Antioch Baptist Church pastor Eric Payne lives in Batesville and works with his uncle’s company Comer Heat and Air in Oxford.
“He’s retiring in January, and my cousin and I are going to take it over,” Payne said. But that won’t impact his preaching at Antioch.
He and his wife Jennifer, a school teacher at North Delta, have four children.
Payne, 39, started out teaching Sunday School when he first felt God’s calling.
“I was wondering for a while what God was doing,” Payne said. “I kept feeling the calling even more and quit my heat and air job and went into (seminary).”
Afterwards, he started out as a youth minister and then took over at a plant church, Grace Point, outside of Batesville.
“When I first got the call from Antioch they asked if I was interested in moving and I said no. They asked if they could come hear me preach. I said okay, and things built from there.”
Over time, things started feeling right to Payne and his family to come to Antioch.
“We prayed as a family and just felt like God wanted us here and we took the jump,” he said.
That was two years ago.
“I’m sure there are friendly people all over Calhoun County. When we first got here, something that caught me was they made us feel like we had been here forever,” he said. “As I see people come in and visit, they just love on people. They’re concerned about people. No matter where you are and what’s going on in your life, they want to love on you in Christ. It’s a Biblical love.”
“As a church pastor you always have church members, but out of those members I now have a lot of good friends,” he said. “I think people here realize us as a whole, as a group, we’re all broken and need a savior. They know no matter where you are in your walk, we’re all the same when it comes to Christ. They don’t think they’re better than anybody and I just love that.”
Antioch averages close to 80 every Sunday morning. They have Sunday morning and night services and Wednesday services that mirror the school year and are focused on the youth.
“It’s geared to the kids,” Payne said. “We’re looking for a youth minister now.”
Payne draws his sermons from everyday life.
“I get a feel of what people are going through. I don’t stick to a theme,” he said. “If God leads me somewhere I’m going that way. I just try and break down God’s word in everyday life and how it’s going to encourage, edify and build up someone. I had a professor tell me one time no matter what passage of scripture you begin with, start there and work toward the cross, and I try to stay true to that.”