Minister remembered for love for people, commitment to missions

Jim Moebes could have played college basketball at Vanderbilt University.

Moebes, an elite high school basketball player, had received a full scholarship to the prestigious university.

But God, and Moebes, had other plans, his wife Gail said.

Moebes spurned the SEC school and chose to attend Samford University, a decision that ended up changing Moebes’ life.

While at Samford, Moebes met his future wife Gail, and also began attending Mountain Brook Baptist Church, where he became the youth director.

After graduating from Samford, Moebes worked in various high-level positions in higher education, with his last stop at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, where he was an assistant to the president.

While in Huntsville, the Moebes received a visit from Dr. Dot Nelson, who was the longtime pastor at Mountain Brook Baptist. Nelson told Moebes, who had preached on the weekends even while holding a full-time job in higher education, that he needed to make a decision. Nelson offered him an associate pastor job at the church.

So, in 1975, the Moebes moved back to Birmingham to stay. Moebes served as associate pastor and later became the senior pastor, serving the church for 38 years total before retiring in 2011.

On July 14, 2020, Moebes died at the age of 78, leaving behind a legacy of service in the Birmingham area and around the world.

“Jim loved people,” Gail Moebes said.

Jim would always say that, more than preaching, he felt his call was to minister “to my people, wherever they were, whatever the need,” Gail said.

When he got a call while on family vacations about a church member in need, the family knew they were headed right back home. They started taking two cars so the rest of the family could stay on the trip, Gail said, knowing that Jim was committed to his people.

But it wasn’t just around the Birmingham area where Moebes made an impact. Catherine Allen, who went with Moebes on many trips around the world, said he transformed the church when he moved the church to make direct investments into foreign missions and humanitarian relief.

“He showed an example for our church,” Allen said.

Allen said while on those trips, which included trips to Russia, Hong Kong, China, Sri Lanka and Mexico, it was touching to see how Moebes related to the people. He also trained other church members to go on mission, and often hosted foreign missionaries at his church to help them do their work more effectively, she said.

Moebes never forgot a name, Gail said, until he got older and became sick. It bothered him, especially when church members and deacons would come and speak to him at church toward the end of his life. Gail said she had to remind him that they weren’t stopping to hear him call their name but because they loved him.

Moebes left his mark on the world. There were plenty of different options for him, from pursuing a basketball career, pursuing his one-time dream of dentistry or even continuing his career in higher education, but when he chose to pursue ministry and come back to Mountain Brook Baptist Church, he was exactly where he belonged, a church member once told Gail.

“He was right where God wanted him to be,” he told her.