Church Leaders
Dr. Thomas Beavers never thought he would be a pastor. In fact, he hoped to be a medical doctor. But God had other plans.
“I got halfway through college when I realized I had the potential to be a medical doctor because I could make good grades, but I did not have the passion,” Dr. Beavers says. He started preaching before attending college but never planned to do it full time. “I come from a long line of preachers, but I never wanted to preach,” he says.
The STAR Church has been in the Eastlake community of Birmingham for 59 years. Dr. Beavers’ grandfather, Dr. Tommy Chappell, served as the third pastor of the church for 35 years. “I felt the call of God to preach in high school. When I literally heard the audible voice of God I ran from it,” Dr. Beavers explains, adding that after a series of four car accidents in a three-month period, he surrendered to “the call to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
He attended Kentucky State University and majored in biology. Instead of going to medical school after graduation in 2004, he attended seminary. “As I was packing up my bags after graduation, the Lord told me to go to Birmingham and sit at my grandfather’s feet,” Dr. Beavers says. He enrolled at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School and started to shadow his grandfather at the same time. Beavers’ service at the church began as the janitor in 2004 and in 2006, his grandfather promoted him to assistant pastor. In 2010, his grandfather retired as senior pastor. Dr. Beavers stepped into the role of senior pastor and received his Doctor of Ministry in 2013.
The STAR Church has a large community development focus. “Under my grandfather’s leadership, we formed an early childhood development center, we established a credit union that still exists today, a family life center, and more,” explains Dr. Beavers, adding, Our mission as a church is twofold. We exist to know Christ and make Him known to the entire world and we strive to help people have a better quality of life on earth through community development,” he says. The church develops people in six ways: education, financial literacy, workforce development, housing, recreation, and the church. To learn more about The STAR Church, visit www.beatme2thestar.net.
-Melissa Armstrong
