BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
If you were called into the ministry, could you imagine getting the opportunity to pastor at the church you grew up in?
Preston Gainey could, but he admitted he didn’t think his imaginings would become reality.
“When I was young, I thought it would be a great experience to pastor there, but never thought it would come to fruition,” he said.
With God, all things are possible, and it was God’s will that Gainey return to Fellowship Baptist Church of Raiford. It’s the fourth church Gainey has pastored at during his 27 years in the ministry.
“To be able to come back has been a true blessing for me,” Gainey said.
Gainey, a 1995 Union County High School graduate, said he received the call to go into the ministry during a sermon in which the pastor asked the congregation, “What is it God is asking you to do?”
After praying about it, Gainey believed God was telling him to preach.
“I felt like the Lord made it very evident to me,” he said.
Gainey, himself, wasn’t so sure. He came up with excuses in his mind for why he wouldn’t be a good preacher, such as not being a good public speaker. Yet the conviction he felt that God was telling him to do just that only grew stronger. Gainey visited his older brother, Jeff, and told him about it.
“He gave me a big, old bear hug,” Gainey said. “He said, ‘I knew God had a plan for you.’”
That’s the key. It didn’t matter that Gainey had doubts. It didn’t matter that in his mind he didn’t what it took to be an effective pastor. God had a plan.
That’s something that became apparent during a time of prayer and reflection when taking a walk on the campus of The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville, where Gainey earned his theology degree. Gainey said the verse John 15:16 came to mind: “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the father, he may give it to you.”
“I realized at that moment I did not make a choice to be God’s pastor,” Gainey said.
Since he was chosen by God, all that was left for Gainey to do was trust fully in God’s plan. It’s an example for all believers.
“Be faithful,” Gainey said, “Allow God to do what He’s going to do.”
Gainey did more at The Baptist College of Florida than earn a degree. He met Jessica, the woman who would become his wife.
One of the things that was on Gainey’s mind during the aforementioned walk on campus was the fact he was struggling academically. He entered a laundromat following that walk. Jessica, who was there, looked at his face and said, “My goodness. What’s going on?” Gainey said he told her, to which she replied, “As a woman of my word, I will help you and tutor you.”
Gainey doesn’t doubt it was a God-led moment. He and Jessica have been married since 1997 and have three daughters: Emilie, 24, Lydia, 20, and Ashlyn, 16.
God’s plan takes Gainey back to Fellowship Baptist
Gainey’s first position at pastor was at Beulah Baptist Church in Cedar Springs, Georgia. He actually preached at the church for a month before being officially voted in.
He remembers his first official night as pastor. He got up to preach, but found he was scared and could hardly talk.
“My mouth went cotton dry,” Gainey said.
The thought that he was going to get fired as soon as he was hired went through his mind. Gainey said he managed to read the scripture his sermon was based upon. He then prayed to end the service, followed by a time of invitation. A teen girl came forward and accepted Christ as her savior.
“It was amazing,” Gainey said.
It was also an affirmation of God’s presence. Gainey realized he could have peace and be relaxed at the pulpit. God would take care of everything.
“God just kind of spoke to my heart and said, ‘Preston, I’ll do all the work. You just be obedient to me.’”
His obedience eventually led him in a direction he didn’t think he’d take. Roy Singletary from Fellowship Baptist Church of Raiford reached out to him and asked him to consider becoming the church’s youth pastor. Gainey was in the midst of looking for senior-pastor positions and had never been a youth pastor. During a visit he and Jessica made to the church, Gainey said he had been praying about the position, but in his mind, at that time, he had no intention of accepting it.
However, during that visit, he noticed only two youths in attendance. One was his daughter. The other was his nephew.
“It felt like the Lord spoke to me about that,” Gainey said.
During that visit, Gainey prayed at the altar. He said God reminded him of Joshua Chapter 4 and the 12 stones that were to serve as a memorial unto the children of Israel.
“I felt like the Lord told me that,” Gainey said.
He and his wife went to a prayer service at the church the following day. Multiple people told Gainey they were praying for him. One woman said she was praying that God would lead him to take the position at the church.
After the service, Jessica asked him what he thought was happening. Gainey said he replied, “The Lord is telling me to come.”
So, Gainey accepted the position of youth pastor, though he didn’t remain in it for long. Senior Pastor Harold Hudson retired, which led to Gainey then accepting that position. One day later, two churches contacted Gainey about their senior pastor positions. Gainey cites that as proof that Fellowship Baptist is where God wanted him to be.
He still maintains an involvement with the youth. During his time there, the number of youths has increased from 2-3 to about 15. It’s an area where Gainey wants to see continued growth, whether it be children, teenagers or college-age students.
“I’m hoping that our younger people will gravitate toward us,” he said.
Sunday school numbers have increased as well, so there are a lot of positive things happening at Fellowship Baptist, which is doing more than ministering to its members. For example, it has a clothes closet and a food pantry for those in need.
Gainey would like to partner with other churches and the Union County School District to be able to provide weekend food for children.
Helping others is what believers are instructed to do in the scriptures, Gainey said, so he said it’s “vital” that Fellowship Baptist assists those in its community.
It’s a community Gainey knows well, having grown up there. Now, he’s ready to follow in the footsteps of the “mighty men of God” who pastored at Fellowship Baptist before him.
Needless to say, his first sermon as pastor of the church he grew up in brought a lot of emotions. He was excited. He was humbled. He was tearful.
“It was a real big deal for me,” Gainey said.
