Pastor Tony Hodge has been a bivocational minister for over 35 years, balancing both a secular and religious job. By trade, he is an electrician, currently employed by Shively Electric, and for the past seven years, he has primarily worked on the Virginia Tech campus. Hodge and his wife of forty years, Betsy, are grateful to live in the home where he grew up, in Allisonia, Virginia, having returned there after the passing of his parents. They have two adult children—a daughter and a son—as well as eight grandchildren.
Pastor Tony and Betsy Hodge
Pastor Tony Hodge jokes that his salvation story begins with an effort to appease his mother-in-law. Back in the beginning of their marriage, when they had a little six-month-old baby girl, the Hodges were not church attendees. Betsy’s mother came by the house one night and was fussing, telling them that they needed to be raising their little girl in church and they needed to be there as well. Hodge told his wife that they were going to be in church on Sunday, just to quiet his mother-in-law! It only took attending for two Sundays for the Hodges to go to the altar together and give their hearts to the Lord.
When Pastor Tony Hodge took over as pastor at St. Paul Pentecostal Holiness Church (St. Paul PHC) in Max Meadows, Virginia, at the end of May 2023, he knew that the church would need to put a lot of effort into paying off the $197,000 mortgage.
St. Paul Pentecostal Holiness Church
The Hodges have been living the Christian life long enough to have seen a few miracles over the years; even so, Hodge was surprised when, eight months ago, he felt the Lord whisper that He would have the church paid off within a year. Hodge took the Lord at His word and shared this message with the church from the pulpit. Pretty quickly, a gift of $15,000 came in – from a gentleman who doesn’t even attend the church! Soon, that same gentleman gave another $10,000. Over the last 8 months, the debt had been reduced to $78,500 through the congregation’s generous giving. The church was well on its way! Then, on Monday morning, October 28th, another anonymous donor went into the bank and paid off the balance. Hallelujah! The church is now debt-free!
St. Paul Pentecostal Holiness Church
Bishop Preston Mathena of the Appalachian Conference shared: “This has been a surprising miracle. We are so thankful for the work that Pastor Tony Hodge and his wife Betsy are doing at St. Paul Pentecostal Holiness Church. It is evident that the congregation and community truly believe in what God is doing there.”
St. Paul Pentecostal Holiness Church
Hodge said that the Lord keeps blessing them in new ways—ways they wouldn’t have considered on their own. Recently, the church was able to acquire additional property. The Piney Camp Meeting Association approached Hodge and asked if he would be interested in the land adjoining the church. He gave an emphatic yes! But how much were they asking for it? The association just gave the land to the St. Paul PHC, even providing the $2300 needed for a survey.
Hodge has never looked back after coming to Christ, and he and his wife Betsy have seen miracle upon miracle through the years, including how God took care of the church’s mortgage entirely in only a year and a half, adding in a few extra miraculous surprises along the way. There is no doubt that the Lord is moving in Max Meadows at St. Paul Pentecostal Holiness Church.
