Green’s Tabernacle a ‘Bible-believing, Spirit-led’ Baptist church

There’s no telling how many legal pads the Rev. Clifford Little has used to prepare and preach sermons in his 30 or so years of ministry.

“My teaching and preaching starts with prayer,” he said. “I seek the Lord to determine what he wants me to share to meet the needs of his people. It’s a matter of asking, ‘God, what do you want your people to hear at this time?’ I’ve jotted down notes on pads all these years but I’ve moved on to computers, too. Now, they’re trying to get me to use a tablet. I’m old school, but I yield to progress.”

Little laughs about the changes in technology, but said he’s serious about giving God’s people God’s word. He said he preaches from a well-prepared manuscript but allows room to follow additional trains of thought as God may direct.

“You have to be open to God’s spirit,” he said. “Always open to God’s spirit.”

As a full-time pastor, Little has served only one congregation: Green’s Tabernacle Baptist Church on Bloomfield Road.

“The church was begun in 1934 by founding pastor, the Rev. N.S. Greenwood,” Little said. “That puts us at 83 years old this October. I’d call Green’s Tabernacle a traditional Baptist church, deeply rooted in Baptist tradition. We believe in God — God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, the triune God. We believe in baptism by immersion and in the Bible, the holy word of God. We’re not formally associated with any Baptist convention, but we’re doctrinally aligned with solid Baptist doctrine.”

Though closely aligned with Baptist doctrine, Little said he and the Green’s Tabernacle congregation do believe in the gifts and working of the Holy Spirit as expressed in the New Testament.

“I guess you’d have to call us a Bible-believing, Spirit-led type Baptist church,” he said, flashing a broad smile. “We teach the Bible and rely on God’s anointing. We believe in the gifts and in praying for the sick. Sometimes we see healings take place.”

Having served at Green’s Tabernacle for 25 years, Little said he’s the sixth pastor and the longest serving one by a year or two.

“I came here in 1992,” he said. “The church started in south Macon on Holloway Street and continued there until 1999. It was a relatively small structure on Holloway and we outgrew it. Seven years after I came on board, we were growing so well we were able to move to Bloomfield. We doubled our seating capacity from about 125 to 250 and gained a lot more in the way of classrooms and a nice fellowship hall. We were much more able to accommodate our members and growth.”

The congregation grew after the move, doubling in membership. Little said the members grew spiritually as well, and have continued to add ministries that create open doors to welcome in the community.

“We have the basic ministries — or auxiliaries, as we called them back in the day. We have deacons and deaconesses who serve various ministries and we have choirs and have established a more modern praise team. We work to accommodate all the segments and ages of our congregation and are blessed to have young and old members. We have an expanded youth ministry with a youth-led service each fourth Sunday but we aren’t remiss in remembering our seniors who have their Alpha and Omega group.

“We put a lot of focus on our men’s ministry. We call it BROS, or Brothers Reaching Out Spiritually. It allows men to come together monthly for fellowship and to share their concerns and pray for one another. Alongside that, our women’s ministry is called MISS. That stands for Ministry of Inspired Sister Servants.”

Two Sundays a month, Little said Green’s Tabernacle has separate children’s services for ages 3 to 10. It’s led by his wife, Evangelist Shirley Little.

Ask Little where he’s from and he smiles again and says, “I’m from Macon, but with an asterisk.”

He can explain.

“I’m from the ‘Macon part of Twiggs County,’ ” he said. “I was born and raised in Twiggs but barely inside Twiggs, right outside Bibb County. I did my schooling in Jeffersonville and my family went to church there, but were always coming to Macon. Macon is home in that sense.”

Little spent 20 years away from Macon while in the military. He said receiving his draft notice in the late 1960s convinced him to join the Air Force rather than be inducted in the Army.

It was the height of the Vietnam War.

“I’m a Vietnam era veteran,” he said. “I thought the Air Force would be better than being drafted into the Army. Thankfully, I didn’t have to dodge any bullets during that time but I did serve in support refueling aircraft. I was a refueling specialist my entire 20 years and retired a master sergeant.”

While in the service, Little met his wife in Charleston, S.C., and began serving in ministry while in Spain. He said he was called to pastor and began serving in earnest while in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

“I was involved in a church in Myrtle Beach and began preaching there some, but a friend and I, Robert Johnson, started a ministry called the Myrtle Beach Gospel Ministry where I was one of the speakers. It really took off. It went from about 15 to 100 people in a couple of years.”

Little said such experience and mentoring helped him hone his ministerial skills.

When he retired in 1990, he returned to Macon and to his home church in Jeffersonville, Mount Olive Baptist Church, and worked with the pastor there. Two years later, he was called to serve Green’s Tabernacle.

Little said a love for God and for God’s people, and a desire to see them do well, has kept him on the job serving his congregation and community.

“I’m committed to our congregation and to serving our community through a number of affiliations such as the Baptist Members Union of Macon, a group of black Baptist ministers, and another group which is more mixed, the Evangelical Ministers Alliance. (Its representative are) black and white and a variety of different denominations.”

Little said he firmly believes Christianity can’t be limited to race.

“For that reason I’ve been a part of the paired clergy ministry of the Beloved Community organization,” he said. “It pairs racially diverse ministers and congregations to work together, fellowship and get to know one another. I’ve been blessed to work closely with my friend John Dunaway and the Beloved Community because it’s more than a saying or a vision that Dr. Martin Luther King made famous. It actually comes from the heart of our savior, Jesus Christ, who said that by this all men would know that we were his disciples — that we loved one another. That’s where it came from — it’s Jesus’ idea.”