July 17, 2025
SYCAMORE, Ga. — In a town of just over 700 people, the legacy of one Georgia Baptist family is spreading the gospel far beyond its borders. From the red clay fields of Turner County to mission fields across the globe, the impact of Gene and Myrl Pirkle and their descendants is a testimony to faith, hard work, and generational discipleship.
Known for their deep roots in Bethel Baptist Church in Sycamore, the Pirkles were leaders in ministry, missions, and service. Their influence, now spanning four generations, is shaping churches, classrooms, clinics, and communities around the world, and it all began with a simple but profound commitment: “Christianity is our business; we farm to pay expenses” was proudly displayed on Gene’s barn.
Both Gene and Myrl were intricately involved in the life and ministry of Bethel Church. Myrl enjoyed working in the nursery, and Gene taught Sunday School for 68 years (from 1937 to 2007) except for two years when he was the Sunday School Superintendent and led the music at the church.
Gene was the Church Training Director for the Turner Baptist Association for 23 years. During those years, he helped establish Training Unions in all the churches in the association. Gene also served as a trustee for Baptist Village at Waycross for four terms (16 years) and two years as the president.
Myrl led the Young Women’s Auxiliary and was active in the Woman’s Missionary Union in the church and served on the board of Baptist Woman’s Missionary Union of Georgia as divisional vice-president.
Daughter Martha Ann, one of six children, recalled, “One of my most vivid memories is walking by my parents’ bedroom about bedtime and hearing my dad reading the Bible and the two of them praying together. Dad teased Mom about her name, Myrl True Christian Pirkle. He said that she was a true Christian until she married him.”
Gene and Myrl married in 1940, shortly after the Great Depression and just before World War II. Myrl graduated from high school, but Gene and two brothers found it necessary to quit school when their father became too ill to work on the farm to provide for the ten children.
Martha Ann explained, “So, my mother married a farmer, and she became his helper. My brothers and sister worked on the farm, spending many days stacking peanuts and picking cotton” (averaging 1,000 pounds a day). I was the youngest, and by the time I was old enough to pick cotton, Dad had purchased a mechanical cotton picker.
“All of us learned to have a healthy respect for hard labor and worked full-time during the summer to earn enough for school. Although Dad never finished high school, he helped all six of us obtain college degrees.”
According to Martha Ann, after her parents were married, they began to pray for four children and asked God to lead one of them into the ministry, one to be a teacher, another one to be a doctor, and one to be a farmer. The children were not told about these specific prayers of their parents.
In the late 1960s, the Pirkles' son Earnest Thomas was called to be a minister and pastored Georgia Baptist churches in Valdosta, Rossville, Dalton, Sylvester, and Savannah.
Leon Mark became an educator and taught psychology at three Southern Baptist Schools: Hannibal-LaGrange College in Missouri, University of Mobile in Alabama, and Brewton-Parker College in Georgia.
Donald Enoch became a medical professional and served as a physical therapist. He and his wife, Patsy, became missionaries in Gaza.
Gerald Caleb became a farmer with his dad and continues to farm with his son and grandson.
Gene considered daughters Margene and Martha Ann to be bonus educators.
Gerald and his wife Linda have two sons. Vance is a doctor and he and his family served in Zimbabwe with the International Mission Board. After returning stateside, they went to Honduras to work in a hospital. Three of Vance’s children are working with the North American Mission Board to plant King’s Table Church in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
There are 18 grandchildren in the Pirkle family, and their influence is widespread. Don, the physical therapist and missionary, referring to Matthew 13 about sowing gospel seeds on all kinds of soil, testified, “I hope that when I get to heaven, there are no more seeds in my bag – that I shared Jesus wherever I could.”
All six of Gene and Myrl Pirkle’s children have participated in many short-term mission trips - at least a dozen overseas and three dozen in the United States.
Martha Ann has been a faithful ambassador for Christ in her own right. She is the Woman’s Missionary Union Director at Bethel Baptist Church in Sycamore and the WMU Director for the Turner Baptist Association. She is the Missions Mobilizer for Southwest Georgia for Baptist WMU of Georgia, and served on the organization's executive board.
She also serves on the missions committee for her church and has been instrumental in encouraging her church to partner with Grace and Truth Baptist Church in Puerto Rico. She serves on the board of the Bridge of Tift Area. The Bridge consists of the House of Hope, a shelter for homeless women, The Training Center where job skills are taught and the Bird’s Nest, a thrift store which supports these endeavors.
"It has been a joy to get to know the Pirkle family. Their commitment to the Lord and to making Him known to all people has been an encouragement to me," said Beth Ann Williams
Lead Strategist, Georgia Baptist Women for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. "What an example to all of us to see what it looks like for faith to pass from generation to generation!"
Reflecting on the legacy begun by her father and mother, which is being lived out by the succeeding generations of Pirkles, Martha Ann said, “My siblings and I feel greatly blessed when someone says that we act like our parents.”
