Encroachment brings church new mission for Greater Victory Church

Originally, Greater Victory Church was located north of Robins Air Force Base on Ga. 247.

At the time, it was known as Victory Bible Baptist Church.

“I became pastor there in 2002,” Gill Gordon said. “It was good there. God did wonderful things, but there were limitations. Being on 247, traffic was fast right outside the church and it was a little dangerous getting in and out. You certainly couldn’t walk across the street very easily and we couldn’t do a lot of things with children outside for fear of the highway. We were cramped for space and — man, if I had a nickel for every time this happened — I’d have to stop my sermon because a KC-135 or something was taking off or landing at the base. But we got through it. We managed.”

But Gordon said he and the small congregation did dream of moving.

Then, the fact the church was in the base’s flight path turned from problem to blessing summed up in one word: encroachment.

“Encroachment was the vehicle the Lord used to move us to a better place,” Gordon said. “They started moving everything located from that area north of the base. We received compensation and it enabled us to move here to South Houston Road.”

Gordon said the church made the move in September 2015 to the facility that was formerly a Christian Science Reading Room.

With the move, Victory Bible Baptist changed the name of the fellowship to Greater Victory Church. With a new location and name — and new opportunities — Gordon said he considers the congregation a new church with an old history.

“God didn’t put us here just to be nice to us,” Gordon said. “He put us here for a purpose. I believe God is going to use us to help draw this community closer to him. There are some good neighbors around already doing this. Trinity United Methodist is right across the street, and we’re all good neighbors.”

Gordon said Greater Victory is first and foremost “a soul winning church.”

“We’re still getting our legs under us and finding out just how we’re going to do what we’re going to do, but it always comes back to Matthew 28:19 and Jesus telling us go therefore and preach and teach the Gospel to every creature. Nothing comes before doing all we can to draw people to Christ.”

Gordon said the effort is a meaningful one for him because of his own story.

“I know how important seeking and saving the lost is because I sure was lost myself,” he said. “I come from Nashville, Tennessee, and my father was a pastor and his father before him was one. But I was rebellious. I strayed far, far away from the Lord.”

Gordon said soon after graduating high school in 1968, he joined the Air Force and had numerous overseas tours, including in Vietnam. By the time he separated from the service in 1980, he was at Robins, where he spent a number of years working civil service.

But he said it was a difficult time.

“I came back to the Lord after some painful years,” he said. “In fact, I suffered addiction to alcohol while running from the Lord. That lasted six or seven years, and I mean I was getting beat up. My father was a pastor but I was living like I didn’t even know who Jesus was. But I had a family praying for me and was restored in 1993. Jesus introduced himself to me and made it known he wasn’t going to tolerate any more fooling around. I’m so grateful for that day.”

Gordon said he joined Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church and began helping in ministry.

Though he said he didn’t feel ready, with the approval of leadership at Union Grove he became an associate pastor at St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church in Macon. Later, he filled the vacancy for lead pastor at Victory Bible Baptist.

Gordon said he’s been married to his wife, Lucille, for 47 years and they have six children. The oldest, Malik Gordon, also is a pastor and is starting a church in Kathleen through Bible studies in his home.

As for Greater Victory Church, Gordon said he truly sees greater days ahead not only for the church but for those they hope to reach.

“We just try to be the kind of people God would have us be,” he said. “We don’t turn anyone away. As good as any one of us may think we are, we’re not worth a plugged nickel without God. We all need to remember who we are and where we came from. We can’t look down on anyone, no matter what they’re struggling with or going through. We’ve all been there one way or another. I sure have.”

This story was originally published May 8, 2016 at 10:00 PM with the headline "Encroachment brings church new mission for Greater Victory Church."