This story was originally published by Kentucky Today and was written by Chip Hutcheson.
OWENSBORO, Ky. (KT) — Bellevue Baptist Church celebrated the 25th anniversary of Greg Faulls being its senior pastor on Sunday. During that time, Faulls oversaw Bellevue moving to a new location and establishing a new campus, as well as starting ministries to refugees and immigrants culminating in five Sunday services where four languages are spoken.
“Being at a church for 25 years ends up going beyond a job — it’s a family,” Faulls said. “You are taking care of your family every week. I’m only 54, so almost half of my life and the majority of my adult life has been as their pastor. What started out being a great job has become a calling to a family.”
When Faulls arrived at Bellevue, the church experienced rapid growth. Outgrowing its building led to a “long and arduous process” of securing land and building an entirely new campus. That was completed by the fall of 2008.
Bellevue’s total membership has grown from 1,200 to just over 3,000. Faulls said the church has about 1,000 people attend on Sunday, but including online pushes that number to about 1,200 each week.
None of the ministry to various language groups had started when Faulls arrived at Bellevue.
“I didn’t have a vision for it, but I had a vision to reach people,” he said. “It evolved in a wonderful way as we had people go on foreign mission trips. They became more sensitive to the different cultures in our community. A little over 20 years ago we noticed the Hispanic population and our laypeople started to minister to them. One thing led to another, leading us to call a pastor (to that demographic) to be on staff.
“Then in 2010, refugees from Myanmar (previously called Burma) were sent our way and our people knew what to do,” Faulls continued. “We developed two congregations out of that, and one later launched out on their own. They are .1 mile from us, so they are pretty close and we keep in contact with them.”
The church’s Sunday schedule features services in English, Spanish, Burmese and Swahili. “When you get down to the mother tongues, there are a total of 23 languages,” Faulls noted.
In addition to his role at Bellevue, Faulls has taught in the doctoral program at Liberty University Baptist Theological Seminary in its online environments for the past 12 and a half years, estimating that he has taught more than 2,500 students during that time. “It’s been a real joy to me,” he observed.
Teaching has taken him outside the U.S. borders. In 2005, 2006 and 2009, he taught at Kyiv Theological Seminary in Ukraine. “They’re a wonderful people, very hearty. They have been through so much. The Christians there are very dedicated.”
In a March 2022 interview with the Owensboro Times, Faulls recounted how students there told him stories about their ancestors fighting for their freedom.
“They would tell those stories. I remember one night we were at a pizza dinner that we had with all my students, and they told me those stories over and over again,” Faulls said. “I remember at the end they asked me to just pray a blessing, and I couldn’t. I just wept, and wept and wept, because I have not known that kind of crisis. I had not known that multigenerational enslavement of an entire nation of people.”
Faulls said he still remains in contact with some Ukrainians.
A native of Louisville, Faulls earned a bachelor’s degree from Western Kentucky University and started ministry work as a youth director at Eastwood Baptist Church in Bowling Green. He went to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas for his master’s and doctorate, and pastored two Texas churches prior to moving to Owensboro.
He and his wife, Stefanie, have four children and one grandchild.
