Not many people have their career figured out at 18, but little did Todd Godby know theology would find him again 10 years later. 

Godby was raised in Milton, West Virginia. He graduated from Milton High School in 1988, around the time of the Gulf War – a time Godby said had a lot of biblical overtones that were part of lots of conversation at the time.

“I was at the counter at the home, and my dad comes to me, and he says, ‘Todd, now that you’re graduating high school, what do you want to do,’” Godby said. “‘I think I want to get a doctorate in theology.’”

His father then asked him, “Don’t you think you need a call for that?”

And Godby said at 18, it scared the “you-know-what” out of him, so he went into electronics.

He continued his education at West Virginia State College, where he earned an associate degree in applied science in industrial technology with a specialization in electronics. 

“My first big boy job was down here in Apple Grove; at that town was called Shell Chemical and it’s called APG now,” Godby said. 

He continued that work for many years until he decided to go back and switch careers.

“About 10 years in, I started working towards my seminary education, and I changed careers, and I was a pastor,” Godby said.

Godby now has 20 years of ministry experience and 20 years of industrial experience, as he has continued working in both the industrial and ministry fields. 

A moment which struck Godby as a reason to continue his line of ministry occurred in his industrial work. Godby said they would take the post-consumer products, shred them, feed them into a machine and recycle them. An engineer had been talking about the magnitude of the recycled product: it could fill the tallest building, which was about 28 to 30 stories tall.

“She was like applauding like it was so wonderful,” Godby said. “But, it convicted me because I knew that recycle line was only 10%. It was 90% of new material, so they were filling a landfill nine times the size of that building area. And so that just kind of worked on me, and I just really didn’t want to be a part of that.”

Even though he left that facility, Godby still has a connection with the industrial industry as well as theology. He is a faculty member at MOVC, teaching religious studies in the fall as well as teaching in the newly offered advanced manufacturing program.

Bravin Hughart, the director of MOVC, said it has been a pleasure working with him so far at the off-campus center. 

“He is just a very kind and attentive man,” Hughart said. “He’s well-liked by the students and seems to be very knowledgeable in his field.”

Godby is well-liked by his students, and he wants to teach them the skills he’s learned from his experience.

He said though it is great that people have pushed students towards college degrees, we can’t forget about the skills that are learned hands-on.

“Another reason I wanted to teach in advanced manufacturing is that I don’t have to be a statistician to know that there is a skill gap between people like myself who are getting ready to go into our twilight years and the up-and-coming youngsters,” Godby said. “They just don’t have those skills, and they’re not learning them.”

Godby said he is glad to be able to give his students something that took care of his family.

“I get to pass on something that I’ve fed my family with over the years,” he said. “I can teach some students, and they can feed their families.”

Soleil Woolard can be contacted at [email protected].