Rusty Keltner, pastor of Porters Creek Baptist Church in Middleton, speaks to a group of students.
Pastor’s difficult decision ultimately leads to church growth
MIDDLETON — Rusty Keltner, pastor of Porters Creek Baptist Church, wasn’t the least bit angry or disappointed when the church’s board of directors voted to decrease his pay.
After all, Keltner was the one who suggested it.
The bold and unusual move came in the middle of 2024, when the church was facing some financial challenges.
“I just went to the board and said, ‘Look, the best solution is to let me be part-time here at the church and also go back into the school system,” said Keltner, who has a teaching degree. “I told them, ‘Let the school system be the ones that kind of pay my bills for one year. After that, we can come back and revaluate everything.’”
Although the board members were surprised by the suggestion, the Lord was already working in the details.
Over the following year, Keltner did indeed transition into a bivo role — teaching freshman English at Middleton High School while maintaining his duties as pastor. And what happened next was “God Things 101.”
Through his involvement with the school, the church’s youth group expanded. Many of the students also began bringing their families to Porters Creek, and the church experienced a season of substantial growth.
“It was kind of crazy, really, the way the Lord blessed us,” Keltner said. “He just put everything together. It wasn’t anything that I did or anything that I am doing. It was all Him.”
True to his word, Keltner taught at the high school for one full academic year, enabling the church to relieve some financial strain. By the spring of 2025, Porters Creek was back on firm footing and Keltner returned to his full-time role as pastor after the school year ended.
“The whole story is really incredible,” said Danny Sinquefield, Harvest Field One team leader for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. “It’s such a great picture of what happens when a person — and a church — steps out in faith.”
Rusty Keltner, pastor of Porters Creek Baptist Church in Middleton, delivers a sermon.
Keltner used the phrase “win-win” to describe his year-long tenure in the bivo role, noting that the decision led to the opening of many doors that would have otherwise likely remained closed.
“Because (of the budget adjustments), the church was able to make some big purchases, like buying a van and some other things,” said Keltner. “We aren’t a big-budget church, by any means. And those things wouldn’t have happened (without the bivocational role being approved).”
Sinquefield said Keltner’s decision is an example of how a shepherd’s heart can benefit his flock.
“What Rusty did was such an unselfish, kingdom-focused thing,” said Sinquefield. “And the Lord certainly blessed that. Rusty’s involvement in the local community gave the church a burst of new life, especially with students and their families coming to the Lord and to Porters Creek. It’s just been amazing.”
The church currently averages about 100 attendees on Sunday mornings, and averages almost 100 students and kids on Wednesday nights. “We run church vans to pick up the students and do everything else we can to help them come,” Keltner said.
Keltner, who had served as a bivocational pastor at some of his previous churches, said the primary reason he felt led to transition to a bivo role at Porters Creek was that the church was on the verge of having to cut out some of its ministries and programs. He said he simply wasn’t going to let that happen.
“The largest expense for pretty much any church is salary,” he said. “So, I said (to the board), ‘Let’s look at it and see what can be done.’”
Keltner said he prayed intently about the situation and also spoke to other pastors about it. There was at least one pastor who didn’t think it was such a wise move.
“I did speak to one pastor — an older pastor who I really like and respect — and he told me, ‘I wouldn’t do it.’ He told me that I was messing up,” Keltner recalled with a smile.
Keltner said the pastor told him that the move wouldn’t likely be temporary. “I believe his line of thinking was that, if I did this, I would probably never return to being full-time.”
But Keltner was able to make it work, thanks in large part to the support and assistance from the church staff, church leaders and church body.
“My staff did so much to jump in there and really pull things together and pull some extra weight,” he said.
“Also, the deacons played a huge role, along with another group — the group that we call spiritual leaders — all pulled together. If I couldn’t make it to a hospital visit, they were on it. It made our church become more ministry-minded as far realizing it’s everybody’s job to minister, not just the pastor’s job. And that was a big thing.”
In addition to his teaching role, Keltner also became connected to the students through a weekly prayer gathering that meets on Wednesday mornings at the school.
Each week, Keltner leads a brief devotional, followed by a time or prayer. Roughly 60 students attend each week, he said.
“For a school the size of Middleton High, having 60 kids means that about 10% of the student body is showing up for that,” he said. “That’s a large amount of participation.”
Although he is no longer teaching, Keltner has continued to lead the weekly prayer gatherings. He also drives a school bus — as a side job — which allows him to stay in contact with students.
“Probably 75% of the bus route that I drive in the afternoon is kids that come to our Wednesday night program,” he said.
Keltner noted that Porters Creek is located in a spot that makes church growth especially challenging. Although the church technically has a Middleton address, it is actually located about 15 minutes outside of town, he said. “We’re in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “Let’s put it this way, you don’t accidentally pass by our church. If you pass our church — and you don’t live there — it’s because you are lost.”
And yet, Porters Creek is routinely seeing new families attend services.
“We have a lot of young families,” he said. “We’re not like a lot of little country churches. Our median age is not 70 or above. It’s more like in the forties.”
Now that he is back in full-time role, Keltner smiles when thinks back on the board meeting when he first made the suggestion about transitioning to a bivo role.
“I remember that, for a few minutes, everybody just kind of sat there and looked at each other,” he said with a laugh. “I think they were really hesitant to do it, but they told me they appreciate the fact that I would even consider it.”
Keltner said having the support of the church was the key to it all.
“This is a church that historically has loved their pastor,” he said, “and they continued to do that through all of this.” B&R
