Archive by Author

Church-Part 7A

13 Nov

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

The Music

I would like to make a short detour here.  Still talking about The Church, but instead, some of the music we’ve sung, and performances we have participated in.

While I don’t really remember much about what we did in Albuquerque First Baptist Church, back in the 1950’s , it was probably mostly just sort of a “concert” of either Christmas or Easter music, perhaps with a narration interspersed between songs, depending upon the season of the year.

Photo credi Google search-t First Baptist Church, Albuquerque

But the beginning of my fondest memories of the “cantatas” or “musicals” started shortly after Fred and I married and moved to Fort Worth, Texas.  We joined Travis Avenue Baptist Church there, and were so impressed with the choir that when we joined the church, we didn’t even give the choir director an opportunity to invite us to choir.  We asked her how we could join in!  She was quite surprised!

Credit Google Search and Travis Avenue Baptist Church

I don’t remember a lot of the Christmas and Easter musicals we did at that church, but I do remember one special “musical” we performed.  It’s called God’s Trombones by James Weldon Johnson, and is a Negro Spiritual.

Credit Google Search

It is actually seven Negro sermons in verse – made into a musical.  It is a wonderful, beautiful musical, but because it is not “politically correct” to sing those wonderful songs, we never hear about it anymore.  But I loved the way our director staged it.  It was an evening service, and the choir was “scattered” around the sanctuary, in our “Sunday-go-to-meetin’” best clothes.  After all the preliminary church stuff was completed, one of our choir members took one of our handbells – the large, deep-voiced one – and began “tolling” for church members.  So we began rising from wherever we were sitting, and made our way to the choir loft (we had about 80 choir members).  That “picture” has stayed with me, all these years later.  It was a wonderful performance, with all the glory going to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Only one other musical event from Travis Avenue  that I/we remember was the year we performed The Seven Last Words of Christ by Joseph Haydn.  I don’t remember a lot of “acting” during that performance, but I do remember that we had an actor portraying Christ, and he was actually “hanging” on the cross, set up in the baptistry.  He “sang” the seven last words of Christ on the cross.  It was an extremely moving presentation.

Credit Google Search and synaxis

While it wasn’t at the church, I was able to join with some from the community to sing with the Seminary choir (Southwestern Baptist Seminary – Fort Worth, Texas) performing  Messiah by Handel.  The rehearsals were in the evening, and after working all day long, then heading to Seminary for rehearsals…well, I only participated in one performance.  I was just too tired to do justice to the music.  But it is a magnificent piece of music.

The Rotunda  – Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas

Credit Google Search and SWBTS website

WE….ARE THE CHURCH!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Church-Part 8

6 Nov

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Again, we left Germany with many regrets – we really loved living in Germany!

Fred had been assigned to a Weather Wing attached to Langley AFB, Virginia, near Hampton Roads.  Neither of us had ever lived near Virginia, so this promised to be quite a new adventure for us and our girls.

Our house in Seaford

In deep snow

We settled in a small town, Seaford, Virginia, just eight miles south of Yorktown and it’s famous battlefield.  We were only about half-an-hour from Colonial Williamsburg, and about that from Jamestown.  That entire area is call the “Historic Triangle” of America.  We lived there nearly 13 years.

Credit Google search and Wikipedia

Sign along Interstate 64

Fred had a bit of a drive to work from Seaford, but we liked the house, the area and the schools.  I really loved living in that house, but, as I’ve said recently, if we were still there, we would have to move, as my knees cannot handle stairs anymore.

There was a small Baptist church not too far from our house.  Again, after visiting around quite a few Baptist churches in the area, we decided that Seaford Baptist Church was where God wanted us.  When we joined the church the pastor told us that the family we purchased the house from had been members of the church.  They told the pastor that they had prayed over every room in that house, that God would bring a God-loving family to that house.  Their prayers were answered when we moved in.

Seaford Baptist Church as we knew it

Credit cover of a pictorial church directory

We were members of Seaford Baptist Church for nearly the entire time we lived in Virginia.  We were there for three of its pastors, and loved each of them.  

This is a picture of the church when we were members there

Seaford Baptist Church – Photo by Fred Wills

The far left end (pitched roof) was the original building, with the classrooms between it and the “new” Sanctuary with the steeple.  That area was now church offices and some classrooms.  The center section was still classrooms, and it was all attached to the “new” Sanctuary.  

Seaford Baptist Church under heavy snow – Photo by Fred Wills

Here are some pictures of the Sanctuary, all decked out for Christmas.

Foyer – photo by Fred Wills

Photo by Fred Wills

Photo by Fred Wills

Since we have moved from Virginia, the church has expanded by building a 1200-seat Sanctuary, which is filled each Sunday.  The old Sanctuary is used by the Youth Department of the church.

Seaford Baptist Church – new Sanctuary

Photo by Fred Wills

I began playing the old organ in that church (not my favorite instrument to play!), and when we started having problems with it, the Minister of Music decided it would be a good thing to upgrade to a keyboard…which we did.  And you should have heard the complaints!  So many of the older members complained that it just didn’t sound like an organ – even though I was using the “organ” setting.  So, one of our members who was a skilled wood-worker, built a cabinet for two keyboards, to make it look like an organ.  The complaints stopped immediately, and we heard things like “now THAT’S what an organ sounds like!”  Same sound settings, but now it looked like an organ.  Perception is everything.  Here’s a picture of that “organ.”

Photo by Fred Wills

WE….ARE THE CHURCH!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Church-Part 6C

30 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Back in September, in the posting I wrote, I mentioned the church we were members of in Wiesbaden, West Germany.  As it turned out, while we were in Heidelberg, Immanuel Baptist Church in Wiesbaden, was celebrating it’s 25th Anniversary as an established church (in 1957).   Since we were only one hour away from Wiesbaden, we took the girls with us and attended that celebration.

If you remember another previous posting, you might remember Immanuel Baptist Church had built a new building after we rotated Stateside.  It was in this building where the celebration was held.

Immanuel Baptist Church, Wiesbaden, West Germany Photo by Fred Wills

Photo by Fred Wills

Photo by Fred Wills

It was a joint celebration with the Americans and Germans together.  There was music by the German choir, there was preaching by the very first pastor of that church, Herman Dee Stout. 

Photo by Fred Wills

Pastor Herman Stout – first pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church

German choir behind him

Herman and his brother, Herbert L. Stout, had been military (U.S. Army, we think) at one time in Wiesbaden.  After they got out of the military, Herman came back to Germany and Wiesbaden to start that first church in Wiesbaden.  (Herbert was called as pastor to Bethel Baptist Church in Frankfurt the following year, 1958).   All the former pastors of the Immanuel Baptist Church were in attendance, except the gentleman who was pastor when we were there.  He was in ill health at that time and was unable to attend.

Fred was able to stand and bring greetings from our family – who were members 10 years before – and from the Grace Baptist Church in Heidelberg.

Following the upstairs festivities, there was cake, punch, and coffee downstairs.  It was a joyous time for us, as well as the Immanuel Baptist Church.  We felt blest to be able to attend that meeting, and be in Germany during that time.

Photo by Fred Wills

Downstairs, at the tables

Photo by Fred Wills

In another vein, I would like to tell a humorous story about our Heidelberg pastor, Greg.  In this picture, you will see a man with a very full beard – a former pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church who was pastor in Wiesbaden the same time we were in Heidelberg.

Photo from IBC webpage

Greg so admired that beard, that he determined to grow one for himself.  Unfortunately, Greg’s beard was not anywhere near as full or thick – or black!  One Sunday morning, he decided to shave it off.  All of us in the congregation were surprised to see him clean-shaven that morning, when he got up to preach.  Unfortunately, I can’t remember what the sermon was about, but I do remember that, in the middle of the sermon, he said, “folks, as you can see, I’ve shaved off my beard this morning.  As I stood looking at myself in the mirror, I realized that it was the first time in my life I’ve had hair on my chest!”

As you might imagine, we in the congregation erupted in laughter!  And that statement might just as well have illustrated a point in his sermon.  I just don’t remember – I only remember the laughter it produced!

WE….ARE THE CHURCH!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Church-Part 6B

23 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Just a side note to finding a new pastor in our Baptist church in Germany.  There was one young man, from California, who expressed interest in becoming our pastor.  The Search Committee heard audio tapes from some of his sermons. 

Credit Pixabay

When he said he wanted to come in-person to interview – at his expense – we were agreeable.  Unfortunately, when he preached – while it was a good sermon – those of us on the Search Committee had already heard his sermon, on tape.  He wanted to come in-person, since he had relatives in other parts of Europe, and planned to visit them after visiting with us.

The Pastor Search Committee (Fred and I both were on this committee) met with him during the weekend he was with us.  When I realized we hadn’t talked about the “nitty-gritty” stuff, such as salary, etc., I offered to make lunch following the worship service on Sunday for the committee, and we could sit around our dining room table and discuss things in private. 

Credit Pixabay – French Onion Soup – which I fixed for lunch that Sunday

Everything seemed okay until he asked how we were going to get all his household goods to Germany, as well as his two cars.  We told him that he could bring 2,000 pounds of household goods and one car – the same as the military allowed the rest of us.  That put an end to the discussions, as he said he couldn’t live under those conditions.

Funny end of that story – the very Saturday night before the church was to vote on calling Greg to be our pastor, this gentleman called from California, and asked Fred to ask the committee to re-consider him for the position.

Credit Pixabay

He said his family had had a house fie, and had lost all his possessions,

Credit Pixabay

and one of his cars had been totaled in a wreck. 

Credit Pixabay

He stated that he felt God was trying to get his attention!  Fred informed him that the vote on another man was the next day, and Fred would tell him the result.  As it turned out – the church voted unanimously to call Greg as our new pastor.  

Our new pastor, Greg and his wife, Carol – 1981

Sorry about the clarity of this photo.

We enjoyed our three years with Grace Baptist Church, there in Heidelberg.  We became friends with Greg and his wife, Carol, and his three children.  As I mentioned last time, our Karen and their Brian fell in love, and later married.   Greg and Carol’s middle daughter, Michelle, was a delightful young lady.  She was one of the highlights of the young peoples group at the church.  Our Janet was the same age as their youngest daughter, Deanna, and they became fast friends, as well.

Last time, I mentioned that we had a family from Canada in our church membership.  The wife/mother of the family approached me at one time, about teaching her two boys piano lessons.  I had never thought to teach piano, even though I played, and was the pianist for our church there.  However, when she told me that Canada had a “conservatory” system of teaching and learning piano, I agreed.  Canada has a program where the child can be taught in any province of Canada, and if moved to another province, they can pick right back up where they left off.  It’s an interesting concept.  The boys had already had several years of learning, and it was a delight to work with them within this system.  That allowed them to keep up with the program, and not be far behind when they returned to Canada.

Credit ChurchArt

As with other churches we had been part of, that had a large military base, about one-third of the congregation left for the States every year.  Fortunately, they were replaced by incoming military members the following Fall.

Greg and his family stayed in Heidelberg for about five years, with Brian returning Stateside in our second year in Virginia, to study at the same University where Karen was.  They married in another year, and both completed their education.

WE….ARE THE CHURCH!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Church-Part 6A

16 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

This English-speaking church (Grace Baptist Church, Heidelberg) had a tradition of going to one of the American resorts in Bavaria for a week’s recreation (i.e. skiing) between Christmas and New Years.  A bus was chartered, and those who wanted to go went with the group.  They went to a different resort each year.  They all stayed in the same hotel.  Some of the “after hours” was fun, as we got together for games, or just fellowship to get to know each other better.  Our family was able to go with the group to Garmisch one year,

The Patton Hotel, Garmisch, Bavaria, Germany – Photo by Fred Wills

 as well as Berchtesgaden another year.

Hotel Geiger, Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany – Photo by Fred Wills

However, since none in our family were skiers, we decided to stay home the year the group went to Chiemsee.  That was about all there was to do there.

Chiemsee castle and fountains – Bavaria, Germany – Photo by Fred Wills

As it turned out, that was a good thing.  As I mentioned earlier, the pastor was ready to rotate Stateside within the first year we were there.  And so we began to look for a new pastor.  (Our Karen and her husband, Brian, seem to remember the pastor’s name was Charles, and his wife was Pauline.  That sounds familiar to us, as well.  Glad they have such good memories!)

Since our church was away from the U.S., the process of searching for a new pastor was different.  We contacted the Baptist Seminaries and asked for references.  When we got them, we contacted the ones we thought were most agreeable to being in Europe, and asked for tapes of some of their sermons.  This was NOT a popularity contest!  We always and foremost, looked for God’s man for our body of believers.  We took the person we thought fit us the best, and worked with him.  If that one didn’t work out, for one reason or another, then we went to the next name.

We contacted a man named Greg. We were most impressed with him, and he was willing to locate to Heidelberg.  We presented his name to the congregation, and the church voted to call him as our pastor.  Greg and his family arrived during the week the church group was at Chiemsee.  Because we had not gone with the group that year, we were there to welcome the family to Germany as well as to Heidelberg.

Our new pastor, Greg and his wife, Carol – 1981 Sorry about the clarity of this photo

The church had rented an apartment for Greg and his family, and the ladies of the church had furnished and decorated it as best we could.  They were unable to bring more than the military allowed us to bring over, so they were mostly ready to just move into the apartment when they arrived.

Our family had planned to have Greg’s family come to our apartment for supper before we left on a bus trip to Paris.

The Eiffel Tower – Judy, Karen & Janet – Photo by Fred Wills – 1981

As it turned out, Greg had injured his back when he helped a German man push his car out of a snow bank, and therefore, his family was unable to come to our apartment.  So I wrapped up my big pot of spaghetti and Angel Hair pasta, picked up some lovely German bread from our favorite German bakery, and took it up the hill to them!

Greg sat at the table long enough to eat, then went back to the couch to rest.  Our Karen and their son, Brian, did the dishes together after supper.  That’s how they met, and have now been happily married for over 35 years!

WE….ARE THE CHURCH!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Church-Part 6

9 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

We left Leavenworth, Kansas, for a couple of weeks of vacation time, to visit our families before we headed to Germany.  Lovely time – family is best!

We arrived in Heidelberg, West Germany for Fred’s next assignment.  Again, there wasn’t any housing available just at that moment, so we stayed in the “Q” – officers temporary quarters.  It was mostly like a hotel room, but no kitchen or kitchenette, so all our meals were eaten out.

Guest quarters – Patrick Henry Village

Within a week – after we had gotten over our jet lag – we started looking for the Baptist church there in Heidelberg.  When we had been in Wiesbaden, our church there had dealings with other Baptist churches throughout Europe, and knew there was a church there in Heidelberg.  Neither Fred nor I can remember how we found out that the Sunday School part was not meeting at the church building, but were holding classes in a school nearby, then walking to worship service in the church building.  In any case, we went to the Sunday School one Sunday morning, then walked to the worship service in the church building.  

We did join that body of believers – Grace Baptist Church.  Neither Fred nor I can remember the name of the pastor who was there at that time.  But perhaps that’s because he and his family were getting ready to rotate back to the States.  His three-year tour was up.  More to come on how we called another pastor.

In Heidelberg, the German congregation of believers had built a building, where they met for services.

Grace Baptist Church, Heidelberg, West Germany

The pulpit and baptistry cross

Inside the church building for a service

Inside the church building for a service – this is where the adult choir sat for worship services

But as with the church in Wiesbaden, the German congregation shared the building with the American congregation.  I’m sure we paid a rental fee to the German group, but that was okay.  It was a lovely building, with a basement, where we held our choir practice, and special events.   

When we were in Wiesbaden, the American and German congregations did a lot of “joint” events together.  Not only did we share the building, but we had dinners and outings together.  It was a wonderful time together.  Unfortunately, we didn’t find the same cooperative feeling in the church in Heidelberg.  We did “cooperate” with them, but had little-to-no events together.  That was the only down side of that church.  

However, I do remember early one December, the German congregation had a sort-of “bazaar” of hand-crafted Christmas decorations, and had them set out for us to look at and purchase if we wanted.  I found several items that I wanted, and have kept them all these years.  Some are a little “worst for the wear” but I still use them.  Not only do I like them, but they remind me of Germany, and the time we spent there.  They were lovely people, and we did try to incorporate them into our worship time together.

While the American congregation wasn’t too large, we were a great group.  We found a family from Canada; there was a young lady from New Zealand

Stacy from New Zealand and Judy

who was touring Germany and found she loved Heidelberg, and so stayed and worked as a chamber maid in a hotel, who just wanted some time with English speaking people, and found our church.  There was a school teacher who is still a good friend of ours.

One thing I especially loved about this church was that, while most of the members were military people and their families – when they walked through the doors of the church – the “rank” came off – we were all the same in God’s eyes.  No one ever pulled rank or tried to be more than anyone else.  It was great.  Wish the American schools had the same policy.  

WE….ARE THE CHURCH!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Church-Part 5

2 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I told Fred, while at Tyndall AFB, Florida, that he really needed to be reassigned – we had been at Tyndall for over four years, and I was beginning to put down roots – in a government duplex!  So we were expecting something in the near future.

Photo credit WJHG.com  Credit Google search

And the future brought an assignment for Fred to attend the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. 

Credit Google Search and Fort Leavenworth website

It was to be just a one-year study.  There were other Air Force personnel attending the school, and they also arrived in June, so they could “learn to speak Army,” as Fred told me, before they began their regular study.

We had never been to Kansas, and when I mentioned it to friends in Florida, most of them were going on about how flat and desert-like Kansas was.  So we were quite surprised to find that Fort Leavenworth was in a hilly, grassy area, and was separated from Missouri by the Missouri River.  It was a lovely area, and we enjoyed our year there.  We made several trips over the river to visit Kansas City, Missouri.  

We began looking for a church home shortly after moving into our quarters.  There were several Baptist churches there, but I only remember attending one – the one we joined.  It was Leavenworth Baptist Church.

Leavenworth Baptist Church, Leavenworth, Kansas

Credit Google Search and Leavenworth Baptist Church website

It was indeed a God-ordained decision on our part, as we became good friends with the pastor and his family.  They were close to our age, and our Janet became good friends with their daughter.  We have maintained that friendship with the pastor and his wife throughout all these years.  They have come to visit Orlando several times in the years we have lived here.

Again, Fred and I joined the choir, and the Sunday School.  Our girls seemed quite happy in their respective Sunday School classes.  It wasn’t a terribly large church, but one where we were comfortable.

The pastor, Jerry, told us that he never asked all the military in the congregation who were transferring out, to stand at the end of the Spring term.  He said he did that the first year he was pastor – and one-third of the congregation stood up!  He was so disheartened by that, that he never did it again.  He had seen God bring another one-third to the church the following Fall term, bur he just couldn’t stand to see one-third of his congregation leaving at one time!

While most of that year was a good one, there was one unhappy event as well.  Turns out that the treasurer of the church was a one-man team with the finances of the church.  Jerry, who had a wife and four children, was told often by this man, that the contributions from the congregation just weren’t enough to pay his full salary.  Eventually, it was found that this man had been embezzling from the church.  He purchased a Cadillac for himself, and other goodies.  When all this came to light, many of the purchases Jerry had made (i.e. lumber to build bookshelves for his church office) were dismissed by the merchants.  The church took the Cadillac as part re-payment and sold it for about half what he paid for it.

Consequently, after that experience, whenever Fred and I looked into joining a church, we made sure that the treasurer was a team of at least two if not three people.  I’m sure the church people we questioned, were puzzled by this question, but it satisfied us.

All that to say that the church got back on its feet, once this man left the area, with the promise to pay back all he had taken.  Jerry could feed his family again.

Better news next week……

WE….ARE THE CHURCH!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Church-Part 4

25 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

We stayed in the church in San Antonio

First Baptist Church San Antonio, TX, Sanctuary – from a post card

until it was time for Fred to be transferred.  He was given orders to go to Tyndall AFB, Florida (in Panama City), and so we moved there.

Photo credit WJHG.com  Credit Google search

We did one stop along the way, to stay and visit with one of my Dad’s brothers, Uncle Ed and his wife, Aunt Joecilla, in Louisiana.  They were special people to us.

Karen was reading quite well by this time, having finished second grade.  Uncle Ed wasn’t in good health then, and one day, when looking for Karen, I found her at Uncle Ed’s side (he was reclining on the couch), sitting on a foot stool, reading to him.  He was enthralled, and she was in her element.  It’s a memory I cherish.

We finally made it to Tyndall AFB, but there was essentially no guest quarters for us to stay in, so we were put up in a motel outside the base.  We were there about two or three weeks, much to our regret.  At night, the roaches came out to play, and we always heard them.  The room had a kitchenette, and we had some paper plates and cups that we heard the roaches frolicking around.  Yuck!!

We started looking for a church home, and there were quite a few Baptist Churches around the area.  There was one church we really liked – Fred and I liked our Sunday School class, the girls both liked their Sunday School class, the preacher was good…but the choir was just about half-a-pitch off in everything they sang.  Talk about fingernails on the blackboard!  Nope nope nope – we couldn’t endure that.

We had decided long before, that we could be happy in whatever size church God placed us.  We had been in large, small, and smaller churches.  We finally visited the First Baptist Church in downtown Panama City.    While FBC Panama City wasn’t as large as FBC San Antonio, it was still one of the largest churches in Panama City.

Credit Google search and FBC Panama City website

Despite not having the same home feeling I’d had with FBC San Antonio, it was still a comfortable feeling.  As with the FBC in San Antonio, we joined and participated in the Sunday School…the choir…and all things that go along with church, including Fred being asked to serve as a Deacon, which he did.  It was a lovely church, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there.  We were members of that church for the five years we lived at Tyndall AFB.

An interesting side note about Tyndall AFB – Fred’s father, a U.S.A.F. Chaplain, had been stationed at Tyndall back in the 1950’s, and was Base Chaplain.  The small chapel where he preached was still there, but they had built a newer one by the time we were at Tyndall.

One other side note about living in Panama City:  I joined a women’s bowling league, and enjoyed that sport.  One bowling morning, I woke up with a pain in my side/back.  When I threw the first ball, I knew something was wrong, and stopped playing.  I went immediately to the base ER.  After xrays were done, they discovered that I had a hairline fracture of one of my ribs!  How did THAT happen?  No idea.  The following Sunday, at church, I was holding the elevator door open with my body, so our girls could come out and go to their Sunday School class.  The door started to close – on my back! – and that’s when I realized it had done the same thing the previous week!  So THAT’s how that happened!  I jokingly told a Deacon that I was going to sue the church, and he said, “all we can give you is the elevator!”  Fortunately, I didn’t need an elevator.

I had heard talk at the base that the townspeople really liked the Navy people on the West side of town, but the AF people weren’t held in very good graces.  Knowing ourselves, we just turned up our noses at that attitude, and dug in with both feet!  And before we left that base and town and church…they were quite sorry to see us go.  I like to think we changed the attitude of some of those same townspeople with our willingness to be where and what God wanted us to be, while we were in that place.  Of course, that was our attitude with every move we made while Fred was active duty.

WE….ARE THE CHURCH!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Church-Part 3

18 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

As I mentioned last time, we were in northern Maine only one year – 13 months actually.  The day following our daughter’s birth, Fred looked at me and said, “you don’t really want to stay here another year, do you?”  I nearly jumped out of the hospital bed, with a resounding “YOU GOT ORDERS!!”  And he did.  We were to go to San Antonio, Texas, for Fred to teach at the Officer Training School at Lackland AFB.

Credit Google Search and JBSA website

And so we transitioned from Maine to Texas, with some stops along the way.  We visited Fred’s parents and family in D.C. and New Jersey;

Fred’s grandmother and family

With Fred’s mother in D.C. (Dad taking the picture)

We visited my brother’s family in Titusville, Florida (my mother had remarried five years after, daddy’s death, and they were on their honeymoon in Florida), a stop at St. Augustine, Florida,

St. Augustine, FL – Judy, Karen and baby Janet

before heading to Texas.  I had some family in San Antonio, on my mother’s side, and we were able to stay with Aunt Lillie, while we looked for a house.

Aunt Lillie with Karen and Janet

There was a family stationed at Lackland that we had known in Wiesbaden.  They invited us to visit their church, which we did.  It was a relatively small church, and the husband led the choir.  Since he knew I played the piano, he asked me to play for the Christmas program for his choir…which I did.  However, once again, we didn’t feel that church was exactly where God wanted us to be.  So we visited some others in the general area.

My mother had spent quite a bit of time growing up in different areas of Texas and Oklahoma, and had been a secretary at the First Baptist Church in downtown San Antonio for many years.  During that same time my dad was Associate Sunday School Secretary for the Southern Baptists in Texas, and he made many trips to San Antonio.  I believe he told me he was teased quite a bit from his fellow workers about all the trips he “needed” to make to San Antonio after he met mom.  In any case, they had quite a few friends from that church.

Daddy

And so, being a good daughter, I called one of mother’s best friends from that church.  She was glad to hear from me.  After chatting a while, she asked if we had found a church home yet.  At my “no,” she quite forcefully said, “don’t you join anywhere until you visit First Baptist Church!”  So we agreed that we would meet up with her that following Sunday at FBC.  

For the first time in my life, as I walked in that huge church, the feeling was….home.  I knew almost instantly that THIS church was where God wanted us to be for the next three years.  I don’t believe I’ve had that definite a feeling about any church since.  It was a wonderful and warm feeling, and I loved it.

We joined the church…we joined the choir… we joined the Sunday School that was in our age group.  It was just a wonderful time in our lives.  I was also involved with the Young Women’s Fellowship Group.  To find more about that, please refer back to my post of September 19, 2021 “Friendship.”  It tells about the church, as well as that group and what we did in the community.

First Baptist Church San Antonio, TX, Sanctuary – from a post card

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in that church.  We didn’t much care for the 30-minute drive to-and-back home from downtown, but we learned that we make time for what we want to do.  And attending that church was what we wanted to do.

I started this series with a question: “…do you love to GO to church?”  Well, this church had us in its hands, and we LOVED to GO to church.  It was a fantastic experience.

WE….ARE THE CHURCH!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~i

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Church-Part 2

11 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

We left San Jose, California to go to Wiesbaden, West Germany.  Because Fred’s father was a U.S. Air Force Chaplain, and Fred had grown up attending the base Chapel wherever they were, we decided we would attend the Chapel on base but contribute our tithe to the local Baptist Church.  We had checked, before we left the States, and found a Southern Baptist Church meeting in Wiesbaden – Immanuel Baptist Church.  It was the first of what became of the European Baptist Convention (now the International Baptist Convention). We met with some of the people from that church, telling them what we wanted to do.  They seemed to think that was a strange plan – and asked us to reconsider and worship with them each Sunday.  This church had at least 200 members.  And so we began our three-year membership with that Baptist Church.  This was not the pressured appeal we had with the church in San Jose – it was just a “why don’t you give us a try” sort of thing. 

When we first met with them, they were meeting in the basement of a building at 17 Taunusstrasse.  It was not the glorious building that we envision when we think of “church” in this country.  And to get to the nursery, it was almost like going through the catacombs!  After about a year-and-a-half, the group moved our worship to another building – but not in the basement – 81 Adelheidestrasse.   I am SO glad Fred remembers these details!   As I remember, it was not actually a church building but an office building.  I began playing the piano then for that church, and so missed out on any Sunday School program they had.  I have no memory of where the Sunday School classes met.

Before we left Wiesbaden, our group, along with a German  Baptist congregation, went together to build their own building.  They together had purchased the property for the building.  We saw the plans for the building, and it was wonderful.  We wished we could be there for the building and worshiping that would take place there.

Immanuel Baptist Church – Wiesbaden, West Germany

Well, we returned Stateside after our three years in Germany, much to our sorrow.  We really loved living in Germany!  God played a trick on us as we came back.  Fred and I  had often said to each other – “if we ask the Air Force to send us to New Mexico, do you suppose they will send us to Maine?”  Well, that’s just what happened!  Fred was assigned to Loring AFB, Maine.

We found there were two Baptist churches in the local area, but only one had Southern Baptist connections.  It was a relatively small group, and they met in the Odd Fellows hall.  It was not ideal – frequently on Sunday mornings we would arrive to find there had been a beer-fest in that building the night before, and the place was in shambles!  We had to clean up everything so we could have church.  

And this is where I say again – the “church” is NOT the building – it is the “people” that make the church.  We met in that horrible place and worshiped our God together – THAT is the church!  We made some wonderful friends there – many of whom we still are in contact with after all these years.  Again, before we left, the group was planning on building a “church building” for them to meet in.  They did that very thing in the few years after we left Maine.  And again, we were only there for 13 months.  We didn’t know that at the time we arrived in Maine – we were planning on another three-year tour of duty.  Thank goodness God had other plans for us!  

WE…ARE THE CHURCH!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

Tags: , ,

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