CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH
LUDOWICI, GEORGIA:
TRULY “A LITTLE CORNER OF HEAVEN”
IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS

Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV

And let us consider how to stir up
one another to love and good works,
not neglecting to meet together,
as is the habit of some,
but encouraging one another,
and all the more
as you see the Day drawing near.

A LITTLE CORNER OF HEAVEN

In this way too often rough and tumble world
where people are always getting trampled
as they daily run all the races
life so often demands from us as
we find ourselves back at the starting line
again and again;
we all need those who will stand up and cheer us
on with all the Love of Christ and the
power of the Holy Spirit
inspiring us with with hope and
and joy and the energy
we need to win in Him
who is our God and more than all we ever need
for every race we have to run for Him
as He strengthens and upholds
us every step we take around the
track as He declares His glory
for His holy Kingdom
while every runner truly competing for Him
discovers His power driving them towards
His victory lap when His prizes
all are won and where He welcomes
them, every single one at last
Home forever with Him.

Sometimes our lives do seem like a race that never ends. I remember vividly how overwhelmed I felt, after graduating from university with a teaching degree in English. After spending a wonderful, hectic ten weeks of one more summer missions adventure with the Etowah Baptist Association, I drove the longest trip of my life from northeast Alabama down to extreme southeast Georgia, to Ludowici,
where I had been hired to teach high school English. In my well-used Chevy I drove with many of my few belongings, while my parents drove with me in their car and the remainder of my worldly goods. As it turns out, the only option for a place to live, ended up being one room, sharing a bath with occasional overnight guests in the house of Mrs. Howard,  a true matriarch of the town, Ludowici. Believe it or not, in that room, there was a baby bed where I could stack some of my stuff. Needless to say, as I prepared to begin my first teaching assignment, I was overwhelmed.

My first day at school one of the lunchroom ladies shooed me away from the teacher’s line, assuming I was some smart-alek, new student trying to fool them into giving me extra food. To me the students appeared like giants, rough-and-tumble wilderness dwellers (for Ludowici was surrounded on all sides by tall pine forests and swamps), who (boys and girls alike) as it turned out, hunted  deer, wild pigs, and other critters who ran in those woods.Yes, I felt very much intimidated. Still in the classroom things went reasonably well for a brand new teacher among some very grown up students.

Sometimes the smallest
churches have the
biggest hearts.

Obviously, I needed Christian brothers and sisters. I needed a church family. I needed a church home. I had a fellow English teacher, Faye Harper, who invited me to her church, Calvary Baptist. So I went, and i immediately felt like I was home. The people gathered me in as if I were some far-fetched distant cousin from Alabama. They really made me feel welcome from that very first Sunday. Fay played the piano; she really played beautifully. Visiting with these friendly folks before and after Sunday School, and then after worship, seemed like getting to know family I had never met before. It was a small church with a great big heart. On the church’s outdoor sign, I read, “Calvary Baptist Church: Just A Little Corner of Heaven.” The folks in that church fully lived out that beautiful reality. As a homesick, inexperienced teacher, God gave me people who would treat me like family and so help me handle all of the challenges living and teaching in Ludowici would bring my way.

Before I knew it, as I joined the church, Mrs. Mary Howard, the youth Sunday School teacher, invited me to join her as her assistant. Now Mrs. Howard was a great role model and always taught a lesson that reached both the youth and myself with great Bible truths for living. She also generously gave me opportunities to teach, often enough to keep me on my toes. She just as kindly encouraged me, as I got to know her big family, two of whom were students at Long County High School, where I was teaching. The youth were as welcoming and friendly as were their families.

Carolyn Mock, her husband, Norman, and their Son, Andy;
took time to love me and my
young teacher colleagues
in the name of Jesus.

Speaking of families, Norman and Carolyn Mock, and their son, Andy went way, way beyond the second mile to make me feel welcome. They actually welcomed me as if I were an older son. We did a lot of teasing and laughing together. We ate together. We certainly worshipped and prayed together, because for the Mock family, life centered on their faith and living it out in joyful, hard-working, yet always celebratory living. Norman worked for the Georgia Highway Department, Carolyn worked as Church Secretary for the First Baptist Church, and Andy enjoyed the typical school boy life filled with sports, friends, church activities and studies as time allowed. They always made me feel at home. Carolyn had a particular interest in WMU, like my own mother, and so that resonated in my heart in the process of being called into missions. Norman served as a deacon and gave strong leadership within Calvary church, always focusing on Scripture and doing things the Lord’s Way.

Holy hospitality characterized the entire church. They welcomed all of us “foreign” teachers with open arms. They welcomed families from deep inside the forests. They welcomed military families associated with Fort Stewart located in the next town on the road to Savannah. In fact, Mr. Harley Freeman often took a teacher friend of mine, Felicia Butler, and I on an old bus way outside of town to visit families, to offer to pick up their children for Church on Sundays. Everyone who showed up at Calvary felt a genuine, a loving welcome. What an inspiration! What a an example to follow.

It seems that Calvary continues
to be filled up with really
friendly people.

In fact, Calvary Church so welcomed me, and I grew so quickly into feeling at home,  that it was after a Week of Prayer for International Missions in early December, 1974, when I received a clear call to surrender my life for missions service. I had been challenged by the prayer program, and afterward  as I drove outside Ludowici on a star-lit night made even brighter by a full moon, and as I looked into the heavens, God’s Spirit spoke to me. Basically He said, “Mike, take a look back over your life. Notice the people. Notice the experiences. Remember the teaching God’s men and women have proclaimed about my love for all  the all the world. Notice, it all makes sense—I have been preparing you to take my Good News in Jesus which has so blessed you—to people who have not yet heard how much I love them. So, what are you going to do?” For me it all fit together so beautifully. God had always been preparing me so thoroughly for His Call. I was filled with joy as I said say yes to His Call.

Calvary BaptistChurch became for me “the little corner of Heaven”
I needed to hear and respond to
God’s Call into missions.

Thank God for Calvary Church and its loving, caring ways—its simple offer to welcome me into their church family, for encouragement, spiritual challenge, glorious fellowship, and opportunities to grow through service. All the precious time I spent at Calvary, I really did feel like I was very much at home, spiritually freed up to hear God’s Word, carefully consider His call on my life, and respond. I will always treasure my time at Calvary where I was extremely blessed to enjoy their loving, “little corner of Heaven.”