by Keith Bassham
I mentioned to my wife this morning that 35 years ago today she and I were preparing to leave Springfield for our first post-college ministry in Texas. I cannot remember if I was more excited about getting out of school or getting into serious ministry. That’s what this time of year makes me think of.
That and bluebonnets. My first pulpit was in a small town south of Dallas. The church is Fundamental Baptist in Palmer, TX, 12 miles east of Waxahachie and seven miles north of Ennis, and in April the area around Ennis is awash with fields of bluebonnets. Texas names the bluebonnet as the official state flower, but true to Texas ways, there were arguments for about 70 years about which species of bluebonnet should be the official one. In 1971, the Texas legislature passed a law naming all species of Lupines as the official flower, but most agree the most attractive of them all is Lupinus texensis, the Texas bluebonnet.
One time in Oklahoma, I was visiting a small art showing and stopped in front of a canvass filled with a field of bluebonnets. I said to the artist, “You painted this near Ennis, TX, didn’t you?” She said, “Why, yes. How did you know?” I told her I lived there for a time, and we both enjoyed the view her vision and acrylics had brought to life.
But enough diversion. This past week, Joey Candillo of Bales Baptist Church in Kansas City, MO, preached at the Missouri BBF meeting. He delivered a good message on the importance of teaching sound theology to a church, and near the end of his message he switched gears a little. In a very frank, personal appeal he declared, “I don’t know what’s ahead for the BBF, but I want you to know, I’m all in.”
That’s how I felt 35 years ago as I left Springfield for Palmer. And, occasionally I have to do a gut check, but I keep coming back to the same attitude. I’m all in.
Let’s meet together in Springfield for a great meeting during Graduation Fellowship Week.