About Anthony Potts - Pastor

Anthony Wayne Potts was born in the Tri-cities area of Northwest Alabama in the city of Florence. After his birth his family, which is made up of, his father Phillip, and his mother Pam, and his brother David resided in the neighboring city of Sheffield. The City of Sheffield is not the place that Anthony calls home! Throughout the early years of his life his family moved around quite a bit, which has been one of the circumstantial aspects of his life that has molded his "never met a stranger" personality. About the fourth grade his family had moved from the Shoals area to a slower paced life-style in the rural little town of Lexington, Al. This little town with the blinking yield light and the four-way stop would be where the Potts family would call home even till this day. From birth Anthony was a child who knew what it was like to be affiliated with church. He was born into a Christian home that truly loved the Lord. But, we all know that you cannot become a Christian by being the son of one! Anthony would run from the Holy Spirit's tug on his heart to become a Christian until the age of twenty when he finally realized that he could run from our "Big God" but he couldn't hide from Him. It was at this time in his life that he humbled himself before the Lord and surrendered his life to Him, by believing and confessing Him as Savior and Lord with a child-like faith. After the first year of his Christian Faith he would struggle and sway with the Spiritual winds of warfare beating on his life and would stray away from the path that the Lord had intended due to some of his own free-will choices and the lack of discipleship and a church home for accountability. His exposure to the Ministry began at birth from the influences of his grandfather who was a Minister of the Gospel and an Evangelist, Robert(Bob) Jasper Wilson,whom he called "Papa" and his grandmother Carolene (King) Wilson, who he calls "Nannie". His grandfather has gone on to be with the Lord, but left a lasting impression on this young man who has been called to the same "High-Calling" of Pastor. He passed away with a heart attack two days following the day he baptized Anthony. What a memory! Also, Anthony's father has served in the Pastoral Ministry which continued his exposure to the Ministry. About one year and some change following his profession of faith in Christ, Anthony had met a young lady that would change his life forever. It was love at first sight! Through anything and everything, the bumps and the bruises, including the calling to the Pastoral Ministry, and the birth of their three beautiful children, and the balancing act of her career of Critical Care Nursing, this wonderful young lady has become the Second Rock under "The Rock" Jesus Christ in his life. This beautiful, brilliant, and well balanced young lady is Holly Michelle Potts. They have three wonderful children, Conner, Lauren, and Ella. And we cannot leave out the rest of the family, their three dogs, two Jack Russell Terriers, Patty and Lucy, and a German Shepherd named Copper. In regards to his Ministerial calling. Anthony was called by God to the Youth Ministry in 2002, and he served at Iron City First Baptist. He began by teaching Sunday School to 7th-12th graders and then became youth minister of the church on a voluntary basis. But he understood early on in the ministry that there is no "Part-time" ministry. It's "Full-time" all the time because the spiritual need of those around us is very great. Almost six years later he was called to the full-time Pastoral Ministry in which he is now serving as Pastor of First Baptist Church in St. Joseph, Tn. He also is currently continuing his education as a student of Union University with intentions of completing his undergrad in Pastoral Ministry with an emphasis on Expositional Preaching, with the Spirit led intentions of completing his Theological Seminary training.