by Jerry Blackerby
Do you remember churches without air conditioning and unpadded pews? Do you remember hour-long sermons? Do you remember what church was like in the “good old days?”
The first church I remember was built with large plank shutters between the glass windows that could be propped open in the summer to let the breezes blow through. The six‑foot-wide shutters went almost to the floor. With the three shutters on each side propped up, it was like being outside even with wasps and bees flying around. During the winter, we kept everything shut up and wore warm clothing. Here is a picture of the building with the shutters closed. My grandmother and her brother, the pastor, and his wife are standing by the church.
There was not any wallboard, only the framing and outside walls, windows, entrance door, and shutters. There was not any ceiling; the rafters and the underside of the roof were plainly visible from inside the church. The yellow and black electrical wire was visible running across the rafters to a few drop lights hanging just below the rafters. One light was directly over the piano and another over the pulpit, which was built by my great-grandfather. There were three lights on each side of the room besides the two at the pulpit and piano. A night service with the windows open and shutters raised resulted in bugs circling each of the light bulbs casting strange shadows.
Local merchants, such as the funeral home, provided hand-fans imprinted with their name for advertising purposes. These hand fans were on each pew during the summer months. Temperatures from 90 degrees Fahrenheit to above 100 are common in west Texas. The six-foot pews were made from one by four planks, without padding. The seats were wooden slats and very uncomfortable.
The church consisted of one large auditorium room, about 20 by 48. The auditorium could be separated into four Sunday School rooms with curtains made from bed sheets strung on wire. My great-aunt conducted a women’s class next door in her house. When the weather was nice, my youth class met outside behind the building. We did not have a nursery. If a small child or baby became restless and loud, the mother took them outside, although we could still hear them cry, with the open tabernacle.
We did not have a baptistery. When several people were to be baptized, we went to a farmer’s stock pond for the baptism. Baptism services were normally during the summer months because the water was too cold during the winter. The water was always a little muddy.
This church organized in 1902 following a revival preached by my great-grandfather. His family and a few others organized the church near a small west Texas town with a total of sixteen members. Later, my great‑grandfather became the second pastor. Even later, one of his sons was the pastor.
Initially, the church met in a school building before constructing a building. After the new building blew away in a tornado in the 1920s, the members constructed the tabernacle building on a concrete slab floor. In 1937, the church decided to move the building into town to land adjacent to my great-uncle, a pastor at one time. Members disassembled the building and broke the slab floor into sections to haul into town. Church members set the slab pieces together and reassembled the building. Large cracks remained in the uneven slab floor until the building was replaced in 1948. Now and then we would see a “Horney” toad peeking out of one of the cracks.
We did not have a sound system, but the preacher’s rich, booming voice carried all over the small building. Most of the time our preacher was long-winded, with preaching starting a little after 11:00 and sometimes lasting until after 12:30. Of course, we did not have football games on TV to rush home to watch.
A few of the older men could pray for 15 minutes or more with loud, resounding voices; almost like another sermon. These same older men would shout Amen or Hallelujah many times during a sermon. Most women did not speak out in church during those days, except my grandmother and my great-grandmother. If either one felt the Spirit, they would begin shouting praises to the Lord, much to the chagrin of some people that felt a woman should not speak out in church.
Sometimes during a long-winded sermon a young boy might slip outside through an open shutter, especially if he was on a back row.
Our hymnals were paper-back and well-worn, nearly always from the Stamps-Baxter Music Company with shaped notes. We knew all of the songs by heart, so did not really need a hymnal. Various men took turns leading the singing; occasionally a woman would lead singing when no man wanted to lead. We did not have a choir back then. A few women could play the piano, although my mother played most of the time. She began playing for the church while still a teenager.
The tabernacle building was sold and removed in 1948. A larger, surplus Army building was moved in, providing space for separate Sunday School rooms. A heating and cooling system made the temperature more comfortable, but we still had the old, uncomfortable, wooden slat pews. Later, a baptistery was installed behind the pulpit and new, unpadded pews were purchased. The church began to modernize.
Today in a large, new building, the tiered rows of seats are cushioned. The educational facility provides separate rooms for many different Sunday School classes. When I visited this church a few years ago, the pulpit built by my great-grandfather was still in use in the educational facility. Photographs of all the previous pastors are hanging in a hallway.
A nursery is available and a kitchen. The very young do not have to sit through a long-winded sermon any longer. Young people that sit in church do not have the open shutters through which they can slip outside. Of course, there are few long-winded sermons in today’s time. Everyone wants to get out of church in time to see the football game on TV.
Copyright © Jerry Blackerby 2005, 2006, 2009