Growing up as a preacher’s kid in a Pentecostal denomination, we never took a real family vacation. The only “vacation” was when we travelled to Macon, Georgia for our annual state convention. During those days the conventions were held every year at either the City Auditorium or Macon Coliseum. It was also in mid-July when temperatures were close to those on the surface of the sun. The excitement for me was staying in a hotel and eating out for three days and two nights. Yes, it was fine dining as we are at Shoney’s or Denny’s.
If you have never attended a church convention, this is a time where people from the same denomination in the state gather for about three days of preaching, singing, presentations and business. It ended with the pastor appointments for each church.
During the conventions, Dad liked to sit as close as he could to the front and could sit there for the ENTIRE convention. Mom did not so it was nice when she decided to walk around and catch up with people she knew in the hallways outside of the convention. When the conventions were held at the City Auditorium, it was in the downtown area and near stores and shops like the old Woolworths. She would take a break and take me with her and get back before the convention adjourned for lunch or dinner. Dad would always ask where we had been and would roll his eyes when Mom told him.
Meals were fun too We would either go to the S&S Cafeteria downtown or Shoney’s where I always got the latest Big Boy comic book. Being Pentecostal meant some interesting moments in the restaurants when some in our group would pray a very loud prayer before their meals.
With my Dad being the pastor of some of the smaller churches, we couldn’t afford to stay in the nicer hotels in Macon. We were never able to stay in the "nice" Hilton downtown like some of the pastors from larger churches were able to do. I remember most years we stayed at the Alpine Lodge on Riverside Drive and also another one closer to downtown. They weren’t luxurious hotels but they had air conditioning which was a luxury to me.
When the City Auditorium was being renovated, the convention moved to the spacious Macon Coliseum on the other side of the Ocmulgee River. There was plenty of room and our group never filled up the place and barely spilled over past the floor level. In the early days I remember it was very cold sitting on the floor level. My Dad still insisted on sitting as close to the front as possible. Having spent my childhood sitting still in church for one hour was hard enough but I was not able to sit through a sermon doubleheader. As I got older and into my teens, I had friends I had met in church camps and spent time catching up with them in the areas outside of the convention. It was allowed as long as I wasn't gone for extended periods of time. I'm not sure how much trouble one could have gotten into around the Macon Coliseum but I guess there was something.
Traditionally on Saturday nights at the convention was youth night where the young people in the state would march into the convention area and have reserved seats in the front while there would be a review of the past summer's church camps, special presentations and a sermon directed at the youth. Can I be honest with you and say that I never liked those marches? Yet, I still filed in line with the others and marched to the front.
Usually the main sermon of the convention as the one by the state overseer. It was a much-anticipated sermon that everyone wanted to hear. They were also long sermons but there were actually a few I sat through.
The state overseer was what some called the state "bishop" or essentially my Dad's boss. He had the power to move us to another church each year. As I wrote earlier, the pastor appointments were the last item on the agenda for the convention. The list of 100 or so churches in the state would be listed in alphabetical order in the convention program. As the overseer would read out the appointments for each church we would all write them down. It was funny to hear everyone turn the page in unison. The reading of the appointments were always an anxious time as we were never 100% sure of our status until the overseer read his name out. There were a couple of times when my Dad's name was read for another church that we weren't told previously we would be moving. Appointment to another church was a bit stressful since the new church year started the first Sunday in August which meant you had two weeks to move. I'm not sure how we did it.
Being on program to preach a sermon at the convention was rare. My Dad was honored to get the opportunity to preach a sermon one year at the convention. He was nervous but did a good job. Afterwards he was constantly asking my Mom if he had done a good job. Yes, she actually sat through the sermon and did not go shopping or visiting during his sermon. She assured him that he had done a good job.
I wasn't a preacher so I never preached a sermon at the convention but I did get a chance to speak during a military program one year. I'm not sure how I did. It was hard to tell with the stage lights shining in my eyes. I'm sure I botched it up somehow.
I think the last time I attended the state convention was in July 2010. I'm still not sure about the date but I know it was to hear my friend, Gary Lewis, preach a sermon.
While some families were going to the beach every summer for their family vacation, we were going to Macon, Georgia to attend a church convention. Sure, I would have rather had a REAL vacation at the beach or in the mountains during the summer but that's how life was for me as a preacher's kid in our pentecostal church with the Alpine Lodge, Shoney's and Woolworths in Macon, Georgia.
