DAPHNE, Ala. — If good works are next to Godliness, the Rev. Jim Fillingim might have earned a front row seat in the great beyond; Fillingim, who has served as Daphne United Methodist Church’s pastor for seven years, gave his last sermon on Sunday.

Jim — who became a deacon in 1967 — and wife, Kay, came to the Daphne church when the Alabama-West Florida Conference assigned him in 2001. His goal in serving God — and for life in general — is to do good works and help others, he said.

“God loves His creation and he wants me to love them like Jesus did,” he said.

One way of doing so, Fillingim said, was by taking a realistic stance in his sermons.

“My preaching is Bible-based, but applicable to everyday life; it’s practical Christianity,” he said.

He also hopes he helped others through his own life. He gave several examples — including his own shortcomings — to explain concepts, he said.

“I have lived out my ministry; I have tried to live what I preach,” he said.

Another way to touch others is to enjoy life, he said.

He often plays pranks and and has fun, he said.

During his time at the Daphne church, he has overseen the building of Phase I of the community center. He helped form capital campaigns and find architects for the project.

“That has been the linchpin — seeing that part of the project materialize, he said. “God brought us here at a strategic time in the life of this congregation.”

“We have about 60 percent community activities and about 40 percent member activities,” he said. “We had 56,000 people come through the building in the first year,” for pilates, basketball, Wednesday night dinners and art classes.

Programs such as the church’s food pantry for the needy, its Scouts program and foreign missions flourished, according to a church spokesperson.

Jim had served at St. John United Methodist and as a campus minister at the University of South Alabama in Mobile; and pastored in Panama City, Fla., before coming to Daphne.

“I’ve been a campus minister, a beach minister and a local community minister; God has blessed me and stretched me at times,” he said.

He had been blessed with a congregation of the 150-year-old Daphne United Methodist Church that trusted his decisions, he said.

“You can do more when your people give you latitude; they have been open to creative ministry,” he said. “I’ve always felt the freedom to try something different: have services outside, under tents, at the Bayfront (Park) facility; some have gone well and others haven’t.

“They don’t put their heels down and say, ‘No, we’ve never done this before.”

Fillingim will remain a church member and support the coming pastor — the Rev. Steve Rascoe who will start this week, he said.

He knew the time had come even though he’d planned to retire next year at age 65 because the congregation hopes to move forward with Phase II of construction, to include a welcome center and rooms for weight training and additional classes. The church will need someone to see the entire project through, he said.

“From a leadership standpoint, they needed someone that would be here for years to lead them through that,’ he said.

After Kay retires from her career as a school nurse in the next year, the couple plans to travel. Jim said he wants to see the Grand Canyon and sequoias in the West, and eat lobster in the North.

Meantime, he’s learning Spanish and plans to write stories of “the great lay people” he has met.

Jim also wants to spend time with his family in Pensacola, Fla., and enjoy his daughter and three grandsons here, and his son and two granddaughters in Jackson, Miss.

He also said he’d like to help Habitat for Humanity, an organization founded in 1976 to provide homes with no profit added for families in need.

His height — 6 feet 8 inches — would allow him to work without a ladder, he said with a smile.

But retiring doesn’t mean he’s through with preaching altogether; he hopes to preach sporadically when pastors are sick or out of town. He might even become a chaplain on a cruise ship, he said.

Either way, Jim said he knows Daphne United Methodist will have a bright future.

“Just as God brought Kay and me to Daphne and the love for us has grown between pastor and congregation, God will be faithful and bind them (members) with their new pastor,” he said. “Expect that the best is yet to happen for Daphne; I’ll be watching and will be a part of it.

“I’ll still be in the parade — I’ll just be in the back instead of the front.”