Carol Henderson’s Testimony
Carol’s grandmother was the first to introduce her siblings and her to church. At the age of 10 during a Baptist VBS chapel service, she realized her need for Jesus. When she was baptized, so was her father. As a result, this started her family on a new journey in life. From that time on, she grew up being completely involved in church.
Her first career was raising her two children. Through the years, she always volunteered at church. She even volunteered and worked along side the church secretary. The most enjoyable part of volunteering was in the early 1980’s when she began to do the bookkeeping for the church. Her education prepared her for office work and bookkeeping. But, the bookkeeping was like a second breath to her. She loved it. In 1984 the church secretary job became available on a part-time basis. She applied and was given the opportunity to serve. She stayed there for 5 ½ years as the only part-time secretary working with the Pastor, Minister of Music/Youth and Education Director.
Due to circumstances in her life, she began thinking of working full-time. She had always been a part of Mobile Baptist Association in one way or another. Even before becoming a church secretary, she volunteered in the Association as a nursery worker with the Language School and she did Summer Missions work with Back Yard Bible Club and Big-A Club.
As a volunteer bookkeeper in her church, she was involved with the Association’s Church Secretaries organization. She was Vice-President and President of this organization before coming to the Association to work.
She attended the annual Alabama Association of Baptist Secretaries Conference each year at Judson College. This was due to her pastor’s urging her to be involved. She had only been the bookkeeper in the church for a month when he insisted that the church secretary and she go to Judson for this conference. It was a wonderful experience and she has attended 21 out of 24 years. In 1996 she was asked to be an officer in the Alabama Association of Baptist Secretaries. She held different offices during the next four years. In the years 1999-2000 she was President of the Alabama Association of Baptist Secretaries. This was a great honor.
In 1991, she had called the Associational office to ask the secretary a question and the receptionist asked if she knew of anyone that was needing a job. She was leaving because her husband was going to seminary. Carol said she might be interested. After talking to her husband, she decided to apply for the job. Carol knows that God gave her the job. She knows it was His perfect will for her life.
She began working at Mobile Baptist Association on May 6, 1991. She was Receptionist and Church Development Director Secretary for eight years. The job and people she worked with were perfect, except for the fact that she no longer did bookkeeping. In 1999, the Administrative Secretary/Bookkeeper retired. After much prayerful consideration, Carol applied for the job. She began her new duty as the Administrative Assistant to the Director of Missions in February 1999. No one was hired permanently for her former position for nine months. While she was learning a new job, holding down the old job, she was President of the AABS. That first year was tough, but she was back doing what she liked best, bookkeeping. Carol’s gifts are in administration and organization.
Carol is the support for Church Secretaries and Church Clerk’s in the Association. In 1995 she was President of the Alabama State Convention Clerks Association. She also is support to the churches that use the QuickBooks Pro program. She is the Alabama State Convention’s QuickBooks Consultant. She has led several conferences at Judson College on setting up the QuickBooks program. She goes into other Associations, sets up their QuickBooks programs, and teaches them how to use QuickBooks. She also does this for the churches in the Association.
The years at Mobile Baptist have been very hard at times, but very rewarding ones for Carol. She loves her work, but most of all, Mobile Baptists. The greatest part of her work has been the friendships she has formed over the years. She loves working with the pastors, church secretaries, and the group of newsletter volunteers at Mobile Baptist.
She has been married to Kenneth for 40 years. They have two children, Kimberly Bradford and Ken Henderson. Kim has two children, Julie (Eyler) and Jeni. She lost her 3-year old son Jacob last year in a tragic accident. Julie has twins Harleigh and Cameron. Ken has four children Ashley, Josh, Taylor, and Trevor. They are all the delight of Carol’s life.
