SPANISH FORT, Ala. — As Bob Sweet’s military career wound down in the early 1990s, the Kingston, Tenn., native felt a little uneasy about what life might hold after the U.S. Navy.

The apprehension proved to be short-lived.

His family’s active involvement with a church while stationed in Texas, and contact with a minister in Pensacola following retirement, set him on a course for Spanish Fort and a second career that allows him to call upon his “real world” experiences as pastor of Providence United Methodist Church.

“It’s just one of those things. I had all my qualifications to be an airline pilot and was headed in that direction, but I just felt called into the Christian ministry,” said Sweet, entering his ninth year at the helm of the Catfish Church celebrating its eighth year as a chartered church on Sunday.

“I accepted that calling and never turned back.”

Sweet, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1975, spent the beginning of his adult life as a naval pilot and held his first ministerial appointment at a small church in Ozark, Ala., before meeting his new Spanish Fort flock in June 2003.

Sunday’s anniversary might not be one of the “big ones” with a five or zero at the end, but Sweet said its still very important to a congregation that remains connected to its humble roots in a catfish restaurant and the journey that’s brought them all to this point.

“When I got here, they were already looking for a permanent location, but I actually got to preach a couple of sermons at (David’s) Catfish House and be part of those roots,” he said.

Sweet and his wife of 35 years, Rhoda, have also enjoyed becoming part of the Daphne and Spanish Fort communities during the past eight years — the longest they’ve ever lived in any one place during their marriage. The couple has two daughters, one son and two granddaughters.

Although his first appointment was a “great” experience, Sweet said he feels he’s able to relate to his current congregation on a different level because of more similarities in background and education. Having had life experiences outside the church before becoming a pastor has “proven fruitful” because he’s “been there myself.”

“I’ve gone through the same kinds of issues that the people here have. I can see the world through practical eyes and not just through theological eyes, and that really helps sometimes when I need to put on those theological glasses and try to make sense of the world,” Sweet said.