Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
As I write, I’m just a few days away from attending another Biannual Coke County Pastors’ Conference.
By the way, “biannual” is not one of my mother tongue’s brightest children. Wishy-washy, and depending on which authorities you consult, it can mean either “occurring twice a year” or “occurring every two years.” “Semi-annual” and “biennial” already handle “every two years.” I need “biannual” to pay for its keep, quit playing it both ways, fully adopt the best verdict, and mean “occurring twice a year.”
The Coke County Pastors’ Conference occurs twice a year. Biannual.
But if you call Coke County to inquire about the conference, most folks — county, clergy, Chamber of Commerce, and the smartest yard dogs — won’t know anything about it, even though it’s been happening biannually for well-nigh 40 years.
That’s probably because the four conference leaders, billed on all advertising as having accumulated collectively over 200 years of ministry experience, are the full roster of planners, speakers, attendees, and target audience members.
My three brothers and I are, you see, the four sons of G. B. and Wilma Shelburne. And we’re the “Conference.”
Oh, and I exaggerated a bit about the advertising; honestly, there is none, though we do send each other notices about the upcoming event each time around, including inquiries as to whether any one of us has a pending funeral, wedding, church meeting, etc., at which he might need to officiate. Anything that might affect conference attendance. (And it had better be a very good reason!)
The conference is held at the lovely and historic Key Place in Robert Lee, Texas. Well, we think it’s lovely, though our wives would pay good money not to stay there. (We love them, but they’d likely feel the need to engage in pernicious behavior, vacuuming and such). But it is certainly historic, our Granddaddy and Grandmother Key’s old home place.
Some sessions are held at the old kitchen table. Same table as a thousand years ago when we were kids except now we’ve got a light fixture on the ceiling above the table, not just old wires holding a socket and bulb with moths and other flying insects in continual orbit.
The best sessions are night meetings around the fire pit in the back “patch.” (“Yard” would be far too pretentious.) On one side is the pecan orchard. One tree is hardly an orchard, but this sole survivor is grandfathered in. On the other side is a densely brushed creek, surely home to some interesting neighbors we never see.
In the midst of other serious business at the conference, we manage to confer some on, well, pretty much everything.
Granddaddy Key was a wise man. When he planned and built this humble Key Place in 1928 he blessed far more folks than he could imagine.
I wonder. What might the Father of us all have in mind even for this little place when “the heavens and earth” are all made new? And when our Lord says he has gone to prepare a “place” for us, that sounds exciting to me. All God’s family together.
I doubt we’ll need to do much conferring. Just some amazing praising!
Curtis Shelburne writes about faith for The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact him at:
