Beverly Wade-Customer Service Manager
Tucked among some trees on a narrow side road in southern Illinois sits New Bethel Baptist Church. It’s the place where PPS Customer Service Manager Beverly Wade attends twice a week for services and bible study. It’s her spiritual home, a small but tight knit congregation pastored by Elder Ronnie White, Sr, a dynamic gentleman who has been a big influence on Beverly in the year and a half she’s gone to church there.
“Do you have your weapon on you?” he often says about the bible in his hand. “Are you reading or studying? Be thankful every day for the breath you take.”
It’s Elder White’s passion and genuine nature that made Beverly know on her third visit to New Bethel that she had found her church family.
“Elder Ronnie is known by many, is a man of faith, and does not meet a stranger,” said Beverly. “Inspirational, influential, and passionate describes him to those who know him or are just meeting him for the first time.”
He has pastored the Brookport, Illinois church for sixteen years and before that was an associate pastor at Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in Paducah and served in Mayfield. One of ten children raised by his parents in Cairo, Illinois, he understands poverty and the sacrifices needed to ensure his family stayed strong and thrived. He often mentions the struggles they endured that shaped him to become the person he is today.
“We were P-O. We couldn’t afford the OR”, he’s fond of saying.
He’s no stranger to war either. An Army and Vietnam War veteran, the war made a spiritual impact on him. He volunteers with several organizations that assist veterans and their families. His service to others is also demonstrated by his work with the Lions Club, previously serving as President of the Metropolis, Illinois branch. A carpenter by trade, Elder Ronnie, according to Beverly, knows that to build you must start with a solid foundation by instilling strong values and principles that will endure time.
It’s his faith, family, teaching, and character that inspire Beverly. And his humor. Elder Ronnie likes to say his job is to spread the message of our Lord and Savior from the B.I.B.L.E., Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth, and helping him to do that is his wife of over fifty years, Sister Lynda White. Beverly describes the petite first lady of their church as spirited, ladylike, kind, and passionate.
They, along with other pillars of the congregation, Alternate Pastor Reverand Darron Hyte, his wife Janice and Sister Sarah and Bob Crim, have supported Beverly and her family in ways that have deepened her faith.
“They have made such a lasting footprint on my heart by their example and genuine love of people that will be cherished for years to come,” said Beverly.
Beverly has worked at Paducah Power System for nearly 20 years.
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