Baptists About
(Saturday Stories about traveling about part two)
A little slow out of the gate is how I might describe our morning. I actually woke up at 3:30. Thought it was probably 6. Didn’t want to disturb the missus, so I stayed put, drifted in and out. I think it was the anticipation. Nevertheless, we didn’t exactly bolt out the door.
Oatmeal, toast, and coffee.
Load the bikes. Last minute packing.
Take care of the chickens.
We finally rolled out around 8:00. Most mornings, I head for work around 5:20. The traffic is much nicer at that time of the morning. I forgot about all the going to school folks. We drove 412 for a long ways. And it was on 412 around Inola where I remembered what I forgot. The money we had set aside for the trip. I forgot to get it. It was still sitting on my nightstand beside my bed.
We were at Choteau before we figured out that there was a BancFirst in Inola and none east of there as far as we could tell. But I wasn’t about to turn around. It will have to be credit card paying until we get home. In a pinch we can use an ATM.
The drive was pleasant. Uneventful. Quiet.
I didn’t realize Harrison, Arkansas was as big a town as it is.
There are a lot of Baptist churches scattered about the rural areas, in small towns and in some cases where there is no town at all. Baptists of all sorts...Landmark, Missionary, Free Will, Southern, and of course Independent. I have a theory about that.
For all our faults, we Baptists have something that a lot of other denominations don’t have. I’m trying to put a name on it, but I can’t come up with it just yet. So, let me just describe it and maybe by the time I’m done describing it I will know what to call it.
The reason there are Baptist churches where you won’t find Presbyterians and Episcopalians is because we are okay with an uneducated clergy. (At least we have been historically). I don’t mean stupid. Some people, unfortunately, equate and man’s intelligence with his degrees. What I mean is, we allow for someone to preach and pastor even if he doesn’t know Greek and Hebrew and has never been to seminary. Nothing wrong with seminary either. This isn’t a critique of higher education. I’m a seminary grad myself. But I, and a lot of other Baptist folks aren’t put off and don’t immediately dismiss the validity of a man’s calling based on his educational background.
Now, that is important to grasp if you want to grasp why Baptist have historically been so good at planting little churches in rural and small population areas.
Imagine your a guy who just spent the better part of a decade and a lot of money getting himself theologically educated. Do you think you are going to head out to the hills and preach to 25 people every Sunday? People who are mostly poor and uneducated themselves? Not likely. You won’t hear God’s calling you to Hootersville. You’ll want to be in the city or the suburbs, a place where you can make a living and be respectable.
Well, thank the Lord that He raises up some redneck preachers who go out into the wilderness and preach hell hot and heaven sweet to some poor folks out in the sticks. Those guys probably won’t ever grow a big church. Shoot, there’s only 100 people within driving distance to those churches. But they will be faithful, not so much to the Greek text, but to the people they serve.
And to our credit, we Baptists have been good at having a place for that in our ranks when some other folks don’t.
The other reason we are good at this is because we are independent minded. Yes, we are notorious for our committees and all, but at the same time we have a culture of letting some guy carry his Bible and his vision out into the wilderness and get a few folks together and start up a church. No need for a study group and sending overseers slowing things down or even deciding it isn’t going to be a good return on investment.
Some guys don’t need a sending agency and big financial backers. Just a Bible and a backbone and they’ll be fine.
At least that is what I was thinking when we rounded a curve over a hill and Pilgrim’s Rest Baptist church was sitting there along side the road welcoming all sinners to come home.
