James Vinzant
It was a joy to be invited to become the minister of the church in July, 1987. Our furniture wasn’t moved for a couple of weeks so we slept on pallets on the floor of the parsonage. What a wonderful time we had at 327 S Snyder in Justin, Tx. The parsonage was the third house N of the church building.
Our daughter Jamie would enroll in the fourth grade, and our son Jonathan in the third. She was 9 and he was 8. Dottie was the executive of a Day School, Children’s First Academy in Carrollton. School was beginning so we elected to move two weeks before our furniture could be moved so we slept on the floor. I shall forever be indebted to the Frank Wallace family for providing a furniture truck, to Don Roach for driving the truck, and to the men who helped load and transport our furniture from our home in Carrollton to Justin.
Little did we know that we would serve longer than any other minister, thirteen years, in the congregations over one hundred year history. Also, I had no idea that thirteen years later the Alliance congregation would spend several months in the Joe Merle Morris addition of what became the Justin City Hall for worship.
The Justin congregation had just turned two of their classrooms into a kitchen/communion preparation room to be used for monthly fellowships and to be of service for funerals. As the church grew more and more, room was needed for the quilting ladies who were a great blessing to the community. Anyone in the community who had a fire was given a handmade quilt. Also, bandages were made and medical supplies were shipped to a mission in Chimala, Tanzania.
Justin had a medical clinic in cooperation with the Osteopathic hospital in Ft Worth and student doctors were always invited for lunch every week. Only the Lord knows the lasting influence of the seeds planted by the church in Justin. The Brown Trail School of Preaching was supported by the congregation from the beginning of the school. Every year one or two students were helped financially by the Justin congregation. Again, just as the physicians would practice the medicine learned these young men would go out into various fields teaching and preaching the gospel.
One thing that was a blessing was the large number of adults who were baptized. The congregation doubled in size. More space was needed for fellowships and for classes and a fellowship building was built. This was a tremendous blessing. Also, the auditorium had be be extended and additional classrooms were added. The Justin Chamber of Commerce was very active and would honor a leading citizen each year by giving a “Golden Boot” award at their annual banquet. In a growing community with various religious groups three of the member of the Justin congregation were honored. Frank Wallace and Jack Brown were two given this honor.
I was asked by a local minister to visit his daughter in an adjacent county. She was on trial for murder. I willingly agreed, and by doing so, suffered quite a bit of criticism. I saw people who were kind and saw some who were two-faced. It was indeed a learning experience. I tried to attend every local funeral regardless of the church affiliation of the deceased. Upon a study of the records I was honored to be asked to conduct the same number of funerals in the community of those who were not members of the churches of Christ as those that were.
I had the honor of serving as the President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer of the Justin Chamber of Commerce during tremendous growth of the community. We witnessed the groundbreaking of the Alliance Airport and the Texas Motor Speedway.
Those were golden years for the Justin congregation. Ronald Jones from the Brentwood congregation (now Brentwood Oaks), and someone I had known all my life, called and said they had a church sign they were going to dispose of and if we wanted it, we could have it. Bob Knox picked up the sign, had it remodeled and now that sign has blessed the Justin church all these years.
I treasure the letters of recommendation from all the congregations I have served, but none more than the one from the Justin church of Christ.