An anniversary day for me
September 5, 2011 (Monday)
Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It has become the unofficial end of summer.
Today marks a couple of personal anniversaries for me. It was one year ago today that I moved back from Houston to settle down once again in Rockport. Of course, those who know me know that although I enjoyed being with friends and family in Houston and I really loved the wonderful people at Timbergrove Baptist Church, I never really left Rockport. I always considered Rockport my home and never relinquished possession of the house. Sometimes no one was here, and sometimes my son, Dwight, was living here. Since my return one year ago, we have been living together here.
Dwight works as a computer programmer with a software company in Houston. He does all his work via computer and telephone from the house here. I attended church at First Baptist Rockport until the Bethel Baptist Church of Ingleside asked me to become their interim pastor. The church building is only 15 minutes from home. I maintain my office here at the house. Their pastor search committee is working and they are actively seeking someone to serve as their pastor. In the meantime, I am preaching and filling in as needed for the wonderful, loving people at Bethel until they find a pastor. Here’s a picture of me in the Bethel Pastor’s Study. View image
Labor Day Weekend is also a personal anniversary. It marks 63 years since I preached my first sermon at a regular church worship service. My dear friend, David Foster, preached also on that day, bringing his sermon at the evening service. We were “preacher boys” at the Liberty Road Baptist Church, on Liberty Road just off Jensen Drive on the north side of town (known today as “inner city”). The church licensed several teenage boys to preach the gospel at about the same time. Considering the fact that the church’s average attendance was around 150, the number of young men planning to be ministers of the gospel was unusually large. By the end of 2011, we will all have passed the 80-year-old mark. Townsend passed away. Herbie had served in the military and was pastoring a church before the rest of us got started. We are all still good friends today, these many years since we were photographed in 1950. Here’s the picture. View image Left to right: Charles Fake, Maurice Smith, Herbie Zimmerman, Townsend Taake, David Foster, Troy Conner.
Whatever happened to these boys? Click here for a little info.