What does it mean to be a church family? The week I moved to Oklahoma for my sophomore year of college was the same month my parents made the move from Kansas to Arizona. I went from living 30 minutes away from my parents to 8 hours away from them. I hardly knew anyone in Oklahoma when I took that leap to move to the place where my then boyfriend (now husband) grew up & wanted to come back to.
Except for a few years living out of state, I have been a member at Council Road Baptist Church since 1969. In fact, sometimes I think I was born in the Chapel because one of my earliest memories in life is sitting in the gold pews counting the spokes in the light fixtures in the ceiling (that are still there) while Pastor Wilhoite preached. In the second grade, I played The Old Rugged Cross on the organ for a Sunday night offertory. Sharon Panick, our organist at the time, made sure the settings were correct before I climbed up on the bench to begin. The organ sat behind a wooden divider, and mom said the only thing you could see was the big, pink bow in my hair as I played. Years later, Sharon also catered Dave’s and my wedding reception in Fellowship Hall. And the reason I played the organ is because CRBC’s first foreign missionaries, Dr. Bill and Leslie Williams, left their organ with my family when they moved to Nigeria. I am thankful for the way families in our church become intertwined throughout the generations.
I have had the privilege of calling Council Road Baptist Church my home for 35 years. Some of you have been here longer, while others are newer to our church. We all offer unique perspectives as we are involved in different areas and have different experiences. All that to say, I have a lot of memories and a grateful perspective as we begin celebrating our 60th anniversary!
I had learned how to walk again after childhood polio, but in 1993 my muscles began to weaken and one too many dangerous falls ended with a diagnosis of post polio syndrome, a second back surgery, and a Rx for an electric wheelchair. Wheelchairs, either manual or electric, don’t fit through bathroom doors in most homes, including mine. The doctors did their job again fixing my broken body, but now how would I fix the inaccessible bathroom issue in my house?
