Kosse — a whole new world for us
SEPTEMBER 3, 2007 (MONDAY) – Graduation from the seminary in May, 1959, was a landmark in my life. It was a dividing line beween all that went before and everything that followed. I was 27 years of age, had finally completed my planned formal education, and was ready to move to a church field and become a full-time pastor.
It was with great joy that I saw a new Ford automobile coming up the road to our church one Sunday morning. It was the pulpit committee from the First Baptist Church of Kosse. Bro. Olen Waldrip, my pastor at Groesbeck, who had recommended me to my first pastorate at Oletha in 1951, had again given my name to a pastorless church with his firm recommendation. The church responded by coming to hear me preach. I guess they liked what they heard, because in a few weeks Wanda and I, with our two boys and expecting a new baby very soon, had moved into the parsonage at Kosse and had begun preaching there. It was a whole new world and we were very happy about it.
The chairman of the pulpit committee was Jack Hunt, never married at that time, in his late forties, brimming over with enthusiasm for the Lord’s work and a love for all things spiritual. Jack was the pastor’s friend, and an exciting person to know. He was the town’s postmaster, so everyone in town greeted him personally every day. He was the church treasurer, and was continually reminding the church about how wonderful it was to give to the Lord’s work, and how well they were doing. We are friends to this very day, even though we don’t see each other much. [When Wanda died, he and his wife, Beth, gave a huge donation of new kitchen equipment to Latham Springs Baptist Encampment in her memory (41 years after we had served his church)].
Wanda, David, Danny and I moved to the Baptist Parsonage parsonage in Kosse. We bought a car to replace the old, worn-out vehicle I had worked on day and night. It was our first new car. Debbie was born soon after we moved to Kosse, and a grand lady in the church dubbed her, “The Queen of Kosse.” To top off our joy in being in full time service, our move to Kosse put us within a short distance of Wanda’s family, and that was really nice. We had a very happy, though brief (21 months), ministry there, before moving to Dallas to pastor the Vickery Baptist Church in April, 1961. More about that tomorrow. Our time in Kosse was some of the most memorable of our entire life. It was really good for our souls, and wonderful preparation for all that we did thereafter.