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Just One Church
The Hueysville Church of Christ was built in 1909, across the railroad tracks from the highway, next to the general store and post office in their corner of southeastern Kentucky.
The church in Hueysville was where I first ministered. Its white clapboard building looked like most country churches of a certain age, with clean lines and a simple beauty. The uninsured structure burned to the ground in 1981, but the congregation prevailed and a new facility was erected.
There were about 80 people in the Hueysville church when I preached there. They were farmers, coal miners, schoolteachers, and business owners. Most were of Scots-Irish ancestry and had deep roots in Appalachia. They believed in independence and hard work. Common sense was a reigning virtue.
Rondal and Irene Hayes pretty much kept things running in Hueysville. Rondal was the church’s elder. Yep, when I preached there, they had only one. He also operated the general store next to the post office. The store had a potbellied stove surrounded by wooden chairs. No, it was not Cracker Barrel.
Irene was Hueysville’s postmaster. She published a book of recipes under the name What’s Cooking in Kentucky and proceeded to sell about 6 billion copies. Irene had an entrepreneurial flair.
Most every Sunday we ate dinner in the basement at Irene and Rondal’s house. I never asked why we ate in the basement. I suppose it might have been cooler than the dining room. The way the food tasted, I did not care where the table was, as long as Irene fixed the meal.
When a tobacco farmer and his wife said they’d be back next Sunday, “Lord willing, and the creek don’t rise,” they meant it. We drove up a streambed to have dinner with them—ham, fried chicken, and roast beef. The wife skipped church to prepare the meal. I did not object. I ate a half-dozen homemade rolls with freshly churned butter. My wife still remembers.
I left Hueysville in 1973, just as the dogwoods were showing their colors in the Appalachian spring. I have returned only once, though I often think fondly of the congregation.
There are many thousands of Restoration Movement churches like Hueysville. Some stand among dogwoods, others amid fields of grain, and even a few in the shadow of skyscrapers. All share a common heritage as a place of wonder, home to the body of Christ. I pray all 6,000 have long and healthy lives, giving light in their corner of creation.
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