Throughout the year, I conduct mentoring retreats for pastors called, A Time of Refreshing. It is intended to be three days of spiritual R & R for the small group of approximately eight pastors who attend each retreat. My hope is they leave reenergized and encouraged to remain faithful to their high calling. Over the past 15 years of conducting the retreats, I have encountered some impressive, yet lesser-known, servants of Christ.
Bob Russell with George Baugh, pastor of the Rushville Christian Church, Rushville, Missouri
Recently, I was moved when one of the attendees, George Baugh, shared his personal story of how he and his six siblings were raised in extreme poverty. He recounted that some of his first childhood memories were of his family living in a dilapidated trailer where he shared a bed with his older brother, crammed in the same bedroom with two of his sisters. The trailer had no inside plumbing, and water could only be from an outside well. As a result, they seldom, if ever, bathed.
A local child advocacy service threatened to remove George and his siblings, so the parents moved to a more adequate home in the area. Yet it soon was also overrun with trash and debris. While there was running water inside the house, the bathtub was so filled with trash and junk that it was never used. And it was not uncommon for him to see rats, roaches, and other varmints scurrying through the house. George said he wore the same corduroy pants to school every day for so long that he vowed never to wear corduroy pants again.
After a while, George’s teachers established a plan for him to report to the janitor’s closet each day before school, where he was to bathe in a washtub and change into clothes provided by school officials. Each afternoon he changed back into his “home clothes.” Naturally, he was shunned by most kids and even bullied by some. George was unwanted — an outcast.
However, one day the pastor of a local Christian church stopped by their unkempt, run-down home and invited George’s family to church. George was in Junior High at the time, and for some reason, he responded to the pastor’s invitation. Once at church George was welcomed by the pastor, who took him under his wing and nurtured him. It wasn’t long before George gave his life to Christ, was baptized, and decided to become a pastor.
A few years later, George enrolled in a Christian College in Ottumwa, Iowa, to study for the ministry. While there he met a young woman, and although she was from a more sophisticated background, the two fell in love, married, and established a Godly home. For the past decade, George has been the pastor of the Rushville Christian Church in Rushville, Missouri, where he continues to faithfully proclaim God’s Word, shepherd his flock, and win others to Christ.
George Baugh’s life is a testimony to the gospel’s transforming power. King David testified that the Lord: “lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand” (Psalm 40:2). And the Apostle Paul assures us, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17).
There is an old saying, “Big doors turn on little hinges.” Years ago, a country preacher was willing to stop by an untidy, unclean house to invite strangers living in squalor to come to church. Consider just what a difference that simple invitation made in the life of an overlooked, unpopular child. The impact of George Baugh’s life, Godly family, and lesser-known but effective ministry demonstrate the generational impact of one simple invitation to church. Imagine the eternal difference that will make in the future of the families evangelized and edified by George’s ministry. The power of the gospel is amazing!
Jesus said, “…when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous”(Luke 14:13-14).
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