Interruptions

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 Interruptions

Anyone who has attended church regularly for long enough can tell you that church services do not always go as planned. In 2020, churches have had to stop meeting in person for months at a time due to COVID not to mention technical issues like cameras, microphones, and technology not working or cooperating.

In decades past, things still did not always go as planned, just like today, but the culprits were not always the same.

This first story is from Max.

Max attended Providence Baptist Church along with his family and friends including Robert Singleton. Max and Robert like many friends would stay the night at each other's house. Now Robert’s house was located actually in what is now my front yard off FM 637 near the end of Providence Road.  Robert's family had a donkey they would use on the farm. 

One Sunday, Max and Robert decided they would ride the donkey to church instead of riding in the car with the rest of the family. So, they rode the donkey down Providence Road to the church tying the donkey off to the butane tank outside the church before going in for the church service.

They settled in for the song service but about the time the preacher got up to preach, the donkey started braying loudly, the heehaw’s drowning out the preacher. The boys ran outside trying to quiet the donkey failing miserably. Finally, Max’s father came out telling the boys to take the donkey down the road until the distance drowned out the donkey.

They ended up having to walk the donkey to the ‘S’ curve on Providence Road before the congregation could hear the preacher! Needless to say, that was the last time they rode the donkey to church!

Providence Baptist did not have a monopoly on interrupting services. My family and I attended Mildred Baptist Church on Hwy 287 growing up during the ’80s and ’90s. It was not unheard of for skunks to get under the building or even the water heater used to warm the water in the baptistry to go out in winter on the day a baptism was scheduled to occur. I remember at least one girl yelling out “Oh, that cold!” when stepping into an ice-cold baptistry on a cold winter’s day.

When wireless microphones came into vogue in the ’80s, pastors service would sometimes be interrupted by truckers driving by when their CB radios would interfere with the pastor’s microphone with their colorful language. This was not an issue only at Mildred Baptist as I am sure churches across the US could tell similar stories.

Many of you could share your own stories about church services being interrupted for one reason or another and pastors have long learned to roll with the punches. Even in the time of COVID where churches cannot always meet in person, churches have expanded to having church services online or in a drive-in setting or outside or in a myriad of other ways.

As we walk through life, we learn to roll with the punches and find the humor in situations and even in times like this, we will get through it together.


Mildred Baptist Church - Old church building circa 1995


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