Senior Pastor
Rev. M. Shannon Faulkner
Associate Pastor, Education and Students
Rev. Todd Davis
Thank you for stopping by to find out a little about me and my family. God has blessed me with a wonderful wife who truly loves the Lord. Myself and Amy are celebrating 23 awesome years of marriage. Not only is she a great wife, she is also a terrific mom to our two children. Luke who is 19 and a student at the University of South Carolina Palmetto College and Caroline who is 15 and a Sophomore at Union County High School.
My name is Todd Davis and I was born and raised right here in Union, South Carolina and have spent most of my life in Union with the exception of about five years. My Lord, Jesus Christ called me to be a child of God at the early age of eight years old. I can remember that day like it was yesterday.
I believe in being real and that's exactly what I want to be on my page. Becoming a Minister was never a thought much less a plan when I was growing up. Sure, I had thoughts and made plans but they all revolved around football. Growing up I was going to play professional football. As I grew up my plans were falling right in place! I was fortunate to be offered a full scholarship out of high school to play football for the University of South Carolina. My football career came to a sudden end my freshmen year with a career ending neck injury. At that time I found myself angry at God, questioning God and even doubting the existence of God. I thought to myself, "I am a good person, I don't do drugs, I have respect for others and I work hard. How could He take football away?" While going through this I often pleaded with God to at least show me why I couldn't play football anymore. I don't feel that God ever really answered my prayer as to why but I do feel He gave me a couple of verses that I relied on during that time. One was Proverbs 3:5-6 and the other was Jeremiah 29:11. I felt God just wanted me to trust Him and quit trying to fine out why I couldn't play anymore. The other was to realize that whatever God was doing with my life was going to be far better than anything I could do on my own. Looking back on that today I see that it was all part of Gods plan for my life. See it didn't take long after I became a child of God to quickly push God back and move football forward. Sadly I allowed football to become my God and I truly believe God took that away to get me back to where I needed to be.
My plans were taking me to worldly pleasures. Lots of money and lots of material possessions, all of which are not eternal. God on the other hand had far greater plans for me. Plans for me to glorify Him through the preaching of His word. Both of our plans involved Sundays but instead of trying to win ball games, I'm trying to win lost souls for Christ!
Currently I am following God's call on my life to full time ministry and working toward a Masters of Divinity through Covington Theological Seminary.
Minister of Music
Mr. Jay Childers
Ministry Assistant
Mrs. Debbie Scott
Deborah Page Scott (AKA Debbie but I answer to Mimi most of the time). I was born in Woodruff and I am a graduate of Woodruff High School and Greenville Tech. I started playing the piano when I was 8 and have played in church practically since that time. I was the pianist at my home church, Cornerstone Baptist in Woodruff (formerly known as Mills Mill Baptist) for 24 years prior to moving to Union in 2008. I now serve as keyboard accompanist and organist at Morningside Baptist in Union.
My work background had been in the medical field for over 30 years, having worked as a medical transcriptionist and medical office manager before becoming the Administrative Assistant to the CEO at B.J. Workmen Memorial Hospital in Woodruff for 14 years prior to its closing. Prior to coming to New Life I was the Executive Assistant to the President of Pulliam Investment Co., Inc. in Spartanburg, a real estate development and property management company, for over 16 years. I “retired” in March 2016 but soon decided I was not really ready to retire! God always looks out for His children and I firmly believe that He had New Life Baptist Church picked out for me when this position became available. I began my new journey on May 9, 2016 and I couldn’t be happier!
I have been married to Jack for almost 53 years. We have one son, Chris, who is married to Christy (Union native) and two granddaughters, Emma who is 19 and Anna who is 16 and they are also members at Morningside. We all go through times in our lives that we struggle with our faith and I am no exception. God has been with me through these struggles and I can proudly say that I am a sinner saved by His Grace. My favorite verse of Scripture is Romans 8:25-“But if we hope for that we do not see, we wait patiently for it”. God has taught me patience through this verse and is a constant reminder of His Goodness and Grace.
