- Date Of Birth: July 13, 1917
- Date Of Death: April 8, 2014
- State: Mississippi
John Goldwire McCall, born July 13, 1917 in Quitman Georgia, passed away April 8, 2014 in Vicksburg, MS. He graduated from high school in Madison, Florida, and from Stetson University in Deland, Florida. He received the ThM and ThD degrees from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He served as a US Army chaplain in Patton’s Third Army in Europe during World War II.
He pastored churches in Florida, Kentucky and Mooresville, North Carolina, before becoming pastor of First Baptist Church in Vicksburg where he served from 1952 to 1982. At the time of his death, he was Pastor Emeritus of First Baptist Church of Vicksburg. During that time he served as moderator of the Warren Baptist Association, on the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention and was President of the Mississippi Baptist Convention 1969-1970. He was also a member of the Radio and Television Commission of the Southern Baptist Commission. He served on the Mississippi College Board of Trustees for two terms. He was named Vicksburg/Warren County Man of the Year in 1975 and received the Service to Humanity Award from Mississippi College for 1975-76. Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, honored him as Distinguished Alumnus in 1991. He was also named Mississippi College’s Professor of the Year in 1991.
After his retirement from First Baptist Church, Vicksburg, he taught several years at Boyce Bible College in Louisville, Kentucky. He then came to Mississippi College where he served as professor of Christian Studies and a number of years as Chair of the Department of Christian Studies and later the Director of Church Relations. In 1998-1999, he took a sabbatical from Mississippi College and taught for eight months at the International Baptist Theological Seminary for Eastern Africa in Arusha, Tanzania. His second retirement was from Mississippi College in 2002. He continued to serve as an Interim Pastor at several churches, his last being Edwards Baptist Church where he served for 9 years, ending in February 2012.
John McCall consistently preached the Gospel, proclaiming God’s love, mercy, and grace for the world. He openly shared that anyone who accepted Jesus Christ as God’s only Son, as their Savior would not perish, but have eternal life. He had many distinguishing Christian traits. However, perhaps the most pronounced was his Christian love, compassion, and service to his church membership and the whole community regardless of their religious denomination or status in life. In short, he was a humble, sincere, loving, forgiving Christian servant and gentleman.
He was married to Wilma Grass McCall from 1949 until her death in 1983. He married Vicki Dunwoody McCall in 1984, and they made their home in Clinton.
He was preceded in death by his parents and his two brothers, James Edward McCall and Guyton Bobo McCall. He is survived by his wife, Vicki; sons, John (Ginger) of Long Beach, MS, and Dennis (Margaret) of Homer, GA; three grandchildren; a sister, Mary Love Strum of Jacksonville, FL; a brother, Frank Clark McCall of Seattle, WA; and several nieces and nephews.
