The Reverend John Hines Adams, 72, a retired Baptist minister who served in churches across the Southeast and in Central America, died Friday April 9, 2010 at his home in Murfreesboro. He had cancer.
Born in Hagan, Georgia in 1938, Adams grew up in the small town of Claxton, Ga. graduating from Claxton High School. He made his profession of faith in Jesus Christ at the age of twelve and was baptized into the fellowship of the church soon thereafter. As a boy he enjoyed music and sports and the social life of his small community. Adams received his B.S. Degree in Industrial Arts Education from Georgia Southern University. It was during his last year at Georgia Southern that he met his future wife Martha Jean Morris, a minister’s daughter who also attended Georgia Southern. They were married in August of 1962. He received the Master of Divinity degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and was ordained as a minister of the Gospel in his home church, First Baptist Church, Claxton.
Adams began his ministry at the Chaplin Fork Baptist Church in Chaplin, Ky. while he was studying at the seminary. He served as pastor of Parkway Baptist Church in Chester, South Carolina and Beechlawn Baptist Church in Virginia Beach, Va. He served North Carolina churches as well including Winton Baptist; Manteo Baptist; Blackwell Memorial Baptist in Elizabeth City; Eureka Baptist in Corapeake; Mars Hill Baptist in Colerain; Holly Grove Baptist in Ahoskie; North Henderson Baptist in Henderson; and Connaritsa Baptist in Aulander where he was pastor at the time of his death.
Adams received additional chaplain training at the North Carolina Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem where he was enrolled in the Clinical Pastoral Education program from 1996-1997. He and his wife studied the Spanish language at El Instituto de Lengua de Espanola in San Juan, Costa Rica. Following their language study, Adams and his wife Martha Jean were appointed in 1977 by the Foreign and Home Mission Boards of the Southern Baptist Convention to serve as missionaries in David, Panama and Isla Verde, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
In each of the churches where Adams served as pastor through the years, he worked to establish and build programs of evangelism and missions. He frequently referred to himself as a “seed sower” for the Gospel. His life’s work was encouraging the churches he served to become involved in witnessing and winning the world to Christ.
Survivors include his wife of 48 years, Martha Jean Morris Adams; one son, John Hines Adams, Jr. and his wife Sarah Temple Adams of Wayne, Pennsylvania; one daughter, Jean Karole Adams Meares and her husband Danny Meares of Raleigh, North Carolina; four granddaughters, Madison Randolph Adams, Lane Elizabeth Adams, Bella Peyton Meares and Ava Gracyn Meares; one brother and sister-in-law; the Rev. and Mrs. J. L. Adams of Dublin, Georgia and twelve nieces and nephews.
A memorial service conducted by Dr. Lee Canipe, pastor of Murfreesboro Baptist Church, will be held at Connaritsa Baptist Church in Aulander on Saturday April 17, 2010 beginning at 11 a.m. The family will receive visitors in the front of the sanctuary from 10 a.m. until the time of the service. Another memorial service to be conducted by the Reverend David Blalock will be held at Brewton-Parker Cemetery in Claxton, Georgia on May 2, 2010 at 4 p.m. Miller Funeral Home, 304 Main Street, Gatesville, is assisting the family with arrangements.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to Hospice; 521 West Myers Street, Ahoskie, NC 27910
Online condolences may be made by visiting www.millerfhc.com.