My First Pastorate
When I was nineteen years old and a student at ETBC in Marshall, Texas, a little church in Patroon, Texas asked me to be their pastor. It was a “Union” church where Baptists met on the first and third Sundays and Methodists on the second and fourth. When the Methodists lost their preacher, I preached all four Sundays. I hitchhiked seventy five miles to the church every Saturday and after Sunday’s evening service, I hitchhiked back to Marshall in the dark. By God’s grace and kind motorists, I neither missed a preaching appointment nor a 7:00 class on Monday morning. Ned Windham let us use his stock pond for a baptistery and college student Yvonne Goodwin and her Uncle J.B. were my first candidates. Yvonne was afraid of water and I had to baptize her twice to get all of her long blond hair submerged. Since her Uncle J.B. was twice my size, we were both baptized.
When the Baptists started meeting in the old school house, it cost us our Methodist pianist, Jane Ann Woodfin, and cut our attendance in half. When I announced that I was going back to the old building to preach, a deacon threatened: “Lay down that Bible and I’ll ‘whup’ you!” Soon after my resignation, the Baptists constructed a building of their own and have a nice one till this day.
The people of Patroon were ultra patient with their fledgling pastor and faithfully provided me with food, a Saturday night bed and thirty dollars a week. They helped jump start me in the Christian ministry and taught me a lot.
I hope they learned as much from me.
By: Doug Fincher May 17, 2006
When the Baptists started meeting in the old school house, it cost us our Methodist pianist, Jane Ann Woodfin, and cut our attendance in half. When I announced that I was going back to the old building to preach, a deacon threatened: “Lay down that Bible and I’ll ‘whup’ you!” Soon after my resignation, the Baptists constructed a building of their own and have a nice one till this day.
The people of Patroon were ultra patient with their fledgling pastor and faithfully provided me with food, a Saturday night bed and thirty dollars a week. They helped jump start me in the Christian ministry and taught me a lot.
I hope they learned as much from me.
By: Doug Fincher May 17, 2006