Published: March 12, 2008 07:34 pm            

Pastor’s commitment sees church through 50 years

JOPLIN, Mo. — I like my job. I really do.

But I’m not sure I would like doing it for 50 years, and I’m pretty sure folks wouldn’t like me doing my job for 50 years.

Call it a hunch.

That’s one of the things I find amazing about the Rev. Freddie Wright. Not only has Freddie been the pastor at Southside Baptist Church in Joplin for 50 years, the folks in his church wouldn’t have it any other way. If you can hang around for 50 years and still have folks asking for more, you’ve done something special.

“We’ve been very blessed,” Freddie told me in a pretty typical case of modesty.

Freddie said he has been fortunate to work at the same church his entire career. Of course, I’m thinking that the folks who attend Southside Baptist are the ones who have been blessed, but I’m also thinking Freddie wouldn’t let me say something like that. So I won’t.

The thing is, Freddie never gave much thought to being a preacher until he was in his late 20s. Freddie graduated from Marionville High School in 1946. He married Oletta Black in 1948 and went to work with the National Guard in Springfield.

In 1953, he took a job with Gas Service Co., first in Aurora and then in Monett. By the mid-1950s, Freddie was the division chief clerk for the gas company. Life was good. He and Oletta were raising a family, and Freddie had a successful business career.

Then in 1958, Freddie’s life — and his family’s — took a turn.

“I heard through my church (in Monett) that there was a church in Joplin that needed a pastor,” Freddie said. “I had never pastored before, but I wrote them a letter and they told me to come on over.”

Evidently, folks at the small church in Joplin liked what they heard from Freddie, and before he knew it, he was making the commute from Monett to Joplin. Because the church at the time was small — six members — Freddie kept his full-time job with the gas company.

So there he was, a 30-year-old full-time utility executive, pastor and parent. It was, Freddie recalled, a heady and hectic time, and it also was the most exciting time of his young life. Freddie loved being a pastor. He loved helping people. He loved being there for them when they needed him. He loved seeing the numbers in the congregation increase. He loved seeing the three-room church grow and expand. Not once during that time does Freddie recall ever doubting his career path.

“Really, I’m not sure that ever ran through my mind,” he said. “I was very excited and pleased with what I was doing.”

After nine years of commuting, the demands on Freddie’s time became too great. His church was growing, and it was increasingly difficult to lead it on a part-time basis. So Freddie did the only thing he could: He quit his job, moved his family to Joplin and became the full-time pastor of Southside Baptist. Doing so meant a substantial pay cut.

“Oh, it was a big pay loss,” Freddie said with a laugh. “We had four children then. When I was the part-time pastor, I was making $30 a week. When I went full time, I made $100. But we got along. The Lord blessed us, and we were able to tithe and give offerings to the church.”

Freddie said his has been a good life, a life spent doing what he thinks he was meant to do: helping people.

A lot has changed, of course, but despite changing times and attitudes, some things remain the same.

“I think that deep down, we still all want the same things,” he said. “We crave peace and hope. I think that is still the same as it was, and I tried to keep the same basic message of peace and hope.”

This Saturday, from noon until 4 p.m., Southside Baptist Church, 2302 S. Grand Ave., will hold an open house to honor Freddie and Oletta. And then on Sunday, Freddie will be right back at the church doing what he loves.

“I don’t want to be a hindrance or stay too long,” he said. “But as long as they want me around, and as long as I can do the job and the Lord keeps blessing me, I don’t see why I can’t go on helping people.”

I don’t either, Freddie.



Mike Pound writes for The Joplin (Mo.) Globe.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.