What I Learned From The Churches I Served: Last

FCBC Sanctuary We Built

This is the last in a series of Blogs about what I learned from the churches I served. I began in Kilgore, Texas, passed through La Porte, Texas, had a short wander in the wilderness of Boulder, Colorado and my last posting was my sojourn in Beaumont, Texas.

Once I left Beaumont I moved to the Fairmont Central Baptist Church in Pasadena, Texas. This church was I believe God's way of providing us with an affirmation that we were in His will and synchronized with His timing.

This church had gone through a difficult few years. Their founding pastor, Paul Lee had left after many years and he was followed by a novice whose real goal was to have a comfortable place to await his appointment as a Southern Baptist Missionary to Israel. I don’t know much about the dynamics of their ministries but I do know that when I arrived on the scene I thought I had returned to the very first church I pastored.

I spoke with their committee and they told me that they had suffered a number of setbacks and lost a lot of their membership. In fact, the committee said, “We don’t even know if we’ll be able to pay you what we are offering.”  That was scary since it was about half what I had been making and they had no parsonage. However, maybe believing in the carrot and the stick approach to motivation, they added that “But we promise if the church grows we will make up the difference between what we can pay now and what we should pay if the money were there.” And so with that commitment I began my ministry at the Fairmont Central Baptist Church (from now on shall be called FCBC).  That relationship would last more than 15 years.

Let me quickly add that the church did grow and they did keep that promise to make up the difference. One Sunday at the end of the service one of our Finance Committee members stepped forward before I offered the benediction and announced that they were raising my salary to the level it should have been in the beginning and then handed me an envelope. In that envelope was a check in an amount that made up what I had not been paid up to that point.  It is nice when folks actually do what they promise and it blessed us beyond our ability to express our gratitude.

I’ll not take time to recount all the things we did while at FCBC.  Truth is, I was able to take every thing I had learned at all the other places and put them into practice at FCBC. My goal from the beginning was to have a strong pulpit, great fellowship, deepening spiritual maturity, major international mission awareness and that through these to become as Rick Warren might say, “A Purpose Driven Church.”  I believe we succeeded.

An interesting side note was that if you read my last posting you know that at Woodland Baptist

Charles & Janice Ellis worked with us both

at the church and in Partnership Mission Projects

Charles is a Cowboy Poet and Chuck Wagon Cook

Church I had as many as 22 Deacons however at FCBC I had no Deacons. Oh we had a few ordained men but none of them wanted to be a special decision making group. Don’t misunderstand, they did the work of a Deacon and more. What they didn’t want was to be a formal organization. So, I just used them as my counselors and would meet with them informally over coffee.

You might ask what I learned from that experience. Well it was this, it doesn’t make any difference what your organizational structure is as to whether your church can grow. The real key was that the people “had a mind to work”. . . . and work they did. Like the people at Kilgore they undertook every project with enthusiasm; Like the people in La Porte they reveled in fellowship so that every gathering whether worship or ministry they made it fun; and like the folks in Beaumont they they had a vision for missions.

However, it was also at FCBC that I learned that not everyone who praises you is your friend. I learned that not everyone who is on your team is a loyal player. I also learned that there are some people who support you only as long as you are feeding their particular ideas.  As much as I hate to admit it some people are all about ego.

In the beginning work and ministry were fun and exciting. Ron Asbury was again my minister of music. I love this man. He understood my goals and tailored his music ministry to support where we wanted to go as a church. He worked hard and he was loyal. It was such a joy to be together again. Once Ron left the man who followed was a showman but he was not genuine and he was not transparent and in my book most damning of all he was not loyal. But in spite of this the church grew to the point I found myself in another building program. This one was nearly twice the size of the last because it included a wonderful worship center, office suit and educational space.

Our Youth At A Bible Study

In many ways (except for the music ministry) FCBC was a redo of what had taken place at the church in Beaumont. They even took up the Partnership Mission and carried it further. By the time the Partnership with Australia ended I was Directing all the work in Queensland. 

In a sense though we had a different name, made up of different people and located in a different community FCBC was God's way of essentially keeping me in the same church I had left. WE became over time the church that should have been and I believe would have been had we remained in Beaumont.

Then, in 2005 and fifteen years after coming the FCBC I had a major heart attack. My doctors said that I needed extended rest because at the time they believed that I had lost 30% of my heart muscle use. That eventually proved not to be the case but at the time it is what we thought we knew. So I resigned and moved to Dripping Springs where I spent the next two years recuperating.

Epilogue:
After about a year I was leading the music at the First Baptist Church of Dripping Springs who had

Lester Collins when I served with him

in Dripping Springs, Texas

lost their facility to a fire. As they reorganized I worked with their Personnel Committee in drafting a new set of Bi-laws and Personnel Policy.  Most significantly for me I got to work with one the men in Baptist life and ministry that I respected and admired, Lester Collins. Here is an example of why I admired him so much. Lester was nearly 90 when he preached this sermon.

In 2008 I moved back to Beaumont and eventually became a member of the church I had formally served as pastor (Woodland Baptist). The very church where I believed God intended for me to be when I came to the end of my ministry. Not many of the people who were there when I was pastor and a part of our story are there now.

A Few Lessons Learned along the way:

1. I suppose that the single most important lesson I learned from these four churches is that when it comes to leading a church into a growth mode is that no matter what our plans and no matter how hard we labor “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”  In building His church the Lord uses people with all their abilities and shortcomings but in the end whatever is built is done “'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' saith the Lord.”

2. The next thing I learned was that while the preaching of the Gospel is foolishness to men it is the power of God unto salvation. We must return to the primacy of preaching in our churches. “My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” For this reason I adopted the philosophy of the pulpit in which I saw my responsibility being to make sure whatever I preached was true to the Scripture and then step aside and let God’s Spirit do what only He can do. Never try and make something happen during the invitation just step aside and let it happen and give God thanks for allowing you to share in the experience.

3. Another lesson was the the people had to be unified. The whole body must share a vision for where God wants them to go; they must share a common mission on how to get there; and they must have a solid bond of fellowship. All of this must be real and felt and not just official. We have been to many a “fellowship” where there was no “fellowship!” 

Fellowship means they are together in the Lord but that is expressed by how they are together in the world. Fellowship is essential to growth. The affection people share for one another must be real, it must be felt and it must be constantly nourished.  We must continually remind ourselves that there is no such thing as quality time without quantity of time. 

4. It is essential that we not over praise anyone but always encourage and thank them. Praise goes to God. Somewhere along the way of active pastoral ministry instead of saying “Thanks for your help” I started saying “I just praise the Lord that He lead you to take on this ministry. He really used you in a wonderful way to bless us all” or some similar statement.

5. The pastor must have not only the approval of God but he must also have the support of the people as a whole. I used to tell members of the church who opposed some idea I had to just wait . . . sooner or later I’ll be presenting something you will like. In this vein, unless the pastor is inept or outright unrepentantly immoral he should be supported.

6. Somewhere along the way I learned to give the task to the person who was complaining about what needed to be done. I remember telling one man, "It is clear to me that you have studied this more than I have and that you are really concerned because you were able to muster the courage to come through that door and confront me about our needing to do something about it. I think you'd be the perfect person to take that on."  It worked wonders more than once.

What I Learned From the Churches I Served: Part 3

Woodland Baptist Church in Beaumont, Texas is for me a remarkable experience. First in how we came to be there and also to the conviction I had when left and have to this day that I was leaving before God was finished with what He was doing. There is a sense in which that conviction has never left me.

To be sure I left and went to the Fairmont Central Baptist Church in Pasadena, Texas at a time when Woodland Baptist Church was experiencing its greatest growth. I believed then and I believe now that leaving when I did (note: it was ultimately my decision to leave) was the biggest mistake of my ministry.  God may have moved me on later but against all my judgment at the time I thought it was the only decision to be made.

What I marvel at, and I shall discuss this in the next blog, is how God honors and uses us when we acknowledge we have failed to follow His clear leadership. But alas that is a story for a later date.

If you read the announcement above you will note that it says that I came from the Southern Hills Baptist Church in Boulder, Colorado. However, I never considered myself as pastor of that church. I felt as though I was a “place holder” filling the pulpit while God prepared someone who could bring to that church what was needed.  That ministry only lasted a few months. The real story was not there but how I went from there to Beaumont, Texas.

I had left La Porte (Lomax) in May 1983 for the work at Colorado and spent several months there; I had left Colorado in August 1983 and was living in Pasadena, Texas when a crumpled letter that had been following me around the country arrived in September 1983. It was from Lucille Nolan the Secretary of the Pastor Search Committee of the Woodland Baptist Church.

When it arrived, I told Susan that was the letter I should have received earlier. You see, God has

It all Began Here

always given me an uncanny awareness when He was going to move me from one ministry station to another. That is why I left Lomax in the beginning to go to the church in Boulder.  God indeed was moving me but I jumped the gun and had I waited just one month I would have been at Woodland a full six months earlier. But everything happens in God’s time and for His purposes.

At any rate, after discussing what to do with a six month old letter with my wife we decided I would answer the letter and just let them know why I had not responded sooner. I truly felt that because of the time lapse they had certainly moved on and the church now had a pastor. I just wanted the committee to know that  had not ignored their letter.  To my surprise I received a call from Nathan Cross, Chairman of the committee wanting to know if I could come to his office on the following Sunday.  I agreed and from then it was a quick process of preaching for the committee a week later at the First Baptist Church of Lumberton and visiting with the committee that day.  A couple of weeks later I was preaching in view of a call to be pastor of the church. My the first of official service as pastor was December 4, 1983.

I admit there is much more to that story and I may tell it at another time. What I want to point out is that I learned a lesson from the Lord in this whole experience. One lesson was it is one thing to know God’s will it is another thing to know His timing. I have a new appreciation for the meaning of “They that wait upon the Lord shall mount upon the wings of eagles.”  Both God’s will and God’s timing are of equal importance. Many a mistake has been made by Pastors and churches alike because they knew the Lord’s will in a decision but failed to wait on the Lord’s timing.

My Favorite Place to Preach

I never sought another church after I arrived at Woodland Baptist Church. I truly
believed and must confess I believe to this day Woodland Baptist Church is where God intended me to stay for the rest of my ministry. I shared that with the Deacon’s once I committed to leaving. I told them that, “In spite of the fact that I am accepting the reality of my departure I am still not  convinced leaving is in God’s purposes for either myself or the church.”  The whole of this story will be told but it will not be told here.

The second thing I learned was that even when we have missed the timing, God’s will in these things still can prevail. In my case it was because the Woodland Baptist Church Pastor Search Committee waited on the Lord’s timing while God was

getting me ready for His call to Beaumont.

When I arrived at Woodland Baptist Church is was a blended family. The membership was the result of a merger between an old historic church (Magnolia Avenue Baptist Church) and one of its mission churches (Woodland Baptist Church) and the pastor I was replacing came with the members of the Magnolia Avenue Baptist Church and had been there about seven years (I think). We were literally two churches meeting under the same roof at the same time. My first goal was to find a way to bring these two bodies of believers into one body.

It was here where the cooperation among members I learned in Kilgore came together with the power of a strong fellowship came into play as I plotted a course that would bring these two groups of people with their own unique histories and cultures together as one body. To accomplish that goal I partnered with the then Chairman of the Deacons, Tim Edgar, to achieve that goal. The truth is every great step forward we had was the result of a partnership of some kind.

I should also point out that the average age of the regularly attending members was the late fifties and up with most in the “and up” group.  I remember clearly the day I went in to the senior adult group (110 people) and asked them to support us with their tithes and offerings, their prayers and not make too many demands on our time for whatever time it is going to take to build the church’s younger membership. I recall telling them, “Some of you may not live to see it come to pass but I promise you the investment you have made in this church will live on after you if you give us this kind of support.”

Myself and Tim Edgar Visualizing a New Worship Center

It didn’t hurt that the sanctuary at that time was relatively small and the feeling of growth was fairly easy to create. And grow we did. With about three years the attendance in Sunday School was in the 200's and the worship service in that small chapel of a sanctuary. Suffice it to say that it quickly became apparent to all but the most stubborn among us that we were in need of a Worship Center. 

One of the things I was ill prepared for in church was the role of the Deacon. If you read my two earlier blogs in this series you know that at all my previous churches they were pastor lead and there was only 5-6 deacons and most of our meetings were informal fellowship style meetings.

Woodland Baptist Church, when I arrived, was pretty much a Deacon lead church. Everything that was done, and I mean everything, had to be approved by the Deacon. The Deacons set the business meeting agenda and virtually every committee in the church had to have at least one Deacon on it. At our peak we had 22 Deacons.

Most of these men were faithful servants of the Lord. None-the-less they also constituted a formidable collection of personalities with which to try and work.  The only thing I ever really liked about this was that once the Deacons were convinced of something it was essentially a done deal.

About half of this group was ministry oriented. That is, in addition to “running the church’s business” they participated in leading and doing its ministries.  I remember the late Roy Lambert telling a couple of weeks after I arrived in Beaumont, “Your deacon board has enough brains to run IBM but they don’t know diddle about doing church but they think they do.” As much as I loved working with these men I have to admit that he wasn’t too far wrong. However, over time a handful really learned the joy of ministering over ruling.  I shall leave it to each reader to flesh out who was which.

I wish I could say it was a time of learning how it was to be one among equals when it came to working with this group but alas it was not to be. To a large measure they conducted things as though the pastor was another hired worker rather than God’s "under shepherd." 

Shining Light

Now, having said that,  a lot was done during those years, including the building of a new worship center. We were as busy with ministries as any First Baptist Church I know. We had a weekly Meals on Wheels program; there was a Senior Adult Day; FOOD Pantry; Mother’s Day Out Program; 24 Hour Crises Hot Line; Cooperation with State Mission Commission on new church start ups; Youth Ministry; Full Major Music Ministry; Vacation Bible Schools, Special Bible Study Programs featuring internationally acclaimed Bible teachers and Revival Meetings as well as a Domestic and International Missions Program. In addition I served on Numerous Boards and Committees in the Association and Baptist General Convention of Texas. Most importantly there was added weekly to the church those who were being saved and it was happening without an “organized” visitation program.

I could tick off any number of lessons I learned here about working under constant crises. Suffice it to say that God blessed us all and His church grew until we were nearly filling the sanctuary each week. My ministry here took a lot of directions but it was primarily Pulpit Centric. I grew as a preacher and to a major degree the congregation was built around the pulpit. This is still evidenced in the Church’s book of memories where it is noted that the Pulpit was custom built and paid for in my honor.

Perhaps that was one of the benefits of a Deacon lead church . . . .the pastor (namely me) had ample time to devote to Bible study, prayer and sermon preparation.  From the time I arrived in 1983 until the time I left my focus was the preaching of the Gospel. It was at Woodland Baptist Church where I became a complete preacher. I remember one local pastor who was visiting our service saying to me that when he could slip off and get away he came to hear me preach. That was when Dr. Ed Bowles said to me, “Brother, you have no idea how good a preacher you have become. I’d just as soon hear you as anyone else I know.” Then he added, “In my view you need to be in a much bigger place.” I was, as would anyone be,  flattered and I replied, “I thank you for your kind words but I just want to be where God puts me and right now, in my mind, that is right here.”

Another benefit was being given the latitude to engage in other ministries away from the local church.  One for which I will eternally be grateful was the night at the end of a Deacon’s

Preaching at the Hurstville Baptist Church in NSW, Australia

Meeting in 1985, Tim Edgar, the Chairman of the Deacons, asked me if I would be willing to go to Australia if the church paid for it?”  Taken off guard by his question and halfway thinking he was joking I responded by saying, “Is the church going to pay for me to come back.?”  With a momentary look of bewilderment he said, “Well yes.”  With that question and answer I began a ministry journey that would carry over to the next church and last another 20 years.  There is a whole another story as a result of what was started that night with Tim's question and my answer. None of us that night knew or had any idea of  the journey on which God was going to take me.

It was from this experience that my eyes were fully opened to the fact that even at the local church level we are Partners with Christ in a Ministry than takes us to ends of the earth. I don’t know that I can explain all that Jesus meant when he said, “Other sheep have I.”  But I know one thing, it has to include the multitudes of believers around the world. It is those who came before us; those who labor with us, and those who come after us. It matters not how big the place in which God has planted our lives happens to be . . . it a small part of His kingdom and it is the place of His choosing. Furthermore, no matter how small our spot may be it is a part of something God is doing that is so much bigger than any of us.

• I was sad when I left my friends and fellow saints at Highland Park Baptist Church because I knew I would never see many of them again in this life and in a way it was my 'first" love when it came to churches.
• I was wrong when I left First Baptist Church Lomax because I got ahead of what God was doing;
• But, when I left Woodland Baptist Church, like Travis Zimmerman, I cried that night. Travis cried because he didn’t understand and I cried that night because I did. For whatever reason God revealed to me a couple of things he was going to do. One concerned the church the other myself. All I can say is I left with assurance in my heart that God would meet all our needs in His time.

I will not say more about the events but I need to say that in light of what God revealed to me during that parting experience the time is coming when He is going to once again pour out His Spirit upon His people at Woodland Baptist Church and the church will thrive; feeling long buried will revive; the people will feel the blessing and God will get the Glory. "The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the LORD Almighty."  (Haggai 2:9)  "For behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people," (Jeremiah 30:3)

I once said to someone in this regard, “From your lips to God’s ears.” Now I repeat it with but one small change, “From my lips to God’s ears.”

Woodland Baptist Church was and is a very special place to me and one I have loved like no other.

Here is a sermon I preached at Woodland Baptist Church

  

What I Learned From The Churches I Served: Part One

I have been reflecting lately on my life journey and the churches that God allowed me to serve over my nearly fifty years as a preacher of the Gospel of Jess Christ.  Each one of those church imparted something special to me and each one left an indelible impression on my life.

I suppose the first and most obvious impression is that no one church embodies all the elements of what one might call the “ideal” church. In many ways they were all the same. They were a group of somewhat like-minded people with a shared sense of mission and ministry. They were each and all a heterogeneous group of people who had a homogeneous commitment to faith and practice. I sometimes think had God opened the way to one more church to me that church would have evolved into a composite of all those previous churches.

As I talk about these churches I will stipulate that they each one met the theological definition of a local church from a Baptist perspective.  That is, each and every one was a body of baptized believers joined together in a covenant of fellowship and service designed to facilitate Christian growth and extend the Gospel of redemption to a lost and spiritual dead world. It is in this respect they were a homogeneous group. It the beginning (first church) it was codified in a document that the church had adopted when first organized known as “The Church Covenant.” In later years it was less a matter of an officially adopted document as it was a collective life commitment. Too be sure all of these churches had a copy somewhere and occasionally someone would mention it. The important thing was not that it was written on paper but that it was impressed in the hearts of the members.

They were also homogeneous in the fact that they all had Bible teaching programs (Sunday School etc.) designed to teach the Bible to members and non-members alike.  Let me be clear at this point. None of the churches where I served as senior pastor had any authority for what we taught in our teaching and training programs than the Bible itself. Each of these churches believed that the Bible was the God-breathed Word of God and the sole rule of faith and practice in the believer’s life. These churches were: The Highland Park Baptist Church in Kilgore, Texas; The First Baptist Church of Lomax, LaPorte, Texas; the Woodland Baptist Church in Beaumont, Texas; and the Fairmont Central Baptist Church in Pasadena, Texas.

When it comes to these four church I’ll do like the song in the Sound of Music suggest and start at the very beginning.

Now, with that out of the way I want to talk about what each one of these churches taught me.

When I left Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to pastor the Highland Park Baptist Church in Kilgore, Texas I still had one semester of seminary to complete. These precious people allowed me to spend the week in Ft. Worth and work in whatever time I could on the field learning how to do what I was being paid to do. Once on the field full time they honored and loved me as though I had always been a part of their family.

Perhaps a little clarity is in order. I arrived at Highland Park Baptist Church with nine years of preaching. I was fully prepared to “preach the Gospel.”  In fact then and now there was no question in my mind that God’s call on my life was to “preach the gospel.” Serving as a pastor of a local church was merely the means for fulfilling that calling. My point is when I arrived at Highland Park Baptist Church I was already a seasoned preacher whose preparation and delivery style were pretty much already set it was my pastoral ministry skills that needed honing.

This church and the people who made it up back in the Fall of 1972 will always be special to me. They were the first congregations who interviewed me as a pastor candidate for their church. They were the first congregation that “took me to raise” as a brand new pastor. They were forever encouraging me and supporting me and my family. The salary, such as it was, amounted to just $9,800 but the learning experience was “priceless.”

The church had struggled for many years as a number of pastors came and went. Hogan Dodd the son of the giant of pastors; M.E. Dodd and a man who left the ministry because as he himself said, “My father called me to be a preacher not God;” Richard Vaughn a Beaumont evangelist who was gone more than he was present during his stint as pastor; James Salles, my friend and who like myself, was coming as a first time pastor, and; there was me. I stayed from 1972 until 1977. I think my role was to get the church ready for its future but was never intended by God to be a part of that future. That would be put in the hands of Bro Pippin. My task was to bring unity to a body that was divided in several factions. God blessed we began to grow and the factions were dealt with and overcome.

M.A. Smith talked with me often about wanting to build a new building. He went so far as to offer to guarantee the cost would be covered. After conversation we came to the conclusion that what the church needed was not so much a new facility but a Unity of spirit and vision. It was shortly after I left in 1977 that they finally built that building M.A. and I so longed to see rise from that pasture like field.

The people who made up the core of that church back then were perfect for me. They were by-in-large patient and for the most part supported my leadership.  I still remember the sweet and precious way those five men (M.A. Smith, Phillip Matthews, Louis Eastman G.B. Carroll and Howard Zimmerman) supported me even when they didn’t agree with me on some project.  Each one of those men were authentic and taught me something special that I was going to need in the future.

M.A. Smith and his wife Connie taught me the real meaning and proper method of giving. This couple’s giving rivals that of the greatest among us when it comes to sharing the material blessings God  bestows on us. I remember him telling me in response to the question about a family he anonymously and literally carried financially for a year why he did it knowing that this man did not like him and often derided him when he was not present. He said, to me without hesitation, “Yes, it does bother me but truth be told it really doesn’t matter what he thinks of me but what I think of me and what God expects of me.”  This is the deacon at whose feet this pastor/preacher learned how real giving was to be done.” M.A. Smith modeled the gift of giving and I have tried to follow the example he set.  Of the literally hundreds of funerals I have done this man’s is the only one that I cried my way through the funeral message I brought.

Louis Eastman taught me the joy of serving the Lord and to not be inhibited in expressing my faith and love for the Lord in the public arena. I can still hear him whistling the songs of faith as we did a door to door canvass in the neighborhood behind the church. He was a poor man in this world’s goods but he was rich in the love and faith.  I learned that it is the intangibles of life for which people hunger and thirst. Louis taught me that people want to understood, accepted, loved and valued for who they are. Because he was rich in faith he was comfortable in the presence of those with far greater means.

Phillip Matthews and his wife Mary taught me about being gentle. This precious couple opened their home to us in such a wonderful way. They had learned through their own experiences how important it was for couples to have time together. They, more than anyone before or since, made it possible for Susan and I to have time together without children’s demands on our time. They would call their young pastor and say things like, “We want you to bring the children by and let us keep them and you and Susan go do something together.” Our children loved them and loved being with them. I remember the Nominating Committee once asked Philip to teach an adult class as he politely said, “No, These junior boys learn more in one hour hanging upside-down on their chair learn more than those adults do it weeks.” What I took away from them was that people don’t need to be too busy . . . they need time to develop their own relationship.  For that reason I have always tried to build into most projects an opportunity for people to come aside and rest before diving into a new ministry project.

G.B. Carroll along with his wife Ann taught me something in a negative kind of way and yet an equally powerful way and they probably would never guess what it was. G.B. bought the boat he had always wanted. Several of us noticed that he and Ann were missing a lot of Sunday’s enjoying their new boat. I’d probably would have done the same. So don’t see this as a negative toward them but rather a positive lesson for me.

Long story short, after about three months a storm wrecked the boat and his response to that experience is where the lesson lies. I remember him standing up in church, recounting the story, and then concluding “I thought I owned a boat but what I have learned is that the boat I bought owned me.”  The lesson I have carried away from that to this day is that even blessings from God can get between us and our walk with the Lord.

You see the Lord knew that down the road I would be faced with similar circumstances. He knew He was going to bless me with opportunities that if I were not careful might begin to see my involvement in those opportunities in a way that would lead me down a path that took me away from his presence and not toward it. I speak of the Partnership Mission Ministry in which I would become involved and in which I would play a significant role.

It served as a warning to me not to understand the path God was opening for me, the people and ministries He would open to me had anything to do with who I was but everything to do with who He is. God gave growth, both in spiritual maturity and numerical strength in every church I have served since those days at Highland Park Baptist Church.  I learned to say, “This is the Lord’s doing and it is glorious in our sight.”

And then there was Howard Zimmerman. Howard and Mary Zimmerman were some of the best friends we had while in Kilgore. We walked with them through some of the darkest days of their lives and they cared, loved and defended us in some of the hardest challenges we faced. Howard, and I fished together, prayed together, wept together and rejoiced together. God put him there to be my friend and he was. He was my strongest advocate, wisest advisor, and greatest supporter. His life experience, like the four already mention, had prepared him to teach me something important. It is this, every pastor/preacher needs a friend in whom he can confide and trust. I wish I had time to tell his story but suffice it to say he had a life experience that brought him to place where he came to see being his pastor’s friend was his “reasonable service to the Lord.”

So much for a few of the people who powerfully influence me and got me off to such a good start  However, I must comment on the congregation as a whole. This small band of faithful servants of the Lord taught me to make the plan, get the church on board with the plan and work the plan. This was the hardest working congregation I have ever been blessed to serve. If something didn’t work  as well or the way we expected it would not be for lack of effort. As one member told me, “Pastor, if this doesn’t work it will be for lack of effort on our part.”

I also learned from this group that everything we do had to be done at the highest level. We jokingly refereed to ourselves as the poor man’s First Baptist Church. Everything we did from Halloween Parties to the Lord’s Supper were done first class. Never a paper cup or plate and no plastic forks and yet somehow Connie and her ladies managed to always get us home after a food function quickly once the event ended.

I cannot speak for the men who served this church prior to me nor for those who followed me but I can speak for myself.  This was never my largest ministry and yet it was no less important than those that followed. This was not my most successful ministry but I learned more about being a pastor there than anytime before or since. Highland Park Baptist Church is and always will be my most important ministry.  “Why?” you ask. For the same reason George Washington was our most important President . . . . he was first. Highland Park Baptist was the first church that said, “Come be our pastor” and therein it  became the most important church in my pastoral ministry.

So, with gratitude to God I say thank you to that small band of believers who had a view for the world.  Who knew they would never personally touch the nations for Christ but also know that the young preacher God had entrusted into their hands one day might.

God would lead me on quiet a journey before it is over for me. I may not know how or when it will end but to a large measure it began in Kilgore, Texas at the Highland Park Baptist Church.

What I Learned From The Churches I Served: Part Two

The last time we met around my musings I spoke about the first Baptist Church I ever pastored and some of the people and what I learned from them and during that Ministry. When I left Highland Park Baptist Church it was not because I was looking for a place to go. I was, as some say, “fat and sassy” where I was. However, in 1977 Clyde Thompson invited me to preach a week long series of revival services.

During that week a committee from the First Baptist Church of Lomax came to hear me preach and to talk with me about whether or not I would entertain an invitation to preach at their church with the view of a call to be pastor of their church. Suffice it to say I agreed to come and preach for them and they extended a unanimous call. On the way home to Kilgore Susan and I knew we would be saying some hard goodbyes as God moved us to a new place of ministry.  So in 1977 I became pastor of the small struggling First Baptist Church of Lomax.

As I think about this small group of people the phrase that comes to my mind was a “merry band of believers.” Up until I came to Lomax (FBC of Lomax will simply be called Lomax from hereon out) I had no idea the significance of fellowship to church growth.  Oh to be sure I knew that it was important for God’s people to dwell together in peace but what I didn’t know was that fellowship could be a powerful tool in God’s hand to effect growth in numbers and spiritual maturity. Lomax taught me that.

It is a strange twist of fate but this church like Highland Park Baptist Church had only five deacons (James Boddie, James Furlow, Jack Roachell, Dudley Andrews). I was beginning to doubt that law of Baptist life that every church should have a minimum of six deacons as outlined in the Book of Acts.  But unlike the influences in Kilgore those in Lomax did not focus in the Deacons. In fact with the exception of one or two exceptional people of faith the story in Lomax is “The Church.”

Lomax had been through some real highs and deep lows prior to my coming. From preacher preaching from the roof of the building to preacher preaching in an empty building. However, what I discovered when arriving was that process had served to winnow the congregation down to a strong interdependent group of people who wanted nothing more than to have a joyous Christian experience and see people saved.

Like my previous church they were not afraid of hard work. Indeed I had to use care when making suggestion because they so readily took to the tasks.  They canvased the community regularly; they made sure I knew who lived in every house in our community. Visitations came and went but all were fully supported. These are all things I learned to use as we set the church on a course of growth.
However, the thing that was most powerful was their winsomeness. These people loved to fellowship. Too be sure other churches would have “fellowships” and many of them were extraordinary experiences.  In Lomax these same “fellowships” were just plane fun. Laughter was a common place sound around the campus.  The membership of this church when taken as individuals were just common people but put them in a group setting and they were extraordinary.

Lomax taught me that while church is serious business it doesn’t need to be, indeed should not be, an experience akin to persimmon sucking.  Seemed at least twice a month something was happening in the way of a “fellowship.”  Church members freely invited family members, neighbors and others to these gatherings. Fellowship is one of the tools God has given us to help people realize what they are hungering and thirsting to have.

We held fish fries, Memorial Day fishing trips, Old Fashioned Days, and just plain fun days. In fact, our Old Fashion Days often involved costuming.

One year (see photo) I dressed in an 19th century parson’s suit and preached excepts from Jonathan Edward’s famous sermon, “Sinners in Hands of An Angry God.” People came from near and far just to hear that address. The fact that we had a lot of great food didn’t hurt.

It was also while serving this church as senior pastor I became a professor of religion at San Jacinto College and began my work on my Doctor of Ministry Degree (received in 1983).  This teaching experience re-introduced me to the academic world which proved to be a genuine growth experience.

So the big lesson I learned from the precious people is not just the value of genuine fellowship but also how to use that fellowship as a major tool for growing a church.

However, before I leave Lomax I must refer to a few people who played a major role in my ministrythere. I simply refer you to my earlier blog, Another Giant has Ceased His Labor, about the death of Jack Roachell. Suffice it to say that Jack was a living and breathing incarnation of Jesus Christ. Jack, and you can read about it there, was a living breathing example of what a Deacon is supposed to be and is was from being with him that I came to expect a great deal more from my deacons than simply caring for the business of the church.

Of all the churches I was privileged to serve as senior pastor, this was the one that was the most fun.  The biggest mistake I ever made in ministry was leaving this church ahead of God’s timing. Sometimes knowing God’s will and knowing God’s timing are not the same. This is why a church should be very careful in forcing a pastor’s resignation. It may be God’s will that the pastor move on to another work but it may not be God’s time for it when we decide we must act.

Jack wasn't the only person who was such a joy to work with. There were other men like Jack Briggs, Dudley Andrews and the Furlow brothers. All who added their unique spiritual gifting to the work of the ministry here. One of the biggest and most demanding was our bus ministry. I guess you could say these folks challenged me to think outside the box.

In my case, it had nothing to do with the church itself or any of the leadership. I was convinced then and remain convinced that God was in the process of closing down our ministry at this precious church. What I didn’t know was God’s timing. I missed it by about a year. Believing I was doing what God wanted I walked through the first door to another ministry that opened but come December God opened the door he wanted me to walk through. Another lesson learned . . .one about waiting upon the Lord.