Nancy Taylor: Greene Publishing, Inc.
In honor of Rev. Earnest Rains’ fourth anniversary as pastor of Young Reaper Missionary Baptist Church, the congregation has planned a weekend of special church services.
The first service will take place on Saturday, July 22, at 7 p.m. with refreshments following the service. The next service will be the next morning (July 23) at 11:30 a.m. A covered dish lunch will provide a time of fellowship after the time of worship.
Rev. Rains has been in the ministry for 36 or 37 years; however, he has only been pastoring since 1996. Prior to coming to Young Reaper Missionary Baptist, he pastored Evergreen Missionary Baptist for 12 years. Some would say that Rains has been in the ministry all of his life. They might even say it’s in his blood. Both his father and great-grandfather were pastors.
John 3:16 is Rains’ favorite bible verse, and his second favorite verse is “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). “There’s so much in that verse,” said Rains.
His priority in pastoring is bringing the people together and accomplishing things for God. “We accomplish quite a bit when we come together in unity,” he said. With that goal in mind, he has done many things with the congregation.
He is, however, quick to take the attention off of himself. “It’s not me; it’s God. If it were up to me, I’d be the laziest person in Madison County,” but community and church members would not use “lazy” as a word to describe Pastor Rains. In addition to his work with the church, Rains has been a member of the Masons since 1970, and he is a former president of the local NAACP.
The community is invited to come join this celebration. Young Reaper Missionary Baptist Church is located at 572 NW Reaper Church Rd., in Greenville.