MORLEY— Handprints and footprints of all sizes fill one of the central walls inside Morley Baptist Church. Pastor David Thompson said the prints, which belong to members of his congregation, serve as a reminder of both the church body’s collective commitment and as a challenge to each individual.
“Every time you walk to the classrooms or to the gym you have to pass this awesome wall,” he said. “Those prints are literally our hands and feet and that’s what we want to be … we want to be the hands and feet of Jesus.”
The church is using the wall to stay focused on their mission; a mission Thompson said is sometimes easy to lose sight of.
“We’ve been that strong church, we’ve slacked off, and now we are headed for strong and healthy again,” he said. “As long as we stay focused on being the hands and feet, we will be the kind of church God wants us to be. Whatever else has happened is in the past. The future is what matters.”
Morley, which is located 14 miles north of Sikeston, is a community of about 700 people. Thompson has served as pastor of Morley Baptist for the last three years and he said during that time the 80+ member church has seen its share of ups and downs.
“At one point we lost almost all of our leaders to job transfers and different things,” he said. “We basically had to start from scratch… quite a cataclysmic event for a small church.”
But he said the people have stepped up to the plate, especially when it comes to children’s ministry and outreach and evangelism.
“You probably don’t hear this too often from a pastor … but I have the greatest group of deacons,” Thompson said. “I tell them all the time that I’m basically a lazy pastor and the more they get out there and get things accomplished, the more time I have to ride my motorcycle,” he said with a laugh. “But seriously, I love putting my deacons in a position of ministry and watching them respond over and above my expectations.”
Thompson said he also thanks God every day for his church’s senior adult group. He said they are the healthiest and most active group of older adults that he has ever had the pleasure of pastoring.
“I’m telling you some of them have been going to this church since Jesus was in high school,” he said. “But they get out there and get their hands dirty, whether it’s with our children’s program or anything else. And they do it by choice, too. Not because they have to, but because they deeply love this church.”
And the people of Morley are taking notice. Thompson said people have come in off the street and told him that they could feel that something different was going on.
“We are being more intentional and they can sense it,” he said. “God did not give us a Plan B. We have to be his hands and feet. Our church people are learning it and applying it. We are still in the early stages of God at work, but the results are there.”