Eugene Roberts, New Zion Pastor, St. Helena Parish, La. File submitted by Bonnie Bridges McMillan ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Many thanks goes to Bonnie Bridges McMillan, author of "New Zion Baptist Church, 1869-1994" from which this file was taken. EUGENE ROBERTS 1944 - 1947 MINISTRY OF EUGENE L. ROBERTS AT NEW ZION BAPTIST CHURCH KENTWOOD, LA. I came to New Zion in the fall of 1944. Mr. & Mrs. Benton Frazier met me at the train in Kentwood. I was newly enrolled at New Orleans Baptist Seminary. The seminary office sent me out in answer to a request from the church for a pastor. The church extended me a call and I began serving as a half- time pastor, that is, two Sundays a month. As I recall the church paid me $50.00 per Sunday. I did not own an automobile. That was during World War II and automobiles were not available. I rode to Kentwood on the Greyhound bus or the train; sometimes a fellow student driving to his church field would give me a ride. Someone would meet me in Kentwood and take me to their home for the weekend. Then either on Sunday night or Monday morning someone would take me to Kent- wood and I would catch my ride back to New Orleans. When I came on the weekend I would walk from the home where I was staying to other nearby homes. And in the course of time I visited every home in the community. After my first year there the church went full-time. Instead of preaching twice a month, preaching was every Sunday. I also taught a Men's Sunday School class. At the end of my second year there I married and brought my wife with me each weekend. Our first night on the church field as bride and groom was spent with James and Thelma Frazier. Some times we were guests in the home of Mr. & Mrs. Bridges, H.N. & Margie's parents. The first night we were there in their home someone short-sheeted our bed . . . An older son lived down the road and sometimes he would slip up there in the night and make all sorts of noises trying to scare the new bride and groom. They delighted in playing pranks on us. One special memory is that of Vacation Bible School. Mr. Walter Easley ran his school bus and we really had the children for Vacation Bible School. One year I invited Rev. & Mrs. Ted Clark of the seminary to help with Vacation Bible School and con- duct a singing school. That was a good experience. In the fall of 1947 I received a call from a church in Ala- bama and that ended my service with New Zion. I came back a year or so later to lead the singing for a revival there. Some memories: - Sitting on the front porches or in the kitchens drinking coffee and enjoying friendly conversation. - Church socials. . . - Playing catch with some of the boys. -Going possum hunting with Eual Gene Frazier and some of the other boys . . . (I really think the dogs found a skunk that night.) - Going rabbit hunting with a group down near the creek. - Blackberry picking . . . - Hamburger steak at Mrs. Grice's cafe in Kentwood on Saturday night - listening to Ernest Tubb singing "Walking the Floor Over You." - My wife going down on the creek one night with Vera Schwartz, Wilbur Schwartz, and Mildred Watson . . . They went to run some fishing lines but somehow missed their path. Mr. Watson and I went down in the pasture after them about midnight. - A social on the creek - there were some no-shows - so those of us who did show up had a quart of ice cream a piece. - The revival when we had the Indian preacher, Bro. John Galey. One night he asked the children if they had calves or pets to be named. At their request he gave each animal an Indian name. - One weekend we were guests of Mr. & Mrs. Willie Newman. While we were waiting for them to finish in the barn, we de- cided to walk up the road to pay a visit to Willie's brother and his wife . . .When we returned to Willie's house his bull would not allow us to get in the yard, much less the house . . .One of the hired hands came and chased the bull back allowing us to get back in the house. Special Memory: The first person I baptized - Kenneth Travis The first funeral I conducted - Mrs. Easley, mother of Eliza Allen The first wedding ceremony I performed - Leonard Newman and Henri Faye Goynes in the home of Euell Frazier. A church wedding - Dolly Frazier and Charles Bendily, I sang a solo and performed the wedding ceremony. PLAYING SANTA CLAUS One Christmas we decided to have a Christmas celebration at the church on Sunday night . . . The plan was to have Santa Claus come and pass out favors to the children . . .Guess who was to play Santa Claus. Somebody found a Santa Claus suit and with ap- propriate stuffing dressed the pastor (me) to play Santa Claus. The children were not fooled . . .As I was passing out the gifts, one of the children cried out, "I know who that is. That's Bro. Roberts. I can tell because that's the way he shines his shoes." A FUNNY STORY - A MEMORY One weekend I was the guest of Mr. & Mrs. Johnny Alford. This particular Saturday afternoon was cold and wet. Mr. & Mrs. Alford went to their after-milking chores at the barn and left me with the two children, Johnny Hyde and Esther Mae. At that time Johnny Hyde was about 4 years of age and Esther Mae was about 6 years of age. We were sitting in front of a log fire and I mostly listened while the children carried on their conversation. During the course of the conversation Johnny Hyde said, "Esther Mae, do you know what I'm going to be when I grow up?" Esther Mae replied, "No, I don't. What are you going to be?" His reply was, "I'm gonig to be a preacher; and I'm going to comb my hair just like Bro. Roberts." (Bro. Roberts is bald and was bald then, though at a young age.) FRONT PORCH REVIVAL SERVICES One summer we scheduled front porch revival services the week preceding the regular summer revival. We scheduled services for four different front porches in four different areas of the com- munity. The purpose of the front porch services was to pray for and prepare for the regular services. People sat on the fron porches and steps; we sang some songs; the pastor stood out in the yard and brought a brief message. I do not remember all the homes where we had the front porch services. I do remember holding services at the home of Mr. & Mrs. George Easley. ANOTHER INCIDENT ABOUT BAPTISM On one occasion the church had some candidates for baptism. Recent rains had caused Tickfaw River to rise and become muddy. (We usually baptized in Tickfaw River a few miles west of the church on the Greensburg highway.) Because of the muddy condi- tions I had arranged with Bro. Dearman of First Baptist in Kent- wood to baptize our candidates there. When I made known these plans the people objected to it. One man said, "I was baptized in Tickfaw, all my family was baptized in Tickfaw, and all my chaps are going to be baptized in Tickfaw." My reply was, "Yes Sir. We are going to have the baptism in Tickfaw." And that we did. I asked a deacon to go in the river with me. We felt around while we found an appropriate place for baptizing and the baptismal service proceeded.