By Katie Ginn
From left: Gregg Divinity, Betty Hodge, Kate and Blaine Totty, and Altina Burton-Middleton are MCL’s 2025 Christian Leaders of the Year
Each year, MCL asks for nominations for Christian Leaders of the Year to be featured in our December cover story. This year’s honorees shared about everything from church planting to praying for prodigal children who have yet to come home. If you’re a follower of Christ who wants to make an impact, these leaders’ stories will encourage you!
Meet the leaders
Gregg Divinity: Pastor of New Vineyard Church, with campuses in Jackson, Utica and Natchez
From his nomination: “He feeds 1,500 kids a day. He has a school preK-5th grade and after-school care, (and) he feeds them breakfast, lunch, and dinner … He has two buildings he has renovated for teens (and) plans to teach them career skills.” – Betty Hodge, ministry partner
Altina Burton-Middleton: Overseer of God’s Glory Ministries in Raymond
From her nominations:
“She sees something in me that I seem to be avoiding, but she continues to pray and wait for God’s vision to manifest in my life. My son passed away at the age of 19 years old and who was there to catch me, my pastor. She also started Young Ladies with Class, focusing on girls ages 10-17.” – Queen Hatfield, church member
“She is compassionate, dedicated, and enduring. She is up when the birds start chirping, and down when the sun goes down. She is constantly in prayer for those in need.” – Delisia Watts
Betty Hodge: Community Relations and Programs Director, Center for Pregnancy Choices Metro Area (CPC Metro)
From her nomination: “She takes time to get to know each woman (and) maintains a relationship with them. (She is) always dreaming and building and grabbing other women along the way to involve them and challenge them and just love on them.” – Nicole Allen, fellow church member
Blaine and Kate Totty: OPEX Program Director, Ergon, and cardiac nurse practitioner, Jackson Heart, respectively
From their nomination: “Blaine and Kate are two of the most spiritually encouraging and uplifting people I’ve ever met. … They have their three children hand out bags of food and supplies to homeless people … They have organized a group to bake homemade sweets for the Jackson (Fire Department). Blaine and Kate have also organized a food and gift drive for a needy family in Holmes County during the Christmas season.” – Lauren Strickland, friend
The interview
Katie Ginn: Who are the Christian leaders who influenced each of you?
Altina Burton-Middleton: My father was a pastor, and his father, and my uncles – it’s in the family bloodline.
Blaine Totty: Both of my parents have always been involved in the church. They’ve always used extra space in our house for people who needed a place to stay that serve in ministry.
Betty Hodge: One would be Janine Mangum. She’s (operations) director here at the CPC. As a new believer many years ago, she took me in and taught me what grace looks like.
Also Freddy Brown at Restoration Church. He was my pastor who was a spiritual father to me.
Gregg Divinity: Probably in ministry, for me, it was Pastor Algernon Stamps, the originator of Stamps (Super) Burgers (in Jackson). He was a pastor as well in Utica. He would pick us up in a brown Gran Torino station wagon, and I was 4 years old, and he would take us to church, teach us the Bible, and feed us.
Kate Totty: The first one was probably my youth minister, Greg Taylor, at First United Methodist Church in Clinton many moons ago. He was really cool. (laughs) He would zipline in for youth, literally. But he just lived such a Christlike life in such humility.
As an adult, Amanda Box, she was our connections minister. We would meet at Broad Street for coffee and share life. She mentored me, especially with young children.
KG: How did each of you get to where you are today in ministry – and Tottys, that can include jobs or parenting as well?
BH: My husband and I were going through (the) adoption of three of our daughters. In that timeframe, we felt our church needed more of an orphan care ministry. Then, though, the state was allowing same-sex (couples) to foster. That felt really messy at that time.
I had heard about Embrace Grace (classes), which were for single expectant mommas. And (I thought), I can take in these women, lead groups, hopefully, help them keep their baby, hopefully teach them ways to where their kids are not in foster care. The CPC would send me moms (for the classes). (Then) the CPC came to me and said, we want you.
ABM: I kept having dreams. I’m a dreamer like Joseph. I had this dream where God was showing me the ministry. In the dream, I was pregnant, and the doctor was saying, ‘It’s time to have this baby,’ and I was saying, ‘No it’s not.’ My sister had one of the same identical dreams, and for me that was confirmation.
We started out with 40 people meeting in my living room, then in the garage, then at our first church. This year we bought our first building with 18 acres of land.
A lot of us came from a broken church. Before I was a pastor, I was a first lady. And we found out the pastor wasn’t a lot of what we thought the pastor was, and he was on drugs.
It finally got to a point of, I can’t take it anymore. (But I thought), I have to do something. I can’t just leave these church members.
KT: I feel like our story is kind of boring. (laughs)
BT: We met in college. We had a pastor and mentor at Campus Crusade for Christ, Butch Simmons, who started a group that turned into a little church there. We stayed with that through college.
When we got married, we knew we wanted to attend a church where we could get involved. Even before we officially placed membership (at Meadowbrook Church of Christ), we were teaching youth classes.
From there, we got involved in ministries, a lot of work that our church has done through Stewpot. …. Now we’re trying to think of ways to get our kids thinking more like that.
KG: And your church is currently meeting at … ?
BT: Sunnybrook.
KT: The children’s home. It’s been sweet. They’re in our Sunday school now. We pray for their birth moms.
You asked about jobs. And I feel like no matter what you’re doing, you are still an ambassador for Christ. I try to talk to my patients … Just being able to ask them, ‘Can I pray with you?’ or, ‘Do you have faith in Jesus?’ It’s hard sometimes to be bold … but it’s a really neat opportunity. I need to be bolder.
GD: God saved me on February 25, 1995, on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. I had an out-of-body experience. At that time, I didn’t believe in God. … But I always said I would say, ‘Lord, have mercy’ before I die, just in case I could sneak in. But then God showed me, ‘You don’t know when death is coming. You need to make sure you’re ready.’
(After that experience) for probably four months, I went to church every day. I was finding revival services. I couldn’t find something on Saturday, so we started our own Bible study.
I was a Sunday school teacher, and then God called me to preach (at) a little country church in Utica. Then I got called to New Jerusalem and became assistant pastor there.
Then in March 2006 … when I got in the (church) parking lot, God told me that was my last day there. On Easter, He said, ‘Start a church in your living room.’ So we did. We didn’t have 40, we had about 14. (laughs) We’ve moved probably eight times (since then).
We have a preschool and an after-school program. We like to say, ‘Salvation and education, and we’ll change a nation.’
KG: What’s one part of your ministry that you struggle with?
ABM: My son was a dynamic football player, who graduated from Callaway High School in 2020. Somebody laced my baby. (They gave him) a bad drug, which changed his mentality. So we fight to this day. (But) I’m crazy enough to believe (God’s) going to restore him.
I have asked God a thousand questions. How can I help so many other people and I can’t help somebody in my own household? I take that blessed oil and I anoint him, and I command demons and devils to loose him and let him go.
I don’t know how they even convinced him to (take the drug). He has surgery and doesn’t even want to take pain pills.
But I believe all things work together for the good. It don’t feel good, but somehow it’s going to work for the good.
KT: In my struggle, I work part-time, and then mothering is full-time, and I thought I was going to be this amazing mom, and it’s been very humbling. We have a 9, 8, and 5-year-old. We have great kids. But (it’s) revealed my selfishness and impatience.
It’s made me lean on the Lord. In my faith, I’ve always felt like, ‘I got this.’ We (often) give Him a little lip service, but do we say, ‘I depend on You’?
BT: My engineering brain wants Christianity to be a book of simple-to-understand rules, black and white. I want my kids to be able to see that it’s not that. Life is life. Christianity provides hope in a broken world. But Christianity is not this perfect thing where perfect people go. Just how to do that, how to give them the right perspective … that’s a struggle.
BH: I also have a prodigal who’s been in addiction from age 19 until now, and he’s 27.
Through our adoption (of our daughters), God used that to build my faith over the years. Now, going through this with my son, he’s been on the street, sometimes I haven’t heard from him in weeks … In the groups I lead, I’m very vulnerable. The women know I’ve got this going on.
You have to be vulnerable (when you’re going through trials). That leads other people, when they don’t (just) see all the polished people.
I’m just thankful that the Lord has sustained me through it. So my girls don’t have to see a mom that is just completely broken over it.
GD: I have the same struggle being in ministry and your kids barely want anything to do with it. (I want my kids) to know Jesus and live for Him. That’s not something they want at this juncture. I always tell everybody … ‘They’re working on their testimony.’ (laughs)
(Another struggle is) the LGBTQ community, and how to minister in that arena. (God) said, ‘With lovingkindness have I drawn you.’ We can’t get to the point where we’re not receptive to people. Sometimes we just want to change folks. But God’s got to change them. In fishing, you never catch a clean fish.
The other (struggle) is getting more laborers. … Getting people to understand, you’ve been saved for something.
KG: What’s your favorite part of your ministry?
ABM: My support system … especially my husband. (And) my church, how receptive they are. I can’t stand judgmental people (who) make you feel like if you fall, you are doomed. What was the purpose of the blood (of Jesus)? So I shy away from that (judgmentalism), and I teach my church to shy away from that. But they are so supportive of their pastor, even through hard times.
BT: I’d say delayed fruit. Somebody may have seen something that you (or someone else) did, and five to 10 years later, that story is still in their head. Hearing those successes later on.
KT: I helped co-lead a discipleship group … and one of the mainstays is a time of confession. We spend 30 minutes in prayer with a prayer partner. It’s been life-altering for me. It’s brought up sin patterns that have been present since I was a child. We don’t offer each other any advice (in that 30 minutes). We just pray.
GD: One of my favorite parts is this right here – meeting other people in ministry. We see others on the journey that continue to encourage us. And then seeing a changed life. You see them in the dumps, in the dirt … and then they’re deacons.
BH: Because of our pro-life community, we can send (moms) to Pastor Gregg for a Single Mom’s University class. We can connect with different churches that have (resources). We can send them to phlebotomy school.
It’s seeing women seeing a new vision. … They’ve got four kids and think, ‘I’ve got to have an abortion.’ They’ve got all these (problems) that are valid. But I can say, ‘Will you just trust us? Let us see if we can help you. Don’t rush into this.’
And seeing my girls who are still at home, my little ducklings following after me. … Even my granddaughter, who is a CPC baby, which is another story.
KG: What helps each of you fulfill your calling?
BT: I heard about this on a podcast: Every night, I pray and I thank God … and then when the alarm clock goes off (in the morning), that’s when I ask God for things. So many times, your prayers are just asking.
BH: My family is so supportive of me … because I’m busy. They really pick up a lot of slack. And then to be with a team that is here for the mission. We get to pray, we get to have a devotional time. If there’s a salvation, there’s someone running through the hall ringing the bell. (Also) at my church, I don’t have to go through a lot of red tape (for my single moms’ ministry).
ABM: At the time I needed it the most, I found out I actually could fall and get back up. How about that? … That blood on the cross was for a reason. Tap into the blood.
GD: I realize God is able. Because I look at where He brought me from. There’s somebody out there who needs to hear.
KT: For me … being a mom and never having a break, even a nap (can be helpful). Jesus even withdrew from the crowd to pray. He slept on the boat when the storm was raging. (If) you just grind it all day every day, you’re going to be worthless to the people around you.
KG: What encouragement would each of you give someone who wants to follow in your footsteps?
BH: If people knew half of my story, they’d say, ‘What is she doing speaking at churches?’ Don’t count yourself out. I don’t have college degrees.
ABM: God doesn’t call the equipped but equips the called. He knew I wasn’t prepared.
GD: Always be humble, realizing God’s Word says He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Be humble enough to have mentors. Two of mine are Bishop Ronnie Crudup and Dr. John Taylor of the Metro Baptist Association.
BT: God does the work. All you have to provide is a little bit of a seed. Don’t get discouraged.
KT: As a Christian female and a mother … too many yeses are usually not honoring to God. I’ve been the worst at spreading myself too thin. I’m trying to ask God to help me do it differently.