Memorial Service Set For Thursday For Dr. Bill Self

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Johns Creek, GA -- Citizens whose lives were touched by the service of the Rev. Dr. Bill Self will be able to formally pay their respects to the pastor on Thursday.

Johns Creek Baptist Church will host a celebration of life service at 2 p.m. Jan. 14 at its church, which is located at 6910 McGinnis Ferry Road.

The church on Saturday announced Self’s passing on its Facebook page, several months after his diagnosis with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis was made public in a blog post published on the church’s website.

Commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, ALS is a ”progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord,”according to the ALS Association.

Self, 83, retired in late 2012 as senior pastor at Johns Creek Baptist Church -- formerly known as First Baptist Church of Chamblee -- after serving there since 1991.

According to his obituary, he previously served as pastor of Wieuca Road Baptist Church from 1964 to 1990 and taught at Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology.

Self was born on Jan. 10, 1932, in Winston Salem, North Carolina, and moved to Florida with his mother following the death of his father.

At the age of 13, he “acknowledged God’s call into full-time Christian ministry and began speaking in area churches,” his obituary states. He graduated from Seacrest High School and later attended Stetson University.

He met wife Carolyn at the university, and they married during his senior year. Self graduated from Stetson in 1954 with a bachelor’s degree and later earned a bachelor of divinity degree in 1957 from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

He became pastor of Edgemont Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where he served from 1957 to 1960. He then went to Florida to serve as pastor of West Bradenton Baptist Church for four years before relocating to Wieuca Road Baptist Church.

Self is survived by his wife, Carolyn Shealy Self; children, Lee Self and wife Birgit Voss; Bryan Self and wife Karen Self; sister Susan Walton; niece Joanna Gresham and husband Scott; and grandsons, Carter Self and Benjamin Self.

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Image via Johns Creek Baptist Church