My father was a preacher and a pastor of three rural churches. That makes me a PK, a preacher's kid. It amazes me that I didn't hear of the term PK until I was grown. While I was growing up there were no cute little acronyms, just the raw facts. And the fact was that I spent my entire childhood in church. Now I wasn't there 24 seven, 365. But I was there a lot. My father was a pastor from the time I was a little girl until right after college, in the mid 1970s, when he suffered his first stroke and retired.
During those times every church held a homecoming Sunday and five night revival every summer. With my father pastoring three churches, well you do the math. So how does one pastor three churches at the same time? Alternate Sundays. Most rural churches only met one or two Sundays per month for worship but some had Sunday School every Sunday. So it was not uncommon for one pastor to have more than one church.
The largest congregation that my father pastored was New Prospect Baptist Church in Blackstone in Nottoway County, Virginia. During my father's pastorate the congregation grew and the church was expanded to include meeting rooms, indoor bathrooms, and a basement fellowship hall. When Daddy first started pastoring there, New Prospect was a third Sunday church. Since Daddy was from Nottoway County and my grandparents and other relatives still lived there, we always made a day of it and spent the Sunday afternoons at Nana and Papa's house. Later New Prospect transitioned to first and third Sundays. New Prospect is still growing and thriving.
The first Sunday church was Salem Baptist Church in Howardsville in Buckingham County Virginia. At that time it was the largest building with the smallest congregation. It was also 90 miles from home which even for my dedicated father, was not ideal. Daddy pastored there only a few years. Even though it was a very small congregation years ago, a quick check on the internet shows that it is thriving now.
Pottomoi Baptist Church was in what they used to call Ellerson, Virginia. It is now called Mechaincsville, Virginia. It was the second and fourth Sunday church and the one that my foster sisters and I became members of. One of the unique things about Pottomoi was that they were the only church that had summer hours between April and October. Eleven o'clock was the standard time for worship in those days and Sunday school was usually at 9:30 or 10:00. But during the summer months Sunday school was at 7:00 and worship was at 8:00 and that was a.m. The early hours were probably for two reasons. First, there was no air-conditioning so we could get in and out before the heat of the day. And second, many members liked to visit different churches in the summer for their Homecoming services and the early time insured that they were able to do so. It was at Pottomoi that I found the LORD, attended Sunday School, sang on the choir, ushered, very rarely served as substitute pianist.
After my father had a stroke, the members of Pottomoi decided to merge with a neighboring church, Pleasant Grove Baptist Church. The building was closed and sold. I believed the the Pottomoi name was gone forever and that I would never be a part of it again. But that wasn't the case. The new owner rented it so several different congregations over the years. I had the opportunity to visit it in early May to participate in a Bible Reading Marathon. I met the new tenants and was invited to preach there, at The Historic Pottomoi Church, on May 30th. It looked very much like it did when I was there so many years ago. I cannot describe the joy and peace that I felt to be able to stand, where my father stood, and deliver a word from the LORD!
Each of the churches was different, with different needs and different personalities. But there were still many similarities. Each church had a deacon board of all male, married deacons. The deacons' wives were the deaconesses. These groups were especially visible on communion Sundays. The ordinance of communion was the celebration of the Lord's Supper or Last Supper. At Pottomoi communion was on the second Sunday, since they met two Sundays per month. For the once a month churches, New Prospect and Salem it was quarterly. On communion Sundays the deacons served communion to the congregation and the pastor served it to the deacons and deaconesses who stood in the aisle or in the front to receive it. The deacons usually wore black or dark suits and the deaconesses wore white dresses or suits with gloves and hats from around April to September and black the rest of the year. Daddy, the pastor, usually wore a black or white robe, depending on the season, or a dark suit.
When I was growing up all of the pastors that I was aware of were men. Yes, there were some women in ministry as Missionaries (with their long white dresses) and those who were in the 'Holy and Sanctified' churches. At that time the roles of women in the Baptist Church were limited to Sunday school teachers, choir members and musicians, ushers, deaconesses, and the church clerk. It was traditional for the church clerk to stand at the floor lectern every Sunday service and read announcements and letters that the church may have received. That was the only time I regularly heard a woman speak in church. It was partially because of these traditions that I was very reluctant to answer my own call to ministry. I'll discuss more of my personal journey in another blog.
Spending much of my early years in church was more valuable than I realized. Having a firm foundation in my faith has helped me to navigate some of the most difficult times in my life. I relied on that faith when I was the caregiver to my parents in their last years. It also made me realize why it's so important to take our children to church. When we take them to church early in their lives, we plant a seed of faith. And even if they stray away, that seed is still there. So when times get rough they will always have a faith that they can come back to. Without planting that seed of faith and providing a church home, they won't have anywhere to come back to. And far too many will end up lost forever. As I look back I'm so glad that those seeds of faith were planted early in my life. They made a difference and made me who I am today.