An Anchor For My Soul

In Mississippi, cotton was still king. Even in the red clay hills of the state's north central region almost all cultivated land grew cotton. One such field laid halfway between Oxford and Water Valley on Mississippi Highway 7. It grew behind and along side a small white frame building known as the Anchor Baptist Church.* At the rear of the church was a nursery for infants and toddlers with a screen door that led out back to the foot of that cotton field. My earliest memory of being at church is one where I am looking out a screen door at fluffy white bolls of cotton.

Anchor Church was a typical rural Southern Baptist church at the time. The membership was comprised primarily of farmers, carpenters, and assorted other blue collar workers. Most of the members had only high school educations, the exception being a handful of school teachers.

Many descent people attended Anchor, but there were a few that stood out in my mind as pillars – Mr. Jack Williams (who often wore overalls to services), Mr. Elvin Hensley, Miss Lillie Pearl Williams (Jack's sister), Mr. Winfred Cook, Sr., Mr. Robert Linder McCain, Mrs. Maudeen McCain, and Mr. Johnny Brown, Jr.  I can't speak for anyone but myself, but the Lord even now blesses the memory of them to me. Not that their lives preached the gospel because the gospel is not how we live. As Martin Luther believed, the gospel is extra nos – something outside of us. It is a message proclaimed about what Christ alone has accomplished for poor sinners. But that being said, their lives certainly did not hinder the gospel, at least not with me.

It has been over twenty-five years since I was a member of that church, but I am still thankful for it. Many doctrines were discussed and bandied about there, but three things were insisted upon – the Bible is true, Hell is real, and Jesus alone saves sinners. And those three things have been pivotal in my spiritual pilgrimage. They have been, so to speak, an anchor for my soul.

*Anchor Baptist Church still exists, but the white frame building was replaced circa 1970.