By Lindsey Williams
Writing Specialist
Drive any given street in Mississippi, and it probably won’t take long for you to find a Southern Baptist church named after a nearby road. Sit in any pew, and you can catch up on the dates and locations of community ministries or the offering goals for global missions on the weekly bulletin or projected on the screen upfront. Visit early, and a friendly face dressed in their Sunday best will direct you to a class.
Those familiar images describe Woolmarket Baptist Church, Biloxi — your typical, traditional Southern Baptist church. Although you may have never entered their sanctuary, every sight and sound is already recognizable because Woolmarket is a wonderful example of faithfulness that feels familiar.
Ministries at Woolmarket
At the start of every school year for the last two decades, Woolmarket has hosted lunches for teachers at two local schools. Since teachers rarely receive recognition, this ministry seeks to remind them that they are seen, loved, and deeply appreciated. The congregation has also gotten involved with preparing “Backpack Buddies,” supplying nutritional food for local schoolchildren who may not necessarily have the meals they need while at home for summer break or over the weekend.
In conjunction with the Tim Tebow Foundation, Woolmarket hosts an annual “Night to Shine,” which is a prom for friends with disabilities. The congregation also supports the nearby Crisis Pregnancy Center and the local Baptist Student Union.
“Our ministries are just a lot of typical Baptist things,” said Paul Crowley, pastor of Woolmarket.
What isn’t so typical, however, is Crowley’s duration in ministry at Woolmarket. This October, he will have been pastor there for 31 years. Since 1995, “there have been a lot of changes,” said Crowley. “A lot of different faces. A lot of folks who have gone on to be with the Lord or have moved to other places.”
Crowley noted that the disastrous effects of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 displaced and relocated many members of their congregation. Over time, however, “God has been gracious and brought new folks in. It’s been a good 31 years, to say the least.”
Crowley isn’t certain why God has kept him at Woolmarket for three decades, but he hopes he has been faithful and effective for the long-term task. Their presence on the Gulf Coast gave him and his wife the blessing to care for her aging parents until their passing. “God was also gracious that we were able to be where we needed to be to honor her mother and father in that way.
“It was God’s decision for us to stay. We had opportunities to leave over the years and do other things, but it never felt like that was what God was leading us to.” Crowley commented that, on this side of heaven, believers must trust and obey that God is using them and their churches where He has placed them, if they are serving faithfully.
Local churches working together
Ever since its establishment 85 years ago following a two-week revival, Woolmarket has seen its fair share of fluctuation in membership. While Hurricane Katrina sent many of their church family out of the state, COVID also heavily impacted the congregation. Amid numbers changing, however, Crowley remarked that the congregation has certainly grown spiritually. “There are folks here who really love the Lord and serve actively in that way.”
Although the church was already involved with missions and ministry before his arrival, Crowley has witnessed those opportunities increase. For years now, one group of men from Woolmarket have made it their ministry to repair damaged roofs for free. They have been able to give back to a community of local churches who helped restore Woolmarket after Hurricane Katrina.
“When you experience something like that, you look around and realize there’s an opportunity for us to do for others as they have done for us in the past,” said Crowley.
For many years, the congregation that averages just over 100 people for Sunday worship services, gave a generous 10% of their tithes to the Cooperative Program, but they decided to add half a percentage to their routine gifts a few years ago. Woolmarket also gives three-and-a-half-percent to the Gulf Coast Baptist Association. The congregation is active and involved in Annie Armstrong, Lottie Moon, and Margaret Lackey offerings, as well as in attending convention-led trainings. Woolmarket is also helping to support a young missionary serving in Thailand with gifts separate from their Cooperative Program giving.
“The church as a whole sees the benefit of how we work together to do what none of us can do by ourselves,” said Crowley. “Over the years, a lot of our folks have taken advantage of those trainings so they can be better equipped to minister locally and keep up to date on some new ideas and new methods. The message doesn’t change, but the methods have to adjust over time as the world around us adjusts.”
“In many ways, I guess you would say we’re a typical Southern Baptist church in our support and our involvement in local and statewide activities, as far as the convention is concerned,” Crowley affirmed. “Our job is the Great Commission: to go and make disciples. We seek to do that and also teach and train them to make disciples.
“We’re traditional. We still do Bible school. We still do Sunday school, and call it Sunday school. We’re very supportive of what we do as a convention that reaches around the world. Not all of us are called to go around the world, but we can all support and help get the message around the world. We’re just trying to do the work that God’s called us to do where He has planted us.”
Although new methods rooted in eternal principles can certainly broaden ministry, God has not called the church to be flashy and original for the sake of being something new. He calls churches, like Woolmarket Baptist Church, to be faithful, and that often looks like the typical Southern Baptist church on the corner of town.
Cooperative Program (CP) Sunday in the Southern Baptist Convention is Oct. 4. Woolmarket Baptist Church faithfully gives to the Cooperative Program. Churches may give through mbcb.org/give.
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