The many-faceted life of Stacey Kennedy

VIDALIA — If you were to sit in her classroom at J.D. Dickerson Primary School you would quickly find out Stacey Kennedy is in control of her students. She is a well-prepared, effective, patient, and compassionate special education teacher in the school known as the place “where little Indians get their start.”

Ashley Carney, a Vidalia First Baptist member who teaches the second grade with Kennedy, testified, “Stacey is a caring, kind, inspiring teacher. The children are drawn to her. They love her. She is also inspiring to me personally.”

Teaching children with special needs, though an important part of what Stacey’s does, is only one area of a many-faceted life. She is also the wife of our Georgia Baptist Convention president, Bucky Kennedy, and consequently the first lady of Vidalia’s First Baptist Church, and the mother of Hannah Lea, a high school senior, and Harry P. Kennedy, IV, “Ivey,” a seventh grader.

 

Love for athletics

Kennedy grew up on a farm near Gainesville in what she considered a “normal” family. Her parents, Raymond and Hazel Dover, worked hard to give her and her younger brother, Jay, everything they needed and most of what they wanted.

“I grew up going to church every Sunday,” Kennedy recalled, “and at age eleven I made a visible commitment to follow Jesus Christ.”

In high school Stacey’s life revolved around athletics. She never missed a day of school from first grade until she graduated from high school, because she didn’t want to miss practice on the basketball team, softball team, track team, or whatever sport’s team was in season. Her love for sports won her the “hustle award” in athletics in high school.

Stacey’s love for sports and athletic prowess gave her the opportunity to play basketball for two years at Gainesville College. She was also the last Homecoming Queen at the school.

 

Off to college

“After my second year of playing college basketball and just squeaking by academically to get my associate’s degree, I decided to get serious about my education,” she related. “I had a heart for special needs children and after working one summer at a camp for special needs kids I decided to go to Georgia Southern to prepare for my ‘dream job.’

“At Georgia Southern I learned a lot about surrounding myself with godly friends. My dorm was sprinkled with friends who loved the Lord and one night they invited me to go to an FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) meeting.

“Bucky Kennedy was the FCA speaker that night,” a smiling Stacey recounted. “I had seen him on campus at a distance through the pine trees, but that night I saw him from no more than 25 feet away. He introduced his fiance to the group that night – a beautiful girl who happened to be my aerobics instructor.

“I wrote my mother a letter and told her I had seen my future husband at the FCA meeting.”

Several boyfriends later and with the passing of a year Bucky and Stacey became friends. They consoled each other when relationships were severed and “hung out” after participating in co-ed sports activities.

 

‘You have to be a saint’

Stacey reported, “I would write my mother and tell her about this handsome guy. She reminded me of a dream I had when I was twelve years old – a dream of marrying a preacher. My mother’s typical answer was, ‘you had better hope you don’t, because if you do, you will have to be a saint.’”

Bucky’s engagement to the aerobics teacher ended and he decided to not date anyone for a year, focusing instead on his relationship with the Lord and preaching opportunities. Stacey concentrated on completing her teaching degree, but she and Bucky continued to spend time together as friends.

During their senior year at Georgia Southern Bucky sought out Stacey one day after the Thanksgiving break and told her he had been fasting, praying, and speaking with his mentor, Michael Guido. She stated, “He asked me to forgive him for the times when he was afraid to show his feelings for me. He also asked me how I felt about beginning a serious dating relationship. From that time on we were inseparable.”

 

Guido stamp of approval

Bucky took Stacey to Metter to the Guido Gardens. At last the future GBC president had brought someone to meet Michael and Audrey Guido of whom they approved. Recalling that experience Stacey remarked, “Wow, I felt blessed!”

Michael Guido, world-renowned radio and television evangelist, recently praised Stacey as “an attractive, Christ-like woman who is winsomely kind, considerably helpful, and loving in her wooing of souls to the Lord.”

The saintly evangelist added, “Stacey is a wonderful helpmate to Bucky and she makes his ministry much more pleasurable and profitable to all his church and friends.”

Subsequently, Bucky asked Stacey one day, “How do you feel about being a pastor’s wife?”

The beautiful co-ed demurely responded, “I am not capable. I took piano lessons for six years, but all I can play is ‘At Calvary.’ I cannot sing solos or lead the children’s choir. I don’t qualify.

“After he finished laughing,” Stacey admitted, “he told me that all he expected from me was to love Jesus and to take care of him – and eventually our children. At that point all the pressure was lifted and two weeks later over biscuits and gravy at my parent’s home he proposed to me and we all cried.”

 

Marriage and seminary

“Six months later, in June, we graduated from Georgia Southern,” Stacey continued. “In July we got married and in August we moved to Memphis where Bucky enrolled in Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary.”

Stacey taught school during Bucky’s days at Mid-America. While Bucky earned his degree in theology, Stacey secured her PHT (Put Hubby Through) degree. During that time Hannah Lea was born.

After seminary the Kennedys moved to Hall County and Bucky traveled as an evangelist for two years before being called as the youth pastor of Gainesville’s Riverbend Baptist Church and eventually pastor.

Stacey stated, “Shortly after we arrived at Riverbend, Ivey was born. Our children grew up in Gainesville with many godly friends and family. It was at Riverbend that we learned how to love people and be loved in return.

“I met my best friend, Sara Philyaw, in Gainesville and we have been prayer partners since 1991. I have found it is important for pastors’ wives to have godly women in our lives – women who can mentor and counsel us. Titus 2:3-5 teaches us to ‘be sensible, pure, good homemakers, and submissive.’ Sara encouraged me daily to keep God first and love as Paul’s letter to Titus instructs us.”

 

Following the wrong ‘man’

Although Stacey was a loving, caring pastor’s wife and active in the church 1998 was a revolutionary year for her. She explained, “I thought I was saved as an eleven-year-old, but it was not until a revival at our church in Gainesville that I was convicted I had never been saved. After several days of struggle and searching scriptures, I asked Jesus to save me.

“Bucky baptized me along with our daughter, Hannah, the next night. I have been able to share with others how God saved me as a pastor’s wife. In my testimony I tell others how I was following the wrong ‘man’ for my answers. When I felt distant from the Lord, I would ask Bucky to pray with me, but I was only putting a Band-aid on the wound. I finally came to grips with the fact that no one could fix me but Jesus. I took off the façade and surrendered my all to Him.”

At Vidalia’s First Baptist Church Stacey is involved in the choir, the student ministries, and is a PLACE consultant and hospitality director. PLACE is a ministry assessment that explores biblical principles to help church members discover their personality traits and spiritual gifts in order to help them get assimilated and active in the life of the church. Stacey and Bucky have also started a newlywed Sunday School class at First Baptist.

 

A wellspring of life

Patricia Dixon, First Baptist member, declares, “Stacey is a wife of noble character and can be found at the side of our pastor encouraging him to be the man of God He has been called to be. She is a wellspring of life in her role as her husband’s helpmate, companion, champion, and prayer warrior. In her eyes you will find the reflection of redemption as God uses her daily as an instrument of His grace.”

Brewton-Parker president David Smith, also a member of First Baptist, remarked, “Stacy Kennedy is the ideal pastor’s wife. She does not require the limelight, but is often used as a sermon illustration and beside her husband in whatever situation the Lord places them. She has a patience that is remarkable. She accepts people and helps them become what God has created them to be.”

Stacey has found strength for her rigorous schedule in the Lord. She admitted, “Often as a full-time teacher, mother of two very busy teenagers, and a pastor’s wife it is easy to run out of energy. But my prayer is that of the Apostle Paul who asked for inner strength from the Holy Spirit. I find that there is God-sized strength for God-sized tasks, and I am relying on His unlimited resources.”

Perhaps the best way to judge a pastor is to observe how his wife responds to his messages. Stacey commented, “I am challenged in my walk with Christ every time I hear him preach. I am usually sitting on the front row with our teenagers and in front of his wonderful secretary taking notes. When he preaches we usually laugh and nod to each other, but God always speaks to me though his messages.

“In loving Bucky I need to be his encourager. He needs me to be his biggest fan and cheerleader. I also need to provide a home with an atmosphere that he looks forward to each day. When he preaches in revivals and speaks as the president of the Convention I cannot go with him as much as I desire, but I pray for him and try to keep the family ‘normal,’ whatever that is supposed to be.”

The Kennedy home is a happening place and often the launching pad for a myriad of activities. Hannah was crowned homecoming queen in September; and Ivey is playing football and a leader in the school’s FCA. He will soon be playing middle school basketball. Bucky is the chaplain of the high school football team. Stacey loves decorating, shopping for bargains, and collecting antiques. She is also a runner and typically runs 3 miles 4 or 5 days a week.

Running in 5K races and having the opportunity to run some of those races with her 65-year-old father motivates Stacey to be consistent in a training schedule. “This year has been especially fun because the entire family has gotten more involved in exercising and we have a lot of fun laughing at each other and getting in better shape at the same time,” she emphasized.

 

Don’t forget the full armor of God

Stacey is running the race of life with steadfast endurance and has an obvious commitment to Christ. She professed, “In the foyer of our 1922 vintage home in the city stands a knight in shinning armor reminding us to suit-up before we leave each day. Ephesians 6:13-17 admonishes us to put on the full armor of God so that we may be able to resist in the evil day and be prepared to take our stand.

“I love shoes and I like to refer to my life in term of the shoes I wear. I start off the day wearing house shoes or flip-flops – just wake up with a cup of coffee in my hand and Jesus on my mind, have a little quiet time and love on the kids.

“Then it’s off to school wearing my el-cheapo fashion shoes, clogs, or boots to love on my 2nd graders. I try to show my love for Jesus in my actions and hopefully the students and my co-workers will smell the fragrance of Jesus and desire a relationship with Him.

“Next, it’s time to exercise and I put on my running shoes, which signify my ever-so-busy life. Finally, I put on my dress-up shoes or pumps to keep me high-stepping to church. But it is not really the shoes we wear; it is the walk we walk. Paul says, ‘We are to walk worthy of the calling you have received.’”

Stacey Kennedy is a young woman with a full calendar of events for each day, but she has figured out what is really important – walking with Christ. And that’s what really counts.