Pastors of Open Bible Tabernacle
Eugene Holder, Senior Pastor
During World War II, I received a job from Bell Aircraft and because of a gasoline shortage and the long distance from Decatur, Georgia, to my work, I bought a forty-acre farm in Kennesaw, Georgia, just off Pine Mountain Road. I was already in the ministry in Atlanta, Georgia, I began attending church on Pine Mountain Road and was pastor there for a short while. We later began to pastor a church in the small town of Kennesaw, Georgia.
Later, we started a church near ATCO Cotton Mills in Cartersville, Georgia. When the war ended in 1945, the people I had won to the Lord began to move away because there was no work available. We then moved to Oak Ridge Drive in Fair Oaks, nearer to Marietta. We bought thirty acres of land on Austell Road and raised a tent in which we started having services and continued in the old army tent for three summers and two winters.
During this time, the people that had moved away after World War II began to move back into this area because the Korean War broke out. Around the year of 1951, most of them began attending the small tent service. It was not long before we had an average attendance of thirty-five. One Sunday morning my wife's sister, Geneva, said while standing in front of the tent, "It's time to build," so we did! We built a 30 x 40 foot basement that could seat 75 people comfortably. That was the beginning of the Open Bible Tabernacle.
From that humble beginning sprang Cobb County Christian School, five sister churches, (all independent); also, there are at least twenty churches in Old Mexico, a children's home in Padilla, Mexico (licensed by the Mexican government) all directly from this ministry. There are three other churches that meet on our church property each Sunday.
We are the oldest non-denominational church in Cobb County and welcome anyone to worship with us in any of our services.
On March 13, 2007, I turned eighty-eight years old, and it seems it is impossible for me to quit. My wife is 86 and we have nine children, twenty-nine grandchildren, forty-five great-grandchildren, and three great, great, grandchildren. All of our nine children are in Christian ministry of some kind. We have two daughters on the mission field in Old Mexico. The other four daughters are in ministry in different churches (one here at Open Bible Tabernacle). One son has a Christian resort in the Carrolton, Whitesburg area, another son pastors Bethel Church in Logansport, Indiana, and one son works in South Western University near Dallas, Texas.
The Lord has surely blessed us beyond measure. We give God all the glory, honor and praise for all He has done in our lives. One last note….none of the things mentioned here could have been accomplished without the help of others, such as the wonderful members of the Open Bible Tabernacle who have given so much love, finances, time and labor. We say, "Thank You, from the bottom of our heart for each of you."
Eugene Holder, Senior Pastor
Joe Postell, Pastor
Pastor Joe Postell, born in Copperhill, Tennessee, was raised nearly all of his life in Acworth, Georgia. He is the fourth-generation of Pentecostals on his mother’s side and the grandson of a Pentecostal preacher. He was saved, baptized and received the Holy Spirit at an early age.
Having such a Pentecostal lineage, it was only natural that music would become an important part of Pastor Joe’s life. He was a church pianist for several years and later part of a gospel group that traveled throughout the Southeast ministers the gospel in song. It was during this time that he felt a powerful calling that went far beyond his musical abilities and gifts. Soon, he answered the call to the ministry and began preaching whenever and wherever the opportunity arose.
Pastor Joe would serve as a Youth Pastor and Assistant Pastor in local churches for the next few years. In 1998, he assumed the position of Pastor of Open Bible Tabernacle. A graduate of Kennesaw State University, he also received a degree from Christian Life School of Theology and Seminary. He and his wife, Karen, along with the two children, Joshua and Jessica, reside in Woodstock, Georgia.
Joe Postell, Pastor
David Milner, Sr., Assistant Pastor
Assistant Pastor David W. Milner was born in Arkansas and grew up a preacher’s kid in central Texas; he is a third-generation Pentecostal on his mother’s side. David received the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the age of 13 and shortly thereafter felt the call of God on his life to become a minister. He preached his first sermon at the age of 15.
He and his lovely wife of 37 years, Jeanine, were youth camp sweethearts. Even during their high school courtship, they would travel to many small churches in central Texas on Friday and Sunday nights to sing together and then David would preach.
Once, they were married they moved to Houston, Texas where David assisted his father in the ministry at the United Pentecostal Church of Porter, Texas. Later, David accepted his own pastorates in both Arkansas and Texas, and while serving the work in Glen Rose, Texas; a beautiful new church building was erected and there they enjoyed several years of God’s blessings. Later, they moved to the Atlanta area where they have served the local churches they have attended in various positions of church leadership.
Today, the Milners live in Marietta, Georgia. Besides serving Open Bible Tabernacle as Assistant Pastor, David is also the Vice President of Haven Properties, Inc., a new home building company located in Alpharetta, Georgia. Jeanine is the Administrator of Marietta Health & Rehab. David and Jeanine are extremely proud of their two grown children and one grandson; their son, David Jr., is the Pastor of Church in the Real in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Paige, their daughter is para-legal for a law firm in Atlanta and she resides in Conyers, Ga., their grandson, Trey David the III (14) lives in Garland Texas.
David Milner, Sr., Assistant Pastor