When a friend connected Joel Busby ’04, MDiv ’11, DMin ’18, to his first church opportunity in San Antonio, Texas, he told him, “I see you as a churchman.”
Busby moved west after graduating from Samford University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, serving at the church in the areas of teaching, preaching and pastoral care. Coming to Texas, he had experience working at Christian camps and serving internationals, so while he knew he was called to ministry, what that might look like vocationally was still up in the air.
While in San Antonio, Busby met another man at the church who also told him, “I see you as a churchman.”
That somewhat unusual term for a minister seemed to stick to Busby. His experience in Texas cemented his desire to work in local church ministry.
Knowing he needed to pursue seminary, Busby applied to several other schools, unsure if he wanted to come back and do “Samford part two” at Beeson Divinity School. However, after talking with professors at three other seminaries, they all ended up steering Busby back to Birmingham and to Beeson.
“Beeson was such a rewarding experience for me,” Busby said. “I was able to devote full-time attention to it and treated it like my 8-5 job. My friends and I just sort of camped out here.”
Busby said the relationships he formed while at Beeson and the opportunity to think deeply were a great benefit.
“I wanted to go somewhere where I could get this classic, Protestant, evangelical education, and that’s what I got,” Busby said. “The community did its work on me.”
During a mentor group meeting one day, Beeson professor Mark Gignilliat asked his group what they planned to do. But when he got to Busby, there was no need to even ask.
“He skipped me and said, ‘Busby, you’re a churchman,’” Busby said, adding he had never shared the story of the two men in Texas with the professor.
After graduating in 2011, Busby joined the staff at Mountain Brook Community Church (MBCC), where he had interned while studying at Beeson. And in case he hadn’t heard what the Lord called him to be the first three times, God reminded him one more time while at the church.
While on staff at MBCC, Redeemer Community Church in Birmingham asked him to plant Grace Fellowship in Homewood and serve as its pastor. Before he left MBCC, a pastor at the church prayed for him as he stepped out in faith to lead a new congregation.
“Lord, thank you for making Joel a churchman,” Busby recalled the pastor praying.
Beeson prepared Busby well for his role as a “churchman,” he said.
“Pastoral ministry is really a ministry of integration, and Beeson gave me the form for what ministry was going to look like,” Busby said.
The Beeson community continues to encourage him, as an alumni pastor at MBCC, Redeemer, and many other churches in the area.
“There are so many good churches around here because they’re pastored by some of my best friends,” Busby said.
When his brother-in-law was killed in a hunting accident in 2013, he got a voicemail from longtime preaching professor Robert Smith Jr.
Growing up in the Birmingham area, Busby always intended to move somewhere far away for school. But that didn’t happen, as Busby could see Brookwood Hospital, where he was born, from his Samford dorm room window.
Years later, he’s grateful for how the Lord brought him home and established his ministry here.
“I guess I always wanted to go somewhere far away because I always had this interest in ministering to unchurched people in a spiritually dark place,” Busby said. “It took me years to realize there’s a unique spiritual darkness in the South. There’s a Christian atmosphere, a ‘haunting of Christ,’ and it’s a common grace, but it’s just having functionally unchurched people. The Lord has increased my heart for people like that.
“And it is my people. A theology of place has come to mean so much to me. There are histories, stories and contours of the way things are. I’ve come to see the unbelievable benefits of being home,” Busby said.
Busby encouraged current Beeson students to trust the process.
“Be physically here,” Busby said. “Seminary is not supposed to give you a download of every scenario you’ll face in ministry. It exposes you to a world, to the conversation and trains you in ‘mere Christianity’ in the richest and fullest way.”