Our Leadership:

Interim Rev Paul Adams

Rev. Paul Adams was born and raised in the Onycha Community near Opp, Alabama. He attended Blue Springs School through the 8th grade and then Opp High School graduating in 1977. At that time, he was working in the Opp Cotton Mill as did his parents and many of his classmates. In 1985, he joined the Opp Fire Department as a full-time firefighter. He worked there for almost 17 years when medical issues forced him to retire from that position. Not one to sit around, Paul went back to school at age 40, and over the next seven years, he earned a Juris Doctorate Degree from Jones School of Law in Montgomery, Alabama. He was admitted to the Alabama State Bar in September 2006 and to the United States Supreme Court in 2013. He practiced law from 2006 until 2025 when he retired again. For 11 of those years he served Covington County as an Assistant District Attorney in Andalusia. The remaining time, he worked as a Law Clerk for Circuit Judge, Honorable Charles A. “Lex” Short, and in private practice.

During most of his adult life, Paul has worked with area churches in various capacities. He has been a church secretary, taught numerous Sunday School classes, and served as a lay speaker. He is also a musician, playing guitar since age 12, and later, bass guitar, and drums. He began playing with the Good News Quartet of Opp in the 10th grade and played with them for several years. Later, he played with the Singing Dyess Family of Opp for five years.

Paul joined the Opp First United Methodist Church in 2019 and served as a Sunday School teacher, Lay Leader, and on various committees. Paul answered the call to ministry in the Fall of 2024, and entered Wesley Biblical Seminary in Ridgeland, Mississippi in January of 2025. He is currently on track to be ordained as a Deacon in the Global Methodist Church in the spring of 2027.

Paul and his wife, Renee, have known each other since childhood and were married in September, 2022. Renee works with Paul in his ministry and is a steadfast supporter of it. They make their home near Opp.