BALDWINSVILLE — After 29 years as senior pastors at Word of Life Assembly of God Church in Baldwinsville, Randy and Mary Anne Czyz are stepping down from their pulpit.

Randy and Mary Anne are retiring to the South to spend more time with their grandchildren.

“We’re really going to miss our community. The fact that we’re leaving is challenging for us,” Randy said.

Retirement will mark the second time the Czyz family — one of the nine families who founded Word of Life in 1980 — has departed from Baldwinsville. Randy served as Word of Life’s first youth pastor until 1987, when he was asked to serve as a chaplain at the United States Military Academy at West Point. While in the area, he started an Assembly of God Church in Highland Falls, New York.

In 1992, Randy and Mary Anne returned to their Baldwinsville roots to become the senior pastors at Word of Life.

“When we were still at West Point, Pastor [Daniel] Raught was getting ready to retire, and he asked us to step in,” Mary Anne recalled.

While Randy and Mary Anne have devoted the last 41 years of their lives to ministry, their path was not always so certain. Raised Catholic, Randy said he once was a troubled teenager in need of a purpose. When he was 16, he spent the summer visiting his older brother in Philadelphia.

“I ended up having an experience with God that changed my life,” Randy said.

The brothers visited a church filled with young parishioners, priests and nuns who had gathered to sing. Randy was overcome with the feeling that he was “forgiven and free.”

“When I came back home, I was a different guy,” he said.

Randy said he felt called to the ministry, but he did not want to become a priest. A monsignor in the Catholic Church told him, “There’s a special call in your life, so I’m setting you free.” Randy married his high school sweetheart, Mary Anne, in 1973, and the young couple explored different denominations before finding one that resonated with them.

“To be a part of the Assemblies of God, it was like a hand in a glove,” Randy said.

Raising four children and Randy’s job at Crucible Steel kept the family busy, but the call to ministry remained.

“I felt another tug on my heart that I should go into ministry full time,” Randy said.

He attended the Berean School of the Bible, and the Czyz family helped found Word of Life in Baldwinsville.

‘We love Baldwinsville’

Word of Life had about 70 parishioners when Randy and Mary Anne returned in 1992. Now, between 700 and 1,000 people flock to Word of Life’s virtual and in-person Sunday services.

“It just became packed,” Mary Anne recalled.

Through the ‘90s and early 2000s, the congregation began to outgrow the former Elizabeth Street School building it calls home. The church is also home to Word of Life Christian Academy, which offers classes for pre-kindergarten through grade 6. The Word of Life board voted in 2002 to build an addition to the structure that includes a 1,000-seat auditorium.

“We’ve kept the architectural details of that school as intact as possible. We’re in the historical part of town. It’s very important to us,” Mary Anne said.

As the congregation has grown, the church has shared its abundance with Baldwinsville and the world at large.

“Everything we do here is to love people — all people — and to help where we can help,” Mary Anne said.

Word of Life supports the missions of Convoy of Hope, which include disaster relief, battling child hunger, women’s empowerment initiatives and more. Each year, Word of Life congregants donate to Convoy’s One Day to Feed the World campaign, which challenges people to donate one day’s wages toward Convoy’s causes. According to Randy, this generates $65,000 to $70,000 for Convoy.

“They’re such a generous group of people,” Randy said of his congregation.

Closer to home, Word of Life supports local organizations such as Baldwinsville Meals on Wheels, the Baldwinsville Community Food Pantry, PEACE Inc. and other entities. In the past, the church has held Island Fest to provide free food, bicycles, clothing, haircuts and backpacks for local children in need.

“It’s exciting to see when you get everybody in the community [working together] what can be accomplished,” Mary Anne said.

Under the Czyz family’s leadership, Word of Life also has forged strong relationships with the Baldwinsville Police Department and the Baldwinsville Central School District.

“We love to let everybody know we love Baldwinsville. Word of Life Church loves Baldwinsville,” Randy said.

As the Czyz family passes the torch to the next generation of Word of Life leaders, Randy said he hopes the relationships and ministries he and Mary Anne have led will “be a good seed that’s going to be planted.”

Thomas Wood, a 38-year-old British transplant, will take the reins as senior pastor.

“He’s the same age we were when we came back,” Mary Anne said.

Wood joined the Word of Life team in April 2020. He attended Hillsong College in Sydney, Australia, where he met his wife, Megan.

Word of Life parishioners are invited to record and submit a video expressing appreciation for Randy and Mary Anne Czyz. Selected videos will be screened at their farewell service, which will take place at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 30. Word of Life is located at 12 E. Oneida St. in the village of Baldwinsville. For more information or to upload your video, visit wordoflifeag.org.