September 24, 2017 was proclaimed as Jim and Debbie Goodman day in Clarksville, AR, by the local county judge. Stillwell Bible Baptist Church honored their pastor of 40 years and celebrated his retirement.
Jim and Debbie moved to Clarksville April 1, 1977 to accept the pastorate of a small rural church. Proving to be an exception to the rule, “location, location, location,” Stillwell Bible Baptist grew from a small congregation meeting in a little white-steepled church building outside the city limits to being a beacon on top of Stillwell Hill seeing over 1,500 salvations over the past 40 years.
In addition to serving the Lord in his small town, Goodman served several terms as the Arkansas BBF state representative, as a trustee for Baptist Bible College, and two terms with the BBFI executive officers as secretary. He currently serves as mission representative to Costa Rica, where his daughter and son-in-law serve as missionaries.
For the past 25 years Goodman has also served as director of Tri- State Youth Camp leading two weeks of summer camp; one for elementary aged students and one for junior/senior high students. This camp began at Lake Texoma but shifted to Camp Minnetonka in Clayton, OK in 2007.
BBC president, Mark Milioni, was special guest during the Sunday evening retirement celebration. Milioni showed a video of several BBC students sharing testimonies of the influence that Goodman had on their lives through the Tri-State Camp ministry.
Goodman stresses, “I am only retiring from pastoring. Debbie and I feel we still have much to offer through our H.E.A.R.T. (Helping, Encouraging And Reaching Together) ministry.