By Sharon Mager
COLUMBIA, Md. — David Hall joined the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware (BCM/D) staff as a church services consultant, effective Sept.15. Hall pastored Oak Grove Baptist Church in Bel Air, Maryland, for almost a quarter-century before resigning in 2014. He will bring his wealth of experience to encourage and support churches throughout the two-state convention, primarily focusing on the Montgomery and Mid-Maryland Baptist Associations. Hall will keep in touch with pastors, encourage, support, provide training, and preach when requested, and generally offer the wisdom of his many years of experience.
He is very enthusiastic about the opportunities to meet and encourage pastors. “I’ve already visited two churches, and it’s really exciting,” Hall said.
Hall was raised in a Christian home. “At ten years of age, I asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins and to become my Lord. There were some backsliding moments between the ages of 10-16, but at age 16, I rededicated my life to the Lord, and quickly God began to give me some opportunities to share my testimony and to preach.
At first, Hall resisted the call to preach, being unsure, but he surrendered to vocational ministry in his sophomore year of college. “God opened a door for me to be a summer youth minister in Waycross, Georgia and before I left for that position, Lakeview Baptist Church in Auburn, Alabama, asked if in the fall I would assume the role of minister of education and student ministry.” God was affirming Hall’s call to ministry.
After graduation from Auburn University, Hall went to Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky where he earned a Master of Divinity. That’s also where he met Susan, his wife of 41-years. In the 80s he attended Southeastern Baptist Seminary and earned a Doctor of Ministry Degree. In 1991, God blessed the couple with their son, Kevin.
Prior to his long tenure at Oak Grove Baptist Church, Hall pastored Wrens Baptist Church in Georgia. “That is where I developed a passion for evangelism.” Hall explained, “Shortly after assuming the role of pastor at Wrens, I was informed that we had a revival lined up in the next few months. I was told that the state director of evangelism was going to do the preaching. His name was Bill Clinton! Now, this was before a politician from Arkansas would run for and win the presidency. I called Bill and told him how much I was looking forward to the revival, and he said that I should do it because I was their new pastor. I told him that I wanted him to come. He said this to me, ‘I will come and do the revival, but I want you to know that when I do a revival, I don’t stay in the hotel room all day up until the service. I like to get out and visit lost people!’ I said, ‘Okay.’
“I remember putting down the phone and rushing to my secretary and asking, ‘do you know of any lost people in the area?’ Well, Bill Clinton did come. And Bill and I visited many lost people, and inactive church members and revival came as well over 35 people gave their hearts to Jesus Christ! I noticed while we visited that Bill was using a memorized presentation of the Gospel, which was CWT (continuing witness training). I quickly became certified in this great witnessing tool and have taught it to hundreds.
“At Oak Grove, I was privileged to pastor disciples of the Lord Jesus. Our church grew in giving to missions and in going to tell the world about Jesus.”
During Hall’s ministry at Oak Grove Baptist, God blessed the church with over 1200 baptisms and over 7 million dollars given to missions. The church has consistently stayed at the top of Cooperative Program giving for decades. Also, they sent multiple missionaries from the church to the “uttermost parts of the world.” Additionally, the church ordained six men to the Gospel ministry.
During that time, they also eliminated their debt and invested 1.3 million dollars in a building fund.
The church planted Mount Wolf Community Church in York, Pennsylvania, and Epic Community Church in Aberdeen, Maryland. They added new buildings and renovated property on their campus and started Oak Grove Classical Christian School.
Now Hall seeks to be a blessing to other churches. He said he knows the mountains and valleys of life as a pastor and wants to help and encourage pastors throughout the convention.
Cover photo by https://writix.co.uk.