May 16, 2025
MARION, Ky. (KT) — John East is a living testimony that God can use you regardless of your age — and He will bless you as you seek to serve Him.
East, who pastored for 20 years and then retired after 36 years as an associational mission strategist (previously called director of missions), has been serving as transitional pastor of Caldwell Springs Missionary Baptist Church for the past 18 months. And those months have been fruitful times for the church.
“The prospects are endless,” said East, who previously led the Ohio River Baptist Association and Ohio Valley Baptist Association. “I get excited to know how the Lord can use a person of my age,” said East, noting he is closing in on his 84th birthday. “The Lord has really blessed me, and I want to do all I can for Him in the days I have left.”
Caldwell Springs has a strong legacy. It was organized in 1844 by members of New Bethel Baptist Church in Lyon County, and its current building is the fourth to house the church.
East recalls he preached at Caldwell Springs several Sundays when the previous pastor, Darell Eldridge, was ill. Eldridge died in September 2023 and the church called East to be the transitional pastor.
“The church had declined numerically — down to 10 to 13 people,” East recalls. “I saw there was a real work needed. I had been an interim when the church was much stronger, but so many people had passed away.”
East agreed to take the position, and the church immediately started reaching new families. “The people we have reached live within a few miles of the church. I’ve baptized six people and we have had about seven or so join by letter. The Lord has really blessed — we are in the 20s in Sunday school and about 40 in worship.”
When East was called as the transitional pastor, the only weekly services were Sunday school and Sunday morning worship. But the ministry has grown.
“It’s really been amazing what has occurred there,” East said. “We now have a unique children’s ministry on Wednesday nights with about 16-19 children and young people coming. They are learning the books of the Bible and doing Bible drills. I started an adult class on Wednesday nights, and we have about eight to 10 people attending. It’s for people who can come, but we have some who work late and cannot attend.”
East said pastoring the church has been “really a great opportunity. “It’s amazing,” he added, saying there are a number of people who have been attending and he is hopeful they will join.
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This story appeared in Kentucky Today.
