Hunter Street Baptist’s Buddy Gray prepares to retire after four decades as pastor

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People

It’s a Monday afternoon, and the hallways of Hunter Street Baptist Church in Hoover are fairly quiet. A mom brings her three children to take music lessons; several women clean the sanctuary after a full day of worship the day before; a few high school boys walk together in conversation.

Senior Pastor Buddy Gray has stepped out of his office, and as he walks the halls, he greets each person by name, engaging them in conversation and showing genuine interest in their activities. The walls of the building serve as a second home for him with one thing very clear: The people are his heart and the joy of his ministry.

Soon, this routine of walking the halls of Hunter Street will come to an end as he prepares to officially retire this summer after pastoring the church for more than 40 years.

“I believe the Lord has called me to retire, and that is something that has come after seeking the Lord’s guidance,” Gray said. “I am not retiring from ministry and will still serve the Lord in whatever capacity He may have for me, but what He has called me to do as pastor of Hunter Street will come to an end. I firmly believe that I have done what He has called me to do.”

What Gray has been called to do has included serving the church and the members within since 1978, when he was hired as the church’s part-time youth pastor.

Gray vividly recalls the exact day, Oct. 15, 1978, because it was the same day he met the woman who would later become his wife. He has remained devotedly married to Tricia for more than 40 years.

When Gray accepted the position as senior pastor several years later as a 29-year-old, the average age of the congregation of 220 people was 70 years old.

“The faithfulness of those people in the early days is what helped us to grow and flourish under the Lord’s help and guidance, and I am so thankful for them,” Gray said. “The Lord has been very kind to us over the years, and those people in the early days loved each and every one who walked through the doors.”

Gray was hired to be the senior pastor because many church members had moved out of western Birmingham into the suburbs, so the congregation was aging and declining in numbers.

Gray not only loved people well, but he taught directly from the scriptures and helped bring a fresh, young approach to the church.

A vote was taken in the late ’80s to relocate the church from Birmingham, and the congregation moved to Hoover.

For roughly 18 months, they met in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church on Lorna Road while a new building was constructed off Alabama 150. The first official service at the new location was held on Easter Sunday in 1989 with about 300 people attending.

“I like to say I have been the pastor for three different churches,” Gray said. “I remind the congregation each and every Sunday, whether it is during the welcome time or during the sermon portion, that Hunter Street is not a building — it is the people. We have people from all walks of life, different races, different faces, but we have one Lord, and we are committed to Him and serving faithfully what He calls us to do.”

Loving the people

Now the congregation has about 5,000 members, and Gray said he is thankful for each one.

“I love the people at Hunter Street,” Gray said. “I think that is the part that makes me sad about retiring because I do genuinely love those I get to serve alongside.”

One person who has appreciated Gray’s ministry for the 31 years his family has attended Hunter Street is David Long, who serves as chairman of the deacons. “Buddy’s ministry has meant so much to me and my wife and our family over the years,” Long said.

“Buddy has helped us grow spiritually, and when you grow closer to the Lord, you grow closer to one another,” he said. “Buddy teaching God’s word with clarity and truth has grown me and my family over the years, and we appreciate the role he has had in our lives.”

Long said Gray married him and his wife while also being there for his family during losses, the birth of their son and many seasons of life.

“We have been through a lot of life together — the good and the challenging parts — and he has always been a loving, positive, wise, responsible and encouraging pastor, friend and confidant in our lives,” Long said. “Any time you are around Buddy, he is going to point you to Christ. He is really someone that walks the walk.”

Long said it is hard for him to think of not having Gray serve as his pastor, but he is thankful for the time he has had with Gray.

“It is one of those things where you have to be thankful for the time you were given with someone and consider that time a gift,” Long said. “We will miss him terribly, but his impact in our lives over the years is irreplaceable.”

John Thweatt, pastor at First Baptist Church Pell City, has been friends with Gray for more than 20 years, traveled to several countries with him and gone on a retreat with him each year.

“Buddy Gray is Buddy Gray wherever he goes,” Thweatt said. “He is never in a hurry, and when you are with him, he is paying attention to you and not worried in the least about what is going on around him. He is very deliberate with his encouragement and friendship, and out of the thousands of churches we have in Alabama, I think you would talk to many of the pastors of those churches, and they would all say Buddy is their friend.”

Thweatt said a unique characteristic about Gray is that he is easily the most accessible megachurch pastor you will meet.

“He knows the people, and not only does he know them, he loves them,” Thweatt said.

Scott Guffin, executive director of Christian ministry at Samford University, has been a longtime friend of Gray and known him for more than 30 years.

“Buddy truly lives up to his name — ‘Buddy’ — because he really is everyone’s buddy or friend,” Guffin said. “He is an incredible encourager and shepherd to his congregation. When I was a young minister, I was in a difficult church situation, and somebody suggested I go meet with Buddy. They told me he would be a good person to speak with. I was in my early 20s, and he was just incredibly kind and encouraging to me. He told me to keep going, and that meant so much to me at the time.”

Guffin describes the relocation to Hoover as the moment Hunter Street exploded — when it grew from a smaller-sized church to a very large church.

“I think that growth speaks so much to Buddy as a whole,” Guffin said. “You have this person who is incredibly wise with a very down-to-earth personality, and he has an incredible ability to preach and teach and shepherd, and I think the growth of Hunter Street reflects all of that.”

Shaping the future

A significant part of Gray’s ministry over the years has been meeting with boys in 12th grade to help establish biblical foundations before they head off to college.

“This has been one of the most wonderful things I have ever done, and it energizes me more than anything to get to meet with them,” he said.

Gray started the ministry about 20 years ago, meeting with various groups of 12th graders to go over Wayne Grudem’s “Systematic Theology” book.

“I think seeing these young people hungry to know about the greatness of God, and wanting to deepen their theology and ways to know God on a closer level, is something that I would never trade for the world,” Gray said. “It has been a gift for me to see people fall in love with God.”

This year, Gray had 40 students in 12th grade sign up to take his class, as well as fathers of the students meeting with Gray. The boys’ mothers meet with his wife, Tricia, and Heather Hinton, who also serves at Hunter Street.

“We have had three people in the same family that are studying the same theology, and that has been such a unique and incredible thing,” Gray said.

Gray is eager to see that ministry continue under new leadership, he said.

Looking ahead

While there is no official date set for Gray’s retirement, he anticipates it being sometime this summer, when the church will hopefully announce a new lead pastor.

“I know the search committee has been spending the last few months in prayer over who may serve as pastor next,” Gray said. “I am incredibly thankful that I got to be the 14th pastor, but I like to tell people that there will be a 15th pastor, a 16th pastor and so on until Jesus comes back. We have a long heritage of faithfulness here at Hunter Street, and we are standing on the shoulders of some of the giants who went before us.”

Gray said the Lord has been faithful to the church for the last 119 years, and he is eager to see how it flourishes in future years.

“I am so incredibly glad that I got to be a part of Hunter Street for the last 40 years,” Gray said. “It has been a wonderful blessing to me.”