Mineola Baptist Church finally had its first service of 2025 on Jan. 19.
And it was a special one.
Pastors Jim and Malinda Cline were honored for their 40 years at the church in the …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, or you are a print subscriber who had access to our previous wesbite, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you have not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
If you are a current print subscriber and did not have a user account on our previous website, you can set up a free website account by clicking here.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
Mineola Baptist Church finally had its first service of 2025 on Jan. 19.
And it was a special one.
Pastors Jim and Malinda Cline were honored for their 40 years at the church in the beginning of the service. There were plenty of guests there, including members of the Montgomery Fire Protection District. Jim Cline has been a volunteer fireman since 1986.
Also at the ceremony, the Clines received a proclamation that was signed by now-former Missouri Governor Mike Parson. They also got a picture with the two standing in front of the church.
“I can’t say that it was a complete surprise,” Jim Cline said. “They told me I wasn’t preaching for one thing. It was a little bit of a giveaway. They were doing something.”
Nathan Carroz, who is the Montgomery County associate circuit judge, was the emcee of the ceremony.
“He’s a great son-in-law,” Jim Cline said. “They put in a lot of work. I know he had a lot of help. I know we had maybe eight people who did a lot of more work than others. There were a lot of folks who put in a lot of work.”
The Clines started working at MBC on Jan. 6, 1985. During their tenure as pastors, the church had a 100-year celebration, two church buses and a new organ were purchased and youth members went on a mission trip to Mexico.
Fifty years ago, Jim Cline was ordained at First Baptist Church in St. Peters. He worked at several churches before he was informed by his brother that there was an opening for a pastor at Mineola Baptist Church.
“He called and said there was an opening here at Mineola, then the director of admissions called me,” Jim said. “It’s kind of funny that I’ve been to every place around here except Mineola.”
MBC was first organized in 1896. Jim Cline said the biggest thing that attracted him to MBC is that it’s a small church.
“We had a building like the Methodist church up here,” he said. “They told me they were going to build. That impressed me. They had a new parsonage. When I came here, they weren’t quite ready to build. They kind of had a plan, but it didn’t seem real feasible, so we scratched that plan and came up through the architectural department of our convention and came up with this plan. We had a group of builders that built for free and they were from five different states.”
Jim and Malinda have been married since 1983. Malinda is in charge of the youth ministry at MBC.
“We met in Blue Springs,” Jim said. “She was working there. I was working at a church part time and putting up a fence full time while I was looking for a church. She was a secretary at First Baptist Blue Springs. At that time, my brother-in-law worked there and he introduced us. We went out on a double date and it kind of hit then.”
MBC has its worship service every Sunday at 11 a.m. It didn’t have services on Jan. 5 and 12 due to the inclement weather that hit the Montgomery County area.
Jim Cline said the church’s mission is to teach people about the importance of God.
“I always like us to grow and tell more people about Jesus,” he said. “I want us to grow, but I don’t have anything about us being bigger than the other church. What I want us to do is to be faithful to what God has called us to do. If we’re faithful, then God will help us touch the lives of people around here.”
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here