OUR FIRST SUNDAY, A
DAY TO BE REMEMBERED!
I had my sermon prepared and ready to be delivered following
the appropriate number of songs and prayer. The telephone rang in the office
and one of the elders left the assembly and answered it. Just before Kirby
Phelps was to lead the church in a song prior to my sermon, an elder stood and
made the announcement that Ann Faulk had died suddenly earlier that Sunday
morning. The brothers and sisters were in a state of shock. Kirby and his wife
Mary Lou were very close friends of Ann and her husband Bob Faulk. He could
hardly sing because his heart was broken and filled with sorrow. My heart went
out to him. When the song had been sung, l left my sermon outline on the front
pew and walked up to the podium and spoke what was on my heart, a lesson about
the uncertainty of life and that death was no respecter of age and I expressed the
deepest of sympathy to her family. I believe Ann was only 42 years old. She and
Bob had brought food to our home just a couple of days before her death. In
retrospect, wisdom should have been used in announcing her sudden passing from
this life until just before the closing prayer. Bob and I became very close
friends the time we lived in Greenville.
A BRAND NEW HOUSE
The new ‘preacher’s house’ had just been completed when we
moved to Greenville.
It was located in a very nice neighbor across from the Country Club and golf
course on Forest Court.
I just imagine that some of the neighbors were hoping while the house was being
built that it was not going to be a ‘Jim Walters’ house. Not! It had four
bedrooms, three baths, a nice size den and a large dinning room. The carpet
throughout the house was white as were the walls. Not good when a preacher, his
wife and four children were moving in it. The clay was red and so were the
clothes and the shoes of the children while playing outside. To say the least,
we really ‘broke the house in’ for the following preachers and their families.
CONJUGATING A VERB
WHILE PREACHING
One Sunday morning I was preaching about Peter’s denial of
the Lord and when the Lord had predicted when he would do it – when the cock
would crow. Well I happened to place an adverb, had, before crew and in my mind
I began to conjugate that verb and it was then I realized I was in trouble. A
good teacher friend of mine was sitting on the second pew upfront and she was
really enjoying my problem. I stopped my speech immediately and started over by
saying something like “Peter realized what Jesus had said when He told him that
he would deny Him when the cock crew.” Perfect in speech, I am not.
A PREACHER WHO LOVES
SOUTHERN COOKING
Claude Flynn had not been in Alabama very long before he was preaching in
a gospel meeting for us at the Walnut
Street church. He paid a compliment to our ladies
when he said that southern women were the best cooks in the world; however, he stated
that he had never been able to eat two vegetables – turnip greens and boiled
okra. Claude mentioned that he had tried turnip greens by putting ketchup or
mustard on them but he still did not like to eat them. Concerning boiled okra
he said that he never liked to have anything in his mouth over which he did not
have full control!
I JUST HAPPENED TO BE
THERE OR WHAT?
On Sunday afternoon, October 25, 1970, I visited a family
south of Greenville
for the first time because they had manifested some interest in the gospel. I
did not know they
had a son who was in the Viet Nam conflict. While standing
on the front porch a gentleman drove up and asked for the soldier’s parents.
The father identified himself and received the telegram from the war department
with the news that their son had been seriously wounded while in action in Viet Nam. The
distraught father looked at me and expressed his belief that I had been sent to
their home just at the time they received such sad news concerning their son. I
know this experience moved me emotionally and caused me to record this incident
in my log that occurred some 43 years ago.
I FELT LIKE I WAS
LOOKING AT GOLIATH
I preached every Sunday morning on the local radio station
while living in Greenville.
Following our program was a preacher for some holiness group. I began a series
of lessons regarding the miracles that Jesus Christ and the apostles performed
in the first century. I also taught from the Bible that such miracles did not
occur presently. Well, this preacher began to argue that they did occur and
that he had performed some miracles. Not only that, he became very belligerent
and to insult me personally. There were some times when I was so upset it was
difficult for me to teach my Sunday morning Bible class. I believe it was at
the local funeral home where I was visiting a family when I heard his voice. I
knew who it was immediately, so, with my legs shaking, I walked up to this man
who towered over me like a giant (as I remember) and spoke to him. I introduced
myself and I said to him that I thought we should keep our debate on the radio
in a gentlemanly fashion. That was a real lesson to me. With God’s help we can
overcome our fear and face our foes. From that time forward he never insulted me
again while preaching on the radio.
OUR NEIGHBORS WERE
NOT TERRORISTS BUT TERRELLS
There were some woods between our houses but our daughters
made a path between our homes. Bobby and Mary Lou Terrell had a child named
Angie and our daughter’s name was Angela. These two children became good
friends and we became close friends with Bobby and Mary Lou and family and that
friendship has continued until the present time. Bobby was a member of the
country club and he got permission for me to play golf with him. I was a novice
and he was a semi-pro in my opinion but I remember the day I really challenged
him by ending up with the same score as his – 42. Not bad for part-time golfer.
DEATH OF MY FATHER
It was on Thursday afternoon, February 26, 1970 that sister
Frances Cochran, a close friend of my family, called and informed me that my
father, Walter Matthew Elliott had died while cleaning a church building. My
heart was broken. He was only 66 years old at his passing from this life. His
funeral was conducted on Saturday, February 28, 1970 in the South Commerce Street church of Christ
building. He was buried in the Unity cemetery on Sand
Mountain near Henagar, Alabama.
IT WAS WHILE LIVING
IN GREENVILLE
THAT I BECAME AN ADDICT
Now don’t get ahead
of me in this story. You see I have always done some hunting, even when a boy.
Living in north Georgia
we usually hunted for small game like rabbits, squirrels and quail. Max Autrey
was of the large Autrey family who lived between Greenville
and Fort Deposit on old U.S. 31. They owned some
3,500 acres which contained plenty of woods, pasture land, some cultivated
acres and streams of water. I asked Max if I might hunt squirrels on their
property and he said that would be just fine. I was using my Dad’s old16 gauge shotgun
with a full choke which was very good in harvesting squirrels. I began seeing
what I thought were large chicken tracks but Max informed me I was looking at
wild turkey tracks. Not only that but I began to see deer and that was the time
my fiend when I became addicted to deer and turkey hunting. I killed my first
turkey on the Autrey property and took it up to Max’s home and his sweet wife,
Deane, had a lady to pluck the feathers and dressed out that turkey. I did not
know how to prepare such a large fowl for cooking. But I was hooked, addicted
or whatever you may call it but I have enjoyed looking for the evasive deer and
wild turkeys since 1969.
OUR DIFFICULT
DECISION TO MOVE FROM GREENVILLE
When we moved to Greenville
in 1969 the public schools were partially integrated with full integration to
occur the following year. That was not a problem for our family. Wednesday,
September 2, 1970, was the day for registration for the children who would be
attending the school where two of our children were enrolled. Many of the
parents who brought their children to the middle school were not happy and
decided not to register their children and left. A committee of Kenneth Cumbie,
Bobby Brannon and I conducted a meeting in the county courthouse to encourage
parents to keep their children in the middle school where our children were in
attendance. There were about 100 parents present. A new private school was
planned in addition to the one already located in Greenville. I knew that I could not afford a
private school for our four children. The elders of the Opp church approached
me about considering the work there. My good friend Roger Dill had been
preaching for them for some 51/2 years and he and his family were moving to Valdosta, Georgia.
We made the decision to move after much prayer about the situation in Greenville. The Walnut Street
elders understood our decision to move and our relationship with that
congregation has been excellent over the years. I have always appreciated their
understanding and brotherly love. I tell people that I conducted the longest gospel
meeting ever for the Walnut Street
church – 11/2 years!
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