Pastor Greg Wolfe
I am glad you found us on the Internet! Seven Locks Baptist Church is a community of Christians who are committed to growing in our faith and ministering to our community.
About the church:
One of the things that drew me to Seven Locks is the family feeling you get when you walk in the door. The church is big enough to have quality ministries and programs, but not so big that you get lost in the crowd!
In addition to our Sunday morning Bible study for all ages and worship time, we have active children’s and youth ministries, women’s ministry, and family oriented activities. You may want to browse the website for more information.
We are an English speaking church, but with an international flair! We have members from around the world. We also sponsor ministries in Farsi (Persian) and Sizang (Burmese) languages and partner with a Korean church which uses one of our buildings for services.
About me:
April 1, 2006 was my first day as pastor of Seven Locks Baptist Church (yes, my friends were most amused at my start date!) Before that, I had spent six months on the gulf coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina directing recovery operations for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Mississippi. For nearly eight years prior to that, I served as the first pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Jackson Mississippi. My ministry background also includes seven years as Campus Minister/Director of the Baptist Student Union (BSU) at Purdue University. I loved working with students, though my wife told me it looked a lot more like “playing ping-pong” than “working.” You haven’t lived until you’ve counseled a graduate student on his academic future in the basement of a BSU building while helping him fix the hinge on his toilet seat!
I am originally from Missouri, where my ancestors homesteaded in the 1830s. My earlier years were spent in the suburbs of St. Louis (GO Cardinals!) and in rural Maries (pronounced like Mary’s) County, Missouri. Years ago when a singer from our county was a guest on the TV show “Hee-Haw” it was pointed out that there were more cattle than people in Maries County. Her response? “Well, I guess we like cows better!”
My wife is a microbiologist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). We have three children. One is in graduate school, one in college, and one in high school.
I hold a Ph.D. degree in Old Testament studies from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. That and about $4.10 gets me coffee just the way I want it at Starbucks! I have always loved the biblical languages, so I took all the Hebrew and Greek I could. (While the language classes ruined many a grade point average, they were what saved mine!) I have enjoyed adjunct teaching for several colleges and seminaries along the way, including courses in Greek, Hebrew, Old and New Testament Surveys, Prophets, Wisdom Literature, etc. Sometimes I get into the professorial mode during our Wednesday evening meetings and lead a college-level study on a book of the Bible or some theological topic or even church history. I have even been known to teach a five-hour seminar on a Saturday at the church.
While I love to use the original languages to study the text, I try not to fill my sermons with detailed expositions on the intricacies of Greek participles or Hebrew verbs. If you want that, set up a time when we can talk! Rather, I try to use all of the tools available to me so that I can understand the biblical texts, so I am better able to convey the truths of Scripture to the people of the church. I don’t preach long sermons (contrary to what my kids might think). I try to follow the wise words of my preaching professor: “If you don’t strike oil in 20 minutes, quit boring.”
