By Theresa Shadrix
The Alabama Baptist
October 21, 2004
Shannon Camper thought her pageant days were over when she was first runner-up to Miss Alabama June 12, her seventh and final attempt at the title.
Camper, who turned 25 Oct. 20, aged out of the scholarship pageant system that awarded her more than $28,000, which she used to obtain a degree in mass communications from the University of Alabama.
After the competition, held at Samford University, she moved on with her life and got a job as a leasing agent, focused attention on her ministry of singing gospel music and enjoyed church activities at Central Avenue Baptist in Gadsden, where her father, Larry, is minister of music and mother, Sarah, is a pianist.
Then Miss Alabama, Deidre Downs, was crowned Miss America 2005 in Atlantic City Sept. 18.
Downs is the third Alabama contestant to win the Miss America tiara, along with Yolande Betbeze in 1951 and Heather Whitestone in 1995. With Downs’ victory, the Miss Alabama first runner-up has the option of assuming the state title. In a phone call from the Miss Alabama organization, Camper sealed her name in the pageant history books when she accepted without hesitation.
“There were a lot of decisions to make right off the bat. I had to quit my job and move to Birmingham in the apartment provided for Miss Alabama,” Camper said. “I didn’t have time to think about anything. I was just so excited for Deidre and me!”
Camper said the title offers her the chance to speak about her platform, breast cancer awareness, and share what God has done in her life. “There is a history of breast cancer in my family and now I can help educate women,” she said.
“It is just so amazing to see how God has moved because after seven years this was something I put aside. I think of the song, ‘Wait on the Lord and Be of Good Service,’ and I am reminded that He is in control.”
Family friend and pastor of Arbor Baptist Church in Pell City Whitt Hibbs baptized Camper at age 7 when he served as pastor of Central Avenue.
Hibbs said all Southern Baptists in Alabama should be very proud. “She is one of our own, literally born and raised in the Southern Baptist church, and Shannon has a gleam is her eye and the Lord in her heart,” said Hibbs. “Her faith is real and she also has such an unbelievable talent in singing.”
Born into a musical family, Camper said she has been singing all of her life. “My mother sang when she was pregnant with me when my parents traveled in a southern gospel group. I also remember that she would prop me on the piano stool at the age of 2 and I would sing. It has been a big part of my life.”
Camper’s singing talent does not go unrecognized. She received the only standing ovation when she sang “God Bless America” during the talent competition at the Miss Alabama pageant and she has been working in a studio to record her own music.
“All I want to do is share my testimony and sing. I hope I can do it in churches around Alabama.”
For information on how to schedule Miss Alabama 2004, Shannon Camper, visit www.missalabama.com.
Copyright 2005© The Alabama Baptist. All Rights Reserved. Contact The Alabama Baptist
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Faith motivates Miss Alabama as she prepares to compete in Miss America
By Theresa Shadrix
The Alabama Baptist
July 22, 2004
Deidre Downs planned on attending medical school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham this fall but she traded in books for a crown when she was named Miss Alabama.
Held on the campus of Samford University June 12, the Miss Alabama pageant awarded Downs, 23, more than $18,000.
“I was elated,” said Downs, a member of Baptist Church of the Covenant, Birmingham. “It was my fifth time and I really wanted to be Miss Alabama.”
Now she is busy preparing for the Miss America Pageant and making public appearances across Alabama promoting her platform, Curing Childhood Cancer.
“Between now and Sept. 1, when I leave for Atlantic City, I’m preparing by working out, continuing my voice lessons and doing mock interviews.
For talent, I will sing the same selection I performed at Miss Alabama, a Linda Eder song called ‘I’m Afraid This Must Be Love.’”
As an activist for children, Downs is raising funds for Children’s Hospital in Birmingham through a specialty license plate approved by the Alabama Department of Motor Vehicles. Children’s Hospital treats more than 95 percent of children with cancer in Alabama, she explained. “Research is the only way we will approach a cure for pediatric cancer,” she said.
The statuesque beauty takes her new job as Miss Alabama seriously, as well as her life, career ambitions and faith.
The almost $50,000 in scholarship money she received in her five years of competition allowed her to complete a bachelor of arts in history from Samford University.
The funds will help her resume studies at UAB after her reign as Miss Alabama to fulfill her goal to work in the medical profession.
“I want to become a pediatrician because I love kids.”
Her desire to medically care for children started through her experiences at Camp Smile-a-Mile, a camp for children with cancer, and as a volunteer at Children’s Hospital.
She started a nonprofit organization, Making Miracles, four years ago to allow opportunities for high school students to volunteer with pediatric cancer patients in a hospital setting.
Making Miracles has also provided volunteers for the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge and the Leukemia Society’s Light the Night Walk, as well as held a Rock-a-Thon fund raiser for pediatric cancer research.
Downs said her faith in Christ not only motivated her decision to pursue medicine as a career but also her involvement in community service.
She became a Christian when she was 8 years old but feels she has grown in her faith over the years.
“I’ve come to realize what it means to devote (my) life to Christ,” Downs explained. “I hope to always live my life in a way that reflects my faith and to be someone who really walks the walk by putting my faith into practice every day.”
The 2002 Rhodes Scholar finalist puts her faith into action not only through raising awareness of pediatric cancer but also as a role model for young women.
Teresa Cheatham Stricklin, Miss Alabama 1978 and first runner-up to Miss America 1979, judged Downs last year.
She believes the same charm and professionalism the Miss Alabama judges saw in Downs will be seen in Miss America and by people in Alabama who meet her during appearances.
“I am excited for Deidre and she will be a fabulous Miss Alabama,” Stricklin said.
Copyright 2005© The Alabama Baptist. All Rights Reserved. Contact The Alabama Baptist
The Alabama Baptist
July 22, 2004
Deidre Downs planned on attending medical school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham this fall but she traded in books for a crown when she was named Miss Alabama.
Held on the campus of Samford University June 12, the Miss Alabama pageant awarded Downs, 23, more than $18,000.
“I was elated,” said Downs, a member of Baptist Church of the Covenant, Birmingham. “It was my fifth time and I really wanted to be Miss Alabama.”
Now she is busy preparing for the Miss America Pageant and making public appearances across Alabama promoting her platform, Curing Childhood Cancer.
“Between now and Sept. 1, when I leave for Atlantic City, I’m preparing by working out, continuing my voice lessons and doing mock interviews.
For talent, I will sing the same selection I performed at Miss Alabama, a Linda Eder song called ‘I’m Afraid This Must Be Love.’”
As an activist for children, Downs is raising funds for Children’s Hospital in Birmingham through a specialty license plate approved by the Alabama Department of Motor Vehicles. Children’s Hospital treats more than 95 percent of children with cancer in Alabama, she explained. “Research is the only way we will approach a cure for pediatric cancer,” she said.
The statuesque beauty takes her new job as Miss Alabama seriously, as well as her life, career ambitions and faith.
The almost $50,000 in scholarship money she received in her five years of competition allowed her to complete a bachelor of arts in history from Samford University.
The funds will help her resume studies at UAB after her reign as Miss Alabama to fulfill her goal to work in the medical profession.
“I want to become a pediatrician because I love kids.”
Her desire to medically care for children started through her experiences at Camp Smile-a-Mile, a camp for children with cancer, and as a volunteer at Children’s Hospital.
She started a nonprofit organization, Making Miracles, four years ago to allow opportunities for high school students to volunteer with pediatric cancer patients in a hospital setting.
Making Miracles has also provided volunteers for the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge and the Leukemia Society’s Light the Night Walk, as well as held a Rock-a-Thon fund raiser for pediatric cancer research.
Downs said her faith in Christ not only motivated her decision to pursue medicine as a career but also her involvement in community service.
She became a Christian when she was 8 years old but feels she has grown in her faith over the years.
“I’ve come to realize what it means to devote (my) life to Christ,” Downs explained. “I hope to always live my life in a way that reflects my faith and to be someone who really walks the walk by putting my faith into practice every day.”
The 2002 Rhodes Scholar finalist puts her faith into action not only through raising awareness of pediatric cancer but also as a role model for young women.
Teresa Cheatham Stricklin, Miss Alabama 1978 and first runner-up to Miss America 1979, judged Downs last year.
She believes the same charm and professionalism the Miss Alabama judges saw in Downs will be seen in Miss America and by people in Alabama who meet her during appearances.
“I am excited for Deidre and she will be a fabulous Miss Alabama,” Stricklin said.
Copyright 2005© The Alabama Baptist. All Rights Reserved. Contact The Alabama Baptist
Thursday, May 06, 2004
Mark Lowry reaches crowds with humor, music
By Theresa Shadrix
The Alabama Baptist
May 6, 2004
In all of Mark Lowry's antics alongside gospel singer Bill Gaither, there is one thing Lowry wants to be — real.
“Be real for them like you want Jesus to be real for you,” Lowry said.
People will listen if they see what they’re going through is what others have been through, he said.
Lowry’s fusing of clean comedy and southern gospel music on TV and the stages of arenas and churches brings a chuckle and a tear, concert goers say. Among his Alabama church appearances are Hill Crest Baptist Church, Anniston; Dauphin Way Baptist Church, Mobile; and others.
Throughout his 13 years as a baritone with The Gaither Vocal Band, Lowry often pokes fun at Gaither. “I think I am the only one that Bill allows to make fun of him,” Lowry said. “Who else would get to wear a wig and laugh at him?”
Along with appearing on the Gaither Homecoming Series videos and sharing the stage with other gospel music recording artists, such as Sandi Patty and Michael W. Smith, Lowry has made six comedy and musical videos during his 20-year career.
In a phone conversation with The Alabama Baptist from his Houston, Texas, home, Lowry joked that at the moment his real life included cleaning out the swimming pool, feeding a stray dog he adopted and talking on the phone.
“I am ADHD, and I can’t concentrate on one thing at a time!” ADHD — Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder — was no laughing matter to Lowry as a child, because he couldn’t sit still. He was labeled hyperactive. Now he would not change a thing, he said, because it actually helps with his comedy.
“Everything in comedy has truth. Not being ADHD is like asking a blind man what it would be like to have sight. It is all I have ever known,” he said.
Lowry said people love stories about people, and that is why he relates well to his audiences.
“Jesus is for everyone. We ought to let our scars be seen because we’re all sinners, and we all need to know that Jesus is real,” he said. Lowry said that so many times Christians do not encourage one another and talk about what is happening in real life.
On the flip side of his hilarious stage antics and joke-telling is an introspective Lowry, who delves into questions of the soul.
“I had questions for Jesus, but I really had so many for Mary and those questions produced the song,” he said, referring to his hit song “Mary Did You Know?” a Christmastime classic. Lowry owes his life of ministry to his mother.
“I was born two months early, and my mother gave me to the Lord,” he said. Lowry’s mother also dressed him in an American flag at age 11 to sing patriotic songs to a crowd of more than 10,000 at the National Quartet Convention. This performance landed Lowry a recording contract.
After a brief stint at Liberty University pursuing a degree in business, Lowry found more success singing southern gospel music.
His comedy came when jokes were introduced as a filler of time.
“The independent Baptists I grew up around didn’t clap, and they might say ‘Amen’ after a song,” he said. “I needed something to fill in the time and started to tell jokes. Plus, it was the only way I knew they were listening!”
Copyright 2005© The Alabama Baptist. All Rights Reserved. Contact The Alabama Baptist
The Alabama Baptist
May 6, 2004
In all of Mark Lowry's antics alongside gospel singer Bill Gaither, there is one thing Lowry wants to be — real.
“Be real for them like you want Jesus to be real for you,” Lowry said.
People will listen if they see what they’re going through is what others have been through, he said.
Lowry’s fusing of clean comedy and southern gospel music on TV and the stages of arenas and churches brings a chuckle and a tear, concert goers say. Among his Alabama church appearances are Hill Crest Baptist Church, Anniston; Dauphin Way Baptist Church, Mobile; and others.
Throughout his 13 years as a baritone with The Gaither Vocal Band, Lowry often pokes fun at Gaither. “I think I am the only one that Bill allows to make fun of him,” Lowry said. “Who else would get to wear a wig and laugh at him?”
Along with appearing on the Gaither Homecoming Series videos and sharing the stage with other gospel music recording artists, such as Sandi Patty and Michael W. Smith, Lowry has made six comedy and musical videos during his 20-year career.
In a phone conversation with The Alabama Baptist from his Houston, Texas, home, Lowry joked that at the moment his real life included cleaning out the swimming pool, feeding a stray dog he adopted and talking on the phone.
“I am ADHD, and I can’t concentrate on one thing at a time!” ADHD — Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder — was no laughing matter to Lowry as a child, because he couldn’t sit still. He was labeled hyperactive. Now he would not change a thing, he said, because it actually helps with his comedy.
“Everything in comedy has truth. Not being ADHD is like asking a blind man what it would be like to have sight. It is all I have ever known,” he said.
Lowry said people love stories about people, and that is why he relates well to his audiences.
“Jesus is for everyone. We ought to let our scars be seen because we’re all sinners, and we all need to know that Jesus is real,” he said. Lowry said that so many times Christians do not encourage one another and talk about what is happening in real life.
On the flip side of his hilarious stage antics and joke-telling is an introspective Lowry, who delves into questions of the soul.
“I had questions for Jesus, but I really had so many for Mary and those questions produced the song,” he said, referring to his hit song “Mary Did You Know?” a Christmastime classic. Lowry owes his life of ministry to his mother.
“I was born two months early, and my mother gave me to the Lord,” he said. Lowry’s mother also dressed him in an American flag at age 11 to sing patriotic songs to a crowd of more than 10,000 at the National Quartet Convention. This performance landed Lowry a recording contract.
After a brief stint at Liberty University pursuing a degree in business, Lowry found more success singing southern gospel music.
His comedy came when jokes were introduced as a filler of time.
“The independent Baptists I grew up around didn’t clap, and they might say ‘Amen’ after a song,” he said. “I needed something to fill in the time and started to tell jokes. Plus, it was the only way I knew they were listening!”
Copyright 2005© The Alabama Baptist. All Rights Reserved. Contact The Alabama Baptist
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Gadsden woman’s ministry teaches teens, college-age girls truths for godly lifestyles
By Theresa Shadrix
The Alabama Baptist
April 29, 2004
While women like Britney Spears and Janet Jackson lead the fight for an “anything goes” mentality, many parents battle to keep their teens from being part of statistics this viewpoint generates.
More than 16,500 babies born in Alabama in 1996 were to girls 15–19 years old, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute.
But parents hope to curb these and other statistics through a ministry named Beyond the Eye (BTE), which focuses on teaching the truth of the Bible to girls grade 6 through college.
With a realistic approach to depression, fashion trends, sex, eating disorders, gossip and self-esteem, BTE holds one-day conferences, taught by college-age girls under the mentorship of its founder Leslie Gary.
Along with break-out seminars, the conference has a praise and worship time, a fashion show and skits. Each girl attending receives a gift bag with a T-shirt, Scripture cards and memory verse outline.
The ministry of BTE started with a Bible study Gary facilitated several years ago for college girls from her church, CrossPoint Community Church in Gadsden.
As the group grew, the concept for the ministry began to form. It held its first conference under the guidance of Breakaway Ministries, a Gadsden-based organization that organizes yearly retreats for students. A dozen BTE conferences later, Gary is juggling teaching responsibilities at Piedmont Elementary School and overseeing the ministry.
Because discipleship was a vital part of the Bible study, it is with the ministry as well. “Our job as women is to seek after Christ and become more like Him. Character will determine true beauty‚” she said.
With discipleship, memorizing Scripture is a vital key to the Christian life. Gary first learned the skill of memorizing Scripture from her father as he made his children quote a verse before each left for school.
No Scripture verse meant the tardy bell. In her adult life she developed a true love for Scripture and seeks to pass on this passion to help fend off temptations from the world.
“Girls are looking for attention and if they don’t get it at home, they are going to go to something or someone looking for it,” she said. She said craving love and attention can lead to wrong choices in dating, friends and fashion.
One of the most entertaining aspects of the conference — a fashion show and skit about the do’s and don’ts of girls’ clothing — is also the main reason boys are not allowed.
“Girls need a setting that they can be themselves and get a clear view of what a godly girl should be,” Gary said.
The skit is important because girls today are bombarded with images and fashion trends that give the wrong message to boys, she noted. “Girls can still be pretty and attractive without showing guys what only their future husband should see. I am thinking about adding a do’s and don’ts about fashion.”
Learning to dress appropriately is something Nikki McClellan, 21, had to learn from Gary. McClellan, a nursing student at Gadsden State Community College, leads the “Getting Past Your Past” seminar because she thinks it is important for girls to know God’s Word. Raised in a non-Christian home and engaging in hurtful activities, she speaks from her own experience and her heart.
“Sex, drugs and rock-n-roll were my life for five years‚” she said. That changed when she met Gary three years ago, and a discipleship lasting two years helped her to change her attitude and heal her spirit.
“God took the desires away,” McClellan said. “It is fun for me to wake up every morning and know that I am accepted by God. I am complete.”
The 17 college girls who lead the seminars are a close group that share with, encourage and teach each other as well as conference attenders.
The bond of friendship is important to Gadsden native, Randi Lipscomb, as she leads the “Friendship & Accountability” workshop.
The 20-year-old attends Auburn University where she pursues a degree in elementary education. She began to study the Bible with Gary in grade 7.
“Coming from a completely different background than Nikki, I was raised in church but I lacked passion for Christ.”
She is now able to teach girls why Christian friends are important. “So many times the reason we fall is that we are not being held accountable by anyone. Friendships are an investment.”
Lipscomb said she is grateful to her parents for providing a solid, Christian home but now Bible study time is the “most amazing encounter with God. I know who I am and teaching girls their identity in Christ is what Beyond the Eye is all about.”
Gary also speaks at church services, Sunday School classes and women’s conferences.
Recently Adrian Rogers invited her to speak to the young women at Bellevue Baptist Church, Memphis, Tenn. Gary said the opportunity was amazing and reminds her that the main goal is to teach young women to have a hunger and thirst to get to know Christ intimately.
“God’s Word is our sword to fight with, our convector and our lamp to guide us,” she said. “We hope to show that to girls.”
Copyright 2005© The Alabama Baptist. All Rights Reserved. Contact The Alabama Baptist
The Alabama Baptist
April 29, 2004
While women like Britney Spears and Janet Jackson lead the fight for an “anything goes” mentality, many parents battle to keep their teens from being part of statistics this viewpoint generates.
More than 16,500 babies born in Alabama in 1996 were to girls 15–19 years old, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute.
But parents hope to curb these and other statistics through a ministry named Beyond the Eye (BTE), which focuses on teaching the truth of the Bible to girls grade 6 through college.
With a realistic approach to depression, fashion trends, sex, eating disorders, gossip and self-esteem, BTE holds one-day conferences, taught by college-age girls under the mentorship of its founder Leslie Gary.
Along with break-out seminars, the conference has a praise and worship time, a fashion show and skits. Each girl attending receives a gift bag with a T-shirt, Scripture cards and memory verse outline.
The ministry of BTE started with a Bible study Gary facilitated several years ago for college girls from her church, CrossPoint Community Church in Gadsden.
As the group grew, the concept for the ministry began to form. It held its first conference under the guidance of Breakaway Ministries, a Gadsden-based organization that organizes yearly retreats for students. A dozen BTE conferences later, Gary is juggling teaching responsibilities at Piedmont Elementary School and overseeing the ministry.
Because discipleship was a vital part of the Bible study, it is with the ministry as well. “Our job as women is to seek after Christ and become more like Him. Character will determine true beauty‚” she said.
With discipleship, memorizing Scripture is a vital key to the Christian life. Gary first learned the skill of memorizing Scripture from her father as he made his children quote a verse before each left for school.
No Scripture verse meant the tardy bell. In her adult life she developed a true love for Scripture and seeks to pass on this passion to help fend off temptations from the world.
“Girls are looking for attention and if they don’t get it at home, they are going to go to something or someone looking for it,” she said. She said craving love and attention can lead to wrong choices in dating, friends and fashion.
One of the most entertaining aspects of the conference — a fashion show and skit about the do’s and don’ts of girls’ clothing — is also the main reason boys are not allowed.
“Girls need a setting that they can be themselves and get a clear view of what a godly girl should be,” Gary said.
The skit is important because girls today are bombarded with images and fashion trends that give the wrong message to boys, she noted. “Girls can still be pretty and attractive without showing guys what only their future husband should see. I am thinking about adding a do’s and don’ts about fashion.”
Learning to dress appropriately is something Nikki McClellan, 21, had to learn from Gary. McClellan, a nursing student at Gadsden State Community College, leads the “Getting Past Your Past” seminar because she thinks it is important for girls to know God’s Word. Raised in a non-Christian home and engaging in hurtful activities, she speaks from her own experience and her heart.
“Sex, drugs and rock-n-roll were my life for five years‚” she said. That changed when she met Gary three years ago, and a discipleship lasting two years helped her to change her attitude and heal her spirit.
“God took the desires away,” McClellan said. “It is fun for me to wake up every morning and know that I am accepted by God. I am complete.”
The 17 college girls who lead the seminars are a close group that share with, encourage and teach each other as well as conference attenders.
The bond of friendship is important to Gadsden native, Randi Lipscomb, as she leads the “Friendship & Accountability” workshop.
The 20-year-old attends Auburn University where she pursues a degree in elementary education. She began to study the Bible with Gary in grade 7.
“Coming from a completely different background than Nikki, I was raised in church but I lacked passion for Christ.”
She is now able to teach girls why Christian friends are important. “So many times the reason we fall is that we are not being held accountable by anyone. Friendships are an investment.”
Lipscomb said she is grateful to her parents for providing a solid, Christian home but now Bible study time is the “most amazing encounter with God. I know who I am and teaching girls their identity in Christ is what Beyond the Eye is all about.”
Gary also speaks at church services, Sunday School classes and women’s conferences.
Recently Adrian Rogers invited her to speak to the young women at Bellevue Baptist Church, Memphis, Tenn. Gary said the opportunity was amazing and reminds her that the main goal is to teach young women to have a hunger and thirst to get to know Christ intimately.
“God’s Word is our sword to fight with, our convector and our lamp to guide us,” she said. “We hope to show that to girls.”
Copyright 2005© The Alabama Baptist. All Rights Reserved. Contact The Alabama Baptist
Thursday, March 04, 2004
FBC Opelika member sees DHR job as way to serve God
By Theresa Shadrix
The Alabama Baptist
March 4, 2004
A high-level public servant in Alabama infuses commitment to Christ into his life and work as he fulfills his responsibilities to protect Alabama’s children.
Page Walley, a member of First Baptist Church of Opelika, leads the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) as commissioner.
He promises a new day in the child welfare agency that oversees child support enforcement, child and adult protective services, food stamps, foster care and adoption.
The post was left vacant when Bill Fuller announced his resignation to become a career missionary.
Like Fuller, Walley brings a strong sense of faith, desiring to be a vessel used by God. “I will follow the example of Jesus Christ and go out and serve and draw people to Him,” he said.
Raised in LaGrange, Tenn., a small antebellum town of 160 citizens, Walley, the oldest of three siblings, said his childhood offered the perfect environment. His father’s hard work at his job in the cotton industry and his mother’s commitment to raising the family created a safe and loving Christian home. This influence would guide Walley throughout his life.
Upon graduating from high school, he attended Davidson College, Davidson, N.C., on a football scholarship, where he still holds fifth place in the top 10 for career rushing yards.
Although he was a stand-out athlete at Davidson, the pigskin did not determine his future as much as a gothic-style psychiatric hospital located in Bolivar, Tenn., just 22 miles from his hometown.
“I always was intrigued by the mental health field and the massive state hospital and wanted to pursue psychology,” he said.
Walley said he publicly confessed his salvation in his junior high school gymnasium during an evangelism meeting. “I admit though, during my college years I did not always remember the lessons learned in my Christian home,” he said.
His faith would find replenishment after he completed a master’s and doctorate in psychology at the University of Georgia. He then took a residency at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Coral Gables, Fla., and joined University Baptist Church, Coral Gables.
The love and influence of his new church home, as well as the leadership of Dan Yeary, now senior pastor of North Phoenix Baptist Church, Phoenix, Ariz., offered a renewed faith. Yeary recruited him as the director of Christian counseling ministry at University Baptist, a position he held 1985–1987.
The staff position afforded him the opportunity to discover a gift for preaching after occasionally preaching in Yeary’s absence. “The church approached me about licensing,” Walley said. “Their policy was to reserve ordination for those who have seminary training. The church wanted to recognize a calling in my life, but I am not a full-time preacher.”
So Walley was licensed to the gospel ministry by University Baptist Church in 1986.
Walley said he does a lot of guest speaking in churches and Sunday School classes and is interested in supply preaching.
He met his future wife, Terry, a Montgomery native and Auburn graduate, at University Baptist in Coral Gables. With a strong foundation built on Christ, the Walley family — which includes children Blake, Jordan and Annelise — moved back to his hometown in 1987 so he could take the position of clinic director of Quinco Community Mental Health in nearby Bolivar, Tenn.
Amid his interaction with people in the community, he regained a grassroots feel for the needs of the people, enough so that he ran for public office. “People kept saying things about changing the state policy, and so I ran for office,” he said.
This led him to serve in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1990 to 2000, sponsoring the legislation that created the department of children’s services in 1996. He held membership on the calendar and rules committee, health and human resources committee, finance committee and the governor’s task force to study child care.
But he decided after 10 years in public service he wanted to focus on his family and the career he loved, so he served as a consultant for the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services. He next became the department’s commissioner. In March 2003 he moved to Alabama when Gov. Riley appointed him director of the department of children’s affairs.
Although Walley was the recipient of the American Psychological Association’s 1994 Karl F. Heiser Award for Advocacy and several other awards, he wants no glory for his achievements.
He said it is the everyday heroes like his parents, grandmother, minister, his wife, his in-laws and those in adversity he has counseled, who have influenced him.
Copyright 2005© The Alabama Baptist. All Rights Reserved. Contact The Alabama Baptist
The Alabama Baptist
March 4, 2004
A high-level public servant in Alabama infuses commitment to Christ into his life and work as he fulfills his responsibilities to protect Alabama’s children.
Page Walley, a member of First Baptist Church of Opelika, leads the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) as commissioner.
He promises a new day in the child welfare agency that oversees child support enforcement, child and adult protective services, food stamps, foster care and adoption.
The post was left vacant when Bill Fuller announced his resignation to become a career missionary.
Like Fuller, Walley brings a strong sense of faith, desiring to be a vessel used by God. “I will follow the example of Jesus Christ and go out and serve and draw people to Him,” he said.
Raised in LaGrange, Tenn., a small antebellum town of 160 citizens, Walley, the oldest of three siblings, said his childhood offered the perfect environment. His father’s hard work at his job in the cotton industry and his mother’s commitment to raising the family created a safe and loving Christian home. This influence would guide Walley throughout his life.
Upon graduating from high school, he attended Davidson College, Davidson, N.C., on a football scholarship, where he still holds fifth place in the top 10 for career rushing yards.
Although he was a stand-out athlete at Davidson, the pigskin did not determine his future as much as a gothic-style psychiatric hospital located in Bolivar, Tenn., just 22 miles from his hometown.
“I always was intrigued by the mental health field and the massive state hospital and wanted to pursue psychology,” he said.
Walley said he publicly confessed his salvation in his junior high school gymnasium during an evangelism meeting. “I admit though, during my college years I did not always remember the lessons learned in my Christian home,” he said.
His faith would find replenishment after he completed a master’s and doctorate in psychology at the University of Georgia. He then took a residency at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Coral Gables, Fla., and joined University Baptist Church, Coral Gables.
The love and influence of his new church home, as well as the leadership of Dan Yeary, now senior pastor of North Phoenix Baptist Church, Phoenix, Ariz., offered a renewed faith. Yeary recruited him as the director of Christian counseling ministry at University Baptist, a position he held 1985–1987.
The staff position afforded him the opportunity to discover a gift for preaching after occasionally preaching in Yeary’s absence. “The church approached me about licensing,” Walley said. “Their policy was to reserve ordination for those who have seminary training. The church wanted to recognize a calling in my life, but I am not a full-time preacher.”
So Walley was licensed to the gospel ministry by University Baptist Church in 1986.
Walley said he does a lot of guest speaking in churches and Sunday School classes and is interested in supply preaching.
He met his future wife, Terry, a Montgomery native and Auburn graduate, at University Baptist in Coral Gables. With a strong foundation built on Christ, the Walley family — which includes children Blake, Jordan and Annelise — moved back to his hometown in 1987 so he could take the position of clinic director of Quinco Community Mental Health in nearby Bolivar, Tenn.
Amid his interaction with people in the community, he regained a grassroots feel for the needs of the people, enough so that he ran for public office. “People kept saying things about changing the state policy, and so I ran for office,” he said.
This led him to serve in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1990 to 2000, sponsoring the legislation that created the department of children’s services in 1996. He held membership on the calendar and rules committee, health and human resources committee, finance committee and the governor’s task force to study child care.
But he decided after 10 years in public service he wanted to focus on his family and the career he loved, so he served as a consultant for the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services. He next became the department’s commissioner. In March 2003 he moved to Alabama when Gov. Riley appointed him director of the department of children’s affairs.
Although Walley was the recipient of the American Psychological Association’s 1994 Karl F. Heiser Award for Advocacy and several other awards, he wants no glory for his achievements.
He said it is the everyday heroes like his parents, grandmother, minister, his wife, his in-laws and those in adversity he has counseled, who have influenced him.
Copyright 2005© The Alabama Baptist. All Rights Reserved. Contact The Alabama Baptist
Adoption offers Alabama Baptists the opportunity to care for orphans
By Theresa Shadrix
The Alabama Baptist
March 4, 2004
Alabama’s adoption activity in 2004 could reap more rewards for the state thanks to the Adoption Promotion Act of 2003.
Signed into law in December by President Bush, the law allows states to receive extra incentive money based on the number of older children adopted each year.
The new law renews a 1997 law that provides $4,000 to the state per finalized adoption, regardless of the child’s age and $6,000 for each special needs child adopted. But it adds an additional $4,000 to the state for each child adopted who is 9 years old or older. This is because most people prefer to adopt younger children or infants.
According to the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR), the state benefited from the 1997 law by receiving $519,821 for 838 adoptions from 1999 to 2002.
The incentive money will have no effect on the cost of adopting in Alabama, nor is it distributed directly to foster children, families or private child welfare agencies. The DHR receives 100 percent of the funds into its budget and the entire amount is allocated for the recruitment of foster parents and adoptive parents, their training and materials with which to train them.
While praising the previous adoptions in Alabama, newly appointed DHR Commissioner Page Walley appeals to Christians on behalf of the 200 children currently awaiting placement by the DHR Alabama office of adoption.
“As a Christian, I think we should hold true to our belief that involves taking care of orphans and widows‚” he said. “Putting our faith into action means taking care of the least of these.” Walley — a licensed counselor, former Tennessee legislator and licensed Southern Baptist minister — believes bringing a child into a home is an act of worship.
“It is a calling,” Walley said. “Taking care of children is our Christian duty and when we do [it], we are blessed.”
The number of finalized adoptions in Alabama has risen since 1999 when 152 children were adopted. Couples adopted 200 children in 2000, 237 in 2001 and 249 in 2002. The figures for 2003 were not finalized at press time.
Walley said the children who are available for adoption through the state DHR are there because parental rights have been terminated for various reasons.
Some children in foster care or awaiting adoption have special medical or emotional needs. These needs should be carefully considered by prospective parents, since adoption is a final commitment to a child.
“People need to have open hearts and need to realize that they come out of situations not of their own making,” Walley said. “We need to recognize that these children really are the least of these.”
Children categorized as having special medical or emotional needs include any child over the age of 8; any black child over the age of 2; a child with mental, physical or emotional difficulties; sibling groups of three or more and a child with a high risk background, such as one born to a cocaine-addicted mother.
“We need to support the (DHR) workers. Sometimes they may fail but more often they are the only safety net for these children.” One idea Walley has for churches and individuals to support DHR is to “spiritually” adopt children. “We need to commit to prayer for children and workers. Their battle is not just physical, but they need spiritual protection and they need to know they are loved,” he said.
Walley said a Web site set up by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services features photos and biographies of children awaiting adoption in Alabama and other states — www.adoptuskids.org.
“We need to bathe them in prayer. As a body of believers, we must pray,” he said.
To adopt a child an Alabama couple must be at least 19 years old, have been married for three or more years and undergo 30 classroom hours of training by DHR. Other requirements apply, including but not limited to criminal background checks.
A child lives with his or her adoptive parents for three months before the adoption process can be sanctioned by the courts, plus a social worker must give consent for the adoption to proceed. At this point the couple begins the legal process in probate court. Once this court process is complete, the adoption is finalized and the state may then receive funds from the Adoption Act of 2003.
A ministry opportunity can also be found through foster care. Eligibility requirements include the foster parent’s being at least 19 years old, the ability to provide a safe, comfortable atmosphere for the child with enough space for the child and his/her belongings and a home that conforms to Alabama minimum standards for foster family homes. Another requirement is that all members of the family be in good health, with all adults agreeing to undergo a thorough background check, including criminal history.
Every county offers a local department of human resources that provides the 30-hour preparation course for foster care with foster families receiving guidance from an assigned social worker.
Foster parents receive a monthly payment for room and board, but are limited to a maximum of six children at one time.
Prospective foster parents can also contact the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries (ABCH). With campuses for children and youth in Decatur and Mobile and group homes in Mobile, Dothan, Gardendale, Oxford and Alabaster, ABCH also licenses and trains foster families. Paul Miller, ABCH executive director, said they are always in need of Christian couples.
“This is a ministry opportunity and we are looking for the type of people who are willing to open their homes and invest in children‚” Miller said. The staff, which includes social workers and counselors, provides supportive services and works diligently to match families with children, he added.
To contact ABCH, call 205-982-1112, 1-888-720-8805 or visit the resources section of www.thealabamabaptist.org.
Copyright 2005© The Alabama Baptist. All Rights Reserved. Contact The Alabama Baptist
The Alabama Baptist
March 4, 2004
Alabama’s adoption activity in 2004 could reap more rewards for the state thanks to the Adoption Promotion Act of 2003.
Signed into law in December by President Bush, the law allows states to receive extra incentive money based on the number of older children adopted each year.
The new law renews a 1997 law that provides $4,000 to the state per finalized adoption, regardless of the child’s age and $6,000 for each special needs child adopted. But it adds an additional $4,000 to the state for each child adopted who is 9 years old or older. This is because most people prefer to adopt younger children or infants.
According to the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR), the state benefited from the 1997 law by receiving $519,821 for 838 adoptions from 1999 to 2002.
The incentive money will have no effect on the cost of adopting in Alabama, nor is it distributed directly to foster children, families or private child welfare agencies. The DHR receives 100 percent of the funds into its budget and the entire amount is allocated for the recruitment of foster parents and adoptive parents, their training and materials with which to train them.
While praising the previous adoptions in Alabama, newly appointed DHR Commissioner Page Walley appeals to Christians on behalf of the 200 children currently awaiting placement by the DHR Alabama office of adoption.
“As a Christian, I think we should hold true to our belief that involves taking care of orphans and widows‚” he said. “Putting our faith into action means taking care of the least of these.” Walley — a licensed counselor, former Tennessee legislator and licensed Southern Baptist minister — believes bringing a child into a home is an act of worship.
“It is a calling,” Walley said. “Taking care of children is our Christian duty and when we do [it], we are blessed.”
The number of finalized adoptions in Alabama has risen since 1999 when 152 children were adopted. Couples adopted 200 children in 2000, 237 in 2001 and 249 in 2002. The figures for 2003 were not finalized at press time.
Walley said the children who are available for adoption through the state DHR are there because parental rights have been terminated for various reasons.
Some children in foster care or awaiting adoption have special medical or emotional needs. These needs should be carefully considered by prospective parents, since adoption is a final commitment to a child.
“People need to have open hearts and need to realize that they come out of situations not of their own making,” Walley said. “We need to recognize that these children really are the least of these.”
Children categorized as having special medical or emotional needs include any child over the age of 8; any black child over the age of 2; a child with mental, physical or emotional difficulties; sibling groups of three or more and a child with a high risk background, such as one born to a cocaine-addicted mother.
“We need to support the (DHR) workers. Sometimes they may fail but more often they are the only safety net for these children.” One idea Walley has for churches and individuals to support DHR is to “spiritually” adopt children. “We need to commit to prayer for children and workers. Their battle is not just physical, but they need spiritual protection and they need to know they are loved,” he said.
Walley said a Web site set up by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services features photos and biographies of children awaiting adoption in Alabama and other states — www.adoptuskids.org.
“We need to bathe them in prayer. As a body of believers, we must pray,” he said.
To adopt a child an Alabama couple must be at least 19 years old, have been married for three or more years and undergo 30 classroom hours of training by DHR. Other requirements apply, including but not limited to criminal background checks.
A child lives with his or her adoptive parents for three months before the adoption process can be sanctioned by the courts, plus a social worker must give consent for the adoption to proceed. At this point the couple begins the legal process in probate court. Once this court process is complete, the adoption is finalized and the state may then receive funds from the Adoption Act of 2003.
A ministry opportunity can also be found through foster care. Eligibility requirements include the foster parent’s being at least 19 years old, the ability to provide a safe, comfortable atmosphere for the child with enough space for the child and his/her belongings and a home that conforms to Alabama minimum standards for foster family homes. Another requirement is that all members of the family be in good health, with all adults agreeing to undergo a thorough background check, including criminal history.
Every county offers a local department of human resources that provides the 30-hour preparation course for foster care with foster families receiving guidance from an assigned social worker.
Foster parents receive a monthly payment for room and board, but are limited to a maximum of six children at one time.
Prospective foster parents can also contact the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries (ABCH). With campuses for children and youth in Decatur and Mobile and group homes in Mobile, Dothan, Gardendale, Oxford and Alabaster, ABCH also licenses and trains foster families. Paul Miller, ABCH executive director, said they are always in need of Christian couples.
“This is a ministry opportunity and we are looking for the type of people who are willing to open their homes and invest in children‚” Miller said. The staff, which includes social workers and counselors, provides supportive services and works diligently to match families with children, he added.
To contact ABCH, call 205-982-1112, 1-888-720-8805 or visit the resources section of www.thealabamabaptist.org.
Copyright 2005© The Alabama Baptist. All Rights Reserved. Contact The Alabama Baptist
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Anniston, Bessemer youth fast, become ‘homeless’ to help others
Matthew Wilson tries to shield himself from the cold during HillCrest Baptist's homelessness event.By Theresa Shadrix
The Alabama Baptist
February 26, 2004
As most teenagers in Alabama prepare for weekend nights of fun on the town, some youth are putting aside this social frivolity for lessons in gratitude. Teenagers in the youth group at Hillcrest Baptist Church, Anniston, gathered Jan. 23 in the parking lot of the church to experience homelessness.
They unfolded cardboard boxes suitable for shelter and spread blankets for warmth. Fifty-five gallon drums for fires littered the concrete.
While the rules included being able to bring blankets and empty boxes, aid from electricity was not allowed. The 70 youth and adults who participated also had to defeat hunger brought on by the 24-hour fast, which started at 6 a.m. the day of the event.
The event was organized by Tim Thomas, Hillcrest’s youth pastor. To coincide with the event the youth collected two truckloads of used blankets, coats, gloves and clothes to donate to Calhoun County shelters that assist the homeless.
“We are attempting to get teenagers out of their comfort zone and get out of the ordinary lifestyle,” Thomas said.
He believes it is only the start of teaching the youth to meet the needs of people in the community. “We have no idea where it is going to end up, but we know where it is going to start,” he said.
Maghen Haynes, 18, said the experience offered her a lifetime of gratitude.
“At first I did not know if I could handle it, but I don’t regret it. I realize now that I don’t take anything for granted,” she said.
The Wellborn High School senior encourages other youth groups to have similar awareness events because it unites people.
The National Coalition for the Homeless indicates approximately 39 percent of the homeless population are children.
The most at risk for becoming homeless are people living in poverty. A growing shortage of affordable rental housing and a simultaneous increase in poverty are primarily to blame for h0omelessness.
Hunger is a major part of homelessness. To combat world hunger teenagers from Loveless Park Baptist Church, Bessemer, will observe a fast for world hunger Feb. 27–28.
For 30 hours more than 30 students are expected to go without food after asking sponsors to donate money that will go to World Vision, a nonprofit organization coordinating efforts to relieve world hunger in many countries.
“This will bring our students to an awareness they have never felt before,” said Will Nahrgang, minister to youth.
To begin the Friday and Saturday World Vision 30-Hour Famine the youth will begin fasting at 12:30 p.m. wherever they are on Friday. They will gather at the church at 6:30 p.m. to begin a night of varied group activities. The event will end 6:30 Saturday evening.
Nahrgana cited World Vision statistics that 29,000 children in the world die every day from hunger and other problems. It takes $30 to feed and care for a child for one month and $360 to feed a child for a year.
“I know that when we participate in the 30-hour famine we will be changing lives and spreading the love of Christ to those in need,” he said.
His youth group’s goal is to raise $7,200 — enough to feed 20 children for one year in a developing country. (Anthony Wade contributed)
Copyright 2005© The Alabama Baptist. All Rights Reserved. Contact The Alabama Baptist
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