The Little Free Pantry

November 11, 2019

Today we placed the Little Free Pantry at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Winchester, KY. It is a way for people who need just a bit of food to have access to it. I am really honored and grateful for this project. The congregation has been really supportive of the effort and I can't wait to see what blessings may result.

Of course it's possible it will be vandalized.

Of course it's possible someone will abuse it, clean it out and take everything.

It's worth the risk.

Thanks to Meredith Peck Guy for the idea. Cecil Walson for building it. (I helped a little.) Mason Guy for financing it and helping get it installed. Lee Kidd for helping get it installed. Kelly Johns for the graphics work she does so well. The youth and children of the church for filling it up for the first time.

May the Little Free Pantry be a blessing.

The Week of the Ministry, 2019

October 17, 2019

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) annually celebrates this week as the Week of the Ministry. I am so grateful to the people who have given their lives to professional ministry; whose lives have intersected with mine in some way and left a lasting impression on me. Among them, I am the least of these, but I am deeply grateful for their example, their mentoring, and their friendship.

At First Christian Church in Tulsa I benefited greatly from Dr. Eugene Brice, Dr. Roy L. Griggs, the Rev. Kim Clements Hames, the Rev. Richard Ziglar, and the Rev. Michael Passmore. Their work at First Christian Church was a model to churches around the country. And it heartened me and gave me solid footing when all the world around me was sinking away. I owe them my very life.

During my time at Southwestern College I came under the influence of two outstanding United Methodist pastors: the Rev. Dr Cecil Findley who was my Professor of Religion, and Dr. George Gardner who was pastor of First United Methodist Church in Winfield, KS. They both introduced me to a strain of progressive thought and practice that has stood the test of time.

At Brite Divinity School I was privileges to study with Dr. William Baird, the Rev. Cy Rowell, Dr. James O. Duke, Dr. William Countryman, Dr. Newell Williams, and Dr. Jack Suggs (the Dean!). Wow, when I look back on those days they were a time of dynamic learning. So very grateful for Brite Divinity School and its ministry. I also had the pleasure of serving alongside yet another United Methodist pastor, Dr. Kent Marrs at St. Stephen UMC in Arlington. He and that church taught me a lot.

Since being in Kentucky I have to give thanks for so many that the list that follows is in no way exhaustive. Dr. Olivia Bryan Updegrove, Rev. Larry Metzger, the Rev. Rick Rintamaa, Dr. Terry Ewing, Rev. Greg Alexander, Rev. Linda Jones, Rev. Michael Davison, Rev. Dr. Lisa Wilson Davison, Dr. Paul Jones, Rev. Dave Carr, Rev. Mickey Anders, Rev. Jim McLean, Rev. Shannon Cook, Rev. Rob Shrader, Rev. David Blondell, Rev. Kory Wilcoxson, Rev.David Emery, Rev. Michael with whom I share the love of the Mustang, Rev. Chana Tetzlaff, and Rev. Rachele Royale Holmes.

Thank you to each and every one of you for all you for the church. Your dedication and faithfulness are noteworthy. May the peace of Christ be with you.

Peace and Love,
Jerry

Mom, Post 1

February 15, 2019

Mom left this earth about 9:00am central time on January 31, 2019.

Mom entered this life on May 23, 1937. She joined her father, Guy Otis Dallas, her mother, Maxine Grimes Dallas, and her older brother, Guy Dallas Jr. She was born in Helena, AR. A couple years later her baby brother, Barclay Davidson Dallas was born.

The family moved to Tulsa about the time Mom started first grade. They moved onto Resevior Hill in Tulsa. It is a neighborhood of mid-sized brick homes, parks and winding streets high above downtown Tulsa just a bit to the northeast. Granddaddy Dallas worked for the Corps of Engineers. It wasn’t long before they moved to Brookside in Tulsa. All three kids graduated from Tulsa Central High School. Uncle Guy attended the University of Tulsa. Mom started at Oklahoma A&M, now Oklahoma State University, and finished one year.

Mom and Dad met at a roller skating rink in Tulsa. They were married on June 20, 1958. Magic happened on the honeymoon and I joined the family in February, 1959. Mom and Dad didn’t have much time for life before I came along. Mom and Dad were both 21 years old when I was born. So, we grew up together. First, living with Mom’s parents, then renting a horrid green shack on the bank of Joe Creek, which was prone to flooding. Then, to a duplex near Riverside Drive where my sister Melanie and not too long after, my brother Richard joined us.We moved to Horseshoe Hill in the summer of 1964 and Melissa joined the family. And the family was complete.

In those early days Dad worked at steel companies, then sheet metal companies. It was a near always broke experience. I used to tell people we were poor, but when we moved to Latimer Pl we had a mortgage. Lots of times an unpaid mortgage but our name was on a deed. If you own property you may be broke but it isn’t;t the same as being poor.Mom stayed at home and took care of the four of us. We were good kids but four kids in five and a half years is a handful. She had to take us everywhere she went. Grocery. Shopping. Laundromat — and that is a whole blog post in itself. Doctor. We always had four kids and a mom in the car. Her ability to handle us amazes me still.

She made cheerleading costumes for the girls. She cooked. She sewed. She did a tiny bit of housework. She watched soap operas. She took us to every practice, every game. She attended games, concerts, everything., And she loved us more than we could comprehend.

If she complained about anything I never heard it.

Dinners were on the cheap. We ate a lot of tunaroni. Peas. Mashed potatoes. We drank hot tea like the
British every morning.

When I graduated from high school and went on to college she sent me letters. She sent me care packages. She decided to be an LPN. She went back to school for a year and graduated with her Licensed Practical Nurse. Her kids were so proud of her. And it changed her fortunes, and Dad’s too. For the first time there was a bit of financial breathing room.

They loved to travel to see their kids, and so they did. They often came to Kentucky to see me or to North Carolina to visit Mel and Dave. They traveled to cemeteries in search of dead relatives. They went to see people. In the last thirty years of Mom’s life she and Dad fell in love all over again, and it showed.