Ladies' Corner
My name is Renee Coffman Gray and I was born and raised in Athens, Alabama. I was saved at the age of 7 after an Evangelist preached on hell. Within a year, my parents had enough of the public school system and we started attending Grace Baptist School, almost an hour away from home. That choice completely changed my life and my future. It was my seventh grade year; when I surrendered for full time Christian service. I began praying about marrying a preacher. Between my freshman and sophomore year of high school, my parents made another decision that changed my life. We were in a small Independent Baptist church and my parents felt the Lord leading them to a larger Baptist church across town. I was put under Pastor Richard Bowling. I spent a lot of time at church doing anything and everything. I graduated from Grace Baptist in May of 1990 and was preparing to go to a Bible college close to my home. One day Bro. Bowling showed up at my job and told me he had prayed about my decision and wanted me to go Hyles-Anderson College. Finally I surrendered and agreed to go. I was ready to go and three days before I went to Hyles-Anderson, Bro. Bowling drowned in a boating accident. I went to college in complete shock but I did what I had been taught from Bro. Bowling, I worked on the bus routes in inner city Chicago and helped in Sunday school. It was the fall of my second year that my husband showed up. He worked on the bus route next to mine, and the lady workers on his route and I were friends. It took him until Christmas of 1991 to ask me on a date.
While at HAC, I learned from many people, but two ladies took a special interest in me. Mrs. Caroline Daniel taught me how to find great clothes at thrift stores and Mrs. Carolyn Hawkins taught me delegation. Both of these women also taught me many lessons that have stuck with me. My parents taught me to work hard, but I liked doing things independently. Jim and I married Aug. 5, 1995. We had Bethany in March 22, 1997. Jim was still trying to finish at HAC and when Bethany was a year old, we had a major snowstorm in Indiana and Jim could not get around in the snow, due to his illness. At that time we started praying about moving south. We hated moving south without finishing at HAC but God gave us peace about the decision to go. We returned to my hometown of Alabama and our second child, Michael was born Jan. 11, 2001. We felt lead to go to Madison Baptist Church in Madison AL, when Michael was just a few weeks old. Jim felt lead to go back to college and finished in May of 2003. I was able get involved in the ladies group and was the Ladies Outreach Ministry leader for three years. Our Pastor's wife, Jan Allison, has taken a lot of time to answer questions and give advice about being a good evangelists’ wife. Bethany is now eight and was saved at five and Michael is now four. We home school Bethany and we will start Michael with K4 this year. My prayer requests are as follows; that Jim has strength to do what we need to do, we need a van to travel more comfortably, a digital camera, and school books for Bethany (3rd grade ABEKA). I am honored that we can serve the Lord as a family.
Serving the Lord,
Renee Gray
