Staff
Dr. Steven L. Kimmel |
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Steve has been pastor of
First Baptist Church since 1991. Prior to that, he served
churches in Miami, Florida, and in the Maryland suburbs of
Washington, D.C. He received the Bachelor of Arts degree
from Louisiana State University (English Major) and the Master
of Divinity degree from Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville,
Kentucky. He received his doctorate from the Beeson Divinity
School at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. His
doctoral project was Providing Pastoral
Care Through Preaching at the First Baptist Church, Smyrna, Georgia. Steve enjoys running, scuba diving and racquetball. He and his wife, Dale, live in Smyrna, where Dale teaches at King Springs Elementary School. They have two grown children - a son, Joshua, and a daughter Corinne. |
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Rev. Jim Wallace |
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Jim has been minister of music and worship since 1979. Prior to that, he served in churches in Alvin, Texas and Galveston, Texas. He received the Bachelor of Music degree from Oklahoma Baptist University and the Master of Church Music degree from Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Jim and his wife, Dean, live in Smyrna. Dean is a speech pathologist at Mableton Elementary School, and music associate at Smyrna First Baptist. They have two grown sons – Mark and Jordan. |
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Rev. Jeff Hodges |
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A veteran of over 23 years of youth ministry, Jeff has
served as Minister to Students at First Baptist for the
past 18 years. Jeff has trained and mentored a number of
student ministry volunteers and facilitates a youth minister’s
network in the Smyrna area. |
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Rev.Barry Owen |
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Barry Owen has been the Minister of Discipleship since November, 2007. Prior to coming to First Smyrna he was the Minister of Education @ FBC of Atlanta. Barry has been a Student Pastor for 20 years and has been in Education Ministry for 8 years. Barry has been in ministry for 28 years and has served in churches in Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. He attended Liberty University for two years and graduated from Mercer University with a B.A. degree in 1987. He is presently attending Luther Rice Seminary, majoring in Christian Studies. Barry is a frequent speaker and leadership trainer for youth groups, revivals and Sunday School Conferences. Barry enjoys golfing, walking, playing with Bailey (their dog) and spending time with family and watching college football. He and his wife, Diane, celebrated 25 years of marriage this year and they have two college-age children - Heather and Casey. |
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Cindi White |
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Cindi has been Minister to Preschoolers at First Baptist
since August, 2007. She has served in preschool weekday
education in other churches in the Metro Atlanta area.
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics
from the University of Georgia. For more than twenty
years, church preschool service has been an important part
of her life. |
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Susan Shay |
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Susan Shay began serving as Minister to Children at FBC Smyrna in September of 2007. Susan enjoys employing her strengths in administration and encouragement to help children discover the unconditional love of their Heavenly Father through personal relationships and church programming, and seeks to encourage parents in guiding their children to develop a deep faith and unfailing character. Her experience in raising and homeschooling her twin sons, now college students, in leading a large homeschooling support group and many years of working with families in multi-housing ministry, laid the foundation for her work here at First Baptist. Susan graduated magna cum laude from Winthrop University with a degree in art. She is an avid reader, a competitive tennis player and enjoys quilting and gardening. Her favorite vacation destination is anywhere that has a coastline! Her husband, Joe, serves in many areas within the church and manages the Georgia office of Hopco Foodservice Marketing. |
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Rev. Charles Allen |
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Chuck has served as Minister to Senior Adults since 2004. After a lengthy and successful career in civil service, Chuck surrendered to God’s call to ministry. He was ordained in 2000. As a layman and an ordained minister, Chuck has served in virtually every capacity in the life of the church. Currently, Chuck has an ongoing ministry at Woodland Ridge, an assisted living facility in Smyrna and at Smyrna Towers, a senior adult residential community. In addition to these ministries he serves as a part-time chaplain at Smyrna Adventist Hospital. He and his wife, June, live in Smyrna. They are the parents of two grown children, a daughter Virginia and a son, Charles. |
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