Old Things Pass Away

Yesterday I was waiting in the hallway for my wife’s Sunday School class to dismiss so I could walk with her to the church service. As I looked down the hall, I was pleased to hear voices from nearby classrooms and further away. For some reason, I had a sort of flashback to 1986, when I worked as a TV Director/Producer for an evangelist who was transforming his ministry into a church. In our weekly staff meeting at Phil Arms, we were told that there was a deal made to move into the buildings that had been a large, thriving church dating back to the mid 1950’s. The remaining members of Woodridge Baptist Church numbered only about 15 people. They would occupy what had been the fellowship hall and make it their church. We had access to the rest of the buildings. The sanctuary could seat about 800 people.

I met several of our staff members at the church for a walkthrough so we could see what we needed to do to complete our part. Since I was the Television Director/Producer, I was looking for where to hang lights, find power for the lighting truss, and where to park the TV Production Truck. I also needed 220 power for the truck. I needed to park the truck where we could run all the camera cables into the building to reach the four broadcast camera locations.

After my initial walkthrough, with lots of notes on our requirements, I decided to walk through the rest of the building to see what was there. I walked into the Sunday School section of the building and climbed the stairs to the second floor. There was no power in the building at the time, so I had a flashlight with me. My first impression was that I was walking through a time warp. There were chairs arranged in rooms, as if there had been Sunday School the day before, but there was a layer of dust that must have taken years to accumulate. There were Sunday School books scattered randomly in the chairs. I picked one up and saw the date was September 1978. That was 8 years before!! I guessed this part of the building had not been occupied for about 8 years. I walked further down the hall and saw bulletin boards advertising various activities, including a Fall Retreat and other youth activities. I wondered what happened for this church to die so suddenly that everything was abandoned in place. I never heard why this large church died as it did.

As I thought about walking through that church building, I recalled the people I was with that day: Charlie Davis, Frank Dvorak, and Eugene Cowles. All three have passed away. Charlie died of cancer in the late 1990’s. Frank died in the mid 2000’s. I did not hear what caused his death. Eugene, whom I considered a best friend, died of massive heart failure just days after taking the covid vaccine. It is sobering to think about all these guys who are now gone. It is sort of like thinking of that church that died long before them.

Snapping back to reality of today, I am grateful for friends I can call on. I am thankful for my thriving church, and the future looks healthy and growing. I am thankful for our new Pastor who has a heart for missions and evangelism.

Maybe that was the death of that large church those many years ago; they lacked good leadership and lost sight of the Great Commission, which changed their focus to the local church. At that point, a church becomes a club, not a mission. So sad…