Congregation honors Alexandria pastor with heart for God with 20-year celebration
The congregation of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church felt Pastor Stanley R. Mathis and his wife, First Lady Linda Mathis, were befitting of a special celebration marking their 20 years of service to the church.
On Saturday, over 220 people, including congregation members, pastors, speakers and guests, gathered at Alexandria Convention Hall for a celebration banquet held in their honor.
“When you decide to honor your pastor to the utmost, you think of doing things on a big scale,” said Jeannie Sanders, church public relations. “He’s been a good pastor overall.”
“He really has a heart for God and has a heart for the congregation,” said Brenda Hinkston, chair of the celebration committee. “Whatever he can do for the congregation, he will do. In a pastor, that requires a lot of extra work that we don’t even know about.”
Some work included being called to come out in the middle of the night because someone died or officiating. weddings.
“But he’s always available,” said Hinkston.
“He’s available to all members,” added Mary Brown, committee co-chair along with Mary Sue Hurks.
“It’s exhilarating, surprising and I’m just grateful for the opportunity to be honored. We have spent 20 years at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church and over the 20 years, I’ve given all spiritually, both economically and politically to promote not only the church but to promote the city as well,” said Mathis.
Mathis has been in the ministry for over 41 years.
“My calling was first in Dallas. Then the Lord sent me from Dallas to Sacremento, California, and from Sacremento to the Alexandria area,” he said.
He was a pastor at New Evergreen Baptist Church in Jena for five years before becoming the pastor at Antioch.
“The Lord has moved me from place to place to do the work that he called us to do as pastors and preachers,” he said.
Hinkston said during Mathis’ 20 years, a lot of improvements have been made to church and they are looking forward to doing some major renovations in the future.
“We’re looking forward to doing some new things with the church. We’re in the process of holding fundraisers to put money in our building fund,” said Sanders.
“The next 20 years we look to have capital improvement through our church,” said Mathis.
He is also the president of the South Alexandria Revitalization Committee.
“One of the things that we want to do in the South Alexandria area is to revitalize the area through community and neighborhood involvement. We have a lot of initiatives in that area already taking place. We just want to continue to do the work that will continue to bring people back into the South Alexandria area,” he said.
The event included the Presentation of the Colors by the Peabody Magnet High School ROTC and performances by B.A.S.I.C. (Brothers And Sisters In Christ) and dances by three Antioch liturgical dancers. The special guest speaker was Dr. Samuel C. Tolbert, Jr., president of the National Baptist Convention of America International, Inc., and pastor of Greater St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church in Lake Charles. The Rev. Dr. Joseph Martin, Jr., pastor at Second Union Baptist Church, president of the United Educational Missionary Baptist Church Association and 2nd vice president of the Louisiana Home & Foreign Missions Baptist Church Convention served as Toastmaster.
Presenting awards to Mathis were Roosevelt Johnson, founder of the South Alexandria Revitalization Committee and Mark Coward, Coca Cola Sales Center manager.
Sanders made the official presentations while Hinkston, Brown and Hurks made special guest presentations.
This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Congregation honors Alexandria pastor with 20-year celebration
