Let me tell you about the “High Point” in my life. It was not a defining moment in time. Neither was it a determining event. It was – and is – a church, High Point Church in Moriah Association.
KirklandThe church is positioned on a prominent expanse of high ground in the Primus Community approximately 10 miles from the city of Lancaster.
From 1954 until 1967, my father, Lewis Kirkland, was High Point’s pastor. When he accepted that pastorate, I was in the 4th grade. When he left in 1967 to become director of missions for Kershaw Association, I had graduated from college and was teaching at Newberry High School.
On Aug. 14, High Point celebrated its 100th anniversary. A former pastor, Joey Burnett, who now serves Arcadia First Church in the Spartanburg County Network, was guest speaker.
I was one of two former members asked to share a memory or two about years spent at High Point. The other was Janice Wilson. She and her husband Ron are veteran appointees with the International Mission Board. Ron, also a Lancaster native, is associate vice president for leadership and ministries development. They live in Richmond.
Janice spoke for both of us when she told of the church’s influence on her life and that of many others through the years. She carried to the pulpit a Bible that my father had presented to her when she first answered a call to missions service.
I mentioned four words of commitment made at High Point that set the course of my life and career.
The first two words were “I will.” At some point in my teen years, probably during a spring or fall revival, my dad challenged us to sincerely seek God’s will in our choice of vocations. Along with others, including my future wife, I said, “I will.”
And mention of my wife, formerly Linda Vincent, leads me to the second set of words of commitment: “I do.”
On a warm Wednesday evening in July of 1959, sitting near an open window with funeral home fan in hand, I longed to hear the closing prayer in the hope that I would catch a glimpse of Linda as she left for home. I waited outside the sanctuary to watch the young woman I already had fallen in love with go to her car.
Instead, she walked over to me. A church social was set for Saturday at the home of two of the mainstays of the church, Wade and Lois Hinson (Janice’s parents), and Linda asked if she could ride with me to the social.
To this day, I say that she asked me for a date. To this day, she insists she only asked for a ride to the social.
No matter. It began an eight-year courtship, accompanied by some bumps in the romantic road we traveled, that resulted in our marriage 44 years ago. My father performed the wedding at High Point.
“I will.” “I do.” Those two commitments mean even more to me now than they did then. Linda and I have walked step by step and hand in hand on a faith journey that is testimony to the faithfulness and goodness of God. Linda is in her 41st year as a public school teacher. I am in my 41st year of denominational work with South Carolina Baptists.
Attending and taking part in the centennial celebration at High Point was more than a sentimental look back at 13 of the most formative years of my life. It provided an opportunity for both Linda and me to thank our God for his guidance and his blessing upon our lives.
High Point is like so many of the rural churches that dot the landscape and constitute the backbone of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. Like many others, it struggles with dwindling membership and resources as the older members die and the young ones often move away to pursue their careers.
The influence of this little Lancaster County congregation and others of its type cannot, however, be measured in terms of the length of its membership roll. Its true worth to the kingdom of God is the depth of its commitment to the mission of the church of Christ.
That is why this 100-year-old church became a spiritual home for me, as it was for Linda from the day she was born. And that is why it will always be the “High Point” in the lives of both of us.