Washing the Disciples' Feet

Vignettes of White Oak Original Free Will Baptist Church of Bladenboro, North Carolina

Washing the Disciples' Feet is a book of reflections upon my growing-up experiences in the White Oak Original Free Will Baptist Church in Bladenboro, North Carolina. As a teenager whose immediate and extended family provided not only the congregation's majority membership but also the leadership from the founding of the church until my departure for military service, I was positioned to observe, participate and, especially, to be influenced by church doctrine and practices, by church leaders and influential members, and by the general harmony and occasional conflict that occurred among its members. Like dozens of other young people--principally my cousins--whose families dominated the congregation, White Oak Church was instrumental in shaping my character as it did theirs. Through vignettes concerning life in the church during my youth, this book is intended to pay tribute to past members of a religious institution that continues to thrive though in a different age.