Church When I Was a Kid

This began as sort of a response to this post on Trey Morgan's blog, which is a nice way of saying I stole his idea.

• I remember the first congregation we went to was Southside in Odessa, now known as Texas and Clements. The building was sold to a black congregation in about 1964, and for awhile we had church in an elementary school building.My folks soon tired of this arrangement and moved to Sherwood. After my mother died, my dad remarried and we started going to Parkview in late 1968. Parkview is sort of famous now because Max Lucado was baptized there. The Lucado family went there until they moved to Andrews in 1966. So I missed knowing them by two years.
  
  
• I remember when gospel meetings lasted a whole week, usually preached by Abe Lincoln (not the president), Jim McGuiggan, or Ed Wharton. Ed was particularly memorable. He would write on a chalkboard as he preached, as if teaching a class. I remember he was the first preacher that explained grace in a way I could understand it.



• Gospel meetings usually included several responses back then, like baptisms and re-dedications. I remember one in 1970 where no one came forward all week, and the preacher looked all dejected by the end of the meeting. One of the elders even gave a statement about how the meeting wasn't a failure, that seeds were planted and would someday bear fruit, etc. It was markedly unusual.
  
  
• I remember our song leader and unofficial youth minister, Frank Harrell. He never, to my knowledge, held a title such as elder or deacon, but he worked harder for the Lord than anyone I ever knew. He did jail ministry before it was commonly done. On at least one occasion I remember a prisoner being baptized on Sunday morning, escorted by sheriff's deputies. Frank Harrell died in a car accident in April 1997, and his funeral was attended by more people than had ever attended a funeral in Odessa.
  
  
• My perspective on the church is different from many of my readers. I gave up on churches of Christ for several years, believing that no good thing could come out of them. Then I encountered the words of Max Lucado, Mike Cope, Rubel Shelly and others, and my mind and heart were changed. Hey, no wonder some call them change agents!