Sunday will be the Rev. Luke Lane’s first day in the pulpit of First Baptist Church of Troy. Standing before a congregation of unfamiliar and expectant faces could be cause for a case of the nerves, but Lane said “absolutely not.”

“No, I won’t be nervous,” Lane said. “I know that I am where the Lord wants me to be. I put my trust in God so there’s no reason to be nervous. Being here in Troy is a God thing. My wife, Jennifer, and I talked about it and prayed about it and we know that it is God’s design for us to be here.”

The Lanes moved to Troy from Mississippi a week ago with their three children, Ashleigh, 2, and twins Riley and Kyleigh, who will be a year old on Sept. 20.

Already, Troy feels like home.

“The people here have been so warm and gracious,” Lane said. “I look forward to the many opportunities to be involved in the church and the community and to share the gospel with others.”

Lane is a native of Carrollton, Ga., and is a graduate of the University of Georgia. He earned a master of divinity degree at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas and a doctorate of ministry in church growth and evangelism from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

“An interesting side to my graduation from seminary is that I graduated on the morning of Dec. 4, 1996, at Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth and got married that afternoon in the same church.”

During his ministry, Lane has served churches in Georgia, Mississippi and Florida before coming to Alabama.

“I have been in Southern Baptist churches all of my life,” Lane said. “My soul was saved when I was 15 years old and I accepted the call to the ministry when I was 19.”

Lane was a sophomore in college at the time and was reading from Luke, Chapter 2 when the Lord spoke to him.

“Verse 43 said ‘And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.’ I didn’t know what that meant for me,” he said. Later, as he talked with his minister, it was suggested that perhaps God was calling him to the ministry. “But I said, ‘I don’t think so.’”

A few years later it was confirmed to Lane that God’s call for him was to be a church pastor.

“It has been a fantastic journey that has led me to First Baptist Church of Troy,” Lane said. “This is a great area to preach God’s word. I will be diligent in preaching Christ. I believe that evangelism is important to sharing the gospel and I know that God will equip our church to prepare others for global ministry.”

Lane said he is looking forward to developing a relationship with the church members through which he can teach them and they can teach him.

“I believe my ministry is a team ministry and that God speaks to and through all believers,” he said. “My calling is to provide a word from God and I will look to prayer and His guidance as the preacher, teacher and pastor at First Baptist Church of Troy.”