Yes my past actually existed

Ever wonder what it would be like if you were a PB that didn't have any other young people in the church, and had to go to Memphis City public schools to fulfill your educational needs? Now I'm not saying that it makes for a legitmate accomplishment or anything, but it does test one's faith to an extensive margin.

Anyway, I decided to post a few pictures from back in the Whitehaven days of my church. Back in Nov. of 2002 we (Whitehaven) decided to pack our bags and move, due to the declining ethnic environment around our church. After numerous break-ins, behind-the-church dumpings, thefts, vandalism, broken windows, etc... we decided to sell our precious 26-pew, greatly over-sized Whitehaven church building, and attempt to find land further south, below the Mississippi-Tennessee state border, in what we hope to be a safer community to locate our 15-20 member congregation. Often I think and imagine of the day when we will have a home of our own to worship and serve God in. What will it be like? Well, its been so long since we actually had a church building, I almost forgot what it was like. Here's a little reminder of some of those joyful memories I was blessed to experience at Whitehaven:

Here is our former Whitehaven church. A nice little isolated place in Southwest Memphis.

April 18, 1999: My Dad was ordained on this day as a deacon for Whitehaven. The following is a picture of the brothers that were present at my Dad's ordination service. There are five ordained preachers in this picture. I am positively sure that many of yall can name at least two of them, as those two are relatively well-known among the PBs. I would say about 60% of yall could get three of them, 20% could get four, and roughly 5-10% of my loyal blog readers I would estimate, could name all five ordained preachers that are in this picture. I will list the names of the men below, and challenge anyone who is willing, to try to name the preachers among them.

In this picture (from left-to-right): Brother Kevin Poe, Brother Joey -----, Brother Howard Case, Brother Danny Hardwick, Brother Myron Wilkenson, Brother Edwin Carter, Brother Calvin Warren, Brother Zack Guess, my Dad (Brother Dwayne Thompson), Brother Bobby Poe, Brother Howard Berry, Brother Mike Thompson, Brother Grady Camp, and Brother Jim -----.

Back when I was a wee lil' feller. As I told yall, I had no other wee lil' fellers in the church to socialize with.

O yea those Easter-egg hunts that Brother Warren always loved to have for us on Easter Sunday, its a shame we havent been able to have those since our days at Whitehaven, but they sure were fun. All the older members of our church would always bring their grandkids to church that day (the one or two times each year I had other wee lil' fellers to socialize with).

I would estimate the date of this picture to be Easter, around the year of 1992 or 1993. As yall can see I would dominate those Easter egg hunts. I tried to show Brother Warren that he raised a strong prospect for those Easter Sundays. However, soon afterwards I unfortunantely lost my touch, and was demoted to Triple-A Easter egg hunting.

Some sister's from those good ole days. I'm not sure of the date of this picture either, but it was on the same day as the previous two. The lady on the far left, Sis. Christine, was my grandmother (she was Sis. Mary's younger sister). She passed away (God rest her soul) in Feb. 2002, 3 months before I graduated HS, and 10 months before we sold our building at Whitehaven. Brother Warren and Brother Isaac Guess preached her funeral.

In this picture (from left-to-right): Sister Christine Thompson, Sister Beth Warren, Sister Mary Thompson, Sister Nina Thompson, Sister Sandra Wilkenson, and (not sure of the name or identity of the last sister).

So many people, so many faces that I haven't seen in ages, this brings back lots of good memories.

Perhaps many of yall who are unfamiliar with my church do not know about any of this and are probably bored by this post, but these pictures bring back an important, and memorable, part of my childhood. Growing up in public school, the main part of my life that built up such a strong Biblical background was the Whitehaven church. Brother Warren, who has been my pastor my entire life, has been a real blessing to helping develop me spiritually throughout these years, and its touching to look back at those pictures, and just remember the days of Whitehaven.

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