On the night of my Trial Sermon, I was very nervous. I had remarked to my older brother, Keith, as we sat in my father's study that I was scared. He, being a young up and coming sax player in the church world told me that fear is merely Satan's attempt to neutralize my faith, and cause me to move away and turn back. He said that it is okay to be nervous, not afraid. I've never forgotten his admonishment and advice. As I walked out...I couldn't believe how many people were there. Everyone seemed to be there. J.R. Miller was there, along with many of my uncles, including my Dad's brother, Lloyd A. Pullam. Cleophus J. LaRue, Harold T. Branch and most of the local pastors were present. It wasn't until years later that I realized that their presence there was not only because of me, but more out of support and esteem for my father. It speaks volumes to me, even now. I shall never forget, after preaching, Dr. Joe. S. Ratliff, of the Brentwood Church, in Houston, mailed me a book on ministry and preaching, along with a note of encouragement. To this day, I still have that note and book somewhere in my library. After preaching, I can vividly remember something Harold T. Branch said to me. He said, 'Son, the greatest gift God has given you, after the cross..., is your mind.'. I didnt know if this was a generic, hyperbolic statement that Dr. Branch gave to every young preacher he would come across, but that is what he said to me. And while his words seemed minuscule to my 15-year old mind, I remembered, and ran with it! I remember my dad raised an offering for the church that night. He said that the offering would be used to build my library and for the sole purpose of 'sharpening my ax.'. I never will forget that the offering was $347.00!!! My first purchases from that offering were A Broadman Commentary Set and a Thompson Chain Study Bible. My father also encouraged me to purchase a concordance, bible dictionary and a few other books for my fledgling library. He also did something else. With the little money I had left, he took me to the bank, and made me open up an account. My first check was my tithe check!
After preaching that night, my aunt 'Renee' (who was a member of the prestigious Antioch Church of San Antonio) said that she thought I would love a preacher who came on BET on Thursdays by the name of Frank M. Reid. She was right; I DID! For me, Reid became (after my father and Miller) my first real model for preaching. He definitely became my first portable preaching seminary. From his demeanor in the pulpit to his preaching style, to his close....it all seemed planned though spirit filled. His preaching changed years later; but I really fell in love with his preaching from the mid-nineties to early 2000's. I loved it because I could SEE him preach, juxtaposed to all the guys I had only heard via tapes.
Several years later, Rev. J.R. Miller, who attended Morehouse, got word that some of us were curious about attending Morehouse one day. So...one summer, he and my father drove us young preachers into a church van and took us to Atlanta. Man....up to that point, I had never seen a city like that, in that way. Miller took us by Salem Baptist Church (all of us wanted to see the place where Jasper Williams preached!). At that time, prior to the emergence of T.D. Jakes....Jasper Williams was the go-to guy in black preaching. We also had a chance to go by Rev. Miller's home church there, Antioch. We met his college Pastor, Dr. Cameron Alexander, and was able to tour his church facility. That was my first up close encounter with a church that ran like a full-fledged business. I can still remember seeing so many people, and being amazed that so many people were at church, in professional attire, working in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week.
We also had a chance to go by the Atlanta malls, see the sights and the girls, and also ran into TLC, a girl-singing group. They were walking through the mall, without a crowd or entourage. It was just after one of the group's member, Left Eye, had burned down her boyfriend's house in an Atlanta suburb. After noticing we were following them, I never will forget Left Eye remarking I was cute. I guess she meant as a little boy, but for some reason I thought she was trying to get a date. I had to let everyone know that Chili was my girl, and that was it.
That Sunday, for some reason, my father and Rev. Miller didn't take us to Salem, where we wanted to go. We were very upset, but he promised us we would not be disappointed. This was my first test in taking Miller at his word, when it came to preaching. We were ALL upset, to say the least. He took us to a Beulah Baptist Church. I will never forget that as we drove up to this school-looking church, people were running to get into church. Though the church was packed, Rev. Miller had an old classmate who was a member there, who had arranged for all of us to sit together towards the front. What I experienced next....far exceeded what I had heard as a little boy on that golden-looking tape......(To Be Continued)
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