Influences to Preach

Up until the time I was a teenager, preaching was the last thing I ever wanted to do.  Sometimes it was suggested to me, and I always responded negatively – not just negatively, but with a great deal of hostility being expressed toward the person who offered the suggestion.

After about a year of the training class, Marion decided that he wanted to start a second class for boys who wanted to learn how to preach.   He used material from Cogdill’s book to help us develop five minute talks.  There were eight of us.   We went to several congregations around West Texas and presented Wednesday night programs.   Of course, they were all amazed to see these young men, not dry behind the ears, speak from God’s word.   I enjoyed every one of those sessions.   I was the last speaker in each one of those programs and I was also the oldest.   

From that group I’m the only one who actually became a full time minister.   Jack Goble became a children’s home director.  His brother Tommy became a deacon at the Southern Hills church in Abilene.   For years Gene Foster has been active in the church at Gorman, Texas where he runs a flower shop.   Gene probably became an elder. I really don’t know what happened to all of the others.  Some were quite talented, but chose not to use those gifts in the work of the Lord.

Two things happened along the way that stand out in my memory.  Gus Nichols, one of the old pioneer preachers from Alabama came to ACC to deliver their annual lectures on preaching.  Marion took us to hear him.   Old Brother Gus was captivating.  The next year we went back again.  This time we heard John Banister, long time pulpit minister for the Skillman Avenue church in Dallas.   He was equally captivating.  Years later I formed a friendship, of sorts with John Banister.  His son, Bill, was one of my classmates at ACC.  John Banister was a prince of man.  I always looked up to him.

We would also attended the ACC lectureship.   I still remember sitting in the balcony of the College Church in Abilene during the lectureship.  They had just completed the present building.  The church been in existence for nearly fifty years but had never owned a building until 1952.   It was an elaborate structure for the time, and still is.  Churches of Christ usually like plainness and the College Church building was not plain.  The students at ACC, like students will do, loved to poke fun at what they considered ostentatious decisions.   At the time, the late Glen Wallace preached for the College Church, so the students nicknamed it, “St. Glen’s Cathedral.”

For me the proximity to ACC and the experiences with the Clyde church were extremely valuable.

I had not made the decision to preach yet, but I was extremely interested in spiritual matters, and I was exposed to some powerful influences.  I remember hearing G. C. Brewer.  He was one of the best known preachers in the Churches of Christ.  There were others who were not so well known, but I heard some outstanding preachers during my high school days, and I came to admire them.  In my next posting I’ll talk about how I came to decide that I wanted to be a preacher.