if they could meet in the church. I said, ‘Can you? We want you to.’”

Chris Mills’ grandfather was a missionary.

Brandon Corley serves Varnville First as associate pastor. Kelly said, “During Brandon’s ordination service, we had one (person) get saved. He is a pastor’s son who has a desire for relational evangelism in the public schools. His wife is a teacher and a tremendous complement to his ministry.”

Joseph Douglas currently serves as a National Guard chaplain and associate pastor at Charleston’s Restoration Church. “He’s the one who appeared with the governor during the COVID news conferences and would lead in prayer,” Kelly stated.

Howard Black, regional Fellowship of Christian Athletes representative and interim pastor at Ehrhardt Church, has been asked by churches to come as their pastor, but has chosen to anchor his ministry with FCA. “Howard has a great desire and passion for personal discipleship,” Kelly said.

Heyward Evans is the pastor of Yemassee Church. He left a career in engineering to follow God’s will into the pastorate.

Jordan Ayer serves as pastor at Mount Olive. Kelly stated, “Jordan was called out of Harmony Baptist, a church restart of Varnville First. He now pastors a church and helps his uncle in a farming operation.”

Joseph Williams is the pastor of Sycamore Church. He serves as a bivocational pastor and also manages a hardware store.

Kelly mentioned two other people called from the church to serve. “Dennis Page was called out of retirement and from his childhood home to be the minister of music at Northside Baptist in Greenville.”

Aron Winn, a former associate pastor with Kelly, was called to be the pastor at Harmony Baptist, the church Varnville helped restart. “Aron and his wife, Teri, have a deep-rooted drive for missions and evangelism,” Kelly noted.

On a recent Sunday, three men went out from Varnville to preach at churches without pastors. Kelly emphasized, “God has blessed us, and we want to share it with other churches. While many churches feel that success is measured in offerings and attendance, we believe a greater point of measure is how many people a church is sending out to share Christ with a lost world.”