Church is the place where we worship, preach, teach, sing praises, pray, and fellowship. It is a sacred place, a safe place, and a sanctified place. We experience many exciting and wonderful moments with weddings, baptisms, baby dedications, vacation Bible school, and revivals.
There are experiences of salvation, rededication, and renovation. Singings and homecomings fill the church with attendance, melody, and nostalgia. Funerals and times of repentance remind us that death and sin are related.
These times can prompt salvation and forgiveness. Grace and mercy are characteristics of God and jog our memory to the greatness of God and eternal life through Jesus. The Holy Spirit moving among the church presents some marvelous happenings.
Reminiscing about church has some things that need penning. There are some events that are unbelievable and memorable. I have titled this article: Only in Church.
At the Sweet Water Baptist church, the pastor was very passionate about his preaching. He was very good. However, one of the members there would close his eyes during the preaching of the sermon.
Finally, one Sunday the preacher asked why the member closed his eyes. The member said, “Pastor, I love to hear you preach but I can’t stand to look at you!”
Brierfield Baptist church was having the baptism of a teenage girl. The girl had broken her arm, and she had a bubble wrap on it. It was the preacher’s first time to conduct a baptism. As former pastor at Brierfield, the teenager asked if I would attend her baptism.
I will never forget it. As she descended into the baptism waters, the blue bubble wrap on her arm was obvious. As the newbie pastor cited, “I Baptist thee my sister in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,” everything went into the water but her arm.
The poor pastor tried several attempts of dunking the teenager, but the blue bubble wrapped arm retained its sin. The splashing of the waters went everywhere.
An earlier baptism at Brierfield involved sister church Ashby. Ashby did not have a baptism pool so they barrowed Brierfield’s. The weather was cold; 14 degrees was the low. The baptism pool was filled, the heating element was energized, and the water was crystal clear.
Ashby member filled the auditorium, and the baptism candidates
lined the passageway to the pool. As
the Ashby pastor entered into the water like John the
Baptist of old he started a tradition.
It was the first polar bear baptism.
The heating element had shorted and failed to heat the water.
The Providence Baptist Church had two men that were notorious for pulling pranks. One Sunday as the pastor waxed eloquently, one of the pranksters fell asleep. When the timing was just right, the other prankster nudged the sleeping one and said, “The preacher called on you to say the benediction.”
The poor sleepy man stood up and closed the service. The preacher pronounced to the church to have a good afternoon since there was an early benediction.
Baby dedications are wonderful occasions. I had twelve babies to dedicate one Sunday at the Gallion Baptist Church. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and everyone else flooded the church in anticipation of the dedication. Baby dedications are more for the parents and the congregation. The only way the baby will know of the moment is through the parents and the church.
I took each child and lifted them toward God. I had individual prayer and words of encouragement for each. When I lifted Chloe high into the air I started to speak when I noticed a big bubble of baby slobber hanging from her lip. It was like watching an eye drop dangling before it drops in your eye.
Suddenly the big glob fell into my mouth. The whole congregation gasped, with a variety of different moans and words.
The only thing I could do was to swallow it which the congregation did another set of phrases. I said, “Dew drops from heaven from one of God’s little angels.”
I performed a wedding at the Brierfield Historical Park at the Mulberry Baptist Church. The church had been moved from deep in the Bibb County woods and remodeled making it ideal for weddings and other venues.
As I conducted the ceremony, the little feller that was the ring barrier began to run his hand up the leg of the groom. The groom tried to motion the little boy back, but he was not deterred and had a big mischievous grin. I tried not to laugh, the groom focused on the vows, and the bride was scared stiff.
The pastor of Union Springs Baptist Church, my home church was and continues to be a great puppeteer. He has great movement when preaching. He has what my professor of preaching, the late Calvin Miller, said is balanced movement. The pulpit always is the center of his movement. The pulpit is and always must be the center of preaching the Bible.
The late RG Lee was one of my pastor’s favorites. He quoted him often. One Sunday as my pastor moved like a caged lion keeping the pulpit center, he crept closer and closer to the edge of the stage which was about three feet high. He finally did it. He stepped off the stage saying, “R G Leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”
He landed on the floor and never missed a beat. He slowly returned to the stage and behind the pulpit.
I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD. Psalm 122:1 KJV