12 ~ At First Baptist Church, New London
On March 18, 1937, a massive natural gas explosion in the public school at New London claimed almost 300 lives and injured dozens of school children, teachers, and staff. New London is located in Rusk County, Texas, on Highway 42. It is located twelve miles south of Kilgore and 122 miles southeast of Dallas. Dr. Archie P. McDonald writes about the New London school explosion in these words, “East Texas has had more than its share of disasters. The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 and the industrial explosion in Texas City in 1946 are examples. The day the school house in New London blew up has a singular pathos because so many of its victims were children.” [Please read the full story at the above link or a related version at The Handbook of Texas Online.]
~ It was to this kind of situation that God led me to minister. I found that though the explosion had occurred in 1937 and this was 1943, a shadow still fell across the threshold of the homes of my people, for many of them had lost their dimpled darlings. Perhaps this contributed more than anything else to the spiritual success we had in this little community, for they had changed their emphasis from oil to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. For on a blackboard in a classroom of children on March 18, 1937, a teacher had written these words: “Oil and natural gas are East Texas’s greatest mineral blessings. Without them this would not be here and some of us would not be here learning our lessons.” Just minutes before school turned out, the classroom collapsed with the rest of the New London school as a result of the natural gas explosion.
~ In the early days of my experience in New London, I heard the heart-breaking story of some deacons in the church who had searched for the children. What an impression it made upon them! They “shook the portal of Heaven” when they prayed, and I found it easy to emphasize spiritual things instead of material things in the town of New London now.
~ The pastor who preceded me at First Baptist Church New London was W. T. Brighton. He was called upon to bury many of the dead. One whole department in our church had very few remaining enrollees as a result of that terrible tragedy. To make it even worse, Brother Brighton moved to Texas City where ten years later he had the task of again ministering at another time of tragedy—the Texas City ship explosion that killed so many.
~ I was beginning my ministry in New London at a time when there was no joy in auto land, for nationwide gasoline rationing had gone in effect. It affected 27 million passenger cars and 5 million buses and trucks in an effort to conserve both gasoline and rubber tires. Under a new plan car owners would get about four gallons each week.
~ I started my ministry in New London on the last day of 1942, December 31, with a watch- night service. I preached on the “Master’s Touch.” My first day as pastor was on January 3, 1943. I preached on “New Year’s Resolutions and the Ultimate Question.” On that first day there were 172 persons in Sunday School, a collection of $81.35, and 98 in Training Union that evening.
~ Just at that time Casa Blanca was more than a movie, for before January ended, the American and British military strategists had met at Casa Blanca. President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill came together to agree on the objectives of the war against the Axis powers. After the ten-day meeting, Roosevelt is reported to have said “Peace can come to the world only by the total elimination of German and Japanese war power. That means the unconditional surrender of Germany, Italy, and Japan.” Unconditional surrender became the theme of World War II, and unconditional surrender rang through the rafters of First Baptist Church New London as I sought to call the people back to God. During my first month at New London there were ten additions to the church; five by baptism, and four by letter. Two other persons surrendered for special service. During February 1943 the treasurer reported that more money was taken in during February than in all the history of the church.
~ In February we started the first radio program sponsored by the church. It was broadcast every Sunday afternoon over station KOCA in Kilgore, Texas. I labeled the program Your Radio Pastor. I was overwhelmed with the number of letters and cards that we received as a result of that one message each Sunday. I have a scrapbook full of letters from people who appreciated the program, and even those who were converted as a result of the radio program. One lady indicated she had listened to the services for a year, and then was baptized into the fellowship of her church. She took time to write expressing her appreciation.
~ On March 5, 1943, I finished all of my work on my Bachelor of Arts degree at Baylor University and almost immediately began my first revival meeting at First Baptist Church New London preaching on “Can We Have Another Pentecost?” and the subject “Back to Bethel.” The meeting closed with the sermons “Why I Am a Baptist” and “Harvest Is Passed.” We had 186 in Sunday School, a $145 collection, and 129 in Training Union. We had twenty-six members added to the church. Twenty-one persons came on their profession of faith, and five came on the promise of a letter [from their present or previous church].
~ God was truly blessing our efforts and the community in which almost a whole generation had died in one day in 1937. Now, a new generation was coming to life. Just as March was a month of new spiritual births in the church, I am delighted to say that April was a month of new birth for the Morriss Family, for Lester Lee Morriss, Jr., arrived at 9:30 a.m. on April 1, 1943, in Athens in the Dufawn Clinic. I shall never forget the smell of the roses that I brought to the hospital room, and a nurse allowed me to pick up my son for the first time. I held him and quickly gave him back to the nurse because I feared I might break him.