People Who Made a Difference

We spent five years in Minden.  We didn’t set new attendance records. We didn’t launch programs that reshaped the culture of the church, but we didn’t merely mark time either.   The most significant thing that happened to us in Minden was developing a love for the people.  I hesitate to mention names because I will necessarily leave out some people we hold dear, but I really can’t tell you about our time in Minden without names.  If you’re reading this and wondering why you were left out, it’s just because I don’t have enough space.  Some of those I will mention have gone to be with the Lord.  Others are still with us.

Al and Catherine Hays.  They were some of the first people we met when we visited Minden the first time.  They were Texans who moved there with Walter Frazier (Jim’s father) when he settled in that area.  Although we were in our late fifties when we arrived, we looked up to them as role models.  We didn’t visit them to encourage them. We visited them to be encouraged.  Both Al and Catherine have gone on.  I was in the room with Al when he died.

Adrian and Edith DeLukie.   Edith passed away when we lived in Minden, and Adrian recently ended his earthly sojourn.  He was still preaching up until the last months of his life.  I enjoyed a telephone conversation with him about a year ago.  He was one of the most respected church leaders in Webster Parish.  Adrian and I didn’t agree on everything, but he was my defender.  He would ardently defend my right to be wrong.   My admiration for him grew as the years passed.  In retrospect, I couldn’t ask for a greater cheerleader.

Dewey and Gwili King.   They shared lunch with us on our first visit to Minden. They often invited us into their home.   Dewey was a laid back fellow, you couldn’t help but enjoy being around.   To sit and talk with him was to talk with a man who had a lot of common sense. Dewey served as an elder in the church at one time, but that was before I came to Minden. Dewey is another good friend, whom I expect to see next in eternity. Gwili was and is a person with a servant heart.  She has a quite, gentle, and encouraging spirit.  She is a gracious hostess.  To my mind she defines Southern hospitality.

Harold and Jeanetta Robinson. God gifted Harold with a remarkable voice.  He once sang with a popular music group known as “The Drifters.”  I remember hearing Harold sing “Amazing Grace” at a graveside service.  It was on a hot, still day, and the echo of his voice reverberated off a nearby grove of woods.  It was over a hundred degrees and perfectly still.  Even so, I felt cold chills as I listened to him sing about “When we’ve been there ten thousand years.”  He did one of the best renditions of “Ole Man River” I’ve ever heard.  He had Jennetta raised three remarkable sons.  One Sunday morning, Harold was leading singing, and he started with “My God is Real,” which wasn’t in the song book.  I knew it but most of the people didn’t.  Harold motioned to me to join in with the singing.  I wouldn’t do it.  I just wanted to be encouraged by his remarkable voice.

I could go on, but what I want you to understand is how much people mean to me in the places we’ve served.   These are just a few of those who burned their memories into our hearts.