Faith draws Veal to ministry, Columbus church

COLUMBUS -- Rev. Paul Veal, 28, his wife, Shelly, and their two boys are settling into the flow of his first full-time ministry at Shell Creek Baptist Church.

Veal preached his first sermon as the new pastor May 17 at the church located 10 miles north of Columbus on 48th Avenue.

Veal was ordained by the North American Baptist Conference in January in Hartford, S.D., following a three-year internship.

“I grew up in a Christian home with godly parents and was blessed at a very early age to know that Jesus is our Lord and Savior,” Veal said. “My faith has grown with me my whole life. I didn’t really have a ‘fall off your horse’ conversion like some people talk about.”

Veal said he has always known he had a calling on his life for the ministry, but he said for many years he avoided the call.

“My experience in coming to the preaching ministry is much like Jonah’s,” he said. “I decided not to listen to God and join the National Guard instead. I thought maybe I could become a mechanic and somehow serve the Lord that way. Not long after I joined I was discharged from the Guard on a medical discharge and found myself back in Sturgis where Shelly and I grew up.”

It was at that point Veal said he did experience a “fall off your horse calling to the ministry.”

“After I got out of the National Guard, I knew that I had to follow what the Lord wanted me to do, and now the biggest thing I want is for my life to ooze with the love of Jesus Christ,” Veal said. “The scripture that guides my ministry is found in II Corinthians 4:1-6 and especially those last verses �” For we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.’”

Veal said he was somewhat surprised he is beginning his ministry in a more traditional church because he was groomed through his internship for church planting and for work in a more contemporary setting.

“I don’t get all caught up in the surface things,” Veal said. “I have no doubt this is where the Lord wants us right now. I want to do everything I do for the glory of God, and we can’t be entirely sure what that’s going to look like exactly ... I want to proclaim that Jesus is Lord to his glory and to the glory of His Name.”

Shell Creek Baptist Church recently celebrated 135 years of continuous service in the area. Sunday morning services begin at 9:45 a.m. followed by Sunday school at 11 a.m.

For more information about the church, call Veal at (402) 246-4893.