Our Staff
Pastor Bill Adams was born in Wilmington, Delaware, where he lived with his mother and step-father until a junior in high school. He moved with his family to Oswego, IL., where he met his wife-to-be, Jean Sweeny, and graduated from high school.
It was in Oswego, IL. that he was saved under the ministry of Pastor Roy Chestnut, and the Valley Baptist Church. Upon graduation, he attended Tennessee Temple College in Chattanooga, TN. Pastor Adams holds a Bachelor’s Degree in theology as well as a Master of Ministry degree from Great Plains Divinity School in Sioux Falls, SD.
Pastor Adams has served as Assistant Pastor at Valley Baptist Church in Oswego, IL.; Founder and Pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Mitchell, SD.; Pastor of River Lake Baptist Church in Waverly, TN.; and for 17 years, as Pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Manchester, TN.
For the past 17 years, he has Pastored Smyrna Baptist Church, in Pensacola, FL., following Dr. Roy Julian, who went to be with our Lord after 34 years of service at Smyrna.
Pastor and Mrs. Adams have four children. Bill Jr., who Pastors the Gospel Light Baptist Church in Spring Hill, TN.; Jeff, who Pastors the Lighthouse Baptist Church in Gulf Breeze, FL.; Cathy Taylor of Manchester, TN.; and Tracy Tate of Pensacola, FL.
Youth Pastor James Tate was saved when he was 20 years old and a student at MTSU in Murfreesboro, TN. After graduation in 2007, he married Mrs. Tracy and moved to NC to study at Ambassador Baptist College. While in NC, he became the Youth Pastor and Music leader of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Salisbury, NC.
In January 2015, he moved to Pensacola, FL, where he is now the Youth Pastor of Smyrna Baptist Church.
In 2017 He received his master’s degree from West Coast Baptist College. He and his wife teach the teen Sunday school classes and take the teens to camps and youth activities.