Thoughts and Memories

Winston Christian Church

 I was 21 years old, married, and attending college preparing to be a minister when the Winston Christian Church asked me to be their student minister. This was common in Oregon where I was going to college, because there were several small churches that could not afford a full time minister, so they would have students  become their "preachers".  I would leave Eugene , Oregon on Friday evening after college classes or on Saturday morning and travel the 82 miles to Winston , Oregon, and spend the weekend as the minister of the church.

The first summer I spent full time at the church and an amazing thing happened. The church became the fastest growing church of our denomination in the nation.  This brought acclaim to both the church and to me.

The Oregon churches were divided into eight districts.  Each one had a set of local officers. The president of each district became an automatic member of the Oregon State Board of Christian Churches.  Due to our church growth the district honored our church and me by selecting me as the vice president of the district.  

Another amazing thing happened.  The district president moved out of the area and I became president and an automatic member of the state board. You can imagine how I felt as a 21 year old student sitting in the board meeting with the college president, leading attorneys, and professional and business people in the state of Oregon.  Fortunately an old friend, George R. Whipple, Jr. was also on the board of directors and he took me under his wing and made me feel comfortable.

Many of the experiences we have happen by accident, but they are a building block to the rest of our lives.

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