FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. (BP) — The picture brought Belinda Jenkins to tears and reminded her of the inherent worth that comes with long-term investment in students.

In 1987, Jenkins was Belinda Knight, a 15-year-old who had made a childhood profession of faith years earlier but with no discipleship to follow. Her mother wasn’t religious but wanted her two daughters in church. They ended up at Parkview Baptist in Lake City, Fla., where Jim Battles was the youth minister.

“For the first six months the church secretary picked up my sister and I and gave us a ride,” said Jenkins. “Then I turned 16 and could drive us.

“My faith journey grew under Jim and [wife] Jill’s leadership. I was a baby Christian and facing all the things teenagers do. They were the people who lived out their faith and showed me what it meant to walk with the Lord.”

Time passed. Knight became Jenkins. She had babies. One of them married a youth minister.

Not-so-chance meeting

Two years ago, her expectant daughter and son-in-law were leading their youth group at Centrifuge at North Greenville University. Jenkins knew Battles was there, too, and encouraged them to meet.

The picture came back of her daughter, Ashten, standing with Battles. The photo was taken by Ashten’s husband, Stephen Fraser, who serves as youth pastor at Bethesda Baptist Church in Ellerslie, Ga., and has been at the same camp as Battles for the last three summers.

“Now THAT is a FULL CIRCLE MOMENT!” Jenkins wrote on Facebook. “What a legacy of pouring into students that Jim & Jill Battles have been for 36 years! You have made a mark on at least three generations of my family as we will tell the twins about the difference you made!”

That legacy was recognized at First Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Ga., on March 2 as Battles announced his upcoming retirement as pastor of youth.

“God has released me from this calling and given me confidence that His church is ready to continue to move forward in Fayetteville,” he said.

Battles, who celebrated 31 years at First Baptist on Feb. 7, had shared his desire for the move in one of his first conversations with new pastor Griffin Gulledge.

“I’ve learned in these two months what a tremendous kingdom impact Jim has made,” Gulledge told the crowd before referring to his just-delivered sermon on living for Christ.

“Jim and Jill Battles are such people. That’s why over the next month we will thank them [and] celebrate them.”

True to your calling

Battles’ tenure is all the more remarkable given a leukemia diagnosis he received a few years ago. It’s a “milder” version, if such a thing exists, but something that can pose a bigger challenge with age.

“I feel great, and God has given me the desires of my heart, which was to stay somewhere long enough where you get to be generational,” he told Baptist Press (BP). “I have around nine students in my ministry who I was their parents’ youth minister. I’m going to do my 49^th wedding in June. You get to have a great impact when you stay true to your calling.”

Ryan Appling’s eight years as minister of students at Flat Creek Baptist Church in Fayetteville has included Battles as an example.

“I met Jim early on as part of our local student pastor network,” said Appling, a fellow Fayette County High class of ’05 graduate with Battles’ son, Tyler. “We talk about camp, small group ministry, training volunteers — Jim has been through all of those and is a great person to learn from.

“He’s a tank-full of knowledge in every facet. If you have a struggle or question in ministry, he’s been through it and learned from it.”

Battles went to Auburn University with plans of becoming a teacher and coach. Then he moved in with guys who were pursuing student ministry. Soon he became one of their volunteers.

“The experience left me fulfilled,” Battles told BP. “I felt God telling me he could use me in this.”

Of all the things Battles did for Jenkins and her sister, she appreciated not being made to feel like an outsider. They needed help getting to church. They needed help to pay for youth trips and camp.

“He never made us feel like a project,” she said. “He didn’t make us feel like we stood out because of those things. We were just part of the group.”

Battles started as a part-time student minister in 1981. His first full-time ministry position put him around “mostly drama kids, band kids.” They weren’t his regular crowd, but he discovered a joy in getting to know them.

That experience of discovery, of getting to know individuals rather than seeing students as a faceless group or Generation Whatever, became a hallmark of his ministry. He had seen examples of jobs where talented people lost their passion and focus. The job became a chore.

“This has never been a chore to me,” he said.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Scott Barkley is chief national correspondent for Baptist Press.)