My wife and I recently attended a concert benefiting a scholarship award for students who work to improve race relations.
Musician Darrell Grant proved to be not only a wonderful pianist but also a fine composer. One of his songs, “Another Time,” was inspired by the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001.
The song begins, “I would have held you close to me another time if I had known there would not be another time.” What sad words!
Unexpected losses can cause us to have feelings of regret. Two ladies recently died whom I would have liked to have visited again. Both were in their 90s. The last time I saw each one, I said I would come see them another time. I didn’t make it.
The life of a local church can end, too. Such closings cause sadness. But one previously closed church has another opportunity for ministry.
Records for Weogufka First Baptist Church in Central Association (Coosa Co.) reach back to 1838, but it is believed the church began several years earlier.
In any event the church was discontinued in 1986. Member Allan Hughes said, “There had been a church split some years earlier, and the numbers got so low they decided to close the church.”
Brother Hughes said two years ago a few folks had a meeting with those who had been looking after the building since the church closed.
“The idea was just to put a new roof on it,” he said. “After we got the roof put on, we said then, ‘It really needs painting.’ We got a crew together and got it painted. Then we said, ‘Well it would be a shame now not to have church in it.’ We got to having cleanup days on Saturdays. There was nobody saying, ‘You do this or that.’ Everyone said, ‘I can do this’ and just did it.”
Jimmy Pope, who is blind, plays the piano. The church averages 20–25 each Sunday. Two months ago a Sunday School was started.
“The other churches around here have been very supportive, especially Weogufka Second Baptist Church,” Bro. Hughes said. “We started off with two members from the old church, and we are up to 13 members now. We have really been blessed. The Carpenters for Christ in Coosa River Association [Talladega Co.] have done a lot of work for us.”
Brother Charles Moore was officially installed as the church’s pastor last March. A native of Wilsonville, he served as pastor of churches in Maryland and Virginia before retiring in 1991.
Although his last church in Virginia averaged 550–600 in Sunday School, Bro. Moore said he feels fulfillment in his new pastorate. And he met his wife, the former Lois Davis, in the late 1940s while he was a student at Howard College serving as pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church just 15 miles down the road.
At the newly revived church, Bro. Moore started by taking a family religious census, knocking on every door in the community.
“It went great,” he said. “I have never seen so many people commenting on how happy they were to see the old church that had been closed since 1986 come alive.”
Most Baptists are inspired and encouraged when they read about how God is blessing the efforts of fellow Christians.
Providing The Alabama Baptist to members is a vital part of maintaining a healthy church. Studies show that churches furnishing the state Baptist paper to its families give more to missions causes, participate more in missions activities and pray more for Baptist causes.
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