(This week The Columbian-Progress spotlights Foxworth First Baptist Church Pastor Tyler Chavis.)
Q: When and where were you born?
A: I was born in Flowood Nov. 16, 1982. I was raised in New Hebron and spent the first 30 years of my life there.
Q: Where did you attend school?
A: I went to New Hebron Attendance Center for the first three years and finished at Simpson Academy. I went to Jones College, graduated from there and transferred. I graduated from Southern Miss with a degree in elementary education. Now I’m slowly working on a master’s degree from New Orleans Theological Baptist Seminary.
Q: Where do you work? Tell us about your job/company.
A: I am the pastor at Foxworth First Baptist Church. My work usually involves studying, preparation to preach and teach, home visits, hospital visits, administrative tasks, planning and attempting to love the people and preach the Word.
Q: What led you to your profession?
A: I was raised in church and came to faith in Christ at a young age. I always felt a sense of being involved and leading in some aspect in the church. In my high school days, I believe the Lord began to start placing on my heart the call to ministry, and I rejected that. I went on to college and did my own thing. I remember thinking and praying a lot during that, asking God, “What do you want me to do with my life?” I was unwilling to listen to the answer so I graduated with a degree in education and went offshore, which didn’t really make sense. Then I married, and we weren’t where we needed to be spiritually. We were loosely connected to the church at that point when really all my life I had been pretty connected until college. The Lord used some services we attended to really get our attention. There was a personal revival that took place for me and my wife, and on the heels of that He renewed this call to ministry in my heart. After praying a good while, seeking some Godly counsel, walking through the difficulty of feeling completely unqualified and unworthy of such a role, we surrendered to ministry. I ended up having the privilege of serving on the staff at my home church, New Hebron Baptist Church, as an associate pastor and youth minister. I had a wonderful pastor, Derrick Lambert, that not only is a friend but invested in me as a young minister. I ended up pastoring a church in White County, Whiteoak Baptist Church, before I came here.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your job?
A: I really enjoy preaching the Word and really enjoy the people. As a kid I could be a little bit shy and reserved, but as I’ve learned to spend time with people as a minister I learned that it really blesses my heart.
Q: What is the most challenging aspect of your job?
A: A pastor’s schedule can be very challenging. The sheer number of things I can accomplish in a day can be draining, but I’ve got a great group of people that are very supportive of both what I feel like the Lord has led us to do and me being able to pull back and have time for me and my family as well.
Q: What is the most important lesson you have learned in your career?
A: Genuinely loving the people is what makes for successful ministry outside of being faithful to teaching and preaching.
Q: When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A: I wanted to be an astronaut. I got a more complex plan as I grew a little bit, and I wanted to be a fighter pilot in the Air Force, retire and then pilot a space shuttle. My eyes and my size are not very conducive to that.
Q: What was your first job?
A: As a kid I hauled hay for local farmers.
Q: Who are the people who have been most influential in your life?
A: My parents, Ronnie and Donna, because they’re faithful believers and really strived to raise us in a Christian home and imparted us with truth. There’s a lot of strength I see in my folks that can only come from the Lord.
Q: What is your spouse’s name?
A: Brittany. She is a wonderful pastor’s wife. She’s a normal girl who loves the Lord and is a great support. Some places I’ve served she’s kind of been the secretary. She’s still my secretary in a lot of ways. She helps with logistics and details for me.
Q: Do you have children?
A: We have two children, Jase and Jessa. It’s not uncommon to see more children in our home, though, because we participate in foster care.
Q: If you could have anything for your last meal on earth, what would it be?
A: A homemade cheeseburger with homemade potato fries, baked beans with ground beef in them and my wife’s potato salad.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A: I have a great desire to journey to Israel one day.
Q: What hobbies do you like to do in your spare time?
A: I enjoy reading, playing golf, given the opportunity to do so, hunt, fish and anything I can while spending time with my family.
Q: What do you enjoy about Columbia and Marion County?
A: It feels very much in a lot of ways like home in small-town New Hebron. The difference here is we’re right adjacent to larger cities. The familiarity of country life, small-town Mississippi and the people here are great.
Q: If you could have lunch with anyone from your life or history, who would it be and why?
A: Other than Jesus, I would say Paul. There’s a great fire in Paul, and it would be very interesting to sit and hear from him.
Q: What moment in your life has had the biggest impact on who you are today?
A: It’s got to be coming to faith in Christ. I would also add to that marrying and having God call both of us into ministry. That was a challenge because was God calling me and I had missed it because now I’m already married or was God calling us? We truly believed that God called us to serve in this way.
Q: What is one thing you want to do that you’ve never tried?
A: Skydiving. I enjoy things like that where there’s a little danger and thrill in.
Q: Using one word for each, what are your top three morals?
A: Hope, faith and love.
Q: How would you like to be remembered?
A: I hope they don’t remember me, but I hope they remember Christ in me. I hope they see Jesus in me, and I hope they see how much I needed Jesus because they see failures, struggles and imperfection. I hope they see what Christ has done and is doing in my life.
Pictured Above: Foxworth First Baptist Church Pastor Tyler Chavis began his service at the church last year and enjoys interacting with the people he gets to meet. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
