My wife and I recently -enjoyed attending a wedding in Baton Rouge, La., and we learned something on our way home.
The newlyweds are David and Kendra Cole. David was born in Brazil to missionary parents Roger and Betty Cole, who retired to Birmingham about 10 years ago after serving in Brazil and Mexico. David and Kendra met at the University of Mobile.
Conducting David and Kendra’s wedding at Jefferson Baptist Church was the church’s pastor, T.C. French Jr., who has served there about 20 years.
Bro. French also serves as president of the Lou-isiana Baptist Convention and as second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
On the way back home the next day, my wife and I decided to take time to see one of the old Louisiana plantations, something we had never done before.
We stopped to visit Oak Alley Plantation, located on the Mississippi River about halfway between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. For years, we had seen photos of the fine house with its alley — really more like a tunnel — of 28 enormous oak trees in front of it.
I had always assumed the trees were planted by the owner when he built the house. But we found out that is not true. The oaks are about twice as old as the building!
The house was constructed 1837-39, but its builder chose the site because of the beautiful trees, which had been planted 100 to 150 years earlier by an unknown pioneer. Now those oaks are about 300 years old, and they have another 300 years of life expectancy.
The story of those trees got me to thinking: Like the unknown tree planter’s name, the names of early leaders and members of many Ala-bama Baptist churches have been lost to history because records were misplaced or destroyed.
Our church, Dawson Memorial in Homewood, celebrated its 75th anniversary earlier this year, and members Ray and Doris Atchison wrote a fine history of the church.
Their book not only tells of things done by members through the years but also recounts the inspiring story of those who started the church and kept it from dying during the Great -Depression.
If your church does not already have a written history, someday some of your people may want to write one.
Will reliable written information be available at that time to help them in their efforts?
Every church needs to preserve whatever historical records it has. Keeping them on a shelf at church or in someone’s files at home is not the best solution. Fires or other disasters can happen anywhere.
Any Alabama church can have its records copied and stored free of charge at the Alabama Baptist Historical Commission. Its office is located on the campus of Samford University in Birmingham.
Share with others: