Sean Kotz | Special to The Roanoke Times

Jim Bayne, who has been minister of Belmont Christian Church in Christiansburg since 1981, began his life as a preacher in 1956.

CHRISTIANSBURG -- When Jim Bayne became minster of Belmont Christian Church in August 1981, it had a congregation of about 100 members, with the majority living within a few miles of the little church just off Peppers Ferry Road.

At the time, there was no mall, no Wal-Mart and no bypass, and Bayne said it would be best described as a blue-collar, rural community church.

Today, after nearly three decades of Bayne's leadership, Belmont has expanded its facilities to accommodate three Sunday services, and is now in the process of relocating to a 90-acre spot right off of Peppers Ferry Road to accommodate a congregation of more than 400 people.

"When you see the front row fill up every Sunday, you know it is time to expand," he mused.

Bayne said the growth process has been the greatest consistent challenge of the church.

"We began to attract people from the university in Blacksburg," he said. "After a while, we kind of switched from a little community church to more of a regional outreach, and we began drawing people from Christiansburg, Blacksburg and Radford."

But while Bayne has been in the Belmont pulpit for more than 27 years, it took nearly that long to arrive at his ultimate home in Christiansburg.

Bayne, now 74, began his life as a minister in the summer of 1956, a few years after graduating from Andrew Lewis High School in Salem.

Feeling the call of the ministry after working in the business world, Bayne and his new bride, Jannette, headed off to Georgia, where he entered Atlanta Christian College and soon began a student ministry he described as a kind of "honeymoon."

"The church was a little country church," he recalled.

"We drove up on Sundays from the college to preach at their morning and evening services, and we were always taken home for lunch by one of the church families, and they treated you like a prince."

That sense of family, community and unity stuck with Bayne and has since been a trademark of his pastoral style and philosophy of practice.

"He is always there to give support and encouragement for anyone who is going through a difficult time in their life," said Jennifer Baker, Belmont Christian's administrative assistant, who has known Bayne since she was 4.

"And is always there to congratulate someone for any accomplishment or wonderful thing that has happened their life," she added.

Not surprisingly, Baker credits these qualities in Bayne as the reason he has been so successful wherever he has served, which has been in several states.

Bayne took his ministry to northern Georgia, rural Arkansas, Chesapeake, and in 1969, came to New Castle Christian Church in Craig County, where he spent more than 12 years.

Bayne said that the years in New Castle were very special for him and he raised two of his three children there. But after a long inter-church association with Belmont, he was essentially handpicked for the position of senior minster by the outgoing leader, Otto Conley.

As hard as that move was, it brought him to live and work with a group of people he described as "some of the best people in the world," noting that he has not seen anything you would call "church politics" at Belmont.

Again, this seems to be a result of Bayne's desire to build an extended and supporting family with his ministry.

Jerry Dowdy, the current associate minister, said Bayne is a beloved and respected minister because of his great compassion for his congregation, his approachable style and easy demeanor.

"There's going to be a lot of mixed emotion," said Dowdy, who has been a member of the church since 1993, referring to Bayne's departure from the pulpit after his last service Sunday.

"Certainly, we're sad to see him go, but at the same time, we know he has earned it. We are excited for him and his wife, but we know that they are going to stay with us and be part of the church family."

In fact, Bayne says there is no such thing as a truly "retired" minister.

He looks forward to visiting small churches without a regular minister and will stay active with programs at Belmont and beyond.

Besides, he noted, "I am really only a hacker as a golfer."