STORIES OF MY CHURCHES
When I was a sophomore at Ohio University, the Evangelical United Brethren Church gave me my first student churches. It was a five-point charge—five churches in very rural southeastern Appalachian Ohio. I preached at two churches on one Sunday and three other churches on the next Sunday. Some of the churches were so small that we met in living rooms. One church in particular, Mount Olive United Methodist Church was a one-room church with a coal stove in the middle of the sanctuary. Their favorite song was We’ll Fly Away Oh Lordy, We’ll Fly Away. One Sunday I came to that church to preach and big “ole” Jake was standing in front of the church doors with his arms crossed. He must have been six foot two, built like a football player and I said, “hello Jake”. He says “Reverend, you’re NOT coming into this church.” I said “what?” He says “we don’t accept liberal preaching, go home.” Well, I wasn’t going to fight with him! I left. I went to my next church to preach that Sunday. I never preached in that church again.
The next church that Sunday was down a woody “holler”. Packed in the living room were three people sitting on the couch. I loved those people. I later learned that one of the people had won multi-million dollars in the Ohio lottery. Unfortunately, he didn’t think to give some money to a poor college student. The following Sunday I preached at the two larger churches, Dale United Methodist Church, which had about 10 people in the congregation. It was a one-room church building. The following church, Oak Hill, the largest, was a country church. It had about fifteen people in the congregation. A teenager played the piano and one of the families offered to take me to their home for lunch each Sunday after church. I got my first understanding of country farming in this church. I was taken to a dairy farm and tried to milk a cow but was never able to do it. Then they took me on a journey of mowing hay. I could barely lift the bale up on the hay wagon. I loved the interesting lessons of farming, but I knew I would never become a farmer.
