His Church…

If you know my daddy, you know that he loves his church. I asked him to tell me about his church experience and this is what he said…

“I grew up at Longley Missionary Baptist Church. I’ve been going there all my life. I joined the church when I was 13 years old under Rev. H.E. Dedmon. We had a church out on what is now known as 65^th street. We moved a couple of times during my childhood. Our biggest time of celebration was Pastor’s Anniversary. My brother and I sold drinks for a nickel out of the back of my uncle’s truck. We went to church on the first and the third Sundays. The church has grown from 25 in my childhood to over 2500 members of Longley Baptist Church.”

“In my many years at Longley, from childhood until now, I have served in roles on the usher board, choir, as Sunday School teacher, Sunday school superintendent, youth director (the first), deacon (where I served as chairman for over 17 years), Christian Education Director, and now Elder" (he didn’t say Elder... I added this since he has recently become an Elder)

“The role that was the most fulfilling role was teaching. I loved to share the Word of God. After I came from the military (where I had direct experiences with the Lord), I had a holy boldness to share the word. I’ve also taken different correspondent courses to further my understanding of the Word.”

[Being a deacon, especially the chairman of the deacon board, was a challenging role at times.] “When we were without a pastor, people would come to me for everything. Sometimes you think, “I’m just a deacon.” But everybody comes to you for everything. If you are not careful, that could be a power charge. So I had to try to stay humble. I didn’t like the idea of being the person in charge, knowing I was not the pastor.”

(when asked about his commitment to the church) “I definitely was committed to the church. But while raising a family, it is easy to forget that your children are individuals with their own choices. I definitely indoctrinated them into church ways so they could become more god-like. I have no regrets for that. However, maybe I should have shown a little more sensitivity…especially when they had other kids over. I would often say that their friends had to go back home (if it was a Sunday) because my kids had to go to Sunday night Bible study (BTU)…"