First Baptist

When we came to Columbia in 1958, we began going to First Baptist Church. I grew up in that church. My father baptized me in 1964 in that church. I have a lot of good memories from those early years at FBC. Boy Scouts. World record in the log ride at Six Flags. My Sunday School teacher who sold electric chairs to prisons. Dickie, Dirty and Jimmie. Being in handbells. "Good News" musical premiere. And so much more.

Then, my parents moved our membership to Kilbourne Park Baptist Church in 1970. I have written about that before of that move which literally saved my life.

But, in 1974, we moved back to First Baptist. They sent me off to seminary. They welcomed me back. I was a founding member of the Singles Sunday School. One Voice choir. Wrote the stewardship plays. Puppet shows for mission trips to Philadelphia and Smyrna. Puerto Rico mission trip. Bible character monologues.

But then, I moved to St. Andrews Baptist Church, and was there until recently, when I came back home to FBC. People have nice to me and seem to understand my plight. I was introduced as a new member last Sunday, and I was given a brick. I think it symbolizes how we are all a part of a greater place. Together, we can build a masterpiece. It isn't that a building is the church, but we are all parts that make up a church. I hope that I can once again help them in their work, and recapture the magic that I once had. We can never go back. But maybe, between my talents and their ministries, we can once again mesh together.