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WILLIAMSON, W.Va. — A Baptist pastor, on average, spends around 3 and a half years at one place.

On Sunday, Grace Baptist Temple in Williamson honored its pastor and his wife for 45 years of service at the church.

“This is one of these situations that’s impossible to put into words,” said Pastor Ron Sanger. “We’ve had very gracious and loving people that were willing to do whatever they could do and to help in every way possible.”

Dr. Ron Sanger pastored his first church in Charleston, West Virginia from October 1965 until April 1973. The Lord then called him and his family to Grace Baptist Temple where he has been the pastor since April of that year. 

“God has ways of helping you in time of need,” added Sanger. “He’s helped us as individuals. He’s helped us as a church and this is one of the keys of staying a long time in one place.

“It takes the grace of God, knowing you’re where he wants you to be. And then to have a gracious and loving bunch of people to support you.”

While at Grace Baptist, the Sangers have experienced two floods, tornado-like winds, a fire to their home and the illness of a grand-daughter who was diagnosed with aggressive t-cell lymphoma.

“We can say that we’ve had some experiences with the darker part of life. But, we can also, at the very same time, say that God’s grace has been sufficient. He has seen us through and the people around us have been wonderful. People that we didn’t even know in some cases.”

Overall, Ron Sanger has spent 53 years of ministry as a pastor with 45 of those years at Grace Baptist Temple.

He and Judy plan to complete their ministry at Grace Baptist and stay in the area as long as they can to continue serving Mingo and Pike counties.