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LUFKIN—Harmony Hill Baptist Church had 74 members when John Greene became its pastor in 1972. Over the next five decades, the church grew to more than 2,100 members as Greene served the church.
This November, Harmony Hill will commemorate Pastor Greene’s 50th year as pastor of the East Texas congregation.
The most often-cited average pastoral tenure is about four years, with Baptists staying much longer at around 10 years. This number makes pastoral ministries of several decades remarkable. Greene believes a long stay is a crucial part of leadership.
“In the average Baptist church, the deacons are the recognized leaders” he said. “I realized this had come about because pastors were not staying long enough to gain the confidence and trust of the people. Since the deacons were the only consistent leadership, as pastors came and went, the people learned to trust the deacons.”
Greene believes it took 17 years for Harmony Hill to transfer that recognition from the deacons to him as pastor. But that wasn’t the primary reason he stayed, though he had opportunities to move on.
“I believed that was God’s call on my life. I was called to stay. God’s promise was that if I obeyed His plan, He would bless me and prosper the work,” he said.
Greene believes the temptation to move too easily is based on a false premise.
“The idea of a ‘better deal’ someplace else than where you are is an illusion,” he said. “I don’t think the challenges I faced here on The Hill are different from other ministries. Every pastoral assignment will have its crisis events.”
Todd Core has served Harmony Hill as teaching and student pastor for the past seven years. The church has called him to follow Greene as senior pastor. After serving with him, Core notes some advantages he will gain from Greene’s tenure.
“In practical terms, his faithful leadership over these last five decades has created a strong trust among the people to follow the leadership of the church,” he said. “That is quite the head start to have for an incoming pastor. Pastor John has also been instrumental in changing the perception of our church in the community during his time as pastor. This is an incredible gift to me as the next pastor to already have goodwill and a good name in our area.”
Core also noted that Harmony Hill has developed a heart for missions under Greene’s leadership. “Our church has a marvelous history of giving to missions, raising up members who go to the mission field, and providing member care to our missionaries on the field,” he added. “I am grateful to follow a man of God like Pastor John, who has kept the Great Commission at the heart of the church.”
Both men said they had seen God keep His promise to bless Greene for being faithful to the place he was called.
“Being at The Hill has been a blessing to me and my wife in this: the incredible relationships we’ve built and the people we’ve loved as family,” Greene said. “We [also] had the privilege of seeing God move and work in marvelous ways in acquiring land, building a master plan, and then seeing families come to faith in Christ. And now their children are serving in missions and ministries around the world.”
Greene is a graduate of Southern Arkansas University and the Baptist Missionary Association Seminary. He has served on the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Executive Board and received the W.A. Criswell Lifetime Achievement Award for Pastoral Evangelism from the convention.
John and his wife, Kathryn, have two sons and 12 grandchildren.
