they asked me to come to Rockport
SEPTEMBER 5, 2007 (WEDNESDAY) – The pulpit commitee of the First Baptist Church of Rockport wanted to hear me preach. It was October, 1964. Since it was much easier for me to come down and preach for the pulpit committee (known these days as “pastor search committee”) than for them to get together and make a trip to Dallas, the committee made arrangements with Bill Arnold, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Aransas Pass, to let me preach at the Wednesday evening service of that church. The committee came to hear me, and afterwards we came back to Rockport for cake and coffee at the home of Mrs. McKnight, a member of the committee. A.G. Gardner was the chairman, and members were Frances Watkins, Freddie Geese, Christine McDonald, Jack Baird and Mrs. R.F. McKnight. After conferring with each other, they asked me to come with my family in view of a call as pastor. I came back and preached, the church called me, and my family and I moved into the parsonage on Halloween. (W-o-o-o-o-o-o! Boo! Scary!) My ministry officially began November 1, 1964. We made our final move..well, almost.
God had obviously been preparing us as a family and the church as well, because everything seemed to work right. More and more people were coming to church, and many were joining the church every Sunday. God was blessing the work here. And no one was surprised more than I. Until arriving here, I had never seen anything like the way the services were being blessed and the way the church was growing. I really don’t know what all the factors must have been, but I am absolutely sure it wasn’t because of me. I had never experienced such a great spirit and obvious growth anywhere I had ever been. It was just the Lord, that’s all I can say. He got us off to a good start. The old downtown buildings will always live in our memories. That is now all in the past.
We had been here two years when Dwight was born at Spohn in November of 1966. Before Dwight was born, the ladies of the church gave Wanda a baby shower. Shortly thereafter, I was at home one evening when I got a call from Buddy McElveen, chairman of deacons. In a solemn voice, he said, “Brother Charles, the deacons are over here at the church and we would like to meet with you.” Wow! My heart sank, and I just knew they were going to tell me to “hit the road.” But when I arrived, it turned out to be a baby shower for me, and the gift was a nice rod and reel. We then had coffee and good fellowship. Whew!
One day led to the next, and before we knew it, it was time to go. Wanda, who had been music director for 25 years, and I, pastor here for 31 years, retired in 1996. We had come to the end of a great journey with a great church. Now it was time to move on. We planned to move and make a life for ourselves elsewhere, but Debbie’s illness and death occupied our time and attention for quite a while as we spent a lot of time in Houston with her and her family. By the time we were able to face reality once again, Walter had become the pastor and had been so well received that we did not feel an urgency to move away. So we put it off for a while as we collected our wits and adjusted to the death of our daughter. We came to see there was no need to move away because of the great loving spirit of our new pastor, Walter Knight, who made us feel welcome. And, I had opportunities to preach in other churches so we were not here all the time. Now, eleven years have come and gone since retirement, and you have graciously let me preach for you the past year. I miss Walter in the church probably more than anyone else. I enjoyed having him as my pastor, and I am thankful he and I are friends. I think I will write one more blog about years since retirement, and that should finish the series on the churches in which I have been immeasurably blessed.