Special Cooperative Program Edition

Judge grateful for becoming an orphan

By Tony Martin
Associate Editor

A LIFE WELL-LIVED — Judge Chet Dillard is seen with the memorabilia of many years of public and private service. Dillard lived at what was then the Baptist Orphans Home in the early 1930s. (BR photo by Tony Martin)

W. O. “Chet” Dillard is a product of the Great Depression. He is also a product of the ministry of the Baptist Children’s Village.

His story smacks of Horatio Alger. “I was born in 1930 in Mantee, Mississippi,” said Dillard, “and the Depression was just hitting the rural parts real severely. I was the youngest of ten children. My father was uneducated and unemployed. My mother had some education. In 1934, the oldest child had died, and my mother came down with malaria. She was disabled, and her teeth were all abscessed.

“I had an uncle who had been fortunate enough to graduate from Mississippi State University who came to check on us, and he told me that everybody in the house was sick. I had pneumonia and the mumps at the same time. There wasn’t a morsel of food to eat or a drop of anything to drink in the house,” Dillard said.

The uncle and some other relatives petitioned the chancery court of Webster County to commit the three youngest children, all under 12, to the Baptist Orphans’ Home in Jackson.

This incident was the catalyst that led Dillard to serve in many notable posts, including District Attorney, Commissioner of Public Safety, Assistant Attorney General, and Chancery Judge in Hinds County.

“Rather than complain about it,” said Dillard, “I thank God to this day that He let me become an orphan, because I was starving to death. It was God’s way of saving my life, and I am a firm believer in the Scripture, especially John 14:18 where Jesus said, ‘I will not leave you orphaned. I will come to you’.

“I believe I was orphaned for a purpose. From that beginning, I can take you through every step of my life and show you how that conditioned me. I think being an orphan is a great asset, because you learn to get along without any help from parents or, really, anyone, for that period of time. God put people on earth to help you, and I was helped (at the Orphans’ Home).”

Dillard recalled that one of his most vivid memories of what is now the Baptist Children’s Village was getting a cold drink of water. “We had no well, no pump, or anything, so it was a big deal to get a cold drink of water,” he said.

He also recalled being given cod liver oil and having to stand in the sun because he was malnourished.

“To go from that beginning to the point to where I wrote an opinion for the court on prayer in schools, which was editorialized by the Wall Street Journal, now that ain’t bad,” he said.

Dillard had many struggles through the Depression, living and working as a sharecropper. The WPA had come into being, and Dillard’s father got a job gathering burnt motor oil and pouring it in ditches to kill mosquitoes.

Dillard struggled through high school, and a Methodist minister, N. A. Dixon, invited Dillard to come to Hattiesburg. The minister was leading the Wesley Foundation at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) and was going to start a church. That church today is the Parkway Heights Methodist Church.

Dillard graduated from USM. “I was the first janitor at Parkway Heights, and I slept on a cot in a Sunday School room,” he said.

After graduation, Dillard joined the Navy, became an officer, and became a Navy pilot. After his military time, the G.I. Bill allowed him to go to the University of Mississippi Law School. Dillard graduated from law school and moved to Laurel to practice law. Soon afterward he was elected district attorney.

“I’ve had a real successful life,” said Dillard, “and a pretty good retirement. One thing I want to do for the Baptist Children’s Village, and I’ve got the charter, is to start the Orphans’ Honor Society, the OHS. Orphans wonder a lot of times who really cares. This will give them a place to belong, like a fraternity. It’s an honor to be an orphan. I don’t know why Jesus singled them out, but He did.

“Being an orphan might be God’s way of strengthening you and helping you get by without a lot of help. I never had any help before the military but for good Christian people. You can do all things through Him who strengthens you. Didn’t mean that my parents didn’t love me, but it just means that I was born in that situation for some reason.”

Thanks to Mississippi Baptists, the Baptist Children’s Village was there when the Dillard brothers needed care. Financial support for the Village comes from the Cooperative Program, individual gifts, an endowment, and church congregations.

The Missionary

Gray

As International Mission Board missionaries, our base support comes through the Cooperative Program. These funds supply salary, insurance, transportation, retirement, and a variety of other base-support areas. Because we have this support, we can focus on ministry and not on fund raising. Also, because of the Cooperative Program every penny of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is spent on ministry, every penny of World Hunger Relief funds goes to meeting needs, and every penny of tsunami disaster relief funds go to helping the hopeless.

This year more people around the world will be reached with the Gospel, more converts will enter the waters of baptism, more churches will be started, more human needs will be met, more training will take place, and more of the love of Christ will be seen, heard, and experienced — all because Southern Baptists cooperate in the cause of Christ.

The Cooperative Program may be 80 years old, but it’s still going strong. Let’s keep it that way! — Tony and Karen Gray, IMB missionaries

The Educator

Royce

The Cooperative Program is in trouble. Ten years ago churches gave 11% of their undesignated budgets to the Cooperative Program and now give only 9%. We simply must do a better job of telling the story.

At Mississippi College we receive $2,600,000 a year, an amount equal to a $1,100 yearly scholarship for each of our undergraduate students. The majority of our students could not attend Mississippi College without assistance. Our students need the opportunity to attend a university known for its academic excellence and commitment to the cause of Christ, and Cooperative Program gifts make that attendance possible.

In addition to the good Cooperative Program dollars do, the Cooperative Program binds us together in great kingdom work. It demonstrates that we can cooperate and achieve so much more collectively than we can on our own.

Thank you, Mississippi Baptists, for the Cooperative Program. — Lee Royce, president, Mississippi College, Clinton

The Church Staffer

Frierson

Both as an individual and as a church financial secretary, I know how hard it is to save money, even if for a worthy cause. Similarly, our mid-size church in a small town needs an organized plan to provide for mission needs.

That is the beauty of the Cooperative Program. By being able to designate a percentage of our offerings, we are not only enabling each contributor to be involved in missions, but we also provide funds for full-time missions personnel that we could not fund alone.

I like the idea of being able to contribute to Christian colleges and seminaries, to the Baptist Children’s Village ministry, to church planters, to state conventions, and many other ministries, as well as North American missions and international missions.

Even though I do not have personal resources to contribute to all of these worthy causes, I know I am contributing each time I give to my church, which in turn sends a percentage to all this work through the Cooperative Program. — Diana Frierson, financial secretary, Roseland Park Church, Picayune

The Pastor

Cappleman

Brandi Bean came to Mississippi State University to get an education. God drew her to our church so He could save her. Today, she is married and working on a master’s degree at Southwestern Seminary in Ft. Worth. Once she and her husband complete their work, they hope to serve as international missionaries. Our church’s giving through the Cooperative Program helps Brandi offset the expense of a seminary education so she can share the Gospel with the world.

Clark and Valerie Rumfelt are planting a new church in Westerly, Rhode Island. Our church joined with First Church, Amory, last summer to send a mission team to assist them. On Easter Sunday, the Rumfelts officially launched the new church plant. Our giving through the Cooperative Program helps new works like The Church at Westerly reach America for Christ.

We have seen the impact giving through the Cooperative Program can make. I encourage you to give and to celebrate the impact your local church can make in God’s kingdom work. — Scott Cappleman, pastor, Adaton Church, Starkville

The Businessman

Pyron

I learned many years ago that the Kingdom business of Jesus Christ is unlike any secular enterprise, because Kingdom business must be done by faith and not just sight. I have seen one financial miracle after another unfold as Christians stepped out on faith. However, I do believe Kingdom business should be conducted on sound business principles.

The Cooperative Program allows economies of scale not available to each of us alone. Businesses pool resources for better insurance rates, buy in bulk for savings, and seek to eliminate costly duplication in administration. Successful businesses also depend on a common goal or mission to create a smoothly-functioning team focused on the organization, and to resolve disagreements and strife. The Cooperative Program accomplishes those principles.

The Lord’s business is like other businesses in another way: the dedication and devotion of the people involved make the critical difference in success or failure. If the Cooperative Program fails to prosper, the problem will be with us and not the program. — Billy Pyron, owner, Pyron Furniture Company, Natchez

The Missionary Administrator

Rankin

Jesus told us to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. It is a mandate to His followers. As the people of God no one is exempt. The Cooperative Program is a divinely-anointed system through which Southern Baptists can all be a part of reaching a lost world.

Through the Cooperative Program I can support over 10,000 missionaries sent out by our churches to impact North America and the world with the Gospel. My gifts to the Cooperative Program enabled over a thousand new missionaries to be appointed with NAMB and the IMB last year, none of whom had to delay going to the field because of the necessity of raising support.

Southern Baptists enabled missionaries serving with the IMB to start 21,000 new churches, baptize 607,000 new believers, and initiate work among 143 new people groups in 184 countries around the world. The Cooperative Program is a channel for me to touch the world. — Jerry Rankin, president, International Mission Board

All-State choir lays foundation

By Tony Martin
Associate Editor

ANSWERING THE CALL — Joshua Smith (standing) and his fiancé Tina Johnson survey the sanctuary of Sylvarena Church, Sylvarena, when Smith is minister of music. Smith credits the Mississippi Baptist Youth Choir and Orchestra for helping him acknowledge his call into music ministry. (BR photo by Tony Martin)

When Joshua Smith first joined the Mississippi Baptist All-State Youth Choir and Orchestra, he had no idea that four years later he would still be part of the group. Nor did he know that his experiences with this group would be instrumental in his becoming minister of music at Sylvarena Church, Sylvarena.

Smith was born in Baton Rouge in 1981 and moved to the Sardis community in the northern part of Smith County in 1986, becoming active in Sardis Church.

“It was there that I first got started in music ministry,” said Smith. “It was there that I learned to read music, and it was there that I met Tina (his fiancé). I started as an assistant music director with my uncle, who was minister of music there. He knew he could always call on me if he needed to tend to his chickens.”

When Smith was in the eighth grade, his uncle got a letter from Jimmy McCaleb, contract consultant with the Church Music department of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board (MBCB). “It told about the Baptist All-State Youth Choir and Orchestra. I tried out in November of 1996, and in January of 1997 I received a letter from Susan Clark telling me that I had been accepted.” Smith auditioned on both voice and trumpet, and both sang and played his horn.

“The first time I auditioned I was nervous,” said Smith, “but after that first year everything was easy going.”

The choir and orchestra usually have a combined number of 100 youth from across the state. Auditions are held in the fall. Students must be active in the music program of the church, and must be in grades nine through 12. They may participate for four years, which is what Smith did.

“In 2002, I got back from the choir tour as an alumni counselor,” said Smith. “My dad and I are both Gideons and are active in the Smith County camp. One night at a meeting, some of the members of this church who were also Gideons told my dad that Sylvarena was looking for a music director. My dad got home and told me, and at first my instinct was, ‘I’m not sure if I’m ready for this.’ Tina and I talked about it. I was 20 at the time, about to turn 21, and getting ready to start working for the Gray-Daniels auto family.

“I knew the amount of hours I had to put in at work, but prayer and just listening to what the Lord said let me to meet with the pastor and search committee.

“They asked me to come for a trial service in October, 2002. I was nervous, but we had a great service. A couple of Sundays later, they asked me to come back — and they haven’t asked me to quit coming yet.”

Smith owes a lot of his experience to the All-State Youth Choir and for his work with Susan Clark Luttrell, contract consultant with the MBCB Church Music Department.

Said Smith, “I’m thankful for all the other counselors who helped me along the way. There are two-and-a-half very intense days of rehearsal that go into getting ready for the tour, and if you aren’t dedicated and focused, it’s easily seen and noticed by others. It helps you understand where you are at that stage in your life. It helped me understand that I had some potential in music ministry. After that first year, another two or three people from Raleigh High School were in the choir with me. It’s become a pretty well known event in Smith County.”

The Mississippi Baptist All-State Youth Choir and Orchestra tours each year, and is supported by gifts to the Mississippi Cooperative Program.