Missed That Note and They Took it Back...

I was driving home the other day and I snapped this cell phone photo of the old Little Flock Baptist Church as I cruised past at 50 mph. My house is a 100 yards or so behind the grounds. The church is abandoned and closed down. The grounds are becoming unmowed and unkept. I'm not quite sure when they left but it's been at least over a year. 

The preacher they last had down there had a way of nosing into my business. One morning as I set up for a fish fry, a cooking area and musical instruments on my garage stage, he walked over just to check on me. He should have seen that I was doing alright although when I informed him I was an active long time member of the Catholic Church he probably had his doubts. 

Another time back in 2021 or so I was mowing and he approached me to "make sure I was watching Fox News" so I "knew what was really going on." I put him on the road and told him if he was following Fox News instead of the Sermon on the Mount he was on the wrong path. I don't imagine this sat well as he realized that in addition to being a Catholic I was also had a different idea about politics and I never saw him again.   

Now the church is closed down. In the photo on the right against the trees is where the original wooden church sat. Maybe 40 years ago they moved that structure out on highway 103 east and it looks to be a thriving place of worship under a different name and is very neat and well kept. I'd say people who care attend there. 

There is much development in this area with the construction of very nice houses all around filling up unused lots including on the other side of the farm road from the church. I think the old church would make a great event venue center hosting weddings in the chapel and dining in the hall with cooking in the kitchen but I half expect to wake one morning to demolition crews taking it down to make room for new $400,000 houses.

Thinking about this I got curious about who did own the property so I got one of my trusty assistants (you didn't know we actually have a writers room @theolderyouwillget) to research the owners. Turns out the church is owned by The Texas Southern Baptist Foundation. I looked that up and turns out the Foundation is some kind of finance institution. I don't know but I suspect the governing body of the Little Flock borrowed money, missed the note and lost the property which had been put up as collateral. The property does not seem to be on the market.

That's a sad thing. Some churches have money and some don't. Some churches the population gets old, dies out, the kids move off and they don't thrive. Some don't have good leaders. I don't think the Little Flock preacher needed to change his core beliefs to be successful but I think the Fox News thing was a secular dry stream he attempted to paddle his boat up to the point where he ran aground. 

Some might lay this misfortune on the work of the Devil. Whatever you call it humans are humans. All need to work together to make sure the property stays mowed.