May 15, 2025
CHATSWORTH, Ga. — Randy Ellis, pastor of First Baptist Church in Chatsworth, is a fisher of men and a hunter of gators.
Ellis finally met all regulations specified by the Wildlife Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and qualified to have a hands-on, eye-to-eye hunting adventure in search of an alligator.
Ellis explained, “I applied every year for eight years to meet the requirements to hunt gators in Georgia. Each year you get rejected, you earn a point, and it took eight points for me to qualify to hunt in the Okefenokee Swamp section, which was my preference.
“There were three of us in the boat when we saw the gator we wanted,” Ellis reported. “It was so large it took us almost 1½ hours to get it in the boat.”
The gator Ellis and his fellow hunters caught was 12 feet long and weighed 800 pounds.
Alligator hunting helps manage the population of the menacing creatures, and their hides can be tanned and used for making certain products, such as cowboy boots. The meat is known for being low in fat and high in protein, and some find it to be a delicacy.
Though Ellis enjoys the challenge of hunting, his real passion is reaching the lost and serving the members of his church. He is doing it through his love for Christ and his love for his congregation.
Ellis gives every evidence of being a faithful Christian and a God-called pastor. He has a winsome personality and a congenial spirit. Mickey McNeil, vice chairman of the deacons at First Baptist Chatsworth, exclaimed, “Pastor Ellis has wonderful people skills, and his smile is contagious. I couldn’t be happier with our pastor. He has fit in with us, and we have fit in with him. The first time I met him, I felt like I had known him all my life.”
Craig Brock, a deacon at First Baptist and former State Representative in the Georgia legislature, added, “Randy and his wife Sandra grew up in this part of Georgi,a and he understands our DNA. He is always in good spirits and has a positive attitude.
Both McNeil and Brock gave their pastor a good review on his preaching skills.
Brock remarked, “Our pastor carries his positive spirit into the pulpit, and people are attracted to his messages.”
McNeil explained, “Brother Randy is a Bible preacher. His sermons are down-to-earth and easy to follow, and he provides an outline of his message in the bulletin, and we have found that to be very helpful.”
Ellis has earned his master’s degree in Christian studies at Truett McConnell University and is currently pursuing his Doctor of Ministry Degree at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
He has served as the pastor of Armuchee Baptist Church in Rome and North Etowah Baptist Church in Etowah, Tenn. The North Etowah church became one of the campus churches of First Baptist Church in Cleveland, Tenn., and Ellis could have become the campus pastor, but wanted to fulfill God’s call to pastor a church that he could love and lead. When the door opened for him to return to Georgia to pastor the Chatsworth church, he responded to God’s call to serve Him in Murray County.
Ellis is married to the former Sandra Gentry of Dalton, and they have two daughters: Magnolia, age 10, and Molly, age 7. By homeschooling her daughters, Sandra incorporates faith into their education, prioritizes a Biblical worldview and values-based learning, character development, and the virtue of stronger family bonds.
Ellis will have his first anniversary at the Chatsworth church in June, but the church has already had more than a ten percent growth in attendance. Their receipts have already substantially increased, the number of young people now engaged in the life of the church is extremely encouraging, and people are being saved.
“There is a special camaraderie in the church,” testified Ellis, “and as in Nehemiah’s day (Nehemiah 4:6), the people have a mind to work. If they see a need to enhance our facilities, they are all over it.”
Few things in life are as encouraging as a healthy church where there is joy and where the presence of God is evident.
