{"id":8801,"date":"2023-03-23T21:16:27","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T21:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/?page_id=8801"},"modified":"2023-03-23T21:16:27","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T21:16:27","slug":"w-r-austin","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/w-r-austin\/","title":{"rendered":"W.R. Austin"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_spacing=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][divider line_type=”No Line”][vc_column_text]\n

W.R. Austin<\/span><\/h1>\n[\/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line”][page_submenu alignment=”center” sticky=”true” bg_color=”#008542″ link_color=”#ffffff”][page_link link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/manuscripts-and-guides\/” title=”Manuscripts & Subject Guides<\/strong>” id=”1679605940004-10″ tab_id=”1679605940005-9″] [\/page_link][page_link link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/guides-to-the-collection-page\/” title=”Collections Portal<\/strong>” id=”1679605940012-7″ tab_id=”1679605940013-4″] [\/page_link][page_link title=”Visit<\/strong>” id=”1679605947945-7″ tab_id=”1679605947946-3″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/visit\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Make a Request<\/strong>” id=”1679605949781-8″ tab_id=”1679605949782-7″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/requests\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”About Us<\/strong>” id=”1679605950666-7″ tab_id=”1679605950667-8″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments-archives-museum-about-us\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Yearbooks Online<\/strong>” id=”1679605951630-4″ tab_id=”1679605951630-2″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/yearbooks-alumni-magazines-delta-state-histories\/”][\/page_link][\/page_submenu][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_spacing=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]Interviewee:<\/strong> Austin, W.R.
\nInterviewer:<\/strong> John Calhoun
\nDate:<\/strong> October 3, 1981<\/p>\n

WA: The homecomings are still a practice as I think over in many different parts of the
\ncountry. Some of the churches are critical of them. The fact that they loose a lot of
\npeople from moving, and we have more complex place in account with our work, and
\naccount of the towns growing instead of the rural area. It makes me think that we are
\nbuilding programs that we had to take care of now. The churches had been rather
\npathetic, somewhat due to the fact that there were very few people coming, and there
\nwere very few services. When the youth groups got meeting, training\u2019s unions, and
\nvacation bible school, we needed more buildings and more space. This brought us into a
\nbuilding program. This building program took place after the Second World War more
\nthan any other time. All along during the 30\u2019s and 40\u2019s we would get into smaller
\nbuilding programs, but we had to build several building programs. The building
\nprograms were a little difficult because you had to raise money, and you had to live
\nwithin the amount that the people could raise. So, this was a designated service that we
\nhad to give. I learned one thing that if any church that wants a new building can get it. If
\nthey are really serving there and help. Everybody helps it seems, all the people will give
\neven if they are not members there, and they are interested in the community and church;
\nthey will give their funds. Sometimes the denomination can make small donations, but
\nthat is relatively a small one because of the fact that that denomination cannot build a
\nchurch at every place. I remember one case in which you find out the people that want it.
\nThen you sketch out a little floor plan and let the people be aware of what you are trying
\nto build and what it might cost. Let them vote for what they want. I remember going to
\nthis one place. I was invited to go as a pastor because I was expected to build a church
\nthere. The church was somewhat divided. They wanted to have it on the side of the hill,
\nand another man wanted to put it down on the level ground, which seemed much better,
\nbut they decided to put it up on the side of the hill. We drew a plan for the church.
\nSince they wanted a sanctuary for about 40 by 60 that would be accommodate the crowds
\nthat were expected to be there. You have trust. You have to trust a roof if you are to
\nhave much over 30 feet across. So we built the brick and trusted the roof. So we went to
\nRichmond for the people there to draw a plan for the roof.<\/p>\n

JC: Who actually did the building?<\/p>\n

WA: So we got one of the men in the community to take charge of that. This man was
\nquite funny. He was man who never had done of this work. He was a very
\nknowledgeable kind of fellow and likable kind of fellow, but the problem was that we
\nhad one who was a preacher, but he didn\u2019t have work to do. He wanted to run the church.
\nHe was very anxious to tell everybody what to do, but he didn\u2019t have any idea of how to
\ntell \u2018em. This man that he had decided to pay attention to this old preacher who had
\nbroke up the whole building project for the last 40 years. So, I went over and asked him
\nto build that church, and he said that he would for God and for his children- he had some
\npeople there, and he said yeah. He liked to take a little beer every once in awhile, and
\nsome of the people criticized that and said that the whole thing would fall down because
\nhe would have a beer bottle under it or something. I do not know if he drank any beer
\nwhen he was building the whole thing or not, but I do know one thing. I was the only
\npreacher that asked that man to do anything other than give his money. And when it
\ncame time to die, he asked me to preach his funeral because he wanted me to tell the
\nfolks that I was the only pastor that asked him to do anything except give his money in
\nhis church. They didn\u2019t consider him anything because he had a reputation of
\noccasionally taking a beer. He never was intoxicated, and he was very dedicated, and I
\nwas awfully proud. So when the folks were finding fault we were building a church. We
\ngot the building up and found that we had put the brick on the inside and sealed it with a
\nhard kind of ceilotecks. We had a terrible acoustic problem. I would get in there and
\npreach and it would rebound about 3 or 4 times around. We had to get in there and spend
\nsome more money. Finally we ran out of money, and the deacons came around to me and
\nasked me, \u201cwhat do we do now?\u201d And first of all I said \u201cwe got a bank right up here and
\nit has a lot of money.\u201d And they said that well how are we going to get it? I said that if
\nyou fellows can meet me Saturday here in town, and we will go up and talked to the loan
\nofficer and find out what we do. Which we did, and we borrowed some 33 hundred
\ndollars to finish the church. We took about 3 years to pay that off, and we did it. I told
\nthem I didn\u2019t want to leave the church in debt. I can smile and say it now in 30 days after
\nI paid it off they asked me to leave, and I found out the trouble was that I had voted for
\nthe wrong County Superintendent for Education. They didn\u2019t like the way I voted, so they
\nturned me off for someone else. I was very much pleased when at the time they had built
\na pastor\u2019s home after this, and they invited me to come back and help them dedicate the
\npastor\u2019s home. The lady that was giving the history of the church made the remark that it
\nseemed like everything in my ministry went smoother than it does at other times. So that
\nput me to a question at that time. I remember one of my friends was working on it. He
\nlooked out over the building and said that these people are going to have a wonderful
\nchurch, God is going to have a wonderful church here if the people will ever let Him in it.
\nSo we went on and built a church and it is still standing today. I remember another one
\nthat I built- or I led the church in building rather- this was an afternoon apartment.
\nSometimes in the Second World War we would run up with so many churches that we
\nwould have several in the afternoon. So this little church in the afternoon called me
\ndown there. I was pastoring along there. We had set up a time for revival meeting. The
\npeople down there had decided that they needed a church. We had another little 30 by 40
\nthat had been wrecked in the storm, but it just wasn\u2019t a big enough. We had 50 in Sunday
\nschools and no Sunday school rooms. We had training union, but no place for. So, we
\nstarted this revival and the managed to help me. The people kept talking about how they
\nwanted to build a church. So finally we all got together, we decided instead of having a
\nrevival we would get out there and see how much money we could raise for building a
\nchurch. We raised $800 I believe is what they had. The men of the church decided that
\nthey would all give enough logs to saw out 1,000 board seed of lumber. It was quite a
\ngroup of them that did this. We had enough \u2013 more than enough lumber to build the
\nchurch. For the summer the lumber that wasn\u2019t dressed. We sawed it up and manage that
\nsawed the lumber said that y\u2019all folks are mighty anxious, and that if you all come down
\nhere and operate the mill except me sawing, then I will saw it up for you for what the fuel
\ncosts me. So that how we got our lumber sawed up. And then after they got the lumber
\nsawed up and stacked up there, then they said Brother Austin we\u2019ve got to gather our
\ncrops, but we will be back as soon as we get through with the crops. And they did. They
\ngathered the crops and in the meantime we had torn down the old church to put sheeting
\nto cover the other one. And we didn\u2019t have a building to talk. We put our benches out
\nthere under an oak tree. From the time that we tore it down and through the March of the
\nnext year- all during the winter- we had those benches under that tree. The strangest
\nthing happened, I was proudest to tell it the next year, I have never seen a time during
\nthat winter when we couldn\u2019t sit (maybe we would have overcoats on) outside on those
\nbenches under the oak tree in the morning or whatever time we met. I don\u2019t think we
\never missed a single one. Until we got the church done and 4 heaters in it, we never
\nmissed in account of being cold. That one March day we went into the house and lit the 4
\nheaters we had to open up and cool off. I know that the Lord wanted the church built
\nbecause He directed the kind of weather we had. We finished that church and we never
\nhad more than $800 in the bank account in one time. We built a 30 by 50 sanctuary, 4
\nSunday school rooms, and I believe\u2026and I don\u2019t know what else. Well, one man who
\nwasn\u2019t to good of a Christian gave one big pine tree, that forest pine. He cut it down, and
\nit sawed out enough lumber to seal the entire church. It was a big forest pine with hearth
\npine lumber. We had sold or swapped some of the lumber for them to clean and smooth
\nout the side of the material for the seal. What happens when you go back and think about
\nthose things, those are some of the accomplishments and many of building projects was
\nsmall; we usually had them early. I remember in the church I served in the delta; I went
\nthere in a building program and served there a couple years till we finished that. They put
\nin pews after I left. Later on they decided they wanted a more expensive church, so this
\nbuilding program can get a hold of you and take you far. So, those building programs
\nwere a blessing to us. A lot of people do things \u2013 the more you get people to do for you
\nthe happier you can be.<\/p>\n

JC: What would you say was the general cost of raising a church? Or would you say it
\nwould be dependent on different people providing?<\/p>\n

WA: If you could get to talk to builders they could tell you what you needed. Most of
\nthe people were aware of the size church you wanted, but that also wasn\u2019t too much
\ntrouble to figure out what it cost. This one church, which I was telling you about, that I
\nhad to get that man to buy it. They said that if you had been here when we started this we
\nhad planned to spend 10 thousand dollars. I made up my mind that we wouldn\u2019t spend 10
\nthousand on it. And we didn\u2019t, we spent 10, 600 dollars. The whole idea was that people
\nwere buying tractors about that time and taking about 3 or 4 years to pay for them. They
\nwanted to build a church that they could build in 3 months. I wouldn\u2019t take that. That
\nwasn\u2019t giving God a fair share. If you were going to spend 5 or 6 shares buying a tractor;
\nan automobile, and I think you should give God an equal sharing. We raised 6 thousand
\ndollars and the convention gave us $250, and then we borrowed 33 hundred. Then the
\nrest was just anything else we took it up locally.<\/p>\n

JC: Was there a general system of being called to different churches?<\/p>\n

WA: Well, one time I called the pastor\u2019s annually. I got in about when that was
\nchanging. People that called them annually liked the politics of the thing. They liked to
\nput up 2 or 3 and vote on it. I promoted the idea that if I was called to a church, and I
\nwas satisfactory producing what the people wanted then they would keep me, but if I
\ndidn\u2019t they would turn me off and get someone else to do it. Of course, Baptist people no
\none can tell the Baptist how to do because it is a democratic thing. It is one of the most
\ndemocratic things I have ever seen in my life- everybody has equal voice and anybody
\ncan suggest the program or vote on it. One vote counts as much as the other. The best
\nthing in that is that if you can keep the politics out of the thing, and if you go in there and
\nyou pastor the church and you please the people then you stay, but if you don\u2019t while
\nsomeone will tell you and you will be gone. Usually, I stayed from 3 to 4 years,
\nsometimes 5 or along there. One of the churches I stayed 7, and the finally last one I
\nhave been 10 years and 3 months. Usually the older you get the less they ask you to be
\nmoving around.<\/p>\n

JC: Where did you live? What kind of housing did you have?<\/p>\n

WA: Well we had different. Early part you had to furnish your own living. I remember
\nthe first pastor\u2019s home I lived in was donated to this church by a millionaire. He was just
\ntrying to help; he wasn\u2019t a Baptist. He had built the home virtually by himself; He had
\nbought the silver and the china. It was sitting right in the middle of 10 acres that
\nbelonged to the church. There was a big dug well to the north end of the house there and
\nthe porch. This was very comfortable by the way houses went by back then. It was
\nconsidered pretty good. Now some places put me to live in an old store building and had
\nadded on some side rooms and some various things for the boys to sleep in. We lived in
\nthat for 2 or 3 years or more. Then, when I was in MS delta I lived in a house that had
\njust been finished- it was not very good, but it was a home. In there we had running water
\nbecause we got our water from the well that was \u00bd of mile south of there. It came to the
\ntop of the ground with about 50 pounds of pressure. They put the pipes in there and let it
\nrun, and we didn\u2019t pump the water it just ran in the house from about \u00bd mile south there
\nwhere the school house was had a well that operated continuously. We had no lack of
\nwater there. Some of the water was not real good, but some of the conditions of the
\nhomes were not too good. However, over the years, I have been pleased to note that there
\nis definitely growth of number of people that have pastor homes and splendid homes that
\nthey have now. Now the homes now that they churches spend are 20 \u201330 thousand
\ndollars for a pastor\u2019s home, usually with a lot of the labor given and that sort of thing.
\nThey are really nice; this like everything else has improved over the years.<\/p>\n

JC: What part did you family play?<\/p>\n

WA: oh very much. You know the wife was always\u2026well, the first instance, for
\nexample, Vacation Bible school that we had at one of the churches. I was busy in revivals
\nand had not time to be there. We got notice from some of the girls in college that they
\nwould come and help us. The girls that came in help them stayed in our house \u2013 the
\npastor\u2019s home. My wife worked with them. She taught the juniors and everything. I
\nremember the story of one of the junior boy. She was trying to get the folks to bring the
\nBibles so they could study \u2018em. The wife told this neighbor boy that she wanted him to
\nbring a Bible tomorrow. I guess they were a little short of bibles, so on he decided that
\non the way to church there wasn\u2019t anything else he could bring except his big family
\nBible, and the wife had told him to bring his Bible. So, he upped with the thing under his
\narm, it was quite a load by the time he got there. He saw the wife and said, \u201cMrs. Austin,
\nI\u2019ve got my bible.\u201d I remember that time we had 17 enrolled in vacation bible school.
\nWe had our revivals somewhat after that. We had 17 additions. I don\u2019t know how this
\nhappened; we had as many additions as we did in the Bible school. The wife was very
\nactive in this, in fact more active than I was. The wife usually had to teach a Sunday
\nschool class or something. We had all these folks visiting in and out. That was one of
\nthe great teachers on the thing – the visitation we had. We had a little calf set that we
\ndecided to can it and make beef out of it. So, the neighbors came in and helped us kill the
\ncalf and cut it up and all that kind of thing. We had lots of many happy memories of
\nworking together on things like that. Anytime that you can promote actions with families
\ntogether and the family life, anything to promote this, are usually a good promotion for
\nyour church and care for and make a memory.<\/p>\n

JC: What would you say with the hardships in contrast with the rewards?<\/p>\n

WA: For instance now, second thing is that it was hardship on the wife because she had
\nto rub off on the rub board by her hand my shirts- I wore a lot of white shirt back then at
\nthe time- that was the____. They had to be starched and iron, and she did all that. We
\ndidn\u2019t have electric irons; we just had the old smoothing irons. She would have to build
\nup a fire out there and heat the irons. She would iron those shirts, and that was not very
\neasy, that was a great task. And being separated from home- sometimes you are 30 or 40
\nmiles away in a revival meeting. Sometimes we had to get neighbors to come in if the
\nwife got scared at night. Of course the rewards are very great- always is- regardless of
\nthe problems you have take because granted the more you deny yourself to God, the more
\nyour rewards seems that you get. If you are willing to put God first then always you have
\nrewards coming in.<\/p>\n

JC: Is there anything in particular you would like to share with us?<\/p>\n

WA: Now I can\u2019t think of anything particular now. There were many wonderful
\nexperience as I go along, but I do want to say this. I have met a lot of wonderful people
\nand walked hand in hand with them. I am certainly and indeed grateful to all the good
\nChristian people, who made our life livable and helped us to care for it and what God
\nwanted us to do. This is more gratitude than anything else is. I had rather be a Baptist
\npreacher than a President of the United States. You can really preach the truth; they
\ndon\u2019t hinder you. You can preach the truth and care for it, for God and where it is at
\nwhat you feel called to do. When you go back and you see people, and they thank you
\nfor the life that you lived before them and the help that you are mutually one to another
\nthen you feel like you have been worth a little bit to somebody.<\/p>\n

JC: Thank you.<\/p>\n

WA: I hope that helps you get a good grade.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

END OF DOCUMENT<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_spacing=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":637,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":99,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8801","page","type-page","status-publish"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/637"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8802,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8801\/revisions\/8802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}