|
» Back to Ministers » Home |
|
|
|
 |
|
FROM THE BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF PRIMITIVE OR OLD SCHOOL BAPTIST MINISTERS BY DAVID MONTGOMERY AND MARK GREEN:
Michael H. Rodgers
Elder Rodgers was born December 6, 1964, in Lexington, Mississippi. He is the second of three sons born to Wayne and Nell Rodgers, who lived in Tchula, Mississippi, at the time of his birth. At the age of seven his family moved to Carthage, Mississippi, where they remained until Mike graduated from high school. After his graduation in 1982, Mike's family moved to Ruidoso, New Mexico, and Mike enrolled at New Mexico State University (NMSU). During his two years there, Mike served in the student senate and as campaign manager for his future wife, Lori Hand.
Mike had been reared in the Southern Baptist church and was baptized sometime during his pre-teen years. When he went to NMSU, he continued to attend worship services at a Southern Baptist church, but he also attended worship services with other denominations. Except for a brief encounter with a Pentecostal group through a friend in Mississippi, this was really his first exposure to services and beliefs that differed (however slightly) from his own. At this point, however, he did not give much attention to such details. It was during this time that he met Lori Hand, the daughter of Elder Gerald Hand of Artesia, New Mexico. They first met in the fall of 1982, and by the grace of God made it through a dating relationship that ended in their marriage on August 4, 1984.
Mike and Lori moved to Lubbock, Texas, where Mike obtained his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Texas Tech University in 1986. During the first couple of years of marriage, Mike vainly led he and Lori to various churches in an attempt to find a "compromise" between the Primitive Baptist and the Southern Baptist faiths.
Throughout this endeavor, Elder Hand encouraged his daughter to "let patience have her perfect work." This patience prevailed as the gracious God of Heaven led Mike to an understanding of His ways, showing Mike the Truth of the Scriptures in his meager attempts to study the word of God. This Heavenly guidance culminated upon the Spirit's exposition of 1 Kings 10:9, whereupon Mike learned that God loved Israel "forever," which, of course, means even before the world began. Upon this revelation, Mike sought to join the Primitive Baptist Church at Lubbock, Texas, being baptized there on the second Sunday of January 1987 by Elder Hand and recommended for membership by his new pastor, Elder George Johnson. God had richly blessed Mike through the study of the Scriptures, and these blessings were compounded through the mutual study and fellowship that Mike enjoyed with Steve Bloyd. It was Steve who had first invited Mike to lead singing at the Lubbock Church and by God's
leadership the two grew together in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Both Mike and Steve became increasingly involved in the Lubbock Church, and they were ordained together as deacons in this Church, along with Brother Jack Denton, in December 1989. Under the tutelage of Elder Johnson, both Mike and Steve began to speak from the pulpit of the things which God revealed to them in the Scriptures. After several years of "exercising," Mike and Steve were ordained together to the full work of the gospel ministry in July 1991. (Mike and Steve have often wondered if they were the only two men to ever be ordained together as both deacons and elders.) They received questioning from their pastor, Elder George Johnson, and received their charge from Elder Gus Harter of Atlanta, Georgia. While Steve took upon himself the pastorate of the Crosbyton Church, Mike soon accepted the call from the Brownfield Church. After Steve followed the Spirit's guidance to Maryland in 1992, Mike became pastor of the Church at Crosbyton, where he remained until his move to San Antonio in 1999. Since this move, Mike has taken a regular once monthly appointment at the Church in Fredericksburg, and has his membership, along with that of Lori and their son Corbin, at Bethany Church in San Antonio. Mike and Lori have three children - Corbin, who joined the church in
1998, Micah, and Ashton. All three children are adopted, which has ledthe parents to have wonderful thoughts of the adoption that God has done with His children. |
|
|
|
