Steve Ellis retired from his secular job and as a full-time pastor seven years ago, but he has since found his niche as an interim pastor and supply preacher.
Ellis, who is 70, has held five interim assignments since 2018 and has preached in more than 80 different churches.
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And he takes all his assignments — interim or otherwise — seriously. Ellis has been the interim at Oakland Baptist Church in Sparta since Jan. 15. The small church regularly attracts between 40 and 55 people on Sundays.
Ellis preaches the word with boldness with one congregation member telling him he is like an “old-school preacher who is loud and doesn’t hold back.”
“He came up to me later and asked if he offended me,” Ellis said. “I told him, ‘No, I considered it a compliment.’”
More than a ‘fill-in’
Ellis does not take interim assignments just to be the fill-in until somebody else comes along. While he does not intend on being the fulltime pastor, he does a lot more than keep the lights on.
For instance, at Oakland, he challenged the church to have 20 baptisms by the end of the year.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Mark Maynard and originally published by Kentucky Today.
