In the middle of a pandemic, Tim Bass moved from Tippah County, near the Mississippi-Tennessee State Line, to an area he was only familiar with while passing through to Jackson. Bass is the new Associational Mission Strategist for the Carroll-Montgomery Baptist Association. Talk about a whirlwind!
Bass said he and his wife Brandie moved to the area on April 13. Bass not only had to become familiar with the area during a time where not much could be done, he had to familiarize himself with the pastors and members of 38 Southern Baptist churches in Carroll and Montgomery counties.
Recently, one of those churches, Carrollton Baptist Church held a reception to welcome the Basses.
“We moved here the Monday after Easter, but we couldn’t really get out and do anything or meet people until May, and churches weren’t allowed to open until Mid-May and beyond,” Bass said.
How do you meet people and get to know the churches you’re here to serve in a pandemic? That question became a reality for Bass, but he said he’s been able to meet pastors and members at about half of the 38 churches.
Bass said in his position, he helps with pulpit supply, revivals, churches without pastors as they navigate the waters finding one, missions projects within the community like the one held annually at Kilmichael Baptist Church. He said he also helps with mission opportunities around the state, country and even with international opportunities.
“We’ve been very careful doing things up until this point. Once this goes by, I’ll be pursing that more,” Bass said.
He said even though moving and trying to work during this pandemic has been a bit challenging, the people that he’s met have been very cordial, and he’s been adjusting as well as he can.
“It’s been good, you just have to do the best you can and be extra careful,” Bass said. “It’s been a good adjustment. It’s a whole lot different than pastoring, now I’m a pastor to pastors.
Bass has been in the ministry since 2003 and has been a pastor since 2004. Before accepting the position at the Carroll-Montgomery Baptist Association, Bass was a pastor at Harmony Baptist Church in Walnut. Originally from Ripley, he said he’s lived and pastored in Tippah County and in the Jackson, Tenn. area, not far from Corinth.
He and Brandie have three children, Britt, 24, who works for Region IV Mental Health; Owen, 22, who works for US Civica; and Marcie Kate, 18, who is entering her sophomore year at Mississippi State University. Bass said he’s a few hours from his oldest two, but he’s less than an hour from Marcie Kate.
When asked what he wanted to accomplish once the Coronavirus pandemic calms down some and some sort of normalcy begins to set in, Bass said he wanted to help reach the community for Christ, bring all 38 churches closer than they’ve ever been, help get churches more active in their communities, open opportunities to do evangelism, train young pastors and preachers and offer educational classes to them and seasoned pastors.
“We strong together than we are a part,” Bass said. He said he wants to create stronger healthy churches in the area.
Bass, who is also working toward a Ph.D in pastoring, said he wants to be able to offer classes at the Carroll-Montgomery Baptist Association Building in Winona at some point.
