When Barry and Nancy Norwood married as teenagers, he was 20 and she was 19, they had no idea just how much ground they’d cover together. Now, nearly 56 years later, they’ve poured a lifetime into pastoring, encouraging others and simply serving wherever help is needed. For the past eight years, they’ve made Baptist Village their home.

“We moved here in October of 2017,” Barry shared. “We’d never even heard of Okmulgee before that. We were looking for somewhere we wouldn’t have to buy a house, and this seemed like a good place to land - and here we still are.”

The Norwoods have been in ministry for 55 years, and though technically retired, they don’t stay still for long. Barry continues to preach in area churches nearly every other Sunday. Most recently, he was invited to speak at a small congregation in Eram on Easter Sunday. “They had 12 people,” he said. “But they want to keep the doors open, and that’s what matters. So we’re going back this Sunday.”

From their first church in Hilton, where they served as a newlywed couple barely out of their teens, to years spent pastoring in Arizona, their journey has always been guided by one thing: following where God leads.

Nancy, who was raised in a pastor’s home, has faithfully served beside her husband every step of the way. “I’ve played piano and organ, taught Bible classes for all ages … except older preschoolers. I can’t handle that group,” she laughed.

Barry added, “She’s taught in every church we’ve been in. Babies, youth, adults - she’s taught it all. And she’s good at it.”

In 1987, the couple faced unimaginable loss when their 16-year-old daughter, Marcy Dawn, passed away. “It was a really raw time,” Nancy said. “But God got us through it.” That same year, a church in Arizona had asked Barry to come preach. After some prayerful hesitation, they eventually accepted the call and spent nearly 30 years ministering in two Arizona congregations - Prescott and Scottsdale.

While in Arizona, Nancy felt called beyond the church walls. “She went on about 16 or 17 mission trips,” Barry said. “I’ve gone on a couple, and most of those were out in Arizona when we had a staff member that would build those for us, and she would travel to Mexico, Venezuela or Argentina.”

Barry served on various state and national convention committees, but both emphasized their real joy came from the local church. “We just love people,” Barry said. “That’s where our heart is.”

When they returned to Oklahoma in 2014, their mission shifted slightly - from pastoring to revitalizing small, struggling churches. They helped double the size of High Hill Baptist near McAlester, then took on First Baptist in Preston, where their Wednesday night children’s ministry and outreach initiatives helped grow the congregation from 30 to nearly 100.“We don’t ever go in and say, This is what we’re gonna do. Nancy said, “We don’t demand anything, but we try to lead in the direction that the Church wants to go.”

They later helped at First Baptist Church in Preston. “We started a children’s ministry, picked kids up, fed them dinner on Wednesdays. The church grew to almost 100,” Barry said. “When I left in December, we were in the high 80s. But I knew it was time again to pass the baton.”

So what exactly do the Norwoods call what they do now?

“We’re just reacting to what God shows us,” Barry said. “We’ve done a lot of part-time or interim pastoring,” Barry said. “Small churches that can’t afford a full-time pastor. We’re retired, so we live on Social Security and retirement. Whatever the church can give is fine, we just want to help.” Nancy added, “We try to be open to whatever the need is. That’s really what it comes down to.”

“I think God just gave us a servant’s heart,” Nancy said. “We want to serve people … and try to encourage them and enrich their lives somehow. And they do ours too.”

At Baptist Village, that same mindset carries on. Nancy teaches a Saturday morning Bible class for women, affectionately known for its cinnamon rolls and coffee.

Barry helps set up chapel services and even volunteered to take out the trash on Wednesdays for the housekeeper. “It’s a small thing, but it gives her a break,” he said. “It’s one less load for someone else to carry.”

Their ministry, even in retirement, remains deeply relational.

“When people come in for chapel, I go early. I sit down and talk to them, ask what they did for a living, try to get to know them,” Barry said. “A lot of folks here feel like they’re not worth much anymore. Their families don’t come often. But they need to know they still matter. That’s a ministry in itself.”

Nancy nodded. “We don’t do it to be seen. Honestly, we probably need it more than they do.”

The Norwoods don’t just serve, they see and that’s the ministry.

As for what keeps them going? “Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thy heart,” Barry quoted from Psalm 37:4. “That verse is even on our shared tombstone,” shared Nancy. “It means He’ll change your desires to match His.”

From humble beginnings to seasoned shepherds of countless congregations, Barry and Nancy Norwood are still doing what they’ve always done. Whether it’s preaching in a tiny rural church, pulling weeds in the garden beds at Baptist Village, or handing out cinnamon rolls on a Saturday morning, they live out what they preach: “We just try to key in on whatever needs doing. That’s all. We’re here to help.”

Putting their hands to the plow, listening for God’s direction and following wherever He leads, Baptist Village is all the richer for it.