Pastor Ernest Key
Short Bio
I was born in Alpine Texas on January 12, 1951. We lived in Grand Junction Colorado for a little while before I started school. I went to grade school in Sanderson, Texas then middle school and high school in Del Rio, Texas. I graduated from high school in 1969, and then went to Arizona Automotive School for six months, graduating in March of 1970. Our family wound up settling in Albuquerque. Dad work on the Cochiti Dam as a heavy equipment mechanic. I worked in the automotive field as a transmission mechanic, and managed transmission shops. I did that for about 20 years. I was on staff at Rio Grande Baptist Church for 6 years. Three of those years I was principal of the Christian school there. My wife and I went to that church for 28 years. Our son went into the navy and after that became a deputy for the Bernalillo Sheriff’s department. We have three great grandchildren. What a wonderful great blessing it is to know that our family is saved.
All of my training for the ministry was at the local church under Pastor Gerald Wood who pastored Rio Grande Baptist for 30 years. In the time that our family was at our church we did or were involved in every ministry of our church in some way or another.
I became the pastor of Bernalillo Independent Baptist Church in January of 2003.
My Testimony
The first time I prayed to receive Jesus as my Saviour was while our family was in Colorado. I remember setting on the steps in front of the church with the teachers. The steps were red made out of cement in a half circle. It was not long after that we left Colorado and was in Alpine, Texas visiting my Dad’s mother and father. We attended First Baptist Church while there. One Sunday morning I told my family that I needed to go forward and get saved. They said that I was already saved. I told them, “No, I am not saved.” They said OK and I went forward and talked to the Pastor. Then I talked to Jesus and asked Him to come into my life and be my Saviour. That is when I got saved; that first time I prayed at the church in Colorado, it was only words from my mouth not a sincere prayer from my heart. I was baptized at that same church. I remember taking my change of clothes in Grandmother’s little square overnight suitcase. I remember that because it smelled like my Nana’s perfume and it had a mirror inside the top. I was a boy; how embarrassing. I just hoped that I didn’t smell like a girl after changing my clothes.
I did not remember much of this or ever thought about it, till my wife and I stated attending Rio Grande Baptist Church. I was not even certain I was saved, until we got under the preaching and teaching of Pastor Wood. I new nothing of the doctrine of Eternal Security. Much less what Eternal Security even meant. I remember being in youth choir when I was in middle school in Del Rio, but that is about all I remember of being in church. That is another reason why it is so important to be in a good Bible teaching church early in your life.
God had plans for my life from the begging, as he does with ever one. When we lived in Sanderson I would go spend time with Nana Key. I remember one time when my parents came to pick me up I had an announcement. I had gone to Vacation Bible School during my visit, and I had decided that I was going to be the first preacher on the moon. I had the location wrong but not God’s calling on my life. I surrendered to God’s calling to be a preacher at Rio Grande Baptist Church.
Bernalillo Independent Baptist Church had been looking for a new pastor for about six months. I came up and preached for them January 1, 2003 and did all of the Sunday services on the 12th. They voted on the 19th and called me to be their pastor. My wife and I have been serving our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus faithfully here, as we did at Rio Grande Baptist Church for almost 30 years.
