When I came on the scene as a very young and inexperienced preacher in 1940-41, the picture, as I look back now, was pretty bleak.  I had a burning desire, however, to preach what little I knew and all I saw was a golden opportunity.  I had grown up in a southeast Nacogdoches county community called Attoyac by the government but known as Blackjack by most people. The church was inactive, it had fallen away.  My Grandfather Roy was a devoted Christian, but upon his passing, in the absence of leadership, the group just fell apart.  Occasionally, a preacher would visit us and some of the men would fix up an arbor and they would have a few nights of preaching.  This was typical of many places where the church once met.  I was quite young, but I can remember these occasions.

            The Christians of that time were still trying to recover from the great division over instrumental music and the Missionary Society which had given rise to what we know as the Christian church.  Of course, sound brethren were in the minority, lost their buildings and had to meet wherever they could find a place.  My mother told me about the service when the organ was moved in and used in worship.  She was about fifteen at the time.  Grandfather had taken a wagon load to Chireno, about five miles away, to attend a gospel meeting.  When they arrived the visiting preacher had moved the organ in to be used in the service.  Strong objections were offered by him and several other men, but to no avail.  He gathered up his tribe and returned home.  Starting over is never easy but to faithful Christians it is not the end.  God will help His devoted people rebuild.  He always has and He always will.

            While Christians were still struggling to spread the gospel and rebuild, here comes the depression.  Not a little recession, but a major depression.  This did not, however, keep the gospel from spreading, but it did hinder in the sense that people were so poor that the churches had few resources with which to work. As a young preacher there were many times I kept preaching appointments and received nothing more than the few coins that were collected in the basket.  In most places this did not improve until World War II came along.  I considered myself most fortunate because I was getting to do what I considered to be, and still do, the most important work on the face of this earth.  You might think the war would have stymied the spread of the gospel, but it did not.  Soldiers and defense workers, who were Christians were scattered abroad and many of them took the message with them.  Most everyone suffered during the war, and their hearts were humbled.  The result was more conversions and more congregations.  Many years later we had to suffer another great division because of “liberal thinking.”  The Lord has helped us and we have made another come-back.

            The question I have been asked is; “how did this vast East Texas area get evangelized in those early times.”  First of all, things were different.  T.V. had not polluted the minds of people and air conditioning had not enslaved everyone to their houses.  Preachers could usually get an audience.  I am sorry for some of the young preachers today who have the same burning desire to spread the Word, but they do not have the opportunity I had.  During those days there were many little communities where the church could not afford a local preacher and they were anxious to have the “likes of me” to come and preach.  We not only got to spread the message of Truth, but we got to exercise ourselves and grow as preachers.

Preachers were anxious to preach the Word anywhere.  Brush arbors, vacant school buildings, front yards or run down buildings, it mattered not.  Many of us preached in our regular places on Sunday morning and drove that afternoon to preach for some small group or to establish a new congregation.  I know there are still preachers like that, but some have been spoiled with, comfort, finances and the attitude of “what can you do for me.”

            Preachers and brethren were constantly challenging the strongholds of religious error.  Of course, a few were obnoxious in their manner, but most were not.  Debates were common and many people saw the difference between Truth and error.  By all means, error among brethren must be exposed, but sometimes it seems to me that we are so busy dissecting one another that the bastions of denominationalism go untouched and unexposed most of the time.

            Preachers, for the most part, didn’t have much to gain by preaching the gospel.  They were inclined to preach it because they had a burning desire to do so and because they loved the Truth.  I am glad that churches support their preachers much better today than they did in the past.  Sometimes, back then, they didn’t have much to support with and sometimes it was ignorance of their responsibility toward those who have a right to live by the gospel.  I know I am treading on dangerous ground when I say this, but some preachers today have become about as “price conscious” as ball players.  The problem with this is they become “materialistic” and “spoiled” and are inclined to preach what “feathers their nest.” 

            Intellectual preachers and common preachers.  They both contributed to the spread of the gospel.  Some brethren had the ability to write and produce literature which was very helpful.  As I see it, most of the “foot work” of spreading the message from hamlet to hamlet and sawmill town to sawmill town and rural communities was pretty much done by the common preachers.  Their knowledge may have been somewhat limited, but they had the zeal.

            Preachers need to have that burning desire.  When John the came out of the wilderness he came with a burning desire to bring the people to repentance. Now, listen to Jeremiah; "Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay." (Jeremiah 20:9)  Jeremiah was warning Pashur, chief of the Temple police, of impending captivity and he didn’t want to hear it.  He smote the prophet and put him in stocks for a while, but it didn’t stop Jeremiah because he had a “burning fire.”

            You can have all kinds of excellent scriptural programs for evangelism, but nothing can take the place of what we read in Acts eight. "Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word." (Acts 8:4)   In a far more zealous time of the past, that is how this great East Texas area was evangelized.