IN PRAISE OF A CHURCH AND ITS MEMBERS

(Fairfield Ave. Baptist Church, Chicago)

I recently received a letter from a woman who had attended a small church over 60 years ago, and she told of how her life was changed by the influence of one of the women of the church, who was also her school teacher. This letter came on Sunday and before I could share the letter with the lady in the nursing home, she died. The letter brought back a wealth of memories of people in a church in Chicago and I would like to address this to the memory of some now gone to be with the Lord and others who may yet be around.

My family was driven by the depression in the 30's from a farm in Tennessee, and like so many we came to Chicago. My sister found a church about 5 blocks from our apartment. It was Fairfield Ave. Baptist Church, pastored at the time by a man named Swanson. At first I did not go, but she encouraged me, and I began attending Sunday School.

About the first time I was there, a kind man by the name of Hendrikson was teaching the class. He asked the boys if they were Christians and I raised my hand to indicate that I was not. He then asked if I wanted to receive Christ as my Savior, and I told him, "No." I was probably embarrassed, but his question triggered the matter in my mind and it was a question that I had to deal with. Not too long after that I was walking on North Ave in the evening and I prayed that God would forgive me and save me for Jesus' sake. Almost at once there was joy in my heart and a whole new life began. I never told Mr. Hendrickson about that, and I think that he is no longer living. I did have a chance to tell one of his daughters many years later, but I have since lost contact with her.

Fairfield provided a number of programs. There was a youth program and a Boy Scout Troop. By this time we had moved to Bingham street and about two doors down was the leader of the troop, I believe, Curtiss  Peterson was his name. He was in school at Northern seminary, and later became a pastor. He encouraged me in the Boy Scouts, even loaned me his bicycle on occasion.

There were several pastors who influenced me in different ways. Swanson left and was succeeded by Milo Nixon, and I think, Don Forbes. Forbes was another person who never really knew what he did for me. I had graduated from high school and only joked about going to college somewhere. If Pastor Forbes had not come along and taken me by the hand and enrolled me in Northern College, I probably would have gone to Wright Junior College and who knows where. I had no money to go away to college, but going to Northern, I was able to live at home, work part-time and get a degree. His influence in getting me into school put me on the road to education and opened up vast worlds I had never even dreamed about. Again, I think he is no longer living and he never knew what good he had done in my life.

From this experience at Northern I moved to Iowa, pastored a couple of years, and returned to school at the University of Iowa, received an M.A. and Ph.D. Following that I taught at Wayland Baptist College in Plainview, TX., and then came to Emporia  State University College in Kansas  where I taught for 30 years.

Because of his work in getting me into college I went to graduate school later and the Lord has blessed in allowing me to do things I never thought or dreamed about. During this time Broadman Press (later Baker) published my book, The Christian Faith, an introduction to theology, Word published Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Introduction to Philosophy was published by Dal-Mor Publishing and was used in a number of colleges and Bible schools.

Because of Don Forbes taking me to Northern and the resulting experience, I have had wide experience in interim pastoring as well as some wonderful experiences in Japan and Taiwan. This includes substituting for a missionary pastor of the Tokyo International Baptist Church and the Calvary Baptist Church in Taipei.

Fairfield also had another person who had an important influence on me. He was a soft spoken fellow who served the Baptist General Conference as editor of youth and other papers. David Olson was a member at Fairfield when I first met him, and after taking a course in religious journalism at Northern, I wrote an article about a high school experience at Round Lake where I was a counselor. This article, "Life with Sixteen Boys" was published and of course it needed a little editing here and there, but it was my first publication and it was thrilling. It encouraged me to do more writing and over the next 36 years there have been a large number of articles published in a variety of religious publications.

Probably one of the earlier influential persons at Fairfield was Mel Fisk. Mel was a musician and played the piano at times. Mel organized a small band. I think he played the mandolin, Jerry Dawson played the clarinet, and I don't remember who else we had from time to time, but I played the guitar. I had an amplifier and a new Gretsch guitar and I thought of becoming a musician. Mel rehearsed with us and we played occasionally in church. This was important during this time of my life for it gave me some sense of recognition and confidence during those adolescent years when youth feel self-conscious and socially insecure. Later, two other Christian friends organized a trio and as the DonDaLane Trio we played in a number of churches, youth groups, and missions. Mel was the original inspiration for this. Bless his memory.

Fairfield was the center of my life growing up. The youth group provided fun times and we went places and did things. We went to the Cook County Hospital for witnessing and passing out tracts. Mrs. Ernest was a faithful encourager in this endeavor. Fairfield was located close to Salem Free Church, and it was from Salem that God gave me a lovely wife but there was a Fairfield connection. I was introduced to her by a Fairfield boy, Jerry Dawson, and encouraged to take her to a banquet by a Fairfield girl, Lola Dawson. She was a channel of blessing and I am so grateful both to God and to her for this dear treasure of life together.

I learned to tithe at Fairfield. This was a message  from the pulpit. I learned to witness at Fairfield, and I am grateful for the inspiration of pastor and people for what they taught me about my responsibilities as a witness.

Fairfield is gone as I knew it. Moreover, it is gone as a building.  A few years back we traveled to Chicago to see the old neighborhood and  was surprised to see that the building is gone and projected high rise apartment building  was in the works. 

I am sure that the people of Fairfield have blessed the lives of scores of people through the years.  While its people have scattered I am sure that people in various places have been blessed by  the influence of Fairfield.