A little church in Yazoo City has made a big impact over the last decade with their Pastor Caleb Clark.
From renovating physical structures to increasing membership, Clark is proud of the journey he has experienced at Calvary.
Calvary Baptist Church welcomed Clark on August 19, 2007.
Clark admits his first impression of the church buildings and facilities was that they were older and slightly outdated, signs of a bygone era when the church had a much younger and larger congregation.
Clark arrived in the nick of time to a church body that was ready to break away from the "same-old, same-old."
"They had fallen into a pattern of repetition,” Clark said. “Getting a church moving forward takes consistency, and they were very unstable."
Clark knew he had to start somewhere so he set goals to help the church improve their ministry in a few areas, based upon the good things they were already doing.
"One of the things that Calvary was doing, was Operation Christmas Child,” he said. “We were having people bring their shoe boxes to Calvary. At that point, we were probably collecting 500 or 600 for the whole county, and Calvary itself was producing maybe forty-five, or fifty," said Clark.
Clark started by watching how the church members handled their Operation Christmas Child ministry and soon started to set goals for the little church to produce or collect more. The following year, Calvary produced 100 boxes, which was a huge accomplishment for the church members at that time.
In the years since, Pastor Clark and his congregation, as well as other churches around the county have produced thousands of boxes to be sent as Christmas gifts to children all over the world.
Some other projects that Calvary is involved in are supporting Yazoo City's Manna House, going on mission trips, giving food to the needy, and supporting a church plant in Indianola. They also support a family of missionaries in Papua New Guinea, who are creating a written language for a tribe that lives in the jungle.
"We try to do as much as we can with as little resources as possible," said Clark. "God's been faithful. We have seen a full turn around in our budget, and a full turn around in our church membership as a whole."
One of Clark's other goals was to improve the buildings and facilities around the church, which included remodeling the fellowship hall, and rebuilding the sanctuary.
"The fellowship hall was very sterile. We have updated the paint, and put down new carpet," said Clark. He also mentioned that the church added new chairs and other furnishings along the way that greatly improved the fellowship hall as well.
The original chapel at the front of the building had degraded with age and had become a safety hazard, which forced the church to tear it down. The new sanctuary is nearly complete, with the help of local volunteers and professionals who have been giving their time to finish the job.
Clark has gained several fond memories over the last decade as the Pastor at Calvary Baptist Church, most notably his meetings with church deacons, and some of the elderly members of the church.
Pastor Clark's favorite time of the year is their Easter Celebration, a family picnic hosted every year at one of the church member's houses on the Sunday before the Easter holiday.
"We always have just a real relaxed time. Calvary has become a very relaxing place," said Clark.
One of the most rewarding things Clark has experienced in his 10 years of service in the church, is that they allowed him to work as an Air Force Chaplain while still serving as the Pastor at Calvary.
"About two years ago I was given a rare opportunity to go to work full time for the Reserves with the guard," said Clark.
Although there is a lot of responsibility working as both a local pastor and as a military chaplain, he couldn't do it without the grace and generosity of his church members.
"The greatest success story is that Calvary has been able to adapt themselves, not only to their leadership, but also to their surroundings, and make a maximum effort with our limited supply of resources and people and time." said Clark.
Calvary Baptist Church is hosting morning services on Sunday mornings inside their fellowship hall starting at 11 a.m.
For more information about Calvary Baptist Church, its mission work, or to help with the new sanctuary project, please call Pastor Caleb Clark at
662-590-5647.
