WALKING THE BAPTIST PATH

With some basic Christian experiences in high school, I entered the University of Oklahoma in 1968 as an agnostic. I did not believe in God but felt that if God could be “proved” to me I would entertain the idea of becoming a Christian. Despite decent grades in my first semester of college I felt unease about my existence at all on this planet. I thought about transferring to a smaller school but came to realize that was not going to help my condition. I returned for my second semester still unsure about my place in this world. My short-term confusion led to my long-term joy.

One day in late February, I returned to my dorm room after class. My roommate was talking with two strangers. I did not interrupt as I did not want to be rude. Yet I listened and soon discovered they were discussing God and Jesus and a thing called salvation. Sensing that I was curious the two strangers drew me into the conversation. And soon I was invited to a place they called “the ranch.” I accepted their invitation.

Of course, I did not want to become involved in a “cult” or something like that. But because of what the strangers said, I had what can be described being akin to John Wesley’s heart being “strangely warmed” when he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior when meeting with members of the Moravian sect. I felt the invitation to “the ranch” to be authentic or at the very least, a nice weekend getaway.

By the way, the strangers were students who were active in the university-wide Baptist Student Union (BSU). I was one of several invitees going with about an equal number of active BSUers. Friday night was spent in introductions. Then Saturday, March 14, 1969, arrived. When I awoke that morning, I was not a Christian and when I slept that night in my dorm room I was.

“The ranch” was really a rustic retreat center with a house and some land in south- central Oklahoma. Despite its remoteness it was the perfect place for God to work in me. We paired up- each invitee with a veteran BSUer. My new buddy was a guy named Mike King, a senior at OU. Mike opened the Bible to the Book of James in the Christian New Testament. We would read some passages and discuss, then some more reading and discussion. After about an hour, Mike asked me if I desired the kind of life described in James. I said yes and we prayed. I invited Christ into my life as Lord and Savior. No drums, no bugles- just a new life with a new beginning.

It was only natural that I attend church worship the next day. That is when God revealed something BIG to me. I sat in the pews of First Baptist Church in Norman, Oklahoma. The pastor in his sermon declared not only that Jesus is the Son of God but He is God. WOW! That spiritual insight was like a light bulb being turned on in my head. I had known about the ‘sonship” part since my Methodist days, but that Sunday was the first time I comprehended the “is God” part. Now I knew that I would need to take Jesus seriously.

After a couple of Sundays attending the Norman church I heard about another congregation- First Southern Baptist Church of Del City, about 25 miles from campus. And the church provided bus services for both Sunday mornings and Sunday evenings (remember, this was 1969). I think that the first time I rode the bus on a Sunday evening I spotted a beautiful female student with a friendly smile and spunky attitude. I immediately thought, “I am going to marry her!” (And we did on January 15, 1971!) Our wedding ceremony occurred in the Del City church, Karen’s home church after her parents and she moved from Oklahoma City.

Karen has been a follower of Christ since her childhood. Her faith is wholesome and winsome, consistent and constant. I have always admired that about her for that. My faith journey has been more uneven. I attribute our differences to her coming to faith as a child as compared to my coming to faith as a college student. We decided to seek out another church home not too long after our marriage because we lived in Norman and also to establish our independence as a couple. We thought we had found a church in Norman to lay down spiritual roots but we when we saw church deacons smoking on the entrance steps to the building and then discovering our new pastor felt he lacked the power to cease that activity, we returned to Del City.

Being a Christ-follower, husband, and student took almost all of my time for the next two years. Graduation in December 1972 brought some new challenges. I wanted to teach secondary social studies or attend law school. These two options did not open up, so I worked as a salesman for about six months. I became bored with business, so I enlisted in the Army with a bonus to become a field artilleryman and rapid advance to sergeant.

Our first duty station was Fort Riley, Kansas. We lived in nearby Junction City with our apartment overlooking Interstate 70 in the extreme southern part of the city. We joined First Southern Baptist Church where we found a friendly group of junior enlisted soldiers and their wives much like ourselves. The highlight of our tour was the birth of our daughter at the fort’s hospital in June 1974.

My new orders directed me to report to Babenhausen, Germany in August 1975. Since this was a three-year tour, I extended my enlistment to a grand total of five years in order for Karen and our daughter to join me at government expense. We found an English-language Baptist church in nearby Aschaffenburg and became very active there. Pastor Charles Truitt, his wife Virginia, and their son were very welcoming to us.

Three years overseas in military service may seem like a long time to some, however the time for us flew by. In between my Army duties and completing my master’s degree from Boston University Karen and I became parents again with the birth of our son at the Army hospital in Frankfurt in December 1976. In the church I was ordained first to the diaconate and then to the ministry to serve as interim pastor after Pastor Truitt and Pastor Luke, his successor, had left. As our time in Germany was concluding, I was beginning to feel God’s call to fulltime ministry.

I considered initially two seminaries- the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Switzerland and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. I finally decided to enroll in Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. It was a small school with easy access to Oklahoma. In June 1978 Karen and I, along with our two small children, left Germany and I was discharged from the Army at Fort Dix, New Jersey several days later.

Our church in Kansas City was typical SBC- traditional worship, traditional preaching, traditional music, traditional ministries, friendly people, and seemingly uncaring pastor. When I requested some financial assistance when we were in a tight situation, I felt like he just blew me off. I did some supply preaching on some Sundays in small churches in Missouri and Kansas. One church deacon told me that they were searching for a pastor whose wife played the piano; Karen and I chuckled about this for years since she did not play the piano.

I graduated with a Master of Religious Education degree in May 1980 and the following August became a fulltime staff minister in my first church. For the next 13 years we served four churches. Despite the many friends we had in these congregations, these experiences were so stressful and humiliating that I almost left the Church altogether.

We were despondent when we left the fourth church in August 1993, and I knew my days doing fulltime ministry were over even though I received my Doctor of Ministry degree from Midwestern Seminary. We decided not to move. When the pastors from Holmeswood Baptist Church, two colleagues and friends of mine, learned of our situation they insisted that Karen and I join Holmeswood for healing. We did and it worked out. Twice I filled interim staff positions at the church. And our daughter was married at Holmeswood with me as one of the officiants in the ceremony.

 

 

 

 

 

In the meantime, I also worked as a consultant, writer, bookseller, substitute teacher, and did some odd jobs. Our finances hit rock bottom and slowly we worked out of it especially when I was hired as a fulltime secondary social studies teacher and Karen took over our finances.  In 1998, I became the parttime Director of Christian Education at Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church while still retaining my Holmeswood membership. A few years later when I became a school administrator. Karen remained at Holmeswood so she and I would often worship at a Methodist church on Saturday evening. In time, Saint Peter’s found an Episcopalian for my position, and I returned to Holmeswood for my Sundays. Eventually, I became the parttime Adult Educator there working with a new pastor.  I resigned in 2010 when I was hired as an elementary school principal.

We began attending a Christian Reformed congregation with our daughter and her family. When they decided to attend a SBC church closer to their home, Karen and I followed. All of us joined the same Sunday.

Karen and I are now both retired and still attend Lenexa Baptist Church we joined in 2011. It is a large congregation, perhaps the largest Southern Baptist church in the Kansas-Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists. It offers-

·       Insightful biblical preaching that appeals both to head and heart

·       Joyous music with a mixture of traditional hymns and contemporary songs

·       A wide variety of Adult Sunday School classes based on ages, life choices, and learning styles (Karen attends a lecture class and I attend a discussion-oriented class)

·       A winter basketball league for children with upwards of 600 children playing or cheering with scores of adult volunteers

·       Warm pastoral care from ordained leaders and lay leaders alike

·       Mission activities that include feeding the hungry; new church start-ups; reviving older churches; direct involvement in Haiti, Peru, and Nicaragua; and national and global mission trips

I owe this (my) church with being the major reason why I (and Karen) remain Southern Baptists- it “talks the talk” and “walks the walk.” Of course, this church as well as the entire SBC, are not perfect. But neither am I.

I am a Baptist out of conviction for the authority of the Scriptures, priesthood of the believer, evangelism and missions, and local church autonomy. But, in the end, does being a Baptist necessarily make one acceptable to God? Of course, not!

I am a Southern Baptist because that is the particular faith tradition that led me to Christ as my Lord and Savior, and then nurtured me in my faith. Does being a SBC Baptist necessarily make me a superior Baptist? Again, no! But as an old story tells it – I am going to dance with the one who brung me (to the dance).

To extend the analogy, other dances are also occurring in the big dance hall- folks dancing like myself to similar tunes played by a heavenly band- all types of Baptists, Methodists, Mennonites, Brethren, Anglicans, Lutherans, Disciples, Assemblies, and all the rest who stake their destinies with a Palestinian Jew who was killed on a cross and was raised from the dead by God, thus believing in the deity of Jesus Christ as the Son of God who resides in the Trinity with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit as a co-equal member, and also the Bible, both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian New Testament, offers us a reliable witness to God at work in our world as creator and sustainer, and as such the Scriptures are our guide to faith and practice.

In the end, all Christ-followers are resident aliens passing through our temporary homelands on this planet to ultimately our heavenly home. On this journey I will primarily walk the Baptist path and hum the Southern Baptist tunes.