By Louis Husser ROBERT, La. (LBM) -- On a dreary Sunday morning in January 1992, my family and I drove from our home in Picayune, Mississippi, to the little town of Robert, Louisiana. I had been asked to preach in view of a call to be the senior pastor of what was then known as First Missionary Baptist Church of Robert (and later became Crossgate First Baptist Church). I told my wife, “If the church does three specific things we will not be coming back.” In all honesty I am not sure why I accepted the invitation to interview for this position. I was formerly a senior pastor and the experience, to say the least, had been tumultuous and not one that I wished to repeat. On our drive home, we laughed as we discussed the three “forbidden things,” as the church did all three and that I had accepted their invitation to return the very next Sunday! I wanted to build men. My heart burned to teach the word by example and to allow God to work through my human efforts to change the lives of families by building strong men to be the spiritual leaders of those families. The only way I knew to accomplish this was to be in a leadership role as the senior pastor. My confirmation of this call occurred that day at that little church in … [Read more...]