Only one life, 'twill soon be past; only what's done through Christ will last

INTRODUCTION: Embarking on this my first journey into this relatively new frontier I believe we call "blogosphere"; I take no map, no compass, no GPS - I'm not even packing a lunch. That's because I, at this point at least, don't really know "where it is I'm agoin", as Andy Griffith would usually say. However, I do take by Bible, because I have an intense desire to follow  wherever God leads.

On last Saturday, October 12, 2013 I celebrated my 79th birthday-one year south of becoming an octogenarian. The Bible says, "It is appointed to man, once to die; and after that, the judgement." (Hebrews 9:27) Like most people, I have no idea when my "once" will come. I do know that I'm closer to it today than I've ever been. I believe now they say that the average American male lives about 83 years; more about that later. Today, my hope and my mission is that I might help, encourage hope, inspire God-given gifts and perhaps even entertain as we travel along.

"Let's start at the very beginning; a very good place to start." (old song)
I was born at a very early age in Long-Sneed Hospital, Denison, TX, to be near my mama. (VERY old joke)

NOTE: For you younguns' from Denison who might be reading this; there indeed was for many years a hospital in the 400 block of West Woodard, between Bratcher Funeral Home and St Luke's Episcopal Church, where the St. Luke School is now located. It was called Long-Sneed Hospital, and Dr. Sneed was our doctor.

I grew up everything small; I am an only child (small family); on a small dairy farm; went to a small school (about 25 in my senior class); in a small town-population 610 (but I lived 1.5 miles outside of town) and  graduated from a small university/college (barely!) - all in Oklahoma

NOTE #2: I am permanently scarred by a long-standing debate--my folks lived in Oklahoma, but Mama had to go across Red River to Texas for my grand entrance. So Oklahoma says I'm a Texan; and Texas declares I'm an "Okie!"- hence, my terrible "insignificant & unwanted" complex!! 

After college I had planned to move on to graduate work in seminary, but just after graduation from Southeastern Oklahoma State in 1957, I got a call from pastor Ed Broome of the Parkside Baptist Church in Denison.  He proposed that I come on as an associate at Parkside, leading the music and education ministries and, at a later date, the church would allow me to attend the seminary on a part-time basis. Sounded like a great idea to me and I accepted the offer. Jo Ann and I had married during my junior year (1955) and Monty, our first born, came along on 9/13/1957. With him and a new car, obviously it's time to see some income..comin' in.

In less than a year Ed had moved on and I had a visit from Dr. Tim Trammell, pastor of First Baptist Church Gainesville, TX. Their offer was to come to Gainesville on a part-time basis and attend seminary two days a week. I took this opportunity and became minister of music & youth there and began seminary in Fort Worth, TX. So, the Guys: Jo Ann, Monty & I went "out into the world" (35 miles). I enrolled in Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, January 1959.

In the 1940's and '50's, Baptist churches grew rapidly in the south. After just a year at Southwestern, First Baptist Church Okmulgee, OK came calling, asked me to come on staff to lead the music, education and youth ministries full time. In those days it was not uncommon for a church of this size, about 2,000, to have only 1or 2 ministers as their staff. So there I was, barely 25 years old, leading the ministries of a "large" church in Okmulgee, OK - it is the capitol of the Creek Indian Nation. Donna, our 2nd child was born the first month we were there, January 1960.

July 1963: Donna, Monty, Jo Ann and I moved to Bartlesville, OK where I had accepted a position in business. By 1964, only six months later, I accepted the invitation to serve First Baptist Church Dewey, OK as minister of music, administration, education & youth. Nine months later, we were at the historic old Nogales Avenue Baptist Church in Tulsa. (remind me later to blog what this was all about)

June 1966: the Guys are on the move again. This time to the First Baptist Church Joplin, MO. There, WALLA! Christie, our 3rd, made her debut, two years later,1968! What a surprise to learn that would be a part of our future. This would be providential, we would eventually come to realize. Now we have three: a Texan; an Okie and a Missourian.

September 1969: Southwood Baptist Church in Oklahoma City asked us to move there to help their fast-growing church put down some solid "roots". We worked with them until February 1972. I had always felt that my strongest gift was in administration-type ministries, i.e., helping with the building and equipping ministry "teams" in the church. So, Texas is calling again; Central Baptist church Bryan, TX (located now in College Station ) needed a minister of education & administration. 'That's what I'm gifted to do.' Now, Christie, Donna, Monty, Jo Ann and I were Texas bound. We were there ten years, and, guess what - I led the music ministry for 8 of those 10 years. God does, always has, always will move in mysterious ways....

November 1981: mega churches (defined then as churches with 1,000 or more in worship attendance) were then incorporating into their pastoral leadership the role of 'administrative pastor', or 'executive minister/pastor'; something that I felt was exactly what I had been prepared to do. Paramount Baptist Church in Amarillo, TX had such a need - God did move again; this time only Christie, Jo Ann & I moved across Texas. For the first time in our lives we were leaving two of our children behind; Monty and Donna both were married now. This emotional upheaval we woefully underestimated. Again however, God equips His called - sometimes with divine, compassionate ignorance.

October 1997: on my 63rd birthday, my 16th anniversary of being called to Paramount and 40 years of full-time ministry, we left Amarillo heading back to Denison, from where we started - Jo Ann and me. Christie was married now, living in Dallas.

The two of us being only children, left us with the prospects of caring for three of our 4 aging parents, Jo Ann's dad (Pappy Deel) had died in '96. My dad was 91, Mom 87 and Jo Ann's mom 82.

Since moving back to Denison I've led the music for my home church for 2 years - where I began at age 17 in 1952. And, helped a small church for about two years as they were recovering from a very difficult, "split".

Most everyone reading this blog knows that the last six years, losing our parents, Monty & Donna and about 20 other of our family has, without any doubt, challenged every fiber of our being at every level.

This is, the timeline of our lives up to this point. It could be imaged as the outline or skeleton of our lives. MUCH has occurred in our lives on this journey. We will fill in many of the "blanks" along the way. Stay tuned,