Since 1998, Paul Beam has been in ministry with the life mission of bringing people closer to Christ.
Hailing from Oklahoma where he spent a few years as pastor, Beam made his way to the Texas Panhandle after a friend and fellow pastor referred him to Calvary Baptist in Pampa in 2017 where he became pastor.
Beam’s focus is on building disciples who live by the word of God and follow the teachings of Christ with a welcoming, come-as-you-are attitude.
“As we follow him, he calls on us to make disciples and that’s our goal and tell people about Jesus and help them learn how to follow Him,” Beam said.
“We’re kind of a blue-collar people. We’ve got guys who work out at Titan, are in the oilfield industry and the highway department-people from all kinds of walks of life. We just have this really good fellowship of people that love one another and work toward the same goal.”
“You have a lot of good churches in town that are focused on loving people and loving God and following God, but I think what makes our church different is the way we approach scripture and the way we approach people.”
“One of the ways that we approach scripture is we believe that God’s word is true and infallible. We believe in the Bible’s entirety. We take scripture with the mission that Christ gives us in Matthew Chapter 28 that says, Go and make disciples.”
While it’s said there’s been a decline in church attendance over recent years, Beam finds that more people who are not familiar with the teachings of Christ, especially the younger generation, are curious.
“I think there is a reality there that our world is geared against God, the church and the bible. But I do find a lot of people really wanting to know things and know about God. That’s one of the things about our discipleship is teaching folks how to read the bible and study it and apply it.”
For the past year, Beam has served on the Community Christian School board, appreciating the fact that Pampa has an alternative school that focuses on not only academics, but the spiritual well-being of the kids as well.
“The school is important to me. I think it’s important to have the option of a Christian education. There’s only so much the public schools can say about the bible and they have to be careful. But the Christian school can open up and share and kids can ask questions and find answers.”
Calvary offers many services and gatherings throughout the week, with regular morning service on Sunday starting at 8:30 AM with prayer, followed by Life Groups at 9:30 and regular service at 10:30. There also two small men’s groups that meet on Sunday nights at 6:00 PM.
On Mondays, there is a ladies bible study starting at 6:30 PM.
On Wednesdays, attendants are provided a fellowship meal at 5:30 PM followed by a round table discussion at 6:30 led by Pastor Beam that focuses on Christianity, culture, theology and life in general, and a women’s bible study group is at the same time.
Calvary students in 6th-12th grade, Calvary kids in kindergarten through 5th grade, and Little Calvary for children pre-k and under can attend classes on Wednesday nights at 6:30 PM as well.
Calvary is also part of the D3 Discipleship Group that focuses on not only spreading the Gospel, but helping people fully understand it and apply it to their daily lives.
“It starts as a group of three people in a group, and what they’ll do is individually read a chapter of scripture each day for five days and they will write some things they learned from that. They’ll highlight a verse or two and explain and apply what they’ve read and they have a response which is usually a prayer. So they’ll do that five days a week and then each of these facilitators come together and meet up and talk through that and pray and encourage each other. And at the end of that, the goal is that after 33 weeks, they add three more people through that. It’s a multiplication of discipleships. It started out with just me and our staff two years ago. We went from six to twenty-something to now 60 people involved in it. So next year we’re looking at over 100.”
Beam is also the president of the Minister Alliance, an organization that brings pastors of different churches together to provide more of a spiritual outreach to the community.
“What I’m trying to do is build relationships with pastors. I feel like if people can see that if pastors can get along then the churches can get along and that’s important to me-that the people in Pampa see that everyone can get along.”
The primary message of Beam and the Calvary Church is one of salvation, love and truth, bringing people together and connecting them with Christ.
“We want people to come and grow in their faith. We want people to hear the word of God and allow it to transform their lives. I often say don’t just take my word for it; find out for yourself.”
Pastor Beam invites anyone and everyone to join Calvary Pampa, located at 900 E. 23rd.
