..I will always love them..

My life was made new and different in one brief, all-important day

June 27, 2007 (Wednesday) – I was not yet seventeen years old, and it was the Fourth of July, 1948. I had learned to drive, and looked for an opportunity to do so, often. When I woke up that Sunday morning, I remembered that the pastor had given me a personal invitation to come to church, and I said to myself, “I’ll go to church today.” I had been absent for five years.
I got in the car and drove across town, not to the church directly, but to the Conner home. The Conners had been instrumental in my being saved, five years before. Troy, who was my age, had been my best friend, but I had not seen him in a long time. His sister, Frances, and his brothers, Bill and Wallace were the other children in the family. Troy’s father, Theo, was a quiet,hard-working, dedicated Christian man. Troy’s mother, Ola, was very energetic, enthusiastic and deeply interested in her church — especially its young people. Many of them were frequent guests in the Conner home. So when I knocked on the door that Sunday morning, the whole family came to greet me, and welcomed me. When I told them I had come to go to church with them, they were delighted.
When we got to church, all who had known me came to me and let me know how very happy they were to see me there. I felt at home, even though it had been years since I had gone to church there. We went to Sunday School, and there began a series of revelations that showed me how much things had changed in the last five years. The superintendent of the youth department (called “Intermediates”) was a very young lady, not much older that the kids in the classes. She brought a wonderful devotional thought, and I was amazed at her spiritual maturity (although I had no idea that’s what it was). And then she called on one of my old friends from childhood to lead in prayer! Wow! I thought, “Surely he is not going to do that. We’re just kids.” But he did. And very well. I was somewhat stunned. Things had surely changed. When we got into the class, the kids were a lot different from the way they had been when we were children in the “Junior” department. Back then, we paid no attention and were disruptive. But on that Sunday morning, as young people, they participated in the discussions and contributed to the lesson study. By now I was reeling from the new way the day was unfolding. I felt like something was really missing from my life. Then we went to the worship service, and they asked me to sing in the choir with them. Most of the music was unfamiliar to me, but I was catching on. The pastor preached a sermon, and I kept thinking, “This is really where I belong. Where have I been all these years?”
After church, the Conners invited me to have lunch with them. We renewed old times together, and then, like kids do, we piled in the car and went driving. So, Troy, his brother Bill, and our dear friend, Maurice Smith, took off around the community. We went to a ballfield and watched some guys they knew as they played softball. Then we went to a drive-in restaurant and got a coke. We drove around a little more, and all the while I was becoming convinced that something was surely lacking in my life. These guys really did love the Lord, and, besides that, Troy and Maurice were preachers! I couldn’t believe that. I was deeply impressed. The years had separated us, not only geographically, but spiritually. I had a long way to go. I wanted what they had.
I stayed with them and went to church with them that night. When the pastor gave the invitation, I went forward, touched by the Spirit of God, and weeping, not knowing what to say. I just knew I needed to get back where I really belonged. The pastor helped me by asking, “Do you want to rededicate your life, Charles?” I was not sure what that meant, but it sounded like something I needed to do, so I said, “Yes.” He presented me to the church, and those dear people came by, one by one, with loving and encouraging words of welcome. I’ll never forget that.
Troy, Maurice and Bill had lived that day like they had learned to live every day, devoted to Christ. Their influence awakened every spiritual longing that had ever existed in my heart. Troy Conner suddenly was elevated past being my good friend, to being my hero. Actually, that’s the way it had always been when we were younger. Now I was finding that Troy was singing and preaching for the Lord, and I knew that was what the Lord wanted for me, too. One month later, I came forward and told the pastor I felt that God was calling me to preach. One month after that, at his invitation, I preached my very first sermon. I was still three weeks away from being seventeen, but the events of that summer had set the course for the rest of my life.
Were it not for the Conner family, I have no idea how my life would have gone. I’ll never know, because what happened was the working out of God’s plan. I’ll always be thankful for Troy, Bill and Maurice. Bill became a very successful person in the business world and very active in the Lord’s work. At one time, he headed the Baptist Men in Houston and his wife, Wanda, was known as “Mrs. W.M.U. of Houston.” Bill died some years ago, and is now with the Lord. Maurice and his very capable wife, Evelyn, became missionaries to Africa. He later was known as a specialist in world religions with what was then the Home Mission Board. He was a pastor and a seminary professor. In retirement, if you can call it such, he is still teaching Bible courses in San Antonio for Wayland Baptist University. Evelyn has always been in great demand as one of the best administrative assistants to be found anywhere. Troy has always served as a music director for churches in Houston. He is music director at Timbergrove Baptist Church in Houston, and that’s how I was contacted to become the pastor of that church in 2004. It was wonderful, being with him again and serving the Lord together, along with his talented, gifted and beautiful wife, Ruth. For a number of years she served as Children’s Director of the great Westbury Baptist Church of Houston. I will always love them.