David Stephenson, who previously served as the pastor of First Baptist Church, Climax Springs, is the new pastor at Tipton First Baptist Church. Stephenson started at the Tipton church November 2011. He said it was through looking at The Pathway, the Missouri Baptist Church newspaper, where Stephenson first heard about the opening. After a few months of reviewing his resume, Tipton called the pastor who was raised in Gentry and first felt the calling to preach at a revival when he was 18 years old.
"During a revival I felt God call me to the ministry so I surrendered to it," Stephenson said. "After that I felt intimidated and ran away from the call for several years. In the mid 1980's, my wife Rhonda and I had started going to Laura Street Baptist Church, Maryville. Through some training from the pastor and director of missions I surrendered back to the call. I went out and had some preaching opportunities and was ordained as a deacon. I learned the deacon ministry which helped in the training process. I started at my first church in Mound City."
For more of this story check out the Jan. 11 issue of the California Democrat.