The Rev. Skip Myers’ journey to become the new pastor at Shorter Avenue Baptist Church involved family and the vision to bring the church’s message to more than just its congregation.

Myers was the pastor at Smith Station Baptist Church near Phenix City, Ala., for 16 years before coming to Shorter Avenue Baptist, 1410 Shorter Ave., and holding his first Sunday service on Nov. 4.

“My wife and I have just fallen in love with Rome,” Myers said. “It’s just a wonderful city. We’re enjoying getting to know the people and exploring the city a little bit.”

Myers grew up in Greensboro, N.C., and met his wife, Janet, in high school. After 31 years of marriage the couple has two grown daughters, Erin and Laura.

“We felt the Lord move us to a new place and we’re excited about it,” Myers said.

How Myers discovered Shorter Avenue Baptist begins with his son-in-law, Mauricio Manesses, who owns a mission company in the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico and works in connection with some of the local churches consulting on doing Hispanic ministry.

Manesses gave Myers’ resume to Jim Reynolds, the director of missions for the Floyd County Baptist Association, who knew that Shorter Avenue Baptist was looking for a pastor.

Myers sat down with the search committee and said he fell in love with them and the church.

“We have found the church to be poised to move forward, which is good,” Myers said.

“There is a community around Shorter Avenue Baptist Church that has changed over the years. The hearts of the people here are open to reaching out to their community.”

Since Myers has been at the church he has worked to put some ideas in motion that will allow them to do that.

“I know a lot of the time we spend a lot of time talking about that and I think churches can tend to become centered on ministry to themselves but here, there is a lot of excitement and a lot of desire to see the ministry move outside of the walls of this church,” Myers said.

He added that the groundwork is being laid to be able to achieve that goal more effectively.

“While we’re still trying to get settled here, our goal is to simply make this church and the gospel an even more entrenched part of our surroundings,” Myers said. “There are a lot of hurting people out there and the church has the answer for that. Now we just have to take that answer to them.”

From just the short time that he has been here, Myers said that he believes that they can achieve their goal due to the enthusiasm and feeling he has gotten from the members of the church.

“The worship here is great,” Myers said. “We have a great spirit in the church and some of the most loving people I’ve ever found are here. I believe with all my heart that they want to see God’s will done for the church.”

Myers received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and a masters of divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.