I was born in East Tennessee.  My parents had six children: Billy, Nell, Janet, Elmer (died shortly after birth) myself and Jackie.  My father died of a heart attack at age 79, on September 27, 1986.  My father was a sharecrop farmer and I spent the first eighteen years of my life on the farm before joining the army in 1962.  This was to be the most traumatic and emotional day of my life, leaving for the army at age eighteen.  My mother did not approve of my decision.  She was very angry and shed a lot of tears.  My father on the other hand was more hurt than angry, but as I was leaving, he put his arms around me and said, “Benny I love you - take care of yourself.”
 

Farm life left little time for organized activity. The one big event was a trip to the Great Smokey Mountains. Two or three families would get together, pack enough food and drinks for an all day trip, load up the pick-up trucks, and head for the mountains. Other family activities included a game called blindfold, a card game of Rook, and the making of home made ice cream. Christmas was a happy time. Going into the woods to find just the right cedar tree, decorating it with homemade ornaments, and anxiously awaiting “Santa Claus night.”  Celebrating the 4th of July, at a local carnival, was also a happy time. My third grade teacher Katie Cavin, provided emotional building blocks for esteem and personal pride, through her praise of me to others. She bragged on me to her peers for my neat homework assignments. “Miss Katie”, as she was affectionately known to all her students, will never know the emotional impact she had on my life. Margaret Simpson, the elementary school cook, is a special lady who greatly influenced me for good. She promoted me to my peers and the school faculty as, “the boy who would never tell a lie.” Although my parents were non-church goers I was privileged to have a sister who took me to a little Methodist church with her on Sunday mornings. My first Sunday School teacher, Effie Ward, had a tremendous influence on me. She introduced me to her loving God. I was converted at age eleven, while attending morning services, during a revival meeting at McPheeters Bend Baptist Church. (The school principal had allowed the sixth, seventh and eighth grades to attend church services.) Growing up in a non-Christian home as a child, following my conversion, my parents were later converted and for a while we attended a Free Will Baptist Church.

I became engaged to Carolyn Green, at the age of eighteen, following our graduation from high school.  We were married 16 March 1963. After many years of searching and struggling to know God's will for my life, I answered God's call to be a full time minister.  I knew beyond a doubt that He had called me to be a “Pastor-Teacher.”  This was the beginning of a long schooling process.  It included college and seminary with four pastorates along the way.  I was thirty-six when I graduated seminary.

The work I do best is preaching and being a pastor.  Working closely with people counseling and ministering to them.  This includes the work of an evangelist, door-to-door sharing, etc.  In 1987 Carolyn and I had the opportunity to participate in an overseas mission project to Antigua, West Indies.  This opened the door to two other mission trips to Antigua.

Carolyn and I have one daughter, Carrie, who has been a Christian since age six and is still growing in her faith. Carrie attending Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, she received a B.A. in Christian Psychology, and a M.A. in Social Work from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. It is our desire to support Carrie in all her achievements, and to give her guidance in marriage, home and family. We have high expectations of her and she has continued to meet and surpass those expectations. Carrie married Aaron Holladay. They blessed us with a wonderful grandson, Benjamin “Ben” Bear Holladay, born 17 June 1999. Carrie, Aaron and Ben live in Nashville, Tennessee.

I received my Bachelors degree from University of Tennessee, and my Master of Divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky.  On May 31, 1997, I received my Doctorate of Ministry degree from the Bethel Theological Seminary, Saint Paul, Minnesota.  I am presently Pastor of Greenwood Baptist Church in Valdosta, Georgia.  In addition to being a pastor, Carolyn and I are involved in overseas (short-term) missions.  Our most recent trips have been to Southern Siberia, Omsk, Russia, and to the West Indies.  I have led numerous teams to return trips to the West Indies, Antigua and Nevis, to do Vacation Bible School, build houses for displaced Montserratians as a result of volcanic action on the island of Montserrat and led in evangelistic crusades.  As a result of these crusades of which we have been a part, more than twenty-three thousand professions have been recorded.  Over the past twenty-five years, I have pastored churches in Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, South Dakota and Georgia.  Needless to say, God has blessed me with a successful ministry over the years.

I served in the U.S. Army 1962-1965.  Areas of service included: Fort Jackson, South Carolina; Fort Gordon, Georgia; Fort Belvoir, Virginia; Korea; Dominican Republic, and Fort Bragg, North Carolina.  I received The Good Conduct Medal, and the Expeditionary Medal for Service in the Dominican Republic.  I received an honorable discharge in 1965.

The Wounded Heart Ministries, Inc., is a non-profit organization and is exempt from federal income tax under section 501 (a) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donors to the Wounded Heart Ministries, Inc., may deduct contributions and gifts, with no consideration received. All donations and gifts to the Wounded Heart Ministries, Inc., will be disbursed in accordance with the purpose statement of this ministry and all donors will receive proper credit for gifts received. All donations and gifts are greatly appreciated and may be sent to: The Wounded Heart Ministries, Inc., c/o Dr. Benny F. Woods, Founder and President. Click on Contact Us for mailing information.