April and May in the South is a time for decorations and homecomings. Union Springs does neither. I will never forget while in Seminary hearing some preacher friends speaking of Decoration Day. They were not too fond of them. Having grown up in a church that did not observe this day, I had to ask what Decoration Day was. I did not want to appear dumber that I am, I tried to listen long enough to try and figure out what it was. I finally garnered enough nerve to ask my friend Hugh. Hugh, very blunt and needing a few more classes on tact, said, “Worship of the dead, dummy.”
I did not know what worship of the dead was. Hugh and others gave me a quick lesson the 1001 ways that churches celebrate Decoration. They could not believe that my home church did not observe it.
Union Springs stopped observing Homecoming in the mid 1960’s. The first time I remember a celebration was a 75th Anniversary and then a 90th one. There have been plenty of changes. I remember that in the Seventies the church voted to hide the Peavey speakers behind some speaker cloth because Peavey looked too rock and roll. The only musical instruments were the piano and the organ. Guitars, drums, taped music, and trumpets were prohibited. To applaud after a special was sacrilegious. To raise a hand, say amen or hallelujah guaranteed a stern look and grunt from a deacon or two.
That era is gone after one hundred years.
It was good to see some changes, but the biggest change was people. Yeah, women with two first names such as Betty Mae, Betty Jo, Betty Jean, Sara Nell, Patsy Ann, Mary Jane, and Judy Kay were there and folks talked of Fannie Ruth, Kitty Sue, Dorothy Faye, and Ruby Nell’s passing when seeing their pictures.
Many have passed in 100 years. I remember Brother Arch Crumpton. For many years he and the preacher were the only men in the church. Brother Arch would walk to church, about four miles, start a fire in the pot-bellied stove, return home, and bring the family to church on a wagon. The church honored his daughter Myrtle at the Anniversary as the oldest member of the church.
I remember having Ms. Myrtle as my junior (I think that would be 3rd and 4th grade today) Sunday school teacher. I remember stepping over stacks of boards used for flooring the newly built Sunday school room in her class.
Had it not been for the faithful women of
As men were saved, guys like Bill Langston and Heedy Hayes taught me missions through the RA’s (Royal Ambassador). Union Springs was one of the top supporters of the Cooperative Program, the Alabama State Board of Missions, and Chilton Baptist Association. Union Springs was very instrumental in preparing me to be a Director of Missions.
I remember international, North American, and state missionaries sharing their work during times of worship. I remember crying the night Union Springs showed the movie, Bill Wallace of China. We got so involved in missions that we had a crew of men travel to the
My involvement with the Chilton Baptist Builders led to my call into the ministry. My first recall of being at Union Springs was when we first moved back to
Alas! And did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?
Union Springs called me as an RA leader, a Sunday School teacher, and as a deacon. Union Springs licensed me to preach, and ordained me into full time ministry. They gave me a scholarship for college and members such as Tac, James, and Callie helped finance me early in my ministry. I am fortunate to have been part of the 100 years of Union Spring’s ministries.
The Psalmist says it best when I am asked, “Where is your God?”
When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday Psalm 42:4 KJV.
I wonder what the new normal will be after the COVID - 19 virus has run its course and people start to gather again.
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