October 23, 2024
McDONOUGH, Ga. — Brady Howard, the 33-year-old pastor of Glen Haven Baptist Church, one of Georgia’s largest and most dynamic congregations, has an assured sense of his calling and a sparkle in his eyes that testifies to the wonder of his faith. He also has a passion to preach the Gospel, love and serve his congregation, and heighten the strong missionary spirit of his beloved church.
Calvin Miller, renowned pastor and author, has stated, “Churches that ignore their communities will not grow, and churches that will not globalize don’t matter much.”
Howard became the pastor of Glen Haven in the midst of the COVID pandemic when churches were shutting down their services and facing the future with fear and uncertainty. In that first year, the new pastor preached 41 funerals, tried to navigate the challenges that come with an election year, and attempted to correctly address all the social ideologies that were emerging.
However, the church had a firm foundation that had been established by previous pastors: Randy Hardeman, Ralph Easterwood and Stan Berrong. Refusing to be deterred by the rampaging virus and all the other tests and trials, Howard stood on the shoulders of his predecessors and began to cast a vision for the future.
When the church retired its debt on its new facilities, including a beautiful, spacious worship center, Howard challenged the church to increase their giving to missions. He explained, “I became convicted that our Baptist missions including the International Mission Board, the North American Mission Board, Mission Dignity and what we do through our Georgia Baptist Mission Board was vitally important.”
Consequently, the Cooperative Program was increased from one percent of the undesignated gifts to seven percent; and Glen Haven’s total missions giving for 2022 was $870,122.00. Howard added, “Our total receipts have significantly improved since we increased our missions giving.”
With Henry County’s rapid growth and success in attracting a young, vibrant workforce, Howard is positioning the church to reach their local area with the gospel with an even greater fervency. To help accomplish his objective, he has recently challenged the men of his church to meet periodically at 5:59 a.m. for discipleship training and prayer. The first meeting in April attracted 140 men and the feedback from those who were present has been outstanding. His goal is to make disciples who in turn will make disciples, according to Matthew 28:19-20.
Jarrett Fletcher, the pastor of discipleship and missions, exclaimed, “I cannot tell you how excited I am about this ‘discipleship pipeline’ that the Lord is helping us develop here. I think it is the most exciting thing we are doing with our men. It is discipleship based on the Word of God. We are trying to teach all that God has commanded. We want to teach our men so they may teach others.”
For the mid-week Bible study, Howard and other staff members are teaching the Glen Haven congregation the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message. The staff is methodically teaching all 18 articles one at a time and the people are loving it.
Glen Haven was founded in 1947 by a small group of believers meeting in a local school building in Decatur. In the church’s 75 years, they have had four pastors and each one has come from within the church congregation. The church has never had a pastor search team. Brady Howard grew up in the church and was the student pastor for ten years prior to being selected as the successor to Pastor Stan Berrong.
Howard trusted Christ as his Savior when he was eight years old; and as a high school student, he first sensed that God was calling him into ministry at the Georgia Baptist Youth Evangelism Conference. He is a graduate of Eagles Landing Christian Academy and Luther Rice Seminary, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in biblical studies. He is currently a student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
The Glen Haven pastor declared, “One of the unique blessings in my life is serving as pastor of my home church in my hometown. All four of my grandparents are in the church and both of my grandfathers served as Georgia Baptist pastors and missionaries. When I first became the pastor, I could hardly hold back the tears as I stood to preach, seeing my grandparents seated in the congregation and thinking about my rich heritage.”
Mitch Paulk, the church’s deacon chairman, testified, “Our pastor is faithful, devoted to Christ and his calling, and has the rich quality of humility. He has a great responsibility and I continue to be amazed at how well he operates under the pressure of pastoring a large congregation. I think Brady serves us well because he genuinely seeks the Lord’s counsel continuously.”
Glen Haven member Dr. Pam Adamson commented, “When Brady was presented as our new pastor in 2020, he got a standing ovation from our members and rightly so. Our pastor is passionate about people, burdened for the lost and concerned about the casual nature of Christians today. He has the understanding of a mature pastor, and I have never seen him caught off guard regardless of the situation.”
Warren Green, Glen Haven’s executive pastor, affirmed Howard by saying, “It is a blessing to see what God is doing in our church. I have been here for 24 years, and it is evident that God has equipped Brady for this pastorate. We are seeing people saved and baptized, and the numbers are better than ever.”
The church has recently enlarged the seating capacity by adding 200 seats to the worship center which will now accommodate 1,500 individuals.
Pastor Brady’s wife is Savannah. She teaches the third grade at Strong Rock Christian School in Locust Grove. The Howards have two children: Beau (8), and Adaline (5). In high school, the Glen Haven pastor proved his athleticism in football, baseball, and track. Today, when there is time, he enjoys hunting whitetail deer and waterfowl.
