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.
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.
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