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Wednesday, December 27, 2023



A very happy New Year to all of our readers! We appreciate your faithful readership throughout the year, and to those of you who follow us online, we appreciate your making the move with us to www.observations.online. Your support means more than you can know.


May you and yours be blessed in 2024 with God’s best. May He shower you and your family with love, happiness and prosperity. As we start this new year, let’s pray for our country, its leaders and our fellowmen. We need God’s wisdom, guidance and mercy more than ever.



My wife Laurie was asked to speak at the recent fall banquet of the Sabine Parish Chamber of Commerce. Her remarks were about different challenges local businesspeople have faced and how they overcame them. She invited a small slate of speakers to share, and asked me if I would be among them, including Many Mayor Robert Hable of Foy Motors and Polly Brandon of the Brandon Law Firm.


Awhile back, Laurie said she thought the remarks I shared that night would make a good column for Observations, and she asked me to put my thoughts on paper. I was happy to do so.


The business challenge I shared at the Sabine Chamber banquet follows:


It was Friday, June 16, 1978, and my family and I were on vacation in Tennessee. Hard to believe, but that was 45 years ago. We had spent the night in Cookeville, TN, and at the time I owned and operated The Sabine Index. It was my habit while on vacation to call the Index office every day and see how things were going.


I called in that Friday morning at about 9 a.m. The phone rang, but no one answered. I called in a few more times, but still no one answered. I was dismayed and a little disgusted to not raise anyone, thinking most of my employees must have taken a long weekend since I was out of town. Finally, after never speaking with anyone, I called the Many Police Dept. My plan was to ask someone from the station to go down to the Index office to ask an employee to call me back.


When I called, the person who answered the phone at the Police Station, asked, “You don’t know what happened, do you?” I responded, “No.” She said, “The Index was destroyed by fire last night.” I went silent. I just couldn’t believe it.


When I finally regained my composure, I told the family that we needed to head to Nashville, 80 miles away, so I could try to catch a flight home. They dropped me off at the airport, and I was lucky enough to soon catch a flight to New Orleans. On the flight back, I was surprised to find my seat mate was Mike Lambert, who used to live in Many.


Once in New Orleans, I caught another flight that took me to what was Ft. Polk at the time. I then asked some Index employees to pick me up for the trip home. Tears came to my eyes when I saw the burned remains of the Index building. Most everything was destroyed, and what wasn’t destroyed was terribly damaged.


I wondered what in the world we were going to do. We just couldn’t miss an issue of the Index. Lovan Thomas, who owned the Natchitoches Times and printed the Index at the time, was waiting for me in Many, along with my mentor Charles Cunningham.


Mr. Cunningham said he would help out in any way possible. Lovan said he did not have any extra equipment at the Times but thought Charles and Adaline Roemer at Scopena Plantation near Bossier City might. He said he would check. He did, they did, and Lovan got someone to go to Bossier and pick up the equipment and deliver it to Many.


At that time, the now-late Ernest Rodrigues ran a flower shop right next door to the Index. He came to me and said he had extra space in the back of his building, and he offered it for my use. I got hold of Ray Lovelady, who ran Ray’s Electrical, and he agreed to immediately start wiring Ernest’s place for the equipment we would be moving in there.


I worked all day that Saturday and Sunday doing the things that had to be done. On late Sunday afternoon, tired to the bone, I was at the end of my rope and decided to stop working and go to services at First Baptist Church in Many where I was a member.


Joe Wallace was song leader at First Baptist at the time. In his remarks that evening, he said, “When things get too difficult for you, just put it in God’s hands. He can handle it.” And that is exactly what I did that night.


Come Monday morning, all the Index staff showed up, and we were ready to roll. We never missed publishing a single edition, which was certainly a gift from God. During the next few weeks so many people came by and called to offer words of encouragement and to offer help.


God hears and answers prayers. That was my business challenge and that is my testimony.



OH, BOY!


One time several years ago we were visiting my oldest daughter, Angela, her husband Jim and their family in Tega Cay, SC. Angela and Jim are natives of Sabine.


Angela and Jim were having a little “discussion,” and their youngest son Austin, who was about 12 at the time, looked over at me with a face that showed obvious discomfort.


I took him aside later and told him when he faced situations where he didn’t know exactly what to say, to just say “Oh, boy.” I explained to him that the little phrase can mean anything you want it to mean. It can be used to express that something is really good, and it can be said when you feel something is bad. You can use it when you are surprised, pleased, excited, in admiration, and when you are frustrated. I told him the expression can also be used when you are dismayed or annoyed.


And I explained that it has different meanings depending on a person’s tone of voice and how it’s pronounced. Said quickly and with a high pitch means something good has happened. Pronounced more slowly with a mid-to-lower voice means something unpleasant is coming. And saying the phrase slowly and very drawn out shows disgust and sarcasm.


Austin caught on quickly. Not long after, he, his parents, my wife, Laurie, and I were walking along together on the streets of New York City and there was a bit of disagreement about which way to turn next. Austin looked over at me very confidently and said with a strong voice, “Oh, boy, Pa!” His inflection captured what we were all feeling, and we all had a good laugh.


To this day he still uses the expression “Oh, boy” for many different reasons. Every time I hear him say it, it makes me smile.



Another good expression that we use down here in the South is “Bless Your Heart.” Like “Oh, boy,” it has multiple meanings and can be used to express genuine sympathy, or at other times, can be used negatively as an insult. The meanings range from true sincerity, by people who wish to be nice, to exasperation. Its intent is imparted through context and tone.


I am reminded of a similar phrase incident one time when Laurie and I were at a funeral and talking to Marthaville native Naomi Birdwell Fudge. My nephew, Richard Jennings, walked up to visit with us. He had just been promoted to Lieutenant with the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Department, and I was proud of him and told Naomi about it. She looked at Richard and said, “Well, whoop-tee-do and lah-tee-dah.” I never knew exactly what she meant by that but took it on faith it was another one of those phrases that has multiple uses and can be said and taken however you wish.



One of the controversies of 2023 in the world of protestant Christianity was the split that happened within the United Methodist Church (UMC). 


Many churches chose to break from the UMC after a decision made in 2019 by the National UMC to allow church congregations to leave by the end of 2023 “for reasons of conscience regarding a change in the requirements and provisions of the Book of Discipline related to the practice of homosexuality or the ordination or marriage of self-avowed practicing homosexuals.”


Some members who have chosen to disaffiliate say that practicing gays who serve as ministers and the conducting of same-sex marriages in the church is like “tearing two pages out of the Bible,” meaning it goes against Biblical teachings. Others say that progressives in the church have stopped following traditional Methodist teachings.


The UMC Book of Discipline currently states, “Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual union shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches.”


Church law presently forbids the marriage or ordination of “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals.” Lots of conservatives have chosen to leave amid a growing defiance of those bans in many UMC churches and conferences.


With the departures, progressives are expected to propose changing church law at the next General Conference in 2024 to allow for same-sex marriages and the ordination of LGBTQ people.


According to one report, more than 6,225 churches in America have left the United Methodists over theology and church policy since 2019. This represents about 20% of the Church’s congregations. According to the United Methodist News Service, the figure includes more than 4,172 in 2023 alone. Once the second-largest Protestant denomination in America, churches must receive approval from the UMC Conference in order to disaffiliate. Another report says 7,286 congregations have received approval to disaffiliate since 2019.


The departures began in 2019 when the church created a four-year window of opportunity for U.S. congregations to depart over LGBTQ-related issues.


The First United Methodist Church of Many voted back in April 2023 not to disaffiliate. Several conservative members of the church stopped attending and supporting the church financially when this happened. Among area UMC congregations which chose to disaffiliate are Zwolle, Pleasant Hill and Beulah.


According to the 2023 Louisiana Conference of the UMC, more than 90 churches have been lost to disaffiliation since 2022, and money from those churches represents 40% of Conference apportionment revenue. The churches that chose to disaffiliate had to pay the UMC Conference almost $3.4 million to exit the Conference.


The Rev. Bo Horne, former pastor of FUMC in Many, recently shared a letter on social media written by a retired UMC minister friend, Larry Stafford, in the Louisiana Conference. Horne noted that other retired ministers and he, too, had received a letter from Bishop Delores Williamston concerning their future status.


Rev. Stafford shared that the two-page letter stated, “Retired clergy persons who worship regularly, unite with, and/or serve in a disaffiliated church are NO LONGER IN GOOD STANDING with the UMC nor in covenantal relationship with their fellow UMC clergy.”


The pastor said he served the UMC for over 54 years and had been faithful. He is a former pastor of the First Methodist Church in Monroe, which choose to disaffiliate. He stated, “I had no part in that decision and would have remained in this congregation no matter the outcome of the vote. Now the Bishop and Conference leadership is telling me that I can no longer remain a UM pastor and attend First Methodist Monroe. If I am to be a UM Pastor, I can no longer participate in the weddings of my grandchildren, baptize any future great grandchildren, or conduct funerals for any family members if they are done in a disaffiliated church. On the other hand, if I leave the UMC, I will not be allowed to participate in any services being held in UM churches. How shameful!”


He continues, “This mandate also carries other punitive actions. If I am removed from Conference membership, I will no longer receive a supplemental health benefit from the Annual Conference amounting to about $3,500 in 2024.” He said while it would not be detrimental to him, he was concerned about how it would cause significant hardship for pastors who have faithfully served in many of the small churches. “I grieve for my brothers and sisters who have been put in this position,” he stated.


The retired pastor concluded, “I have to make my decision by Dec. 31 if I wish to continue as a UM pastor. I think you already know what that decision will be!”


In a related matter, the Rev. Franklin Graham, son of the late, legendary man of God Billy Graham and founder of Samaritan’s Purse, said it has also been a sad day for the Church of England. He stated, “Any decision that goes against the Word of God is wrong - even if it’s called a trial. The Church of England decided to go forward with trial blessing services for same-sex couples. They said they aren’t officially changing their doctrine - yet - but ‘blessing’ and celebrating something that goes against what the Bible teaches is a sin. And sin has consequences. God defined marriage as between a man and a woman. I applaud those who have taken a stand against this change.”


The Rev. Graham said he appreciated those who have taken a stand against this change “...to adhere to biblical teachings on sexual conduct.” He concluded, “They described the decision as offensive to God and a distortion of His message. We need to pray for the Church around the world to return to the firm foundation of God’s Word.”


(Thanks to Pete Abington for providing information for the article above.)



With regards to the recent United Methodist Church voting across the U.S. to disaffiliate from the UMC or remain affiliated, interested persons may wish to visit https://www.umcjustice.org/., which shares the UMC’s official stance on several social issues and solicits action from church members. Until the matter came to a head over the last 18 months and my wife and I began our own research, we had no idea of the church’s strong political leanings and efforts on certain issues.


Their social justice positions range from support of comprehensive family planning services, (e.g., abortion), not only in cases of emergency or trauma, but if a pregnancy may impact a woman’s educational or economic progress, to some real head-scratchers, such as “As Christians, we believe in a God who rejected the Cross...”


We believe there are numerous, good, Bible-believing Christians in United Methodist churches across the nation who have no clue about some of the viewpoints the political action arm of the UMC works hard to promote.


To see all the UMC social justice information, click on the site menu and select “What We Care About.” From there, sections and subsections cover everything. For the full context of the two examples shared here, visit the “Reproductive Health” and “Death Penalty” sections of the site.


(Thanks to my wife Laurie for the website information above.)



PICTURE FROM THE PAST


The First Methodist Church [of Many] Sunday School Class, date unknown, on the porch of the Dr. J. M. Middleton House, which still stands today at the corner of Main and Smith Streets in Many. The man shown standing by and resting his hand on the handrail is identified as E. C. Dillon, and the lady seated on the lower step is Elizabeth Dillon Peterson.


This image is one of a few dozen canvases on display inside Community Bank of Louisiana at 540 San Antonio Ave. in Many. The collection at the bank includes historic images of old structures, community organizations and events of years past across Sabine Parish. A printed guide is available at the bank which shares information about each image.


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