My Blessed Hope
Note from the Editor: The following is the sixth and final article in our 2024 series featuring a president from within the Southwestern Union territory as they explore one Adventist fundamental belief and how it has affected their life, faith and ministry.
Raised in a family where ministry was a way of life, Carlton Byrd spent his early years changing slides on an overhead projector under a tent with his brother, his father’s voice echoing in the night sky with an urgent message of hope and redemption. Even then, he sensed a personal calling to the Gospel ministry. Byrd’s father was a pastor and his mother a church school teacher and principal. He grew up participating in church programs, from Pathfinders to choir, and helping at his father’s evangelistic meetings and tent revivals. Byrd recalls distributing handbills door-to-door to invite the community, building screens from sheets and two-by-fours for the presentations and later on, singing with his brother and sister as the "Byrd Trio," while his mother played the piano. “Ever since I was a child,” he says, “I’ve loved to see people give their lives to Christ.”
Despite his early devotion to the church, Byrd briefly considered a different path while a student at Oakwood University. Double-majoring in theology and business management, he was tempted by internships at corporations like ITT Hartford and Dow Corning that offered promising opportunities. Nevertheless, Byrd realized his true calling was in ministry.
“While the business background and education gave me a greater understanding of accounting statements, whether they were profit and loss statements or income statements, budget sheets or whatnot—it's not what I wanted to do,” Byrd says. “The love of soul winning, seeing people accept Christ as their Savior—those are the things that really got to me.”
Upon graduating from Oakwood, Byrd embraced God’s call to pastor a small three-church district in Mississippi for the South Central Conference. Byrd then attended seminary at Andrews University, and after graduating, he moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he ran his first tent revival and baptized 19 people. During his tenure in Tuscaloosa, he married Danielle, whom he had met at Oakwood University.
The couple then moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he continued to develop an innovative approach to ministry, baptizing several hundred people and building a new church facility to accommodate the growing congregation. Byrd’s ability to connect with people from all walks of life, coupled with traditional outreach methods, turned struggling churches into thriving communities.
Hope Despite Tragedy
Byrd’s longing for the Second Coming is deeply personal. In September of 1999, Byrd and his wife, along with their four-and-a-half-month-old daughter, Caitlyn, were traveling from Nashville to Tuscaloosa, where Byrd was expected to preach for a special Sabbath. The axle on their borrowed vehicle broke unexpectedly, causing it to roll over several times. Caitlyn’s injuries were extensive, and she passed away a few days later in the hospital, held in her father’s arms.
“You can imagine what that did to us,” says Byrd. “We'd always talked about the Second Coming, but now we see it. Our motivation is that we want to see suffering end. We want to see our little baby girl again. Everything we do is because we know what God has done for us in this restoration process after losing a child like this in such a horrific way.” For Byrd, the fact of Christ’s return is not just theology. It’s a promise. It’s hope and comfort that has sustained him through the loss of his daughter.
In the weeks that followed their daughter’s death, the Byrds were devastated. At the advice of their conference president, they sought counseling, which proved beneficial as they processed their grief. Instead of withdrawing from the ministry, Byrd became even more dedicated to making sure everyone knew about the love of God. He continued to lead his congregations with purpose and urgency, sharing his testimony as a source of encouragement for others facing their own struggles.
“We want Jesus. We want to see our daughter. We want to share this wonderful Advent message with as many people as possible to hasten the soon return of Jesus Christ,” he says. “In order to do that, we can't do maintenance ministry. We have to do meaningful, appreciable ministry.”
During their remaining time in Nashville, Byrd and Danielle were blessed to welcome two daughters, Christyn and Caileigh, who brought new joy into their lives while reminding them still of their mission and heavenly hope.
The Byrd family next joined what is now the World Harvest Outreach Seventh-day Adventist Church in Houston, Texas, where he pastored until 2006, when he accepted the call to pastor the Atlanta-Berean Seventh-day Adventist Church in Georgia. At the time, with more than 3,000 members, this was the largest Adventist church in the North American Division that wasn’t attached to a university or institute. The ministry prospered, and over the course of five years, nearly 1,900 people were baptized.
His leadership also extended beyond the pulpit as he collaborated with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development to secure a $5.2 million grant to build a 50-unit senior housing complex. Additionally, Byrd was involved in purchasing back the church's former property and converting it into Georgia's largest private food pantry, serving thousands of families.
Ministry Moves
In 2010, Byrd became the speaker and director for Breath of Life Ministries, a role he held through 2021 and that led to four church plants and thousands of baptisms. “I believe in meeting people where they are,” Byrd explains. “Media ministry allows us to share the Adventist message beyond our churches, reaching people in their homes and communities.”
In 2012, he became the senior pastor of the Oakwood University Church in Huntsville, Alabama. There, he led in the construction of the K-12 Oakwood Adventist Academy building that became a resource for Adventist education and community engagement, and a 22,000 square-foot family life center that included a barbershop, health clinic, gymnasium, commercial kitchen, classrooms, community service areas and vegetarian food market.
While the Byrds were at Oakwood, Danielle worked as the Field Services Department Director at Breath of Life Ministries and as an adjunct instructor at Oakwood Adventist Academy. In 2014, their youngest daughter, Carissa, was born.
In 2021, Byrd took on the role of president of the Southwest Region Conference. Determined to cut through the
sometimes-slow organizational processes involved in ministry, Byrd got to work immediately, focusing on streamlining decisions and taking quick action to meet the immediate needs of the community. Together with the conference’s team of pastors, ministry and lay leaders, volunteers and members, new initiatives are making measurably significant impacts.
One of the many ongoing projects of the Southwest Region Conference is the Dallas Project, which has merged several congregations into one vibrant, mission-driven church. This brings together three current churches whose members are committed to the project and its promise as a hub for community outreach and spiritual growth. The vision for the Dallas Project is the combination of that new church with a new conference office building and a new K-12 educational institution.
“We’re not just merging resources,” Byrd says. “We’re creating a space where people will encounter Christ.” Through various ministries, including evangelistic meetings, educational support and social services, the Dallas Project seeks to connect with people in meaningful ways, bringing the message of God’s love and the hope of the Second Coming to those who may not have encountered it before. Additionally, Byrd is committed to investing in Adventist education by creating incentives and assistance programs that have already led to a dramatic increase in enrollment.
Unchanging Message, New Methods
As Byrd continues to lead the Southwest Region Conference, he remains committed to sharing God’s messages of love and His promise to return for His children while exploring innovative ways to share these messages. He encourages pastors and lay leaders to step outside their comfort zones and engage with their communities in ways that reflect the urgency and hope of Christ’s return. “Our message hasn’t changed, but we must be innovative,” he says. “We need to be in the cities, in the communities.”
Byrd’s enthusiasm for sharing the Gospel and his love for God and His people are evident. With a life dedicated to sharing God’s promises, he has continuously sought to connect people with Christ in authentic and meaningful ways. In local churches, Byrd advocates for “seeker-sensitive” worship services and outreach programs that are intriguing and inviting to those who might feel that church isn’t for them. He believes in breaking down barriers and making the Seventh-day Adventist Church visible and active in urban areas like the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. His approach is to support and empower his ministry colleagues to think creatively, embrace new methods and take bold steps in reaching out, resulting in significant impacts on the lives of those in their communities.
Living in Hope
For Byrd, the Second Coming holds a hope that has sustained him and served as a focus for ministry. Byrd is proud of and loves his daughters, Christyn, a medical student; Caileigh, a business resident; and Carissa, who is in fifth grade. His role as a father is similar to his focus in ministry, marked by a tenacious drive to share the hope of Christ’s return and the promise of joining Him in heaven with as many people as possible, including his wife, Danielle, and all of his daughters. “I want to go live with Jesus,” Byrd says. “And I want to bring as many people with me as I can.”
