“In my early years of pastoring the standard was 10 percent,” he remembers.Īs recently retired Executive Director J. In addition to the decline in Sunday School through the Southern Baptist Convention, Boswell says he is equally saddened by the decline in missions giving through the Cooperative Program. It requires work on recruiting teachers and their commitment to preparing the lesson each week it requires students who study their lessons, catch the vision of reaching their community, and then providing them with outlets to share their faith,” he relates. “The key to Sunday School is personal involvement on the part of members. I have always had a strong commitment to growing the church through Sunday School and small groups. “Sunday School remains the Bible study, ministry, and outreach arm for the local church. That loss, he feels, is due to an increasing number of pastors who place a priority on worship at the expense of Sunday School. Now more than 3 decades later, he still believes in the importance of Sunday School, even in light of its nationwide decline. While it removed him from the local pastorate, it expanded his ministry statewide as he carried high the banner of the importance of Sunday School as the primary ministry of congregations. It was a surprise calling but one that he has never regretted. While I was enjoying my pastorate at First Rincon in Savannah Association, I accepted the call to the state office,” he says. Pipkin saw something in me that he felt would be a good match to lead the Sunday School Department.

31, 2018 and Boswell will retire on March 31. Robert White, left, and Assistant Executive Director Bobby Boswell will retire within three months of each other. Boswell had always been a strong supporter of Sunday School and believed that was the way to grow a church.Įxecutive Director J. The soft-spoken Hogansville native came to the Mission Board in 1983 on the invitation of the late Julian Pipkin, who was then serving as director of the Church Services Division which included Sunday School, pastoral ministries, church music, brotherhood, and church training. Those are some of the things that dominated the exit interview The Index encountered with Boswell who is stepping down as assistant executive director on March 31. Of course, after spending more time with Mattie, his wife of 52 years, and his two children and four grand-children. That’s one of three things he keeps mentioning that he is looking forward to after retirement. That is the Number 1 thing that comes to mind when Bobby Boswell thinks about what he has enjoyed about his job of the last 35 years.įishing. 9) at the chapel service at the Missions and Ministry Center. Bobby Boswell opens the January Bible study yesterday (Jan.

Century's Son by Robert Boswell