Singing Churchmen Draw A Crowd In Oxford
According Lee Gordon of West Point, the Singing Churchmen group was organized around 1965 when Dan Hall served as secretary for the Mississippi Baptist Convention. The current director of the group is Dr. Milfred Valentine of Prentiss, Mississippi, and he has served in his present capacity for more than twenty-five years. Each year, the churchmen have a Spring Tour and a Fall Tour. I’m not certain these events fall within the designated season, as the Fall Tour ended this week with a concert at North Oxford Baptist Church, Oxford, MS. The group strives to present concerts on Mondays and Tuesdays, days that allow them to meet their obligations on Sundays and Wednesdays in their respective places of service and worship. Lee told me his membership with the Singing Churchmen dates back to 1976 and that of our mutual friend, Jim Hess of Vicksburg, exceeds his by a couple of years or more. Slightly less than a week before the churchmen started their recent tour, I learned from Jim Hess that the group would be in North Mississippi. "On Monday night, we’ll be in Southaven, then on Tuesday we sing at Blue Mountain in the morning, Ripley at lunch, and we’ll finish the day in Oxford," Jim shared, adding, "I hope you can come hear us." I knew I would enjoy hearing the churchmen again for they always sound great. I just didn’t know if my work schedule would permit me to do so, but of the choices Jim mentioned, Oxford held the most promise. Over the weekend the possibilities of attending were discussed and Sarah stated she would like to go if Barbara and I went. We even told Felicia to have a dessert ready Tuesday night, and we’d stop by after the performance. The retailer I visited on Tuesday in Columbus, MS, had planned to leave on vacation that afternoon, so it worked out that I got back to Pontotoc with time to spare. Barbara and I picked up Sarah a few minutes before six o’clock and were on the parking lot of North Oxford Baptist Church about twenty minutes before the performance started. As we entered the sanctuary, we spotted a group, from FBC, Pontotoc, who had ridden on the church bus. Floyd McCullough, Jerry and Dot Bell, joined the three of us on the second row slightly right of center stage. Center stage doesn’t feel appropriate when referring to the area that comprises the pulpit, but modern churches rely heavily on "things of this world" to attract an audience, er...following. Of the one hundred-fifty members that comprise the Singing Churchmen, sixty-five were present. Not only do they sing, they also draw their accompanists from their ranks of singers. However, these pull double duty as musicians and singers. While I recognized several of the churchmen, I’m on a first name basis with only four of them, Mickey Gentry, FBC Pontotoc; James Francis, West Heights Pontotoc; Lee Gordon, FBC West Point, and Jim Hess, FBC Vicksburg. I had a good line of sight to each of these, except for James Francis.
Several of the songs the group sang were arranged medleys of familiar hymns, which I found most enjoyable. In fact, I’ve told several individuals that I enjoyed the most recent performance more than any of the prior performances I had attended. The "fat lady" (actually a fat man) finished singing shortly before eight-thirty. It would have been easy to have stayed until the custodian ran everybody out, but knowing Felicia had to get up early the next morning, we hastened to leave after speaking to several friends. When Virginia Dillard found out we had room in our car for her to ride back to Pontotoc with us, she asked if we minded her doing so. We happily accommodated her need, for at her age it’s easier for her to enter/ exit a car than a bus. Plus, we love her company.
Felicia had several pictures of her wedding to show us, as well as some vintage glossies of Cullen’s grandmothers. Miss Virginia was impressed with Cullen’s and Felicia’s collection of McCarty pottery, but time didn’t permit viewing the entire collection. Tuesday night was a fun night in several respects. It was fun sharing an evening with church friends and family in Oxford. The sacred music was fun to listen to, and the musicians and singers appeared to have fun performing. It was fun for many of them to renew acquaintances with persons from visiting area churches, and our stopping to visit with Felicia and Cullen was fun.
Acorn Crop Drought Didn't Hurt Harvest Throughout July and August, much of the plant life of North Mississippi suffered in drought conditions. My lawn refused to grow, and I refused to water it. Part of my reasoning relates to the fact that the City of Pontotoc charges residents a sewer fee based entirely on water consumption. For each dollar of water used, residents pay a like amount in sewer fees. I’m already paying for two electric meters, two gas meters, and two water meters for our two houses (main house and guesthouse), so it sort of galls me to pay a sewer fee for watering my lawn. A few shrubs bleached out during the worst of the drought but soon returned to normal after the rains that came in late August. Our backyard pecan tree has faired quite well and may have produced its best crop of pecans. Of course, it’s hard to gauge the quantity or the quality of the pecans once they are in a squirrel’s stomach or its cache. However, a few weeks ago there were an abundance of pecans still maturing on the tree. Missing from the pecan tree, this year, are the bag worms that normally plague the tree each summer. Other pecan trees in the neighborhood haven’t been so lucky. The saw-tooth oak, also in our back yard, has thrown off leaves since the early days of the drought and continues to do so. I can’t explain it’s abundance of acorns other than to say that perhaps God engineered trees to overproduce during periods of stress in order that its offspring perpetuate the species, should the tree not survive. The average size of an acorn on the saw-tooth oak is far larger than that of other oaks we have and is larger than most acorns I can recall from other varieties of oak trees in these parts. For the past few years, I’ve been so fascinated with the size of the acorns from the saw-tooth oak that I harvested some and displayed them in open containers to show to those who entered our home. Originally, I thought a creative family member such as my daughter, niece, or sister, might be inspired to use them in a decoration of some sort, but that’s not happened. This year, I have picked a pocketful now and then and emptied them into a bowl on a kitchen counter. When Rayanne’s crew was here earlier this week, I asked Merilese and Katherine to help pick up acorns. Soon the whole family was scouring the grass for acorns. Together, we harvested about a half-gallon, roughly doubling what I had picked up earlier. The squirrels of the neighborhood usually strip the pecan tree while the leaves are still green. I’ve spotted a couple of them in my backyard hunting acorns, but since they don’t leave me any pecans, I’m not leaving any acorns for them. I don’t know that anyone will do anything creative with my acorn crop, but I figure that as Thanksgiving draws near, Sarah may want some for a Thanksgiving centerpiece.
Deer Sightings From Pontotoc To Indianola Sarah, my sister, hasn’t seen any deer in her backyard, thus far this season, but when she and I were digging up seedling oaks and maples from her flowerbeds, recently, she observed the thicket behind her house appeared thinner than it was a month or so ago. "Yeah, those deer have been clearing it; I can see open spaces I couldn’t see before. My new neighbors told Terena they made a picture of a doe and two fawns in their backyard," she elaborated. While, I’ve not seen any deer at my sister’s house or crossing my neighbor, I’ve seen plenty along the "Northwest Passage," between Bruce and Coffeeville. It was late October of last year when I found a more rural route to traverse between Pontotoc and Indianola, and it wasn’t long before I saw deer with increasing frequency. After hunting season closed in January, I saw less deer as spring approached. But, by mid-summer sightings became more frequent, and now on most of the days I travel that route to my Indianola office, I see at least one deer. I realize that the odds of a deer running out in front of me and being struck by my car get better with each trip, but as hunting season approaches, I’m more mindful of that possibility and have become more cautious. One may be certain that I won’t be traveling the "passage" after dark when the deer are more active.
Hole In One What Are The Odds An Associated Press article, dated September 20th, told of two golfers on a New Jersey golf course scoring back to back holes-in-one. The two lucky golfers were part of a foursome of players. Thomas Brady, whose handicap is 9.5, scored the first hole-in-one with his six-iron. The next player to tee off was Dennis Gerhart, who describes himself as a weekend hacker. Gerhart used a five-iron to duplicate the hole-in-one feat. According to a Golf Digest article in 2000, the odds of a golfer scoring an ace is 5,000 to 1, and the odds of two players in a foursome doing so are 17 million to 1. Later, the director of golf at Forsgate Country Club shared he had never heard of back to back holes-in-one being scored anywhere in the world. During the years that I tried my golfing skills, I did well to get a ball to drop on the green on my first stroke off a par 3 hole. I certainly never made a hole-in-one. However, Michael Winter of Pontotoc recently did so and won a $10,000 prize. Michael is the elder son of Gwin and Gail Winter of Vardaman, MS, and had the good fortune, a number of years ago, to wed Sidra Patterson, daughter of Tommy and Patsy Patterson, our neighbors and friends. For those readers who don’t know, Gwin Winter and I taught school at the same time in Ripley, MS. Our first dates with our future wives were to attend the Ripley High School Sports Banquet. Though Gwin and I did not discuss our marriage plans with each other, we became engaged to our future spouses the same week and married our respective brides one day apart. The day Michael Winter won the ten-thousand dollar prize he and his friends had agreed at tee time if any member of their foursome won the hole-in-one prize, that person would split the money with the other three. Individuals of lesser stock might have reneged on the friendly pact, but knowing the character of his forbears, I doubt the thought of keeping the winnings for himself ever crossed Michael’s mind.
Bodock Beau Pastor's Business Card A new pastor was visiting in the homes of his parishioners. At one house, it seemed obvious that someone was at home, but no answer came to his repeated knocks at the door. Therefore, he took out a business card and wrote "Revelation 3:20" on the back of it and stuck it in the door. When the offering was processed the following Sunday, he found that his card had been returned. Added to it was this message, "Genesis 3:10." Reaching for his Bible to check out the citation, he broke up in gales of laughter. Revelation 3:20 begins "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Genesis 3:10 reads, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid for I was naked." Shared by H.P. Prewett, Jr. - Tennessee The Bathtub Test During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director what the criterion was which defined whether or not a patient should be institutionalized. "Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub." "Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup." "No." said the Director, "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window?" Contributed by Bob Jackson - Colorado Mel And Earl
Almost silently, so as not to scare the fish, Mel says, "I think I'm going to divorce my wife - she hasn't spoken to me in over 2 months." Earl continues slowly sipping his beer, then thoughtfully says, "You better think it over - women like that are hard to find."
Submitted by Ken Gaillard – New Mexico Copyright © 2000 - 2007 RRN Online.
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Mississippi
Baptists are fortunate to be represented by a choir known as the Mississippi
Singing Churchmen. As the name implies, the singers are men. Most often the
men are Ministers of Music from various Southern Baptist Churches across
the state of Mississippi, though being a Minister of Music is not a requirement.
Because forty-nine members of
the group will be traveling to Peru in a few days, we were treated to two
of the eleven songs they have prepared to sing in the Spanish tongue. Of
course, I didn’t understand much of what they sang, but it sounded good.
Felicia had the cake cut and coffee
brewing when we got to her house. She had made a chocolate icing using sweetened
condensed milk that gave the icing a sticky-caramel consistency. I could
only manage two pieces of it, as I wanted to be sure the last piece was left
for Cullen.
Two
men are out ice fishing at their favorite fishing hole, just fishing quietly
and drinking beer.
