“There’s nothing like being able to step into the pulpit and proclaim God’s word,” Ryan Reed said. “I’ve been preaching consistently for seven years. When I started I was only 20 and was preaching to people who were believers longer than I’ve been alive. I wondered how was I going to tell them anything. How could I speak to them?”
“I realized I have the Word of God. My job is not to be inventive or give them my opinion. What they need is the Word of God and my job is to stand there and present it. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
“It’s a joy every week to stand and preach and watch people embrace that Word and to see that Word do its work in their lives.”
Reed is now standing and preaching at First Baptist Church in Bruce. The Selmer, Tennessee native was introduced along with his wife Jordan and children Knox, 5, and Lottie Ruth, 1, just two weeks ago.
Reed grew up in First Baptist Church of Selmer, which he described as similar to First Baptist in Bruce.
“I was saved at five years old and because of that, grew up in church. My folks had me there Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, Thursdays depending on what they had going. We were always at the church. My father was pretty stubborn about that. He might yell at us the whole way there, but we’re going to be there,” Reed said with a laugh.
He was a senior in high school when he planned to attend Middle Tennessee State University, but felt called to the ministry instead.
“I felt the call, but knew I didn’t know enough. I only knew of two Baptist schools – Union University in Jackson, Tn. and Blue Mountain. I knew Union was real expensive, so Blue Mountain was more likely. The Lord opened that door and used it to bring my wife and I together.”
They met while attending Blue Mountain. His wife’s father is a former pastor who currently lives in Benoit.
“She comes from a family of pastors. She has three older sisters. Of the four girls, three of them are married to Baptist ministers. Her father and grandfather are Baptist ministers,” Reed said. “I married into the family business. So she knew what she was getting into when we got married.”
Reed said he wasn’t certain what his calling had in store for him initially. He went to Blue Mountain with the idea of doing youth ministry, and was called to do exactly that at a church in Corinth during his first year of college.
“We had a Christian ministries class my sophomore year. Dr. Ronald Meeks’ classes were known for being difficult. He knew he was sending out pastors into churches so he wasn’t going to let them skip by his class because he knew when they got to the churches it was important they were well prepared,” Reed said. “The best moments in his classes were when he would go off book. One day he stopped and said, ‘The Lord calls us all to different ministries and that’s fantastic. He just doesn’t call people to be pastors but to all occupations. That’s well and good, but we need men that are called to pastor.’ His little pep talk really hit me this is what I’m supposed to do.”
Reed began shifting his focus to prepare to become a pastor. He made plans to attend seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
“We had a preview day up there and we went and toured everything and that night I told Jordan ‘I think this is it,’ and she said ‘I don’t.’”
“The more I thought about it, I thought she was on to something. My mother-in-law came to me and said, ‘If the Lord wants y’all in Louisville that’s great, but I’m praying you get a church in Mississippi.’”
“I told her that’s fine. Keep on praying, but my resume is not out there, no church is looking for me.”
A week later, Midway Baptist Church in Newton called him to be their pastor and he began seminary work online and ultimately attended in New Orleans.
“Midway is a small country church that’s much bigger than they think,” Reed said. “They have a unique ability to draw folks in. I was 21 and my wife 19 when we went to that church and they embraced us, loved on us and made us family. We stayed there seven years and weren’t looking to leave when Bruce called.”
First Baptist Bruce called Reed initially using him as a reference for one of his friends they were considering. During that initial conversation it was pointed out it’s early in the search process at Bruce and Reed was encouraged to submit his own resume as well.
“I said no thanks. I don’t want to do that. Plus I can’t tell my friend I stole a church out from him.”
His friend ended up taking another church and told Reed he was going to tell the people from Bruce to follow up with him.
“I said that’s fine, but I have no intentions of leaving Newton,” Reed said.
A meeting was set up in Louisville, Ms.
“I almost turned around three times on the way there. It just felt wrong,” Reed said. “I decided I would talk to them and tell them all my faults and hopefully steer them in a different direction, but as we talked it was clear they are really good people that love their church and their community.”
“I left that meeting not comfortable telling them no yet. I needed my wife to meet them because she’s often a lot smarter than I am.”
That meeting occurred in Bruce, where they toured the church, house and community.
“I saw all the potential this church has. I saw the heart of the search committee. I thought, if the church lives up to the committee’s desire to see Christ lifted up in this community, we may have a home here.”
The Lord continued to open more doors and the Reeds decided to accept the invitation.
“We’re still settling in, but it’s been quite the blessing already,” Reed said.
Reed’s son is named Homer Knox, after his grandfather and John Knox – a great protestant reformer and powerful preacher in Scotland.
Story is the first time Knox was forced to preach he stood behind the pulpit for a minute or two in silence and then burst into tears and ran off.
“My first time to preach wasn’t quite that bad, but it wasn’t great. I was a youth minister at the time. I thought I would do a really good job. I was over confident. I got up there and preached everything I knew and then realized it had only been five minutes and said, ‘Well, I’m done.’”
“Everybody in the church told me what a great job I had done, but I knew that wasn’t the case,” he said.
Reed draws his inspiration for his sermons based on what the church needs.
“It’s a big Bible. That’s my philosophy.”
“I started my sermons here on who Jesus is. That’s a central doctrine to begin with before we move into the Christmas season.”
Reed also employs a lesson he learned while at Blue Mountain when it comes to his sermons.
“I enjoy meeting people prior to the sermon. I learned in college, before your sermon begins your sermon has begun. People determine if they’re going to listen to you before you step into the pulpit. You can listen to anybody preach, but it means something more when you have a relationship. So it’s important to meet people.”
Reed said he is still learning about the Bruce community, but has high hopes for his new church.
“I think this church has so much potential. We have such great facilities, a beautiful sanctuary, located right here in the heart of town. I would love to see our church continue to be a presence in this town, to be involved with the people here,” Reed said. “I’d love to see us reach out and welcome everyone in and show that this church isn’t just here for those that have been here their whole lives, but anybody hungry for the truth.”
“I want to be an outward focused church.”
When he’s not at church, Reed is an avid reader and sports fan, especially anything Tennessee. He also does a weekly podcasts with a pastor friend entitled “The Imperfect Church.”
“It’s something fun we started that allows us to talk about everything related to church,” Reed said. “I’m a big podcast listener myself.”