Portraits of the Pulpit: Artie Woodcox with Calvary Baptist Church

Written by Ben Cox – Artie Woodcox is the pastor at Calvary Baptist Church on 9^th St and is preparing to celebrate a year in the pulpit after his family’s return from 15 years in Arizona. A former Brownwood Lion, who played for Coach Wood, Woodcox is glad to be home and working with people he has known his whole life.

In a building that was built in the early 50’s, he leads his congregation of about 100 every weekend and plans to begin a transition period, in the hopes that attendance will grow. Formed somewhere around 1920, the church has been in its location since the beginning.

Woodcox attended Howard Payne University after turning his life around from his drug using past. Entering the university in his 20’s, Woodcox became the 1^st preacher for “Midtown Baptist Church while it was still a satellite church from NorthRidge Baptist church.” Woodcox says he “pastored Midtown while I was commuting to Hardin Simmons for my Masters.”

After a chance meeting to discuss his future with another pastor in the area, Woodcox was brought on to be the lead pastor for a church in the Phoenix, Arizona suburb or Buckeye. A large town geographically, “it’s actually the largest land-mass city in Arizona. 600 square miles if you can imagine that.” While large on the map, the town was growing in population. “There were 7,500 people when we moved there, it had over 70,000 when we left.”

After close to 15 years in the pulpit of 1^st Baptist Buckeye, Woodcox felt the call to move on. “There were no issues, I felt like I needed a change, and felt like they needed a change.” Moving back to Brownwood to be close to family, he knew that Calvary Baptist was without a pastor from running into the woman who is now his secretary at their 30^th High School reunion.

While moving back to Brownwood as a permanent choice was not something the family had considered, the Lord had other plans. The Woodcoxes accepted the call to return, with Art taking his position in the pulpit of the church they were married in, while his wife Rachel is now the head of the Pregnancy Care Center on Austin. Their four children are 21-year-old Benjamin, 18-year-old Jacek, 15-year-old Nathaniel, and Taylor Elaine who turns 11 this weekend.

Woodcox describes his preaching style as a mix of multiple styles, drawing on “The three-point sermon model, some storytelling, and a lot of teaching.” He describes a typical Sunday service as “a traditional, standard Baptist church service.” However, the church is in a period of transition and plans to begin making some changes to reach a younger generation.

Woodcox says “We have been told by many visitors that we are a warm, inviting, and friendly church. We invite any who are looking for a church home to please come and try us out.”

The church is at the corner of Ave J and 9^th St. Sunday School starts at 9:30 with Worship beginning at 10:45. They can be reached through their Facebook page or by calling (325) 646-6139.