“When your church is small, you know everyone’s prayer requests before they even ask.”
— Author unknown, but if you attend a small church, you know it’s true.
– – – – – – – –
Small churches and country preachers are the best at delivering sermons that combine spiritual appeal from the word of God with a touch of practical wisdom rooted in their own personal lives.
I was raised in a small town by loving parents. My mom attended church every Sunday, and it was an unspoken expectation that we would be going with her. No excuse was good enough for her to warrant missing the assembling of the saints.
Throughout my lifetime of hearing country preachers, I have acquired a deep appreciation for their dedication. And sacrifice. Because preaching at a small church is not a get rich quick proposition. Usually requiring what one preacher friend called “a day job” to make ends meet.
Like the East Texas preacher some years ago. An elderly gentleman with an ever-present smile and a kind word. A presence of stoic stature who, by the looks of his white hair and unfaltering recall of scripture without so much as looking at a Bible, had been delivering Sunday sermons for several presidential administrations.
A minister who not only preached the word of God and the promise of eternal salvation but included tidbits of practical advice for this side of heaven as well. Suggestions learned no doubt from years in the pulpit and tending to people’s spiritual needs.
“Your body is a temple unto the Lord,” he often delivered, leaning over the pulpit for extra emphasis. “Keep it healthy and ready for service by engaging in some form of exercise every day.” And being a minister who practiced what he preached, he always added that he personally walked several miles a day. But what he didn’t mention while proclaiming that walking was good for one’s health was that his “exercise” was usually executed with a cane pole over his shoulder. Walking in the general direction of a nearby fishing hole.
Another of his suggestions was to do God’s will through action. “Squeeze in random acts of kindness at every opportunity,” he preached. “Do a good deed every day.”
On this advice, he once admitted in a sermon that if he had to choose between doing a good deed for his neighbor or saying a prayer to God, God might have to hold off for a few minutes for the prayer until he was done helping someone.
Another tidbit of his advice was to “make two or three good friends among the old folks while you’re still young.”
Like everything he said, I agreed with him wholeheartedly on this one. I had just one problem. By the time I understood that philosophy, I was well past the point in life considered young by common standards.
Stories of down-to-earth wisdom from heaven-oriented country preachers came to mind last week. Carrying out my “once-a-year, whether it needs it or not” desk cleaning, I happened upon a message from my daughter, Robin. One from almost 30 years ago in which she included some preacher’s suggestions that she had collected.
One credited to a Tennessee preacher who advocated, “Most people are kind, polite, and sweet-spirited … until you try to sit in their pew.”
Another answered complaints about a preacher with, “If a church wants a better preacher, it can usually get one by praying for the one it already has.”
This one, I’ve heard many times since, but is still timeless. “A lot of church members who are singing ‘Standing on The Promises’ are merely sitting on the premises.”
There was also food for thought from Oklahoma. “We were called to be witnesses, not lawyers.”
And from Ohio, stating, “Every evening, I turn my troubles over to God. He’s going to be up all night anyway.”
Included with Robin’s communique was a message I’m sure is preached somewhere by a country preacher in a small town every Sunday. She didn’t say where she found it, but it’s called “The Bible in 50 Words.”
“God made; Adam bit; Noah arked; Abraham split; Joseph ruled; Jacob fooled; Bush talked; Moses balked; Pharaoh plagued; People walked; Sea divided; Tablets guided; Promise landed; Saul freaked; David peeked; Prophets warned; Jesus was born; God walked; Love talked; Anger crucified; Hope died; Love rose; Spirit flamed; Word spread; God remained.”
Whatever the tidbits of wisdom might be, somewhere every Sunday a country preacher delivers a spiritual message with a deep understanding of human nature. Focusing on faith connected with a sense of rural life.
And one knowing who needs a prayer before they ever ask for it.
—Leon Aldridge
– – – – – – –
Aldridge columns are featured in these publications: The Center Light and Champion, The Mount Pleasant Tribune, the Rosenberg Fort Bend Herald, the Taylor Press, the Alpine Avalanche, the Fort Stockton Pioneer, the Elgin Courier, The Monitor in Naples, and Motor Sports Magazine.
© Leon Aldridge and A Story Worth Telling 2025. Excerpts and links may be used, provided full and clear credit is given to Leon Aldridge and ‘A Story Worth Telling’ with appropriate and specific directions to the original content.
A Story Worth Telling 