Carlton Hemphill and his wife, Shelbie, served faithfully in small churches for decades. “We pretty much struggled financially all those years,” Carlton says. “We pastored small churches and never had as much money as we would’ve liked. But God gave us what we needed, and we learned to accept and live with that.”

Sara Palmer and Shirley Dismukes met in the 1950s at Headland Avenue Baptist Church in Dothan, Alabama. Shirley was dating Robert Dismukes, and Sara, Robert’s cousin, was being pursued by George Palmer. All four were young, in love and stepping into lives of ministry.

Betty still remembers 1978, the year she and her husband, Paul, left Taiwan with their two little girls to follow God’s call to plant a Mandarin-speaking mission church in Los Angeles.

For 51 years, Brenda and Jim Collins lived a beautiful love story that unfolded in small church sanctuaries across Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. It wasn’t just a marriage; it was a ministry partnership that touched countless lives.

More than 50 years ago, Michael was working a government job in Tennessee when he felt a clear tug in a different direction. “I knew God was calling me to preach,” he says. So, he left his job and headed to seminary with his wife Sandra and their toddler.

In 1978, two young hearts met while serving at a hospital in Haiti built by missionaries. Lise and Jean did not know that moment would begin a ministry spanning decades from Haiti to Miami and eventually to Orlando, where their Haitian Baptist church began in their own living room.

After years of running a successful business, Larry Fackler surrendered to full-time ministry, a decision that led to more than three decades of faithful service across the Pacific Northwest, Missouri and Texas.

Growing up on a farm in Missouri, she often told others just that. So, when a young preacher named Henry came to her rural church, she prayed, “Lord, I’d sure like to iron that man’s shirts.” By that summer, they were married.

For 47 years, Micaela Flores served beside her husband, Frank, pastor of Templo Bautista in San Antonio. They never made much money and didn't save for retirement, but their lives were rich in faith, service and love for their community.

At age 17, Sam Parsons felt God’s call to preach. Growing up in a preacher’s home in North Carolina, he had known the Lord since childhood, but in 1966, he renewed his faith during a Billy Graham crusade. That summer, he stood before his church and declared that God was calling him to carry the Gospel wherever the Lord led.

When high school sweethearts Vayon and Russell Smith married in 1964, they decided early on to serve the Lord. After serving as lay people in Louisiana churches, Russell felt called to ministry in 1978 during a mission trip to Montana.