The Pastor Who Baptized Me

Rev. Olen T. Phillips (1947-2000)

(Photo courtesy of  Loraine Phillips Mullin, his daughter)

The most important decision in my life was one I made when I was 16 years old, and that decision was based on a question - "Where will I spend eternity?"  Although being raised in the faith most of my life, I also grew up in what was a very fear-based religion that my well-intentioned but often misguided mother often miscommunicated.  However, that fear ultimately contributed to this important decision that I made the night of January 27, 1986.  Upon deciding to take the step to follow Christ, the person who led me in the right direction was a humble Southern Baptist pastor by the name of Olen Phillips, and to this day I am still grateful for the fact he took the time to reach out to me at that little church in Rowlesburg, WV, on that cold winter night.  And, almost 29 years later, I am still walking with the Lord.

The Rowlesburg, WV, Southern Baptist Church, where Olen pastored back in 1986 when I became a Christian

Olen Phillips was by appearance a diminutive man - anyone who didn't know him well might easily mistake him for the town postmaster or something.  But, beating within the heart of this humble vessel was a pastor's heart, and God really gifted him with that calling.  My step-grandfather's sister, Betty Rydzewski,  had started going to this Baptist church in Rowlesburg a couple of years before, and one night in November she invited me to go with her, and fortunately I did.  It was that night that I first met Pastor Olen.  Little did I know that less than 3 months later, he would also be baptizing me too!

Me being baptized by Olen on February 9, 1986, in Kingwood, WV.

Olen and his dear wife Linda were natives of north Georgia originally, and as I can recall, Olen grew up as a Jehovah's Witness but later came to Christ at a young age.  In 1981, the Phillipses accepted a call with the Southern Baptist Mission Service Corps (which I believe was part of the Great Commission emphasis the SBC had via its Home Mission Board then) and came to a little town I was very familiar with called Rowlesburg, WV.  I don't know the complete history of this, but as I recall the Rowlesburg church was started at around that time in the home of some people who had a heart to build a church in the area, and Olen was chosen to minister to them.  Some years later, in an interview with the West Virginia Southern Baptist magazine, they were asked why they believed God called them to the state, and their answer summarized their ministry over the years - "We think God brought us here simply because we made it clear to Him that we were willing to go and do absolutely anything He chose." ("When He Calls, He Really Calls!" in the June 1998 West Virginia Southern Baptist, page 6.).  Fact is, when Olen and Linda said that, they spoke their convictions - they ministered in West Virginia for 19 years in various capacities, and they always had a servant's conviction to do what they believed God wanted them to do, and I am thankful to be personally a fruit of that - much of the church work I have done myself over the years, as a matter of fact, deserves to have credit directed to Olen for sharing the Gospel with a poor, disadvantaged mountain kid and then provide that kid with the discipleship and ministry to be open to the Holy Spirit's calling himself.   That is why Olen has been, and will always be, a spiritual father to me, and I still love him like a father although he did go onto his eternal reward in 2000.    Which is why now I want to talk a little about some things I have learned from his example over the years.

Olen and his daughter Lori 

(Photo courtesy of Loraine Phillips Mullin)

If I can sum up the ministry of Olen Phillips in one word, it is this - obedience.  Olen was always open to what the Holy Spirit was directing him to do, and he always obeyed and followed that direction although it probably wasn't always easy for him to do it.  Linda, his dear wife, was the same way - she also had a heart for the youth of the community, and as my former Sunday school teacher I also learned much from her.  Another thing I learned from Olen was that the Christian life is not something you live out of fear of damnation, but rather out of joy of serving Christ - I cannot express enough about how grateful I am to him for helping me undo many years of some bad theology I had gotten into due largely in part to poor discipleship as a kid - Olen and Linda set me on a pilgrimage of growth, and also I learned from them how to rightly uphold and know the truth of God's Word and what it teaches.  St. Anselm, in his Proslogion, said that we don't understand to believe, but we believe to understand - Olen Phillips lived that conviction, and he communicated it to his people he ministered to in such a way that it really stuck and you could build upon it.  And, that is the legacy of faith I inherited from Olen Phillips as my pastor and spiritual father/mentor. 

In recent years, my faith pilgrimage has led me to a whole different Church tradition that is in many ways worlds apart from that little Baptist church in Rowlesburg, WV, but God used that church - and Olen and Linda Phillips - to bring me to where I am today.  Olen, I believe with all my heart you are in heaven with the Savior you so faithfully served, but I wanted to say that I love you, and one day in the hereafter I am looking forward to seeing you again.