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1924 Broadway
Lubbock, TX 79401
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Singer's Store 1891

Book of Memories
Part 3

We remember the excitement of going to "Mr. Harvie's" class during gospel meetings. Harvie Pruitt and Pat Scott did such an outstanding job with the children.

Jean and Jane remember going to Ladies' Bible Class with their mom, Kathryn. Sometimes there was no child care and the children would remain in the classroom working puzzles. It was fun afterwards going to the "Carnation" with Gladys Ellis, Jane Kerr, and their children.

A great memory we three "Lynch girls" have is of the mission trips with Big Don Williams. Having fun with Christian friends, acquiring Bible knowledge, and learning to share that knowledge was the highlight of trips to Utah and Pennsylvania. We are so thankful our parents sacrificed and encouraged us to go.

We all remember taking communion to the shut-ins during high school with Phil Crumpler. The older people made us feel special and needed.

During LCC days we enjoyed the fellowship and singing in Jack Paul's balcony class. We could raise the roof with our singing!

Joe Barnett's significance in our lives was evident in the fact that he performed all three wedding ceremonies. Mary Kay and Cliff were very involved with the youth program during high school days ... and involved with each other! Broadway is special to Jean because she met her husband, Ferman, one starry Sunday night. Jane's husband, Gary, taught the Chapel Class with Bob Mize. He loved those folks and enjoyed them teasing him about the length of his hair and his Iuka, Mississippi, background.

Broadway is a special place to all of us.

Mary Kathryn (Lynch) Crumpler

Jean (Lynch) Carpenter

Jane (Lynch) Evans

My grandfather, A. F. McDonald, moved to Lubbock in 1914 bringing his wife, Cornelia, and his two sons, Kirby and Alex; three daughters, Mary (Mrs. T. A. (Gus) Niblack), Jewel (Mrs. Edwin Martin), and Evelyn (Mrs. James H. Pruitt).

He had served as one of three trustees on the original founding board of Abilene Christian College (then Childers Classical Institute) and continued to serve on that board until his death in 1924.

This family had a strong faith in God and His church and were welcomed by the small group of likeminded Christians who made up the church that was meeting in the small wood frame building at 10th and Avenue L. This family of Christians is now called "Broadway." The "tie that binds our hearts in Christian love" seemed to be so strong that in those days what would seem today to be real hardships, were just no problem. The hand operated air conditioners were furnished mostly by the funeral homes, and the heating system didn't seem to work very well in winter, but one heard no complaints about the heating and air conditioning, just comments about the weather.

God has blessed those of us who are descendants of A. F. and Cornelia McDonald, and I am proud of the heritage that has been passed down to us. The many great sacrifices that they made for the church and the cause of Christian education have blessed untold numbers of generations that follow them.

This is the story of only one family at Broadway. Many other families have similar stories. How else could our universities, our children's homes, our missions, our church and even our way of life, maintain stability for our succeeding generations without the many sacrifices made for us by those who have gone on before?

When I look at what has been given to me by my forefathers I am humbled, and I pray to God that I may always give sacrificially in support of His cause as have been done for me.

Gus Niblack, Jr.

GLADYS SHEPARD

Tender and sweet as an angel but tough as nails when she has to be, Gladys Shepard is often looked to as a role model by adults. Children simply love her and call her "Grandmother." A petite, dainty blonde whose outward frailty belies a commanding personality, Gladys tempers dead seriousness with an occasional infectious giggle. She often manifests her girl-like vivaciousness on special occasions like the time she demonstrated how NOT to conduct a hospital visit for a group of ladies on Spring Retreat. In a delightful skit she explained to a make-believe patient (which happened to be a broom wrapped in a blanket), "I had another friend with the same illness you have and she died." Erie Dell Adams remembers the time when Gladys shared a girlhood memory, leaving everybody "in stitches." At one of a number of valentine parties she has given in the past, Gladys confided to her guests about a particular concern of hers as a child: "By the time I was six years old," she said, "I had been to a number of family funerals. I noticed that every corpse had hands crossed over the chest. I decided then that I must fall asleep at night with my hands crossed so that I would be ready to go if the call came." Gladys is the widow of Emerson Shepard, who served Broadway as a deacon, and for six years as an elder before his death in 1960. He was one of the founding directors of the Lubbock Children's Home.

Marcia Johnson

One of my cherished memories is my baptism. I had made the confession of my faith in Christ as the Son of God in our Sunday morning worship service in our building on east Main Street. Since we had no baptistry in the building, we went to Brother Liff Sander's home that afternoon and I was baptized in a large metal tank in their back yard. That was a glorious day for me in April 1914.

Another memory is a sermon our beloved Brother Liff Sanders preached on Ecclesiastes 12th chapter. It was so meaningful, and each time I read that scripture I remember the description he made of each thought in it. I have wished for an outline of this lesson, but have been unable to obtain it.

One Wednesday evening several young boys had been selected to read scriptures during our service. Each had chosen a verse to read and had his Bible in hand as he walked to the rostrum. Durwood Sanders' son read Matt. 16: 1-3 where Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees and Sadducees about their wanting a sign from heaven to prove that He was the son of God. When he came to the part that said, "0 ye hypocrites" he said, "0 ye hypochondriacs." It caused quite a chuckle among the crowd. His mother said she was probably at fault since she had told him he was a hypochondriac when he often complained about something.

Our two-year old granddaughter had been taught to keep her head bowed during the prayers at church. One Sunday morning as she sat with her grandparents during our worship service, one of our faithful men lead a long, long prayer. She had kept her head bowed until the "amen." She then looked up at me and asked, "That was a prayer?" I think she had thought it the sermon.

Mrs. Emerson (Gladys) Shepard

I remember many years ago when I was just a little girl living in Arkansas and my family came here to visit. The church met in the court house. The benches were so high my feet would not touch the floor. Later my family moved to Idalou and we worshipped there. When my family moved to New Mexico I stayed in Idalou, but from time to time came to Broadway to church. Brother John T. Smith was the minister, and he baptized me in 1932 when I was a junior in high school. Seva and Lora Anderson, and my Aunt Stella Brown, were single and quite a bit older that I was, but I went to class with them. It was mostly a class for couples and met at the back of the auditorium. Brother Smith was the teacher and I learned a lot of Bible from his lessons and sermons.

Mrs. Marvin (Stella) Ward

(Granddaughter of P. W. "Judge" Brown)

I remember helping to "do" communion trays when the building was at Broadway and Avenue N. There was no kitchen there, but we did have a gas burner to heat the water. Glass cups were used, and re-used, so they had to be sterilized each week. Of course the water had to be boiling hot; many of the cups were broken even though we tried to be very careful. Last week (July 1991) we helped "do" the communion trays again. How different it is now! We just dump the plastic cups into the trash can and fill the trays with new ones in much less time.

I remember Sister E. L. Banks who was the teacher of our teen-age girls class. Sister Banks was a sweet and lovely Christian lady. Not only did we study the Bible as our text book, but she also tried to instill in us the value of social graces. Some of us in that class still worship here at Broadway sixty-plus years later.

Mrs. W. C. (Beryl Marie) Davis

Brother Ealon V. Wilson from Horsecave, Kentucky, came here to work with the young people about 1936. We got together every Monday night in different homes for singing and social activities. Occasionally he led singing in the general assembly. He told us if any of us wanted to get married he would perform the ceremony free of charge. When "Babe" (Beryl Marie Mason) and I decided to get married, we made arrangements with Brother Wilson to be at his home at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning August 22, 1937. He and his wife lived in Abernathy on a dirt road a few miles from town. There had been a rain the night before, and we got stuck in the mud! Bill Rogers rolled up his pant legs, got out of the car and pushed us out of the mud. We arrived almost on time. After Brother Wilson married us we sat down to a delicious breakfast Sister Wilson had prepared -- hot biscuits, fried chicken and gravy!

I remember Brother C. P. Collier was in charge of getting singers for funeral services. If he called me to sing bass, I would take off from work and sing with the group he got together.

My uncle, W. A Davis, was Broadway's minister from 1927-1929.

W. C. (Dub) Davis

When Gladys and I moved to Lubbock in 1981 we weren't concerned about finding a good church home because we had always heard of the good churches there. We did agree that we wanted to worship in a small congregation because we always had. In visiting around, we decided to at least visit the large ones.

At Broadway things just seemed to be different. The singing was great, uplifting prayers were led, the Lord's Supper was very significant and the classes were Bible oriented and friendly. In class #7 we met friends of common friends and a bond was formed.

Broadway has been a spiritual high for us. We got involved and realized the only difference between a large and a small congregation was that there were just more good Christians to work with, fellowship with and love, and that much more good work can be done by a large congregation. Our spiritual lives were greatly enriched there.

When you consider the great things the Christians at Broadway have done through the years and the example they have been for other congregations, with God's help there should be no limit of the good things to be done the second 100 years or until Christ comes to claim His own.

We miss Broadway even though we now have a good church home in Athens, Texas. We wish we could visit more. Our Christian friends there have been a great encouragement to us.

George and Gladys Davis

I remember thinking that Ola Peveto was Jesus. When mother asked me "Why?" I told her that in our little Sunday school class we would sing "Pennies for Jesus" and Mrs. Peveto would collect the pennies in a basket and then put them in her purse! (Of course, I didn't realize she then gave them to the church secretary)

Jan Martin Davis

I have an unusual story about Liff Sanders and one of the marriages he performed. On March 25, 1919, my sister, Ted Johnson, and Roy V. Eddleman drove over to Brother Sanders' house. He came out to their car, a model T Ford, and said the ceremony. Roy never cut the motor off on that Model T. I've often wondered why. Their marriage lasted many, many years!

Mrs. W. L. (Eva) Davis

I remember the frame church building located on 10th and Avenue L. There was a steeple on the building that housed a bell that "Jake" Sanders pulled the rope to ring. I loved to hear it. The Methodist church also had a bell that rang.

Bryan Dillard

A number of years ago while Joe Barnett was pulpit minister, I had the opportunity to visit Broadway on Sunday evenings. Not being a regular member my wheelchair caused me to "stand out" in the auditorium. At that time the seats were flush with the inside aisle. As a result I was placed in the middle of the auditorium about halfway down. To say the least I was in plain sight of virtually everyone, especially the one in the pulpit.

Brother Barnett and I had, and still have, a relationship, which included a good deal of humor between us. On one particular Sunday evening Joe finished the sermon, offered the invitation and, when the song was finished, as was his custom, he walked up the center aisle to the back of the auditorium. However, as he came even with my wheelchair Joe leaned over and whispered something in my ear. No doubt the people sitting behind me thought that Brother Barnett had given me a spiritual gem, or perhaps a special word of encouragement.

I suppose now it can be revealed what Joe shared with me on that evening so many years ago. He leaned over and whispered, "Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a straight face with you in the audience?"

One of the most humorous things I remember happened while Brother Ken Dye was serving as pulpit minister at Broadway. One year on Super Bowl Sunday, Ken opened his sermon by saying in a joking manner that he had suggested that we could tape the Super Bowl, which would be played during the evening service. Then everyone who wanted to could meet in Fellowship Hall after the service and watch the game. He quickly dropped the idea when someone else suggested that we could watch the game, tape his sermon, and everyone that wanted to could meet in Fellowship Hall after the game and hear Ken preach.

Roger Dykes

After Bible class one Wednesday morning, Delora Morris and I decided we would visit the shut-ins of the church, as well as some others who needed visiting. I remember visiting Jake 0. and Viola Vida Easter in their home. Viola was in a wheelchair but was always very happy and pleasant. They said to us one time, "It is just like taking a dose of medicine to have you girls visit us." One time when we were there, the telephone rang and Mr. Easter answered it. When he hung up he said, "I am 90 years old and they wanted to sell us dancing lessons." Another person I remember visiting so much was Mr. E. L. Holt. He was feeling bad but was very pleasant. After our visit, which included several good laughs, we always left him feeling much better.

Veta Edsall

I recall that almost every former preacher who returns to the Broadway pulpit comments on how people are still sitting in the auditorium in their same old accustomed place. Well, there is a reason for it!

Once when Dr. Noel Ellis felt he should sit somewhere else for a change, he looked up and saw a very young, frantic Matt Norvel Young going up one aisle and down the other, looking for Noel. Noel had received an emergency telephone call. Not being in his usual place, Matt Norvel couldn't find him. Now Matt Norvel is a pediatrician. I wonder whether he sits in his accustomed place during the worship services.

A poignant memory is of Sister Lucy Behrns, Gladys Shepard's older sister. Sister Behrns loved the scripture readings from the pulpit. Once when she was late arriving, she stood very still in the aisle, as tall as she could, and trembled from weakness as she waited reverently for the scripture reading to be completed; then she quietly took her seat.

When Durwood and Jackie Sanders' younger son David was about ten years old, we had a Timothy Club for the boys. They met on Saturday mornings to learn how to lead the worship service. They practiced reading scriptures, leading songs and prayers. One Wednesday night the boys were given the opportunity to lead the worship service. Each had practiced his assignment for many hours. David was to read a portion of the Sermon on the Mount, but when he arrived for the service, someone had rearranged the assignments. When David's turn came, he was to read, "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye when there is a log in your own eye? You hypocrite..." Instead, David read, "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye, when there is a log in your own eye? You hypochondriac..."

It was once the custom for the man who was chairman of the elders for the year to deliver a Sunday evening sermon sometime during the year. When Durwood Sanders' turn came, he delivered a well-prepared, beautiful sermon from his heart. As he concluded the sermon, he said, "Would the person who took my sermon notes from this lectern please return them." Bob Mize looked stricken - he had inadvertently removed Durwood's carefully placed notes from the speaker's stand after he had made the evening's announcements.

Mrs. Noel (Gladys) Ellis

For many years we met in the old building, and we did not have air conditioning. A man wanted to sell us coolers so he said he would install them, and if we didn't like them he would take them out.

At a deacon and elders meeting we were to decide whether to buy them or not. It was decided to have the man take them out.

0. P. Ellis

During Brother John T. Smith's last ministry at the Broadway and Avenue N building, he preached on marriage at the morning service. At the end of his sermon he performed the wedding ceremony of Leach Cox and Henry Kothman. It was a formal wedding and very impressive. Leach was wearing a beautiful white, flowing wedding gown. Mr. and Mrs. Kothman now live in Mason, Texas, where he is an elder.

Mrs. 0. P. (Mildred Holt) Ellis

Brother Brewer was the minister when I started going to Broadway. Soon after I had visited services, Jewell Rigney and another lady came to see me and invited me back. I kept attending and soon learned what I needed to do to be saved. One Wednesday night I went forward and Brother Brewer baptized me. I then attended a home Bible study at the Paul Sherrods which they conducted, and it was very helpful.

I remember taking my young nephew to church with me. He would really get fidgety. One Sunday morning he was jumping around and kicked my hat off and into the aisle. I was so embarrassed, but I got up and retrieved the hat and jammed it back on my head. I hadn't even had time to comb my hair that morning. In the meantime, my nephew started running to the back of the building. I knew if I started after him he would just keep running, so I sat down and in a few minutes he came back. I was glad when I got him home!!

When we started the visitation program several years ago, Gladys Shepard and I used to visit together. I remember one particular winter night when the streets were covered with ice and it was very dark when the general meeting was over. I tried to talk Gladys into waiting until the next day to make our call, but she insisted that we would be okay. The young lady we visited lived upstairs in an apartment, and the steps were as slick as glass. But the Lord was looking after us, and we got safely back down to the car.

Bess English

It has been more than a quarter century now since my five-year old son Richard came rushing home from kindergarten with the poignant question, "Mother, did you know that a boy fell out of our church a long time ago and got dead?"

Never one to let my children's questions go unanswered, I knew that the decision of how and when to share the tragic details of my brother's death was now no longer a matter of conjecture but a matter to be handled sensitively and with dispatch. Though I knew I would never have a more opportune moment, I couldn't help but cringe at the pain dredged up by focusing my attention on an event that had so irrevocably altered the course of our family's history.

I don't know whether I was more surprised to find that the story was still being circulated among Broadway kindergartners a dozen years after it happened, or to realize that we as a family had been imprudent enough to allow someone else to introduce the subject of Dickie's death to his namesake. I just knew that the time had come to tell Richard more than the fact his uncle Dickie had died and gone to heaven to live with God and that I was the one who had drawn the black bean.

What I told Richard that day I now share with the rest of my Broadway family, partly because I've been asked to do so and partly because, sadly, this too is a part of Broadway's history. To my knowledge this was the only fatal accident ever to take place on Broadway property.

Dickie was 13 years old and an eighth grader at J. T. Hutchinson Junior High School. He was born in Abilene but had lived in Lubbock since the summer of his eighth year. His parents were Roy and Marie Burnam, and I was his only sibling. At 15 I was already looking up to my 5'8" brother, though my standing as a high school sophomore continued to give me a bit of an edge in the social arena.

For instance, on the night of September 14, 1952, I got to go on my first real car date to church and to get a coke at the old Village Mill Drive-In while Dickie went to church with Mother and Daddy. They stayed after services for a junior high youth activity in the fellowship hall. Though Broadway was yet several years away from its first paid youth minister, the Broadway elders and parents have always had the welfare of its young people at heart, and get-togethers were planned on a regular basis for both junior high and senior high students.

On this particular night a number of the young people present apparently became disenchanted with the program in progress and slipped away to the third floor of the two-year-old Broadway building to do a bit of exploring on their own away from the restricting eyes of adults. The tower which had been completed only a few weeks earlier held a particular fascination for these curious teens. Before their straying could be discovered by the supervising adults, more than a dozen young people had made their way to the top of the tower or were on a rung of the ladder that linked the roof of the tower to the concrete floor some 75 feet below.

No one seems to know what caused Dickie to fall, whether he lost his balance while climbing or just became frightened when he looked down. All the information the family could coax from the terrified onlookers was that he fell virtually the entire 75 feet and that he hit at least one steel beam on his way down. Miraculously, all the others who were strung all the way up and down the ladder managed to get down safely. Many joined our family at the nearby West Texas Hospital during the next several hours of waiting.

I don't know who was posted at my house to catch me, in case I was the first one to be taken home, but Elsie Kerr was waiting outside her house when the four of us arrived to drop off her daughter, Lora Ann. The Kerrs accompanied us to the hospital where there were already a number of grim-faced and crying people. Even youth could not protect me from the gravity of the situation, but death was not really something with which I was grappling until I heard our friend Bill Rogers, a man not unfamiliar with life and death after having been a practicing veterinarian for many years, say to some of the people standing out in the hall, "I don't think he's gonna make it."

Well, Bill was right. At 1:30 a.m. on September 15, Richard Roy (Dickie) Burnam was escorted home by the same Jesus whose name he had confessed in the presence of the Broadway family only a few months earlier. Two days later the church came together to mourn. Horace Coffman pointed our thoughts toward the God who wipes away all tears and will someday explain all mysteries.

Only when I had a 13-year-old son of my own did I fully comprehend my parents' loss. I do not to this day comprehend their courage.

Kay Burnam Evans

On September 11, 1983 at a Sunday evening meal at Campus Advance I proposed to Pam (Childress) Evans in song in front of about 250 people. After the song was finished I got a standing ovation and about half the people there were crying. She said "Yes!"

Richard Evans

Joe Barnett preached on giving frequently and did so in such a manner that you realized that the individual's "learning to give liberally" was more important than the money and what it could do.

I remember being so proud of Broadway and all they did to help others immediately following the May 11th tornado.

Seymour Evans

Joe Barnett, a very eloquent and self-possessed speaker, seldom made the kind of error most public speakers make. Therefore, one Sunday when he talked about coming before the Father with "bowed hands" and "folded heads," I completely lost it! Later when I went by Joe's office to pick up an item that I was borrowing from Joe's wife Alyce, there was a note attached saying, "It's not nice to laugh at the preacher when he gets his tongue wrapped around his eye tooth and can't see what he's saying."

Mrs. Seymour (Kay Burnam) Evans

How did it come about that our names, Casey and Virginia Fine, appeared on the Broadway roster? In 1946 when we were a newly married couple living on 23rd Street we were within easy walking distance of a congregation of the church and we were closer to one or two others than we were to Broadway.

So what happened? One afternoon when we had been away from home, we returned to find that we had been visited by Mr. and Mrs. M. Norvel Young as evidenced by their card in the door. Our up-bringing says you must return such a social call rather promptly, which we did, and most probably at an inconvenient time for them. But from their manner you would never know that it was inconvenient. From then on it was Broadway for us. Soon after in a meeting in which Brother Batsell B. Baxter was preaching, Virginia obeyed the gospel and Casey asked to be restored. And beginning with the Youngs and a subsequent kidnapping of us by Bill and Pauline Rogers for insertion into Brother B. Sherrod's class in the Rix Funeral Home, we were covered with a blanket of Christian love and affection. To this day the warmth of Broadway is much alive in our memories and a cherished experience in our Christian lives.

Casey and Virginia Fine

I remember Broadway and some very dear people who have so willingly given of themselves and brought joy to me and to my family. I shall never forget how good Otis Maner and Wayne Townsend were when my Dad, V. R. Chick was sick for so long. Nor will I forget the young people who came and painted their house.

Horace and Dott Coffman, who were our Junior High sponsors in 1946 have always been my shining examples. From the picnics in McKenzie Park to young matron, wife and mother, and now as grandmother, my love and admiration for them grows.

I remember how kind Dr. Bill Rogers was when I was a child and he told me that my dog had ringworms, screw worms, lice and fleas and that he needed a good home. He knew a man who wanted him and would take care of him. My family had never let me have a dog before, and I really didn't know how to look after him. But Dr. Bill gently helped my poor dog and me.

Mrs. Joe (Carolyn Chick) Fortenberry

My earliest memories of Broadway go back to the late 40's when Norvel and Helen Young were visiting in Europe and their little people, Emily and Matt Norvel, were staying in Searcy, Arkansas, with their Uncle Billy and Aunt Mildred Mattox. I got to do some baby sitting (secretaries don't just make coffee) and enjoyed them. Lubbock sounded like a wonderful place to live, but our first trip across Route 66 somewhat dampened our enthusiasm and we thought, "We will never want to live in this part of the country." However, when a few men of incredible wisdom asked Dr. Mattox to become president of a Christian college on the South Plains, his subsequent invitation for us to join him allowed us to change our minds. There are still ruts in the road between Lubbock and Temple, caused when Percy dragged me off to Central Texas.

Broadway is PEOPLE and we have wonderful memories of so many:

• ... Bill and Pauline Rogers and their ceaseless hospitality
• ... Brother Rigney always sitting down slowly after standing for a song or prayer and checking out who was and wasn't there (so much for the theory you can't know people in a big congregation.)
• ... Brother Rigney's comment on Wednesday night, after a hard day at work, "No matter how tired I was when I came, I always feel better when I leave."
• ... Harvie Pruitt teaching the children's class in the fellowship room, holding our 19 month old until he got accustomed to his new surroundings ... the baptism of our son, John ... the generous support of so many for Lubbock Christian College
• ... The ministers and families we were privileged to know, and appreciate
• ... The "Perpetual Lectureship" class hosted by Durwood Sanders
• ... the clarion voice of the minister's little son, asking, "Who shot him?" at the funeral of a beloved member
• ... knowing you could always depend on Lorena Justiss to sing for special occasions
• ... the special place in our hearts for the elders, who after hours of discussion, always reached a "unanimous agreement"
• ... that stately pediatrician of ours, who after a long day of answering the frantic telephone calls of mothers, bowed his head to bless the evening meal at home and began his prayer, "Dr. Ellis speaking"
• ... that same wonderful fellow, who answered this frantic mother's call and was waiting at the emergency room door for us when John was hit by a car
• ... Bill Banowsky's statement, "I'm convinced in my own mind that the Lord will come in my lifetime."
• ... the wonderful outpouring of love for the community after the tornado
• ... all the wonderful members we count among our friends.

Mrs. Percy (Anne) Francis

I remember when we were meeting in the old building at Broadway and Avenue N in 1945 or 1946, we high school kids sometimes sat in the middle section on the back row. Jack Rigney had a little battery operated fan while the rest of us had to use cardboard fans.

A year or two later the high school kids met in the little white annex for activities. We bought a dart board, but only got to use it a few times before it got stolen! Another time the Junior and Senior High school group was sitting in the balcony. One of the little Pinkston boys went from the back of the auditorium to go to the restroom ... as he walked across in front of the preacher he turned and waved at the kids in the balcony.

I don't remember who was introducing Brother Otis Gatewood, but instead of saying his name right, he was introduced as "Atis Goatwood."

Mrs. Leonard (Jeane) Francis

One of my most favorite memories of Broadway revolves around a beautiful lady named Mettie Rush. She was indeed beautiful and a lady. One thing that impressed me about "Aunt Mettie" (we weren't really related, but after this you'll probably want to claim her as your relative, too) was how she chose to dress up to come to our assemblies. That girl was a fashion plate! She didn't just put on her Sunday dress even on Wednesday, she added all of the accessories. She powdered, she polished, and she never had a hair out of place. AND, she always, always had on her stockings and dressy heels ... not her comfortable flats. I was amazed ... but a little suspicious. NOBODY could look that great all of the time. But she did, CONSISTENTLY! Once after one of our assemblies, several of us were visiting with "Aunt Mettie" in the foyer. Joe Barnett was commenting, "Mettie, you look like a million dollars, but I can't remember a time when you didn't. Why are you always so decked out?" In her calm, gracious way, she simply said, "My greatest privilege in life is dressing up for my Lord. You know, if I were going to England to see the Queen, I would wear my very best. So it is no trouble at all for me to put on my finest clothes every time I come to our services to worship my Lord with my family." I've got to tell you, the joy in her voice spoke volumes to my heart. What a beautiful example this beautiful lady was for me. Didn't I warn you? Don't you wish Mettie Rush was your Aunt?

Linda Gaither

"Broadway" (and everyone in the United States and most of Germany know "Broadway"!) is that great throng of Christians in Lubbock, Texas, who heard the hungry cries of children and adults in Germany after World War II. There was a need for food, medicine, and clothing; but most of all, the assistance they needed was to be accepted again in the world community as a respectable nation of good people by teaching through the Word of God.

Broadway answered this call by sending missionaries as early as 1946 to see how these needs could be met. Although food, medicine, and clothing would be given, it was also decided that the spiritual food was the most needed. By 1948 several families and single people were sent to Germany to distribute food and clothing, but also to teach the Word of the Lord. It was taught daily (Acts 2:46) in school houses, in a friendly Baptist church building on Sunday nights, in tents, in camps, and in the homes of the people. With this spiritual food and the sharing of food for the body, they began to lose their feelings of war-guilt and became happy, adjusted people.

We were not left alone by Broadway. The Elders came with their wives, the Paul Sherrods, the Randolph Mills, the T. A. and Bill Rogers, the Alex McDonalds, the C. B. Martins, the Fred Pinkstons, and several others. Their ministers, the Norvel Youngs and the Bill Banowskys, were also sent to show and share their interest in the work of the Lord. Other church members wrote letters of encouragement to us. We received gifts from you at various times, small items we could not get in Germany, such as lime jello, pecans, Hershey bars, and Karo syrup among other things. You prayed for us when we were sick, and the Lord heard your prayers.

As a single woman I thought the most effective way for me to do mission work would be with women and children. While visiting us in Frankfurt in 1949, Brother Paul Sherrod said to me: "Irene, you must train these women to do church work. The women are the backbone of the church." I answered him, "You are my elder. If you say do it, I will do it!" And I did. But first I got the children's work started, meeting only on Sunday nights in the school building near the Baptist church building where our weekly German services were held. Two hundred and fifty children were coming, and we had about fifteen teachers.

I remember Brother Paul Sherrod came that year when we were having our first camp. We invited him to speak to the campers when we all met together in the big tent. Because we wanted everyone to see him, we asked him to stand on an eating table. He did, but he was too tall and looked like a giant! Then he got down on his knees. The children laughed about the "Uncle" who stood on his knees."

In the meantime the new building was being built in Senckenberg Anlage, and the one in Bornheim was later started. A daily kindergarten was started in Senckenberg by Georgin Carver around 1953, and I started a daily children's work in Bornheim at that time. Because of the illness of my mother, I returned home in 1957 to be near her, teaching at Harding University, which was near our home town. After her death the Broadway Elders asked me to return to Germany. This I did in 1963.

It was in 1963 that I resumed the work with children in both congregations, Bornheim and Senckenberg, but after two years I worked solely in Bornheim. The building in Senckenberg was sold, and the church work and the childrens' work was moved to the Bornheim congregation. With this merger we had around 50 or more children in our daily classes, and I was greatly helped by Sister Marguerita Meidinger. At the same time we resumed the camp work, living in army tents and cooking in army barracks until we bought the permanent campsite in Gemunden, Germany, in the Taunus Mountains.

Friedel Gobbels helped me in Senckenberg during the years we had the children there daily and also came to Bornheim after Sister Meidinger's retirement. I worked with Friedel 18 years every day. They were very fruitful years. "Our" children came into the "decision making" periods of their lives, and they began to be obedient to the Gospel, becoming Christians. We had worked for this day since 1963, and now around 1965 it was a reality! Some became Christians after I left in 1957. Today it is a great joy to look around over the Frankfurt congregation and see our "kindergarten" children who were converted at camp now as adult Christians, as well as in other German congregations.

To hold the children through the years, we started the summer camps in 1949, sleeping in tents. But with bad weather in the summer, with much rain and with many "leaky tents", we decided to buy a permanent place. We had formed a Camp Board around 1964, but it was not until 1969 that we decided to buy the property near Gemunden in the Taunus Mountains, near Frankfurt. Year-round programs are now held there with children, teenagers, young families, senior citizens, and one year, senior citizens from an English congregation in England came!

You rang wedding bells for the Johnson-Gatewood wedding on October 4, 1981, held in your beautiful church building, making it possible for our many friends to share our happiness. Your loving sisters gave the reception for us during which occasion we could visit with our friends of many years.

Now after 43 years, Germany has around 25 congregations meeting regularly, carrying on local work, but also doing mission work in Eastern Europe and helping in other foreign nations. The vacation home in Gemunden is being used on a regular, busy schedule. Thirty-seven of these forty-three years I was there as your missionary on German-Austrian soil. They were exciting, rewarding happy years, and all over Germany "my children," with others, are carrying on in an effective manner, and the church is still growing.

Thank you for sending me, standing by me in the work we were doing for the Lord, and for your prayers throughout those years.

This is "Broadway!"

Irene Johnson Gatewood

In 1937 when John T. Smith was the minister at Broadway and Avenue N, the elders hired me at $100 a month to be the first fully supported missionary in the brotherhood. Brother B. Sherrod, who was serving as chairman of the elders, oversaw my work and guided me like a father in both Eunice and Las Vegas, New Mexico, and later in Salt Lake City, Utah.

I married Alma Morgan of Abilene, Texas, December 25, 1936. I went almost immediately to Eunice, New Mexico, baptized about 40 people, bought a lot there for $12.00 and erected a church building in two months. The church has continued in Eunice since that time.

When Alma finished teaching in Abilene, we moved to Las Vegas, New Mexico, to help the English-speaking congregation. While there I established a church among the Spanish speaking people.

I also remember while there I studied with a Hispanic Penitente who said he had been baptized with the Holy Spirit. There was a lot of discussion back and forth; in fact, we studied late into the night. The next day he came to the church building and I baptized him scripturally. Shortly after that he lost his sight with cataracts. Broadway learned about his needs, and Sister Gladys Shepard raised the money for him to have the needed surgery. Later when he could see again, Alma and I gave him $5.00 to buy supplies, and he began selling hamburgers from a push cart. He was finally able to buy out a nice restaurant there. During the years he converted many others, and soon they erected a nice church building in the Spanish speaking section of town. So Sister Shepard was partially responsible for helping establish this congregation.

After two years we moved to Salt Lake City, where I was the first preacher of the church of Christ to enter Utah. We stayed there six years, and in 1947 we moved to Germany.

Brother Paul Sherrod and I made a survey trip to Germany in 1946 and received permission to enter the country as a missionary - the first one, in fact, to enter after World War II. All my correspondence with the elders while there was through Brother Paul.

I remember when Broadway decided to move down the street from Avenue N to Avenue T. B. Sherrod served as chairman of the building committee, and he asked me if I would help with raising funds. To his surprise I asked him to make the first donation. I asked for $10,000. He didn't consent until I told him I was going next to Claude Tatum and ask for the same amount and that I wanted to be able to tell him that Mr. B had agreed to give $10,000 if Brother Tatum would meet it. They both agreed that would be their pledge. They then gave me a list of others to contact, and in a few days we had a large amount pledged. I then returned to my mission work in Salt Lake City.

I remember holding two meetings at Broadway, one in 1937 and again in 1951. In 1951 there were 70 responses: 33 of those were baptisms, 19 placed membership and 18 were restored.

Broadway supported me in mission work for 22 years. None of the original elders were still elders at the end of that time. G. C. Brewer and Norvel Young were ministers at Broadway during that time. Norvel was responsible for my receiving the first raise in salary.

The highlight in my relationship with Broadway came when, after several years of being a widower, I was married to Irene Johnson on October 4, 1981, in your auditorium. Brothers Paul Sherrod and J. B. McCorkle led prayers during our wedding ceremony.

I am truly thankful for the love that the Broadway church has shown to me and my family.

Otis Gatewood