13 ~ From New London to Service as a Chaplain
~ God’s blessings continued upon our ministry at New London. He had given us a new addition to our family and new members to our church. On April the 25th we had a record attendance of 230 in Sunday school, 127 in Training Union, and six additions to our church. God was indicating His blessings upon our move to this new church. I had finished my work for a B.A. degree at Baylor University, but the graduation exercises were changed to Mother’s Day, and I had to miss graduation because it was such a special day in my church. Therefore I would not have the pleasure of walking across the platform to receive my diploma but had to request that it be mailed to me. I would not have this joy until several years later when Baylor University conferred a doctor’s degree on me; I had the pleasure of walking across the stage with the class of 1960.
~ Faye and I had always been close since the day of our marriage, but now that the sweet angel of suffering had come and left us with a little boy we were drawn even closer. Perhaps we grew closer together because of the night vigils when we took turns rocking him because of his restlessness in sleep. Of course babies, as someone has said, do not come with directions, and we were as inexperienced as any parent ever was. He had like to have “starved to death” until we got his formula worked out.
~ One night the peace of the parsonage was disturbed because of our son’s crying. We discovered that ants had invaded his crib! We rushed him to the doctor. He was ministered to and we felt fortunate that he did not die. Les Jr. was the center of interest, and we preserved not only his picture and the announcements of his birth but every other note or letter that came in regard to him. We were extremely glad that our Cradle Roll superintendent at the church was interested enough to write us a card saying, “Dear Junior: We are so happy to have you on our cradle roll. We will try to be content with that until some bright morning in the future when Lester Lee Junior is present. While we wait, we will pray. Lovingly, Mrs. S. D. Osborne.” I looked into my little son’s face, prayed for his well being, and expressed to God the desire that one day I would be able to lead him to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
~ This desire for the salvation of my son was only exceeded by the desire to win my community to Christ. At the beginning of the ministry in New London, I called the church to help make a community-wide census. As a result of that census I drew a map of the entire community, locating every home on the map, who lived there, and their religious affiliation. I have that map to this good day; only recently I shared it with some friends who lived in New London, and they were amazed. I preached on the story of the city of Jericho, and my subject was “I Have Given You the City” The message began the first revival I held at New London. The harvest was plentiful. During the revival we had twenty-six persons added to our church; twenty-one of these were by profession of faith. On the first Sunday of the revival we had 186 attendees in Sunday School and 129 in Training Union. By the end of April, we set an all time record in Sunday School with 230 present and 127 in Training Union. The spirit was stirring up my community. (At the same time the winds were stirring in nearby Lariat Hill, or as some people nicknamed it, “Pistol Hill.” A tornado blew down the First Baptist Church in Lariat Hill. I led a group of my men over to the site to help clear the property and minister to those in that community.)
~ By the close of April in 1943, the New London church had its fiftieth addition since I became its pastor. The church had given $240 to missions and had spent $2,530 on building improvements. The church was out of debt. One of the unique things of that summer was a planned tent revival meeting. It began July 11. My good friend S. R. Goff, who had recommended me to my first church, was a freckle-faced, red-haired gospel preacher. He preached during the two week revival meeting. Because of my experience in radio work, I arranged to have part of the services broadcast for 15 minutes a day, for two weeks, over station KOCA, the radio station I preached from each Sunday. The revival meeting came to a close with thirty-one additions to the church.
~ In the fall of 1943, I received the first of three letters inviting me [in view of a call as pastor] to the Columbia Street Baptist Church in Tucson, Arizona. The invitation helped to crystallize my thinking about the chaplaincy. Since my own heart told me that was to be my ministry, I wrote them a letter and declined their invitation.
~ On October 15, 1943, the Rusk Panola Association Meeting was at Turnertown Baptist Church. New London sent its best letter ever, reporting fifty baptisms during the year and thirty-eight other additions, boasting of a membership of 462, and reporting that $727.47 had been given to the Cooperative Program. At this associational meeting I brought an address on christian education and had the joy of introducing Dr. F. F. Bruce, the president of The College of Marshall [became East Texas Baptist College in 1946, now East Texas Baptist University] who would speak to my report. Years later I was to have the joy of pastoring First Baptist Church, Midland, where he at one time had served.
~ At this associational meeting, I was delighted to hear that the New London First Baptist Church had led the entire association in the number of baptisms reported for the year. [Editor’s Note: Southern Baptist churches traditionally send “messengers” annually to the local or regional associational meetings, to state conventions, and to the national convention. The “letter” is a report of the autonomous, local congregation’s work, including giving to various mission causes, the gain or loss of church members, and various other mission and ministry activities. The messengers, who are not “delegates,” speak and vote as individuals. They may or may not choose expressly to speak and vote according to their sense of the will of their home congregations.]
~ Christmas of 1943 was to be our first Christmas with our newly arrived son. We took a trip to Summerville, Texas, where my mother and dad lived, and Les. Jr. enjoyed his first Christmas with us. But we were back in New London in time for the Student Night at Christmas and the Watchnight program at the church on the last night of 1943. On the first Sunday of 1944, which was my first anniversary at New London, I preached on “Ebenezer Stones.” The bulletin called attention to the fact that during my first year the church had remodeled the parsonage, completely painted the inside and outside of the church; remodeled the auditorium, the choirs and the platform. and hung velvet curtains around the rostrum. There was a new baptistry painting, and we remodeled several Sunday School rooms, purchased an additional attic fan for the auditorium. We had added thirty new folding chairs and six Long-leaf Yellow Pine modern pews, all for cash. We had led the entire association in baptisms and had ranked fifth place in baptisms for the entire district. The treasurer reported that more money came in than at any other time; we rejoiced that we were giving fifty per cent more to missions each month, and God had so blessed our ministry that we still had money in the bank. The many additions to the First Baptist Church of New London including not only a great number of adults, but a great group of young people. As I look over the list today, I observe that some of the young girls married preachers. One became a pianist for an evangelist, others are teachers, but most all of them that I know are active in their churches.
~ Two of the young people one morning got a shock of their lives. I was preaching, and they were talking to each other in the choir. I turned around, stood there until they got the hint, and said when they got through I would go on with my sermon. Since then I have enjoyed talking about this to those young ladies who are now mature women of leadership. I tell people that only the young people whom I “called down” in church who still count me as their friend.
~ During this war-time ministry I keyed my sermons sometimes to people’s interest in the war. I preached “Is Hitler the Antichrist?” As I look back on it, I am not sure what position I took.
~ The year 1944 began with a dark cloud on the horizon. We were called across the street to our neighbors’ telephone. Faye’s father was seriously ill in Tyler, and they advised us to come. Shortly after that, Mr. Hutton died on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. I had a part in his funeral on Monday.
~ The local news in Overton, Texas, carried an interesting article about the First Baptist Church of New London sending kits to Russia. To quote it,
“Christianity must be put into practice today as never before,’ states Rev. Lester L. Morris pastor of the First Baptist Church of New London, and according to his statement this is just what his congregation plans to do. For this week, under his leadership, the Baptist Church of New London launched the Kits for Russia campaign. This campaign is one that is being conducted all over the Southern Baptist convention. The plan is to fill 1,000 kits with much needed items for suffering Russians. The kit will contain such items as buttons, surgical adhesive tape, one pound of hard candy, and other listed items as needed by the Russian War Relief in consultation with the Soviet Red Cross. The cost for each kit is about two dollars. The New London church has set as its goal one hundred of just such kits to be sent to individuals with a personal message to someone in Russia. ‘By thus giving,’ said Rev. Morris , ‘Our people will be handing over a bandage to the bleeding fingers of a Russian child, sewing a button on the coat of a Russian father, making a child laugh again with a piece of candy.’”
~ I tried to use every available thing to build up interest and advertise the activities of First Baptist Church at New London. During a political campaign, I printed a card appropriately entitled “In the Interest of our Nation, our State, our Community, and our souls I submit the candidacy of Jesus Christ as Kind of Kings and Lord of Lords, Subject to the action of the election to be held in your heart. Come hear what he proposes to do. Your vote and influence for Him are appreciated. Lester Morris, His campaigner.” On another occasion I designed a card that was suitable to leave at a home that I called upon when no one was present. On the front of the card was my name and the name of my church. Our theme was the “Church in the Heart of the Oil Field for the Hearts of the People.” On the back of the card was this message: “This is to let you know of a visit by the pastor of the First Baptist Church, New London. He is sorry that you were not at home, but trusts that you are enjoying good health and the presence of Christ in your daily life. He hopes to see you at our next service at church.” I gave my name and the name of the church.
~ One of my revival stories for the newspaper said, “Monday night will be a special night at the meeting, and the evangelist has extended an invitation to all of those in and around Overton and New London to attend this service in honor of all who have loved ones in the service of their country. On Monday night the evangelist will speak on the subject ‘Remember Pearl Harbor.’” At that service the evangelist will discuss such questions as: How shall we revenge the blood of 3,077 who were killed in the Pearl Harbor attack? Why we were caught off guard at Pearl Harbor? And many other questions that the public had been clamoring for the answers to.” The newspaper account went on to say that the church broke an all-time record attendance in their Training Union last Sunday night, and despite a downpour of rain the auditorium was filled to capacity for the preaching service.
~ I tried to use the inspiration and information that I gained through the journalism department at Baylor University by making an ally of the local paper. One article was called “New London Baptist Breaking Records.” It read,
“If you should hear a crashing sound next Sunday, think nothing of it. It’s probably the First Baptist Church of New London, just breaking another record,’ said Rev. Lester Morris, pastor of this church. This church is setting high attendance goals for Mother’s Day. During the revival the church projected they could have 300 in Sunday school and 175 in Training Union. However after having advertisement put out concerning this worthy goal, the whole thing was spoiled last Sunday,a week in advance, when the Sunday school reached an all time attendance of 301, and the Training Union soared to a high mark of 186. Thus the whole program was upset, and the advertisements had to be changed to higher goals. It was reported, however, that neither the pastor nor the evangelist had long faces over the unexpected event. The pastor states that they intend to break this record next Sunday by having 333 present for the Sunday school hour and 200 in Training Union.”
~ On May 31, 1944, our church voted to buy a piano to loan to Camp Fannin near Tyler. We were feeling the results of the war, and Chaplain McCullough, the head chaplain at Camp Fannin, was a friend of mine from Baylor days. He encouraged me in my desire to become a chaplain. So, on June 6, 1944, the very day of the Normandy invasion in France, I sent in my application papers to become a chaplain. A few days later, on June 12, I took my physical exam at Camp Fannin. While there I preached to the stockade service on the “Touch of the Masters Hand.” I came back to speak at First Baptist Church, Overton, on the subject of “I Dare You.” I apparently had taken the dare when I sent my final papers for the chaplaincy. On June 24 I received a letter from the eighth service command telling me I passed my physical for general military service. I had sensed my call and was trying to be obedient to it. On the 23rd of July in the morning service, I spoke on “The Call of the Burning Bush.” At the night service Lieutenant Fred Cherry spoke on soul winning. Fred’s family had already joined the church in New London, and he was serving in the U. S. Army. He was a devoted Christian and an inspiration to me and everyone who knew him. In future pastorates I determined to invite him to speak and I did.
~ On the 25th of July 1944 I received my appointment as a chaplain in the Army of the United States of America. I went to Camp Fannin to take the oath of office. They helped me to plan the meeting at my church the next Sunday night. On Wednesday night, July 26, I spoke at our prayer meeting on the sixth chapter of First Timothy. For the first time I made mention of my appointment and announced Sunday’s special service when I would take the oath of office. After the services on Sunday morning, I offered my resignation as pastor to become effective August 20, 1944. The church accepted. That night we had an overflow crowd. Brother C. W. Holmes, who served as pastor of First Baptist Church, Overton, acted as the master of ceremonies at my oath of office ceremony. J. H. Meek, the assistant adjutant at Camp Fannin, administered the oath of office to me. “I, Lester Lee Morris [serial number], having been appointed temporarily as first lieutenant in the Army of the United States, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purposes of evasion, and that I will, and faithfully, discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.” Those words rang in my heart.
~ The post chaplain of Camp Fannin, Fred McCauley, brought the message that night. His subject was, “It is later than you think,” and I thought to myself, “It is later.” My chairman of deacons, D. W. Honeycutt, pinned my star on the service flag of the church. It was a very impressive service. The service flag reminded me of the little boy in church who observed the stars on the service flag. Some were gold; he asked his mother what the gold stars were, and she told him they were representing soldiers who died in the service. He said, “Was it the morning service or the evening service?” The little boy was ignorant of the service, but no more ignorant than I when I took the oath of office to become a chaplain. I may have taken the oath, but it did not make me a soldier. In fact I was about like the army that followed Absalom. The scripture says in II Samuel 15:11 that “Absalom had two hundred men who went with Absalom from Jerusalem, who were invited and went innocently, and they did not know anything.”
~ After my resignation given to the church on the last Sunday of July, I found the first weeks of August filled with activities: dinners at church members’ homes, and ice cream suppers. I am sure I must have gained a lot of weight, for when I checked in to the Army, I weighed 195 pounds the most I’ve ever weighed in my life! Of course I rationalized that with the idea I was not overweight, I was just not tall enough. Among the many parties held for us was the big farewell banquet held at the Humble recreation hall. There was an overflow crowd and a grand program. At the conclusion of the farewell party the church gave us several wonderful gifts, including two Gladstone traveling bags. I have thought about those bags. We needed both of them; one to fill up with all the pleasant memories and wonderful blessings that God had given us during our ministry at New London. The other bag I would reserve for my ignorance—and I’m sure it would have filled the entire bag—Ignorance concerning the future, and ignorance concerning the activities of Uncle Sam’s army.
Since chaplains were commissioned as first lieutenants it became necessary for me to buy my wardrobe out of our meager cash fund. This I did and put on my officer’s uniform for the first time. I learned at once that a uniform does not make a soldier. It only indicates that he should be one. There were a great many servicemen in Central Texas, so I was being saluted, and I saluted back to everything from generals to fence posts. I recall how humiliated I felt because of my ignorance! I stayed inside my father’s place of work fearing to expose my military ignorance.
My pride was to rear its ugly head again. The Chaplain School was located at Harvard University, and because of this I found myself thinking what a fine thing it would be in future days to say that I was schooled at Harvard University. Then my orders came through. I was shocked to find that the haplain school had been moved away from Harvard! I would have the distinction of being a member of the first class to be trained at an Army post. I was to report to duty to Fort Devens, which is located not far from Boston.
~ On Sunday, August 20, I preached my last sermon as pastor of First Baptist Church, New London. I reflected on God’s blessings. We had, during my ministry, added 164 new members to the church, or an average two per Sunday. That gave us a good feeling as we turned our faces toward the future. I arranged for my wife and boy to stay at Summerville, Texas, with my parents. Mr. & Mrs. S. V. Morriss. I also arranged for the Army to move us there. Sooner than I realized it, August 25, 1944, had arrived. I was in Summerville, Texas, with my family and my father and mother. It was a special day, for we observed our sixth wedding anniversary. It was also the day I learned Paris, France, had been liberated from the Nazi occupation.