FENTON – Missions not only runs in Joe Spicer’s blood, it runs in his bloodline.
Spicer was honored by South County Baptist Church (SCBC) for 60 years in ministry, 30 of them at this church. Missions has almost always been a key focus. Spicer is now the church’s pastor of missions and outreach.
His mission trips have taken him and his wife, Bonney, to Indonesia, the Philippines, Mexico, Guatemala, and South Korea, some of those multiple times. When they married in college, they served for nine weeks in Michigan. The couple met in a Baptist Student Union in Carbondale, Ill.
He was a part-time church janitor when John Childers became senior pastor in 2005.
Joe Spicer
“I saw his heart for missions. He has an obvious gift from God. I hired him part time as Minister of Missions. Things progressed, and we were able to give him more responsibilities and hours and missions as his only job,” Childers said.
Spicer also was interim pastor for the Filipino congregation that meets in the church. He has also pastored several small churches and said they were always supportive of the Cooperative Program. He began foreign missionary work 53 years ago.
An Arabic speaking Baptist Church also meets in the South County facility.
The Spicers daughter and three grandkids have been served in Indonesia and are going to Guatemala this year.
“I continue to serve as part time missions pastor and am transitioning to pastoral care ministry. It’s been two or three years since I’ve been on a mission trip,” he said.
The couple marked their 60th wedding anniversary this past December.
“The Lord can use you at any season. My wife and I pray for the length of days and the length of service,” he said, adding he is still active and interested in missions.
“I still work with the budget and missions council. I help with pastoral care for older congregation members, and I’m involved in the invitation each Sunday.”
Of course, he is a resource with questions about and interest in missions.
Childers said there is more to Spicer’s story. “He always asks everyone who comes in the door, including delivery drivers if they know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. He’s famous for little scraps of paper in his pockets with notes only Joe can read. He knows what’s going on in people’s lives,” Childers said.
Their daughter Kelly Anderson helped for several years at the Vatanini Baptist Church in Indonesia, one of five government-recognized churches despite heavy Muslim presence. That church has assisted with several branch churches and helped a school.
Kelly’s twin, Karen Permenter, is going with some of the Spicer grandchildren for a mission trip this year to Guatemala.
They work with mission partners. One in Guatemala has a medical team that will bring missionaries in for eight-day trips, and there have been up to 200 conversions in those eight days.
On April 7, Spicer preached both of the SCBC services, and the church honored his and Bonney’s 60 years – and counting – of ministry with gifts.
“Joe and Bonney are so loved by the church, and other churches he impacts. They still enjoy hospital visits together. Joe is very involved with the Indonesia congregation. They watched the (April 7) service by Internet, despite a 13-hour time difference. The Filipino church loves them too and interacts with them,” Childers said.