‘There is a world outside these walls’
Drew Startup’s path to ministry lends unique perspective
Growing up the son of a worship pastor, church runs in Drew Startup’s blood — but ministry wasn’t always the career of choice for the Meadowdale Baptist Church pastor.
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Startup’s father’s work in ministry had meant a childhood spent in Jacksonville, Florida.
When his family moved to Northwest Georgia, Startup had a hard time adjusting to small town life in Cartersville at first. As an eighth grader, it was playing sports that eventually helped him find his place.
“It was through baseball that I ended up meeting some people and getting to know them,” Startup said.
And it would be the game of baseball that would continue to direct Startup’s path as a young adult, attending Shorter College in Rome to play baseball, and then teaching math back at Cartersville High School so he could coach.
“I wanted to still be around the game, and I knew being a teacher would allow me to do that,” Startup said. “I taught high school math, coached baseball for about nine years, and softball for about four years.”
Content with life as a teacher and coach, Startup was even part of a pair of state baseball titles (2008, and 2009). Keeping his ministry gene from going completely dormant, he was a sponsor for Fellowship of Christian Athletes at the high school as well.
In 2012, a path leading back toward the family business opened up in Startup’s life.
“I’m loving teaching and coaching ... my goal was still to be a head baseball coach one day,” Startup said. “But at our church — Cartersville First Baptist — the Lord opened a door with a youth pastor position, and my pastor Jeremy Morton came to me and asked if I’d consider applying.”
Startup said “thanks, but no thanks,” to the original offer.
“I told him that my dad was in ministry, I know it’s not easy, I don’t have any seminary or anything like that, and he told me to just pray about it,” Startup said, adding that he was also reluctant to give up life as a school teacher and coach. “I still loved teaching, I loved the kids ... I loved everything about it.”
After passing on the opportunity three times, Startup finally felt a calling to accept.
“Finally the Lord confirmed in my heart that this was what I needed to do,” Startup said.
Eventually, he became the Cartersville First Baptist’s youth pastor, and the experience helped to mold him into the pastor he is today.
“I did that for four year, experienced a lot of growth, and eventually I was asked to become associate pastor,” Startup said. “I never dreamed that I would ever be a pastor ... I never dreamed I would be in ministry period, but the Lord started working on my heart.”
Eight years after leaving his job at Cartersville High School, a former co-worker there called him out of the blue.
“Brandon Knight, who had been the Cartersville High art teacher, called me up and asked me what I was up to,” Startup said. “He said his church was looking for a pastor, and asked if I’d be interested in talking about it sometime. About six months later, in September of 2020, I became the pastor at Meadowdale.”
A few months later, Startup, along with his wife and their four kids, would move to a house in Calhoun, and now he feels very much at home in his role as a pastor, and he credits many
Impacting Gordon and Beyond. of the people he met along the winding path to ministry for helping prepare him for the job.
“I’ve learned so much from some great mentors, like Jeremy Morton, and my high school baseball coach Stuart Chester — they taught me how to lead,” Startup said. “God just dropped incredible people like that into my path for me to learn what to
do, and how to make the job my own.”
Startup credits his delayed path to ministry with his consciousness of the world outside the church walls, and of the people Christians are called to reach and serve.
“There is a world outside these walls,” Startup said. “At Meadowdale, I tell our folks not to wait for me to give them an assignment to be on mission for God. Actions are greater than words. We can talk about the good things we could do, and we can talk about what we think God wants us to do ... but when He’s telling you to do it ... go do it.”
Startup continues to try and put himself into situations where he has sight of
a world outside the Sunday sanctuary by staying active in community organizations.
“I love being part of organizations like the Chamber of Commerce, I love being a character coach for FCA, and I love speaking to groups like high school football and baseball teams,” Startup said.
IMPACTING GORDON
AND BEYOND
Another way Startup has been interacting with the community has been through a new podcast called “Impacting Gordon and Beyond.”
“A couple of different people had asked me a while back if I’d ever thought about starting a podcast,” Startup said. “Eventually I got with
Mark Watters, and he said he’d be willing to produce it. We came up with some episode ideas we thought might be good information for the community.”
Startup said the first five episodes have gotten good feedback, so a second round of episodes has recently been in the works.
“I love getting to know people in the community,” Startup said. “The whole thing is just informing our community about what is available here.”
Podcast episodes can be found online on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Buzzsprout and listened to for free.