Outside the Walls
Join us as we sit down with pastors and leaders to hear their stories, learn from their experiences, and see another side of the people who serve our churches and communities so faithfully! We’re excited to discover how God is working in unexpected places and find inspiration in the voices that lead us.
Outside the Walls
Jon Wiggins: Skyland Baptist Church
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode, we spend time at Cottondale Elementary with Jon Wiggins of Skyland Baptist Church, as he shares what it truly means to be the Church in the community. From an after-school ministry to supporting families, teachers, and local needs, we talk about how intentional relationships open doors for the gospel. He also reflects on his personal call to ministry and the challenges and joys of pastoring.
Featuring:
- Herbby Geer, Lead Mission Strategist, Tuscaloosa County Baptist Association
- Jon Wiggins, Senior Pastor, Skyland Baptist Church
Connect with TCBA:
So we're back with Outside the Walls, and we mean outside the walls. Of course, in the outside the walls idea is to get the pastors outside the church. So we see the pastors outside the walls of his church. So many times we just see our pastors inside the walls. But it's also how do we get outside the walls with our church? And so today we're at uh Cottendale Elementary School, and we are with uh John Wiggins, who is the pastor at uh Skyland Baptist Church. Okay.
SPEAKER_00I always have to get around some uh Baptists, some don't so Skyland Boulevard Baptist, technically, but yes, but I I give the SBC that's Skyland Baptist Church is kind of what most people call it.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So Skyland Boulevard Baptist Church is very special.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Well, so we're here together. And that's good. I mean, this is it. It's part of getting outside the walls. And today we're at uh Home Entry School, we're just right at pick up time. So we wanted to make sure it's not boring in the background. So we're gonna have some movement and we're gonna just have some fun. But John, maybe uh you want to just share with us a little bit about why we're at Cottendale, because this is part of uh the vision of your church and getting outside the walls with your church.
SPEAKER_00That's right, yeah. So, Sky Skylin, uh, we've been serving here at uh Cotton Elementary School for several years. We do a treehouse club ministry, and so Treehouse Club is uh just uh it's an incredible after school program, Wednesdays. We bust the kids from right here, uh from right here all the way over to our our church, and we uh we we do we do a lot of stuff, a lot of fun stuff with the kids. We have everything from snack time to Bible study time to recreation time. Uh we feed them supper, and then we have our normal Wednesday night activities. So it's a pretty full-on deal uh every Wednesday. And this past Wednesday was our last one for this school year. So uh so we're we we've we finished the year this past uh Wednesday.
SPEAKER_01So awesome. So that's getting outside, you're you're working with these kids, and you're just sharing just just some of the so the impact you have just with some of the kids. It really is life-giving to some of them, right?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. So this this past Wednesday was kind of special. We we kind of say goodbye to our fifth graders, uh, get get those hugs in, you know, because those kids, a lot of them are uh it's their last week of Treehouse Club, and we hope that we've made a connection with those families and those kids that they'll they'll uh be around, they'll maybe uh come into our student ministry and do some of those things, but uh, but sometimes that that that is hard uh to connect that because we're not picking them up anymore and and they've changed schools at that point. So uh so, anyways, we we try to keep those connections, but um, but it's also special because this past Wednesday, one of our students uh who the Lord had been dealing with for a little while, he uh he and I talked a little bit here and there. He asked for a Bible at one point during the semester, and I gave him a Bible. I was kind of sharing with him some scriptures that hey look, read these, you know, these are gospel verses, and talking to him about, you know, trusting in Christ. And and he he said to me uh this past Wednesday, said, Hey, Brother John, I've I've trusted in Jesus to be my Lord and Savior, and I'd love to be baptized. And so it's awesome. Uh one of those crescendo endings, you know, uh where we got to see this young man uh put his faith in Jesus. And and that's been the that's been the story of this semester. We've seen a few kids come to the Lord, and and sometimes they'll get baptized in their churches they go to on Sundays, you know. And uh that's super exciting too that we get to be a part of of seeing these kids come to the Lord and and then uh uh make that public in their in their churches as well. Wow.
SPEAKER_01If you love your neighbor as yourself, the Lord opens up the door for the gospel, right?
SPEAKER_00That's right, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Well, y'all also it's not just uh taking care of the kids with after school program, but you were saying also that you you help with the supplies or something like that. Right.
SPEAKER_00So beginning of the year, we typically do the school supplies, a lot of the school supplies we help out with uh at the school uh depending on need and things like that. And so uh uh we've been able to do that for several years, helping out uh with the kids' personal school supplies and stuff, uh as well as teacher supplies too. Uh we we do our fall festival here. Uh so it's tons of fun. We uh uh, you know, every end of kind of October-ish, uh we're we're having our fall festival here, and we we all of our volunteers uh come and help out and kind of facilitate all of the different areas of that, and whether it's jumpy houses or uh, you know, um all kinds of booths and things and the gym there, it's it's a good time.
SPEAKER_01So I mean that's really interesting because it's not just being in the community, uh it's being part of the community. That's right, yeah. And that's that's really cool because I mean that's what we're called to be. I mean, the the church ecclesia is community, so we're part of the greater community too, and letting the light of Jesus shine wherever it will.
SPEAKER_00That's right, yes. We we want to be as engaged as we can be. Those those relationships that are gonna cross the line of somebody going from community to church, uh, you know, it's gonna take a significant relationship a lot of times, you know. And so we we want as many opportunities as we can to touch the touch students and touch their parents, encourage them and and uh and engage with them as much as possible so that uh yeah, we can build that bridge of relationship and and they're more open a lot of times to being a part. And in fact, this past Easter, you know, that boy I just told you about his family, whole family came to church on Easter Sunday, and uh that was uh that was just awesome to see. So uh that's not that's not unusual, thankfully.
SPEAKER_01Well, and that's what we want to see the whole families coming and knowing and being able to be part of. So that's really great. So, I mean, now you've you've been a pastor for how long have you been to pastor?
SPEAKER_00So I've been, let's see, uh been in Skyland for, and that's really the tenure for me mostly. Uh I started doing youth ministry in 19, but uh went to get prepared for that uh at the University of Mobile and then in and and spent uh a couple years at University of Mobile. Came back uh here to Tuscaloosa, uh served with Brother Jimmy Garner at the time. Uh served with him for 12 years doing student ministry at the church. And uh incredible, learned so much from Brother Jimmy. He's one of my heroes uh in ministry and and certainly a father in the ministry, that kind of role. Uh just an incredible man of God. And so uh so he he and I served 12 years, and then uh I've been serving as pastor almost 11 years as senior pastor, which is pretty cool. Yeah, that's really cool. So that's a lot of learning. Uh the people at Skyland, this is real something cool about our church. Uh, we've had three pastors. I'm the third in uh 60 something years now, and and it started in 62. So you do the math. That's why I went in ministry because I can't do math. Uh, but but no, like uh we we've it's it's been a long, you know, three three pastors in that amount of time. Uh it's just incredible. It says a lot about the church. They're very gracious people, and uh that's the kind of people I need uh to serve, you know. So uh I love it's it's an incredible thing. Skyland's a wonderful place to be.
SPEAKER_01I think that's the thing about pastors is people think, okay, pastors, they go to school and then they know everything and can do it. I I think the only pastors I've seen that have been successful are those that are continuing to learn and know that they don't know. That's right. Yes and allow the Holy Spirit to work through them. And I see that with you, I see that with you. But now, what put you on this path? How how did you know that you were called to pastor?
SPEAKER_00Well, when I was doing youth ministry, I was I'd I'd kind of uh had moved into serving in in that role at another church, Eastern Hills Church, uh here in Tuscaloosa in the Alberta kind of area, and just just knew God had called me to serve at that point. I was trying to be faithful. And so went to went to Bible college at University of Mobile because I was like, you know, I feel like this is a calling on my life on some level. I don't know exactly what that looks like down the road, but uh I definitely did not feel called to be a senior pastor. Uh, but I was just kind of working through that calling a little bit. And uh um, you know, after serving at Skyland for probably around eight years, uh the Lord started really putting a burden on my heart to serve in a pastoral role to that, you know, confirming in my heart that it was it was that was a calling on my life was to serve in a senior pastor role. And so uh so it's been kind of progressive for me, I guess. Uh uh even when I was in, you know, serving at that church at Eastern Hills, uh, I was like, you know, I was there for a year or so, and and I was writing an English paper, and the English teacher said, Well, so where do you see yourself in 10 years? And so I was like, Well, I'm gonna could I write that on a call to ministry? Because I really, you know, I'm really that's what I'm kind of wrestling with a little bit. And so I wrote it on that, interviewed a few pastors, uh, read about Billy Graham's call to ministry. There's just different things. And uh I concluded that paper. I said, God is definitely not calling me into ministry. And and then probably, I guess, two or three months later is when I said, the Lord is definitely uh calling me into some kind of vocational ministry, and I need to go to Bible college to prepare for that. So it's it's kind of been progressive, you know. I mean, uh and then um, yeah, being with Brother Jimmy and learning and and growing and and uh uh coming to the end of that kind of youth ministry time at Skyland and and you know, the Lord just confirming that in my heart. Um, yeah, it's been kind of a process for me a little bit, you know, the Lord's speaking to me at different some different moments throughout.
SPEAKER_01Um, I think that's the thing too, right? What would have happened if Abraham hadn't continued to listen to God after he said to sacrifice Abraham? Yeah, I mean Isaac.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01But he had to continue to listen.
SPEAKER_00That's right.
SPEAKER_01And that's and I think that's uh if he showed us a path before, we wouldn't have even understood it, I don't think. So, but it started with what you said. I'm called to serve.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01That was before you even thought about ministry. You right, you felt like God called. How does that work its way out? I mean, how did how did you feel called to serve?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, I just wanted to make an impact for Jesus. You know, I wanted to be around some some students uh that I could I could help grow in the Lord. And uh one of my good friends, he he told me, he said, uh, he said, you'll never, it said this early, early in ministry, he said, said you'll never take people further than you're willing to go. And uh so it always challenged me, like, man, I need I I you know, I want to take a few, you know, young uh believers, uh, some of them, uh many of them were believers, uh kind of young. And so I want to take these young students and help them grow in the faith, and and yeah, that's what that's where it started for me, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think it's there's something really profound in that. I think if we could all say we're called to serve, then God can call show us the rest of the call he's put on our lives. Yeah. But we gotta we gotta know, okay, he's called us to serve. I like I think man, we could do a whole podcast just on called to serve. That's right. That's right. I love it. I love it. For sure. Oh man. So now you're serving your pastor. A lot of people don't know how much emotional energy and just time it takes to really pastor a church. And I think that's one thing I want the people to be able to see is I don't know any pastors that are served that don't have some scars. Yeah, yeah. Because when you love deeply, yeah, when things don't go exactly right, it hurts deeply. And so because of that, we as pastors have to have some things we can do to keep the stress from building up too high, and someplace we can go to rest. What what's the things that you do to kind of get the stress relief and and find that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so like I'm looking behind you, I'm seeing the gym back there. Yeah, and uh man, I love basketball. Uh, and so that's kind of something I enjoy doing. Uh uh my boys are old enough now to wear uh one's 16 and one's 13. Uh hopefully they won't see this podcast, but they've gotten good enough to play with me. Uh not beat me, of course. But no, no, don't admit that. That's right. Yeah. Uh but but so I love playing ball, and and I just love uh that that's just a fun thing. And and and uh and so that's that's one of the things that I do. Uh we my boys play for Tussle the Christian, and so uh Sunday nights sometimes we go over and shoot hoops, and that's a good stress reliever for me. It's good exercise too. Yeah. Uh so uh so yeah, that'd be that'd be probably you know, I love to fish and and hunting. I I like to just be out, so I love to just read and things like that. I don't do a ton of hunting, but uh, but but just the time sometimes like that to just sit in the silence and Lord, I'm I just want to hear from you and or nothing at all, and and just be alone with you. And so uh, and just reading the word and those type moments, those those are those are special for sure. Um renewing the mind.
SPEAKER_01You know, I think that's the easiest thing for us as pastors. We are busy. We want our congregations to know that we're busy about them. But I was even just reading a book on prayer, it's called wasting time with God. Okay, we don't waste time with God, but sometimes it looks like a waste of time. But if we don't have those times that we can get out and be still and just listen, not looking to God for anything, just to be with him and allow him just to speak to our heart. I don't think we can really survive in ministry. That's right. And I think that's something, and even not even for us just as pastors. I remember when I was an engineering, you know, to find that place, just like you said, someplace. If it's going hunting and not even pick up your rifle, but just have your Bible beside you. I remember in Israel one time, I we it was just a busy, busy day. I'd been talking to so many people about Jesus. I walked out to the park, I took my Bible with me. Yeah, I laid down in the park, I put the Bible behind my head and looked up at the sky and said, God, I've talked about you enough today. I desperately need to talk to you.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's good. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01And so I think you know, you've hit on some really amazing things that we have to have to survive as pastors.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Like you said, the cuts are deep. You know, I got I think about ministry. One of the things about ministry is it's people work, it's not paperwork. And and people, you love them. Like you said, I think CSO is talks about the more complex uh the the thing you love. Yeah. Uh, you know, you can love a pet, yeah, sure you know, it's some kind of love, but love humans, you know, that's a that's the more complex the the uh the thing you love, the more uh the more it hurts. When uh and that's that's the toughest part of ministry, is you know, is uh um, you know, I want to pour my life into the people at our church family. You know, I really want to leverage my my uh my time in that way, and then I'm I'm pouring everything I've got, you know, into helping those the people of our church know know Christ and and uh and engage this city and the world with the gospel. And so uh, so yeah, that's that's uh and when you know, and that and those are when when a relationship, you know, something happens or whatnot is and it's difficult or there's conflict or other things, uh that's that's how that's that's hard, man. Uh that's hard as pastors to navigate that.
SPEAKER_01You know, it's just you can read the Bible a thousand times and then something just jumps off the page at you. And I was just reading probably about five days ago, and it said, when you stand up to pray, yeah, forgive those who have trespassed against you. Because if you do not forgive, then neither will God forgive you.
SPEAKER_00That's right.
SPEAKER_01And I think for us as pastors to forgive those who inflicted pains, but also for our congregations, because we're not perfect as pastors.
SPEAKER_00Right, right.
SPEAKER_01We're gonna make mistakes, we're gonna offend people not meaning to, we're gonna hurt people even when we are not trying to. Right. Uh so as we forgive, we ask also you need that forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Yeah, that's that's spot on. And that's uh uh yeah, go go in both ways there. And that's that's uh uh that's so true. And uh if we're gonna reconcile and and work through difficult things, there has to be forgiveness extended and and so forth. Um that's true, man. That's that's uh there's a lot, there's a lot to be said there as well, just about the um in ministry that that's constant, you know, because because we're all falling, we're all messed up, and we're all uh trying to uh serve the Lord and be faithful to him. And so it's uh it can be uh yeah, there's a lot of opportunity to for offer to to ask for forgiveness for me, especially as uh perfect pastor.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, I just really appreciate you. And you were in night in uh night in 2021, you're the moderator of the association.
SPEAKER_00That's right.
SPEAKER_01And so you've been around the association for a long time. Do you have anything that you'd really love to see that we would be able to accomplish as all of our church is working together as one? Is there anything the Lord's really put on your heart?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, I I uh if there's two things come to mind when you say that. One of one is our heart, uh our our one of the things that uh we have a heart for as far as our church family, uh, I really think we we we love partnering to impact the lives of children. Obviously, Trust Cubs are part of that, but but uh but also the Alabama Baptist Children's Home is is really near and dear to our hearts, and so that we we uh we strive to make a difference uh and partner with them in numerous ways. Uh but that would be one is man, I I think it's another another area that we all have in common. We what we all want to see uh the the issues with vulnerable children being solved and in our in in our state, in our community, and so uh that's huge for us uh as we partner together. But but yeah, as far as associationally, you know, one of the things that that uh that I think about is very difficult for us is like how how do we meet the needs of this community, you know, and how do we care for people well who are uh who are coming in, you know, and and have real big needs, you know. And uh, you know, and so the the association allows us to be able to partner together, you know, to to meet people's needs in our community. Uh and and that's that's something I'm truly grateful for, you know, the Christian Ministry Center, uh, you know, and and all that it's done over the years to uh to touch people's lives and and help them meet them in the difficult moments of life or when they were having issues with with food and clothing and those things. And sure, we met some, we meet a lot of those needs just as a church, you know, in the moment, but but also knowing that we're networking together to to minister to so many more needs together in this community is that's I that's what I love meeting some of those social needs. This Samaritan's Clinic and all those all those areas where we come together are so important, you know, because uh we can't do it alone. We know that. Scout and Baptist can't do it.
SPEAKER_01And we're coming into a new place. That's right. So that's gonna be really, I think as we get down in that area, it's gonna be a lot of places where churches can join all of us together to try to figure out how we can, well, the whole idea is that we'll see the Lord's will done in Tuscaloosa as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's right. That's that's good.
SPEAKER_01I would love to see that in how as we walk together. I've always loved just to see your heart because you said whatever resources we have we want to use to help other churches, to help other people to grow, and we're gonna find ways to do that just because the Lord's in the middle of it and he blesses unity within the body. So I just really appreciate your time. Thanks for coming out and being with us and outside the walls, and uh we just uh look forward to just having times to work together on a lot of different projects in the future.
SPEAKER_00I'm grateful for you, brother Herbie, man. Uh love your heart for the pastors, for the community, and uh super thankful you're here in Tuscaloosa.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. Lord bless you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, God bless you, brother.