An Interesting Neighbor

Paul Bettis sold cars and ran his own businesses before God put him to work saving souls through a prison and jail chaplaincy.

Churches would call him, asking him to preach. And his stock answer was always,
“Thank you, but I’m not a pastor.”

So when a call came in 1993 from Etowah Baptist Church east of Noble, he was all ready with his standard reply.

But what he heard himself saying was “Yes, I will.”

It was a moment straight out of the hymn’s refrain – “I will go, Lord, if you lead me.”

And it was right in line with Paul’s favorite Bible verse, Proverbs 3:5-6.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.”

“The Lord put it on my heart to say yes,” he recalled. “You need to obey God when He calls you.”

He pastored at Etowah for 10 years and then left for 10 years, after which he was back in the familiar pulpit for another 8 years.

Even as a pastor, he continued his work as a chaplain, mostly at Lexington Assessment & Reception Center and Joseph Harp Correctional Center.

That specialized ministry lasted more than 20 years.

For 16 years, he was a CLEET-certified deputy sheriff/chaplain with the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Department.

He rounded out 20 years in law enforcement as a “pistol-packing preacher” by serving four years with the Canadian County Sheriff’s Department.

Paul was the chaplain specialist at the Baptist General Convention and also served in the same role on the North America Mission Board.

That fit well with his motto – “Where two or more are gathered together, I can put a chaplain there.”

Etowah, a small country church on a hill, observed its 100th anniversary while he was there. It was 105 years old when he left there.

He was ready to move on, and had been visiting small churches across the area looking for one to attend.

He didn’t want big and he didn’t want contemporary.

Paul and his wife, Pat, were headed to Goldsby one Sunday when out of the blue he told her “Let’s check out Johnson Road.”

Long time pastor Wayne Brown died months earlier and an interim pastor brought to fill in wasn’t a good fit.

Paul saw a church hurt by  Brown’s death and COVID.

And he saw possibility.

“I walked in the place and it seats 250,” he said. “There were seven people holding that church together.”

When the small congregation learned who their visitor was, they lost little time in asking Paul to preach.

He agreed and they liked what they heard. On Sunday, they offered the pulpit to Paul.

The small congregation is already growing.

Paul conducted a baptism last Sunday and there were 23 in the pews, including five visitors.

“We are open for business,” Paul said, extending an invitation to anyone searching for a Bible-based church home.

“We’re not into loud music,” he said. “We sing the old songs and do things the old way. I preach from the Bible. I’m not giving my interpretation. I’m giving the word of God.”

Paul was raised in the church, but drifted from it for a time.

In 1968, he volunteered for the Marines and a year later was in Vietnam. He served in the Corps until 1974.

He and Pat have been married 54 years. Their son, Gary, lives in Broken Arrow and works at a casino.

Daughter, Cynthia Higgebottom, works for a doctor and is moving from Pauls Valley to Norman.

One grandson works for the Department of Corrections at the Lindsay hospital and another is a junior at the University of Oklahoma.

A granddaughter plays basketball.

Paul and Pat are commissioned home missionaries. Quite possibly, Johnson Road will be the church from which Paul will leave the clergy.

But not quite yet. Not by a long shot.

This Sunday he will preach on the calling.

“Everyone has a calling, but not all respond to it,” he said.