When I was young and up to the time I was about ten years old, we attended the little one cup Church Of Christ here in Menard. This church is no longer active, because they all eventually died. The building is still standing. Mark and Lisa Blau bought the building and it is still being used as a church. I have many fond memories of my childhood attending church services there. We were a small group. So, we were just like one big family. Some of my fondest memories are centered around the summer meetings we had. We would have guest preachers come every summer and hold a week long meeting. The meetings were always late in the evening. The preacher’s sermons were usually long and would last until it was dark outside. We did not have daylight saving time then. So, even in the summer, it got dark pretty early. The preachers were usually young preachers that were currently training to be preachers. They were some of the most exciting and charismatic preachers I have ever heard. They preached the hell and damnation sermons all week, building up to a climax on the last day. We usually had someone by that last night that had been convinced they were going straight to hell if they did not get baptized immediately. So, they would go up to the front and tell the preacher they wanted to be baptized, when they offered the invitation song. They would sometimes be real emotional and be crying on their way to the front. Then, we would all get in our cars and go to the stock pen crossing to be present for the baptism. It would be totally dark. So, everyone would turn their cars toward the river so their headlights would light up the river, so the preacher could see to baptize the individual. I remember as a child, it was very exciting and inspiring to see someone be baptized. But, at the same time, it was a little scary to see them wade out into that dark, cold water. The meeting would usually end with a sermon on Sunday morning and we would have Sunday dinner following the sermon. It is hard to describe the feeling of adoration for the preacher after a week of hearing them preach the word of God. As a result, all of the members of the congregation felt he was like a celebrity. As for the Sunday dinner on the grounds, that was exactly what it was. We had no fellowship hall to eat in. But, it didn’t matter, because no one believed in eating in the church or anywhere near the church property. So, Oscar Bradford would always BBQ a goat or two and we would have dinner in the park under the bridge. All the women would fix side dishes. The women would try to outdo each other on their cooking to try to impress the preacher. If the preacher was pretty good looking, by this time, most of the women had a crush on him and this was their last chance to impress him. As a child, it was funny that I noticed this. I have such fond memories of this special time in my life. I can still smell the BBQ goat and potato salad.
As I have said before, we were a very small little church. So, there were barely enough men to conduct the church services. Women were forbidden to speak in church, and that meant the men had to do everything. I thought this was perfectly normal procedure for every church. Now I realize just how conservative and narrow minded the one cup Church of Christ really was. My dad would lead prayer and lead singing when they ask him. One Sunday, our resident preacher, Jody Patterson, was leading singing. After leading a couple of songs, he asked my daddy if he would like to lead a song or two. He said to daddy, “ Frank, would you like to lead a song, you are a better song leader than I am.” Before daddy could answer Jody, “My brother Bill, who was about ten years old at the time spoke up and said, “Yea daddy, you are a better song leader than he is. So you lead the song.” Daddy was so embarrassed he didn’t know what to do. Everyone was laughing so hard, it took us a while to resume the services. I honestly do not remember whether he actually got up and led a song after all of that.
The last story I want to tell is a story about an embarrassing little episode, I was the star of, one Sunday morning, in the little one cup Church of Christ. I was probably about five years old and my brother Bill was about ten years old. Now, it was one Sunday morning and we were right in the middle of the church service. Even though I was only five, I was aware of my brother’s great love of motorcycles. So, to make a long story short, a motorcycle cruised by the church. As I said before, it was in the middle of the worship services. All I could think about was, there’s a motorcycle going by the church and I have got to let my brother know about it. So, I jumped out of my seat and ran to the window and hollered, “Oh brother, there goes a motorcycle.” The whole church gasped, and all of a sudden everyone was silent and looking right at me. I was so shy and I was so embarrassed. I went back to the pew. Instead of sitting on the pew, I crawled under it and stayed there for the remainder of the service. Brother Bradford and Jody Patterson knew it wasn’t acceptable to laugh in church. But, mother said they silently giggled throughout the remainder of the service. They tried desperately to hold in their laughter. But, she said she would look over there at them and their stomachs would be jiggling trying to suppress their laughter. Although, I think back on those wonderful memories and wonder where the one cup Church of Christ came up with some of the strange beliefs they had. I still look back on those years with great fondness. Although they have all passed on,I still think they were some of the finest people I have ever known. They will always have a special place in my heart.
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