He’s been called “Vicksburg’s pastor,” to which many will agree, but Dr. John G. McCall will modestly and quickly deny it.

Dr. McCall, who is 91 today, for 30 years was pastor of First Baptist Church, and those years weren’t spent ministering just to his Baptist flock but with anyone who needed spiritual guidance.

A self-effacing man, he frankly admits, “I love everybody,” and he is known for his hospital ministry where he visits all who are in need, all who need consolation and words of encouragement and God’s love. He knows no denominational boundaries when making his rounds, stating, “I don’t totally agree with other denominations, and they don’t agree with me – so that makes us even.” He recalls his friendship with the late Bill Mansell, a Presbyterian minister, who always referred to McCall as his pastor.

Dr. McCall said he didn’t seek accolades – “I just wanted to do what was right”- and he felt his hospital ministry was a special calling.

Born in Quitman, Ga., on July 13, 1917, he grew up in nearby Madison, Fla., went to school there, and upon graduation entered Stetson University at Deland, Fla., a school closely associated with the Southern Baptists.

“I had planned to be a lawyer, as my father and grandfather were lawyers, and I had enrolled in pre-law at the University of Florida,” McCall said.

However, he had felt the call to preach since he had been in high school, and he realized, “When the Lord calls, that’s what you need to do.”

He began preaching 72 years ago, hitchhiking twice a month to a little country church which, after a year, asked for his ordination. He was ordained 71 years ago – a long time to be in the ministry.

From that little country church and Stetson University he went to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., earned a master’s degree, then volunteered as a chaplain, serving in the 94th Infantry in Europe in World War II. He returned to Louisville after the war and completed his doctorate in 1949.

Wherever he went he preached, whether it was on the battlefields of Europe or in country churches. He was pastoring a church at Mooresville, N.C., when he first got an invitation to come to Vicksburg.

Though he wasn’t first choice, it didn’t bother him. A friend in Birmingham had been approached by a search committee from Vicksburg, and that minister told them he was not interested but suggested they contact Dr. McCall. They didn’t get around to it right away, but when they did he told them, “I love it in North Carolina” which is where he met and married his first wife, Wilma. “But I told them, if the Lord calls, that’s another thing.” That was in 1952. Soon the McCalls were in Vicksburg.

Thelma Blackburn remembers well his first Sunday here. He was a dinner guest in her home and, in later years, he baptized her son, Brother, and daughter, Betty. When she and her late husband, J.E. Blackburn, built their home, Dr. McCall held a service to dedicate it to the Lord. He became “a wonderful pastor and friend,” and over half a century later she continues to treasure that friendship.

Personal recollections and fond memories are no doubt legion among the membership at First Baptist, as Gene Allen, a deacon, will attest. Allen, a retired football coach, said that, like any coach, he had good Friday nights and bad ones and while congratulations on winning were normal, he would never forget the letters of encouragement from Dr. McCall after a loss – and he still has those letters.

When Dr. McCall came to Vicksburg, the church building, on Crawford Street, was in bad shape, and members knew they badly needed a new facility. Their new pastor told them, “I’ve never built a chicken house that a decent chicken would live in, but if you will take care of the business, I’ll tend to the spiritual part. We worked together and built this building.”

‘I had planned to be a lawyer, as my father and grandfather were lawyers, and I had enrolled in pre-law at the University of Florida,’ McCall said. However, he had felt the call to preach since he had been in high school, and he realized, ‘When the Lord calls, that’s what you need to do.’He claims to be “sort of an ordinary guy,” but said that the church had the greatest laymen, people who knew what they were doing. During construction the old building caught fire, and a steel strike delayed construction of the new structure for six months. During the next 20 months, the Baptists worshiped at Grove Street School.

On Sunday, July 6, 1958, the first worship service was held in the new sanctuary. They had a beautiful building, and Dr. McCall’s sermon was, “Now to Build a Big Church.”

“The main point was we had built a large building, he said, and noting that the structure is not the church, that the people are, he added, “The Lord measures bigness; we measure largeness.”

Last Sunday, on the 50th anniversary of that first service, Dr. McCall was invited to preach, and he decided to deliver that same sermon again.

“I had kept my notes on it,” he said, adding that the notes were more extensive than he usually kept. He said he doubted that any of the members would remember it, and a friend at Edwards Baptist Church teased him: “Do you think you will?”

“This is a great church,” he said. “It’s been a great church for years – long before I came here.”

After 30 years in Vicksburg, Dr. McCall retired, stating, “That was a long time for them to bother with listening to me.”

But he didn’t retire from preaching, for, “God called me to preach, but he never has told me to stop.”

After he retired in October 1982, his wife died of cancer the following January. A friend talked him into moving to Kentucky and teaching in the Bible school in the seminary. He stayed for three years, during which time he met Vicki, who became his second wife.

He then was invited to head the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Mississippi College, where he remained for 17 years. “I loved the students,” he said, adding with a chuckle that he never knew of anyone flunking Bible.

Though many have expressed amazement that he never forgot a name, Dr. McCall says that is in the past, that now he does forget though, “I used to do better.” His other trademark is his hand-tied bow ties, something he learned from his father. On Sundays, in the pulpit, he wears the traditional four-in-hand long tie.

He doesn’t know how many people he has baptized, married or buried, but the first wedding ceremony he performed here was for David May and Martha Ann Johnston – and it was in the Methodist church. He conducted a funeral on the average of one about every 10 days during his pastorate and still comes back frequently as people have asked that he take part in family funerals.

“People will say, ‘I saw you somewhere recently,’ and I say it was probably at a funeral,” he said, adding that Charles Riles of Riles Funeral Home told him his name was on so many funeral plans that he would have to live to 140 to fulfill the requests.

Now a resident of Clinton, Dr. McCall said, “I’m over here all the time. Those who have succeeded him at First Baptist have always made him welcome, and he said he is so grateful for their kindness and hospitality.

About six years ago he retired from Mississippi College, and Edwards Baptist Church called him as interim pastor, a job that will last only until they can find someone. Church members say they really aren’t looking very hard, which is fine with Dr. McCall.

“I like it like this,” he said, stating that he does everything for them a pastor would do, yet he has enough freedom to be away when he needs to be. The Edwards church members, he said, “are very thoughtful, kind and understanding,- wonderful people.”

Dot Steen, a member of First Baptist, in reflecting on her family’s association with Dr. McCall, thought of the happy times and sad. “Through almost 56 years, he has rejoiced with us and grieved with us, always so graciously.”

“I’ve never been in a church I didn’t love,” he said.

That makes it easily understood why so many love him.

Gordon Cotton is an author and historian who lives in Vicksburg.