Faith & Family - Cullman, Alabama Spring 2020 - Page 32

Pastor Joe Teal preaches from the pulpit at West Highland Baptist Church.
Pastor
Joe Teal:
A man after
God’s own
heart
By Carol Malone
W
hen visiting at Huntsville
Hospital, Joe Teal often
knocks on the door of
patient room number 675 on the
cardiac surgery floor and introduces
himself to perfect strangers. His
message is the same. All that changes
is the number of years.
On his last visit before the
coronavirus pandemic, he said, “I am
Joe Teal, and 17 years ago, I was a
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Faith & Family | April 2020
patient in this very room following
quadruple bypass surgery.”
He
hopes
it
provides
encouragement, much as a pastor
friend did for him back in 2003.
Visiting him a few days after his
surgery, his friend told him that he
had been in the same room three years
earlier following his heart surgery.
The emergency surgery had left
an ordinarily healthy Teal feeling
weak and vulnerable. Seeing his
friend there, looking healthy, served
to encourage Teal.
He decided he was going to do
the same thing when he got well to
give hope to others. Such an act of
compassion is not surprising to those
who know Joe Teal. He has spent
his life ministering in one way or
another.
Christian upbringing
Teal believes he was blessed
to be born into a Christian home
in Marshall County, in a small