From Little River to Indian River in Forty Years!

Sunday, August 21, 2011, it was my privilege to preach at the Indian River Baptist church in Philadelphia, NY. This is a delightful congregation on the banks of the Indian River Northest of Watertown, NY. (near Fort Drum) While Dolly and I traveled the almost two hours to the church, I began to think about forty years ago this month when the Little River Baptist Church in Southern Monroe County, Alabama had the poor judgement to call me as their pastor. Yes, next month will mark forty years since my ordination to the Gospel Ministry. I have often thought that I should send those fine folk a sympathy card for the sermons I forced them to endure.
We served there for about eighteen months while I finished my under graduate degree at what is now the University of Mobile (formerly Mobile College). We saw seventeen folk baptized and built and paid for a new educational building. We dedicated the building one Sunday and I resigned to go to seminary the next.
You may be thinking, how does one get from South Alabama to New York State. When asked, I often respond that I am directionally challenged. But the truth be told, it was a circuitous route. It actually started in the cafeteria at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS). I got a degree in cafeteriology. While sitting with classmates over cups of coffee, we would pontificate on a variety of subjects. One young man, who shall remain nameless, said boldly, "I will go anywhere the Lord wants me to go, as long as it is in the state of Mississippi!" Somehow that statement got ahold of me. When I went home that evening, Dolly and I had a prayer meeting and agreed before the Lord that we would not place any territorial limits on where the Lord might use us. We truly agreed that "wherever He leads, we will go". We agreed never to play the Jonah card. We were filling out paper work to volunteer for international missions when Dolly fell down a flight of stairs at seminary and our FMB (now IMB) advisor told us to stop because no one would appoint her with chronic back problems. We took that the mean that we would serve within the United States. The rest is history.
It has been a fun ride from Little River to Indian River and we cannot wait to see how He leads us on in the future!