NATCHEZ — The Rev. Eddie King cared for people physically for many years before he decided he needed to care for them spiritually, too.

King recently joined Parkview Church of God on John R. Junkin Drive and said his call to serve the Lord came about 15 years ago.

“When God called me, He said that He had used me to care for people physically, and now it was time for Him to use me to care for people spiritually,” King said.

King is bivocational and has worked as a nurse for 24 years, spending the past five years in education. King is an education coordinator for the dialysis company Fresenius Medical Care.

The call to become a nurse was influenced, King said, by his grandmother, who had a caring heart, and his Eagle scoutmaster.

“He taught us more than just first aid,” King said. “That led to me becoming an EMT for six years with an ambulance company and then graduating nursing school.”

King said the Lord gave him a shepherd’s heart early in life.

“I didn’t know that’s what it was until I grew up a little,” he said. “I was 33 when He showed me how real He was and turned my life around.”

King, 47, had been out of pastoral work for a little while when the opportunity to come to Parkview arose.

King and his wife, Ginnie, and their 15-year-old daughter, Makayla, and 13-year-old son, Matthew, relocated to Natchez from Lincoln County. The Kings’ oldest son, Michael, 23, is attending Ole Miss to study history.

Ginnie homeschools Makayla and Matthew.

King said his family is happy to be in Natchez.

“There isn’t anything we have found that we don’t like,” he said. “We would have never dreamed of being here, but it’s an awesome opportunity.”

King and his wife’s ministry, titled “His Will Ministries,” is aimed at carrying out the Lord’s Will, King said.

“We’re here to do His will and His work,” King said. “We’re here to open our arms to whosoever will come in.”

The congregation at Parkview perfectly aligns with King’s vision for the church, he said.

“The people here love the herding and want to bring people in and introduce them to Jesus,” King said.

King said caring for people’s bodies as well as their spirits are not unalike.

“I feel that the foundation for both is caring,” King said. “It’s one foundation but two arms, one is medical and the other is spiritual. You have to care to do both. People have to be your heart.”