Bible college founder finds blessing in work

As a chemistry and math student at Alabama A&M University, John L. Clay felt a call to the ministry.

He continued with his studies, graduated in 1968, got a job at Redstone Arsenal and then pursued a bachelor's degree in theology at American Baptist College in Nashville. During his three years of driving to Nashville and back three nights a week, he had a vision of what he needed to do one day: found a Bible college in his hometown.

So in 1987, the pastor of St. Mark Baptist Church on Moores Mill Road leased a building on Oakwood Avenue and began Huntsville Bible College.

"If I'd known how much work it was going to be, I don't know if I would have done it," joked Clay, 64.

"But the outgrowth I've seen the past 20 years has been very rewarding. People have gone to Bible school who wouldn't have been able to otherwise. For some, it's encouraged them to go even further, to get their doctorate."

And lay people have learned how to better prepare themselves for volunteerism in their churches.

"Probably half of our students don't go on to pastor," he said. "It's enriched the laity."

Recently, the laity in Clay's church honored him for the 30 years he's devoted to St. Mark Baptist. Through much of his time there, he's also run the Bible college and/or worked at the arsenal, "but he's always been there for us."

"One of the things I love about Pastor Clay is that he believes what he preaches," said Greg Lawrence, chairman of the deacon board at the church. "And he's always willing to show you how to better yourself and to help you get an understanding of what God wants of his children.

"He gives and gives, and he doesn't look to get anything in return."

When he was designing the curriculum of the college, Clay used his Baptist background, but the faculty has included Methodists, Presbyterians and Pentecostals.

"The articles of faith are pretty generic," said Clay, who has been married to his wife, Lura, for 44 years. "It's biblically based."

Some of the students - who number 122 this semester - come from southern Tennessee and as far west as the Shoals, but most are from the Huntsville community. It continues to please him that the school's existence prevents the hardship of travel for most of them.

Also, many of the classes are offered at night, and some are online, allowing the students to hold regular jobs while they're being educated.

The accredited school is funded by tuition and donations, and Clay said the costs are kept as low as possible - "about $100 a credit hour" - to allow as many who are called to seek a theology degree to do so.

"I love watching the students mature in their ministry," he said. "Their hearts are rekindled for the work, and their eyes are opened to service. It is such a blessing."