Dr. Chet Roden has found an opportunity to teach at Liberty University, and Southside Baptist Church in Talladega has lost its senior pastor.

Roden delivered his last sermon at the church on Cherry Street Sunday before beginning to look for houses in the Lynchburg, Va., area and preparing to serve as a professor of Old Testament at Liberty University.

“This has been a wonderful ministry and I was happy to be here,” Roden said. “I was not looking to leave, but the university approached me to gauge my interest. I had previously been an adjunct professor for Liberty online and I had served as a pastor in Virginia before. But it was a hard decision to make.”

Since summer mission trips to Guatemala and Arizona were coming up, Roden decided to take some time to reflect on his choices and decide where God was leading him.

“I decided Virginia must be where God was opening a door for me,” Roden said. “I had always been a pastor and gone to school or found a way to teach, so I thought this must be a new door and a new direction.”

At Liberty University, Roden will be teaching some of the 2,000 to 3,000 seminary students at the master’s level out of 11,000 resident students. He said the university also needs help online because it is now handling almost 40,000 online students in addition to the students on campus.

He was called to ministry at the age of 18 and is now 46; meaning Roden has devoted 28 years of his life to studying God’s word. Southside Baptist Church had been Roden’s church home for the past eight years.

Throughout his time as a minister, Roden has furthered his own education and found ways to teach other seminary students

The Rev. Tommy Strickland, music pastor for Southside Baptist Church, said it wasn’t a complete surprise to hear that Roden was leaving the church to teach, but it was a shock to actually be losing the church leader.

“”I knew some day when he left the church he would go into a teaching position,” Strickland said. “Teaching has always been a passion and a desire of his; to teach future leaders about the word. He has such a deep knowledge of it.”

Roden said he went to college late in life, but he has since managed to earn his undergraduate degree from Baptist College of Florida while living in Graceville, Fla., and his master’s and doctorate degrees from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.

He and his wife, Renee, who works as a part-time dental hygienist for Dr. David Gibson in Anniston, have two sons. Jeremy, 23, will not be moving with the family to Virginia, but Caleb, 14, will.

Roden said Jeremy also plans to go to seminary, but has not enrolled because he wanted to work for a couple of years after graduating from college.

Strickland and student pastor the Rev. Mark King said it was important to the church to see how heavily involved Roden’s entire family was in the services and programs while he served as senior pastor.

King said Renee Roden would probably be missed as much as her husband for her work with the youth department’s drama productions and missions. Strickland said Roden’s two sons were active in the youth and music ministries for the past eight years.

“You get to where you take for granted that these people are there to do all those things,” King said. “You expect them to always be there for it. Now we wonder will we be lost without them or does God have somebody right there waiting to fill the void?”

Both men believe Roden has left the church in a good place spiritually, and in every other area. He led them through a capital fundraising campaign for their building, participated in every mission trip the youth group went on, played banjo and sang in the choir.

It was important to him, King said, to be a part of all the different ministries in his church.

Strickland also recalled when a congregant stood up during an open testimony portion of one service to say he felt he had been to school the past eight years because Roden’s teaching is so deep.

“He taught us not to lag behind or run ahead of God, but to walk with him,” King said. “He told us to be faithful to the one who is faithful. He was an example of a servant, and he never put himself above any of his congregants.”

Strickland elaborated that Roden is a firm believer in going by the Scripture to lead his church on the right path.

“He stood on the word and did not apologize,” Strickland said. “A pastor has to set the pace and he is a pacesetter. We are a peaceful church wanting to follow God’s vision, and you have to attribute that to his leadership.”

King will miss the friendly atmosphere and quick wit Roden brought to the church office, making his staff feel like they were partners in the ministry instead of his employees.

For Strickland, a testament to Roden’s impact on the church came when it was time for him to leave and everyone wanted to contribute to a memory box for him. Everything from notes, cards and words of encouragement to monetary gifts and artwork were welcome to go into the box Roden could take with him to remember Southside Baptist Church.

“The church goes through a grief process when the pastor leaves,” Strickland said. “We thank God for his leadership and we pray for the person he is preparing to come in next. We are proud of Chet’s accomplishment, but we hate to lose him.”

For now, Roden hopes Virginia is where he will feel settled enough to retire.

While he is just getting settled in Lynchburg, this is not his first trip to the area, and he is familiar with the natural beauty of the “Old Dominion State.”

“My wife and I really like it here,” Roden said. “You have winter and snow here, but it’s not brutal. The mountains are only 10 or 15 miles away. I would love to retire here, if God so chooses.”