Western Kentucky University - Talisman Yearbook (Bowling Green, KY)

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ho man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.

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Photos and story by David Frank The voice rolls through the little brick church, filling 30 pairs of ears, bouncing off the wood- en floors and pews. The voice is soft yet force- ful. It sounds like a big man’s voice, a practiced preacher’s voice. But follow the voice to its source and one finds Brother Jimmy Gentry, 22, hands in flight, his train of thought at full throttle. He is telling his congregation that when he was 12 years old his father died, and God called him. Kids on the front row sit quietly, their eyes never leaving his. They’re hearing preaching like they have never heard it before. Then a baby cries and Brother Jimmy pauses for several seconds, silent. There was a time at Emmanuel Baptist Chapel when babies always cried during his sermons. But now the congregation knows what he thinks about it, and the mother scoops the child up and carries him out. The congregation scarcely fills the 20 pews, and the little building almost seems empty. But the congregation is growing as the Sunday School attendance sign hanging behind the pul- pit testifies: attendance a year ago, 21; atten- dance last Sunday, 43; attendance today, 54. Jimmy Gentry has made a difference in Em- manuel Baptist Chapel, 901 W. Main St., since his arrival two years ago. The Cadiz senior says BRO. JIMMY GENTRY baptizes Dale Kessinger, who was one of three children baptized at Emmanuel Baptist Church that fall day. he is performing a lifelong desire. Gentry was reared in a ‘‘very beautiful Christian home”’ in Cadiz, and while most chil- dren his age were playing hopscotch, house, red rover or cowboys and Indians, he was playing church. “As a child I can remember, being by myself back in my bedroom, that I pretended we were in church and would have the songs and the prayers. And I can remember literally preach- ing sermons,” Gentry said. But by high school he had gotten away from preaching because he was ‘‘wanting to have a good time. | think that was what it was all about.” He played in the high school band and be- came a disc jockey at the local radio station, and since Cadiz isn’t very big, it wasn’t long before his name was well known. “They know you even though they don’t know you,” he said. Gentry’s uncle, a Trigg County pastor, even asked him to come and lead his church’s ser- vice. “T just talked about faith. I didn’t preach. After it was over I thought I would be slick and offer an invitation for all those who wanted to become Christians to come forward,” Gentry said. “IT wasn’t expecting anything to happen,” he said. “I just did it as a formality, and five BEFORE being baptized, Penny Lake professes her faith to Gentry while music minister Tommy Katzman leads the congregation in song. Dale Kessinger waits his turn. Be tttt eee ree people came walking down the aisle. It really bothered me a lot; I didn’t know how to inter- pret it.” His radio job and his membership in the high school band reflect Gentry’s musical inclina- tion. He was asked to lead the choir in his own church, and as a result, he got back in contact with the ministry. It was also a trying time, for he was a senior in high school and was going to continued on page 29 USING HIS HANDS expressively, Gentry delivers an- other sermon to the congregation. Gentry prepares two sermons a week — for Sunday morning and evening. 27 Bro. Jimmy Gentry

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youns mabd.. have to make some decisions upon graduation. “All of a sudden it became a struggle be- cause I had thought about going into broadcast engineering, thought about going into law, and then I thought about going into teaching also,” he said. “T realized that I was a senior in high school and was going to be in college next year and it was time to start finding out what I was going to do with myself.” Gentry was convinced by several friends and his minister to stay in the church. He became a supp ly preacher for Trigg County, which meant he would preach wherever he was need- ed. He had also begun taking classes at Murray State, but after one semester, he transferred to Western. He took a job during that summer as the youth minister at Edgewood Baptist Church in Hopkinsville. “For the first time, I had gotten my feet wet as a minister,” he said. “‘I knew what it was like -by myself. I didn’t have anybody to run to. It was just me.”’ When he returned to school in Bowling Green he was approached by Dr. Rollin Bur- hans, pastor of the Bowling Green First Baptist Church, and Di ck Bridges, associate pastor, several times in reference to a ministry avail- able at the Emmanuel Baptist Chapel, a First Baptist mission church. In November 1976, he accepted the job. “I knew the situation was not good there, and I really got scared,” Gentry said. “It had 38 members and it was split 38 ways and I made it split 39 ways.” At his first sermon he was confronted with about 40 faces, half of which belonged to some of his college friends who had come to encour- age him. HOUSECALLS to 91-year-old Era Johnson are one of Gentry’s favorite times, he said. He prays with her at home because she can’t get to the church. “It was depressing that first Sunday. I won- dered if I could do it,”’ Gentry said. “Some of them wondered if they could trust a 20-year- old pastor.” For the first four months, Gentry was consis. tently getting about 15 people. Twice he got 11, and he was at the point of quitting. He cried when he told Dr. Burhans about it, but the older pastor gave him a pep talk that bolstered Gentry’s confidence. The church’s atmosphere improved. There were still small numbers, but his work became more enjoyable and the numbers no longer bothered him. “Preaching gives me a sense of personal satisfaction, but during the two years as a pas- tor I have discovered there are two things you’ve just got to do — prepare two sermons a week — and sometimes it becomes a burden. I just don’t have time to write the sermons being a full-time student,” he said. But he gets help from volunteers, including two students: Tommy Katzman, the music min- ister and a Bowling Green senior; and organist Sherry Gardner, a Louisville junior and Gen- try’s girlfriend. “Youth is what Emmanuel needs,” he said. “They need somebody who’s excited, some- body who’s fired up, somebody who really believes in what they’re doing and I believe in what I’m doing. “Some of the things that I do with those people make them think that I am just a little bitty kid, but then there are times that they look at me as a respectable adult.” “Jimmy is awful good, but I think years will do him better,” admitted Sidney Gregory, a member of Emmanuel since its establishment in 1955. “He’s an awfully good minister, never sees a stranger.” Gentry prides himself with visiting people who can’t get to church, and he hopes his congregation will pick up his ways. DURING A PRAYER meeting at Gentry’s house, Gentry and Richard Smith go over a section of the Bible which was being discussed that evening. “The goal I want to see is for Emmanuel people to walk up to somebody in a tactful way — and I don’t mean just come out and say, ‘Are ye saved? Are ye going to hell?’ — but in a genuine, tactful way, be able to say to someone ‘What’s the Lord doing in your life? I want to share with you what he’s doing in my | life.’ I really think that Christ expects Chris- | tians to witness, but I believe he expects us to use tact in doing it.” Gentry said in November that he expected to graduate in May and enroll in Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. But he said he hopes to preach at Emmanuel on the weekends. “Things are just now happening at Em- manuel,”’ he said. “‘I don’t feel I need to leave yet.” LJ NOAH and the flood are discussed by Gentry and his Sunday School class. The students in his class range from 12 to 20 years old. FIVE-YEAR-OLD Ear! Smith gets a handshake and a few words from Gentry after a Sunday morning service. Gentry said one of his primary goals is getting to know the people at Emmanuel. 29 Bro. Jimmy Gentry