The power of influence is not always realized

By DR. DAVID L. CHANCEY
Religion Columnist

When a job transfer brought my parents and me to southwest Atlanta in 1958, my parents joined Jefferson Avenue Baptist Church in East Point.

I was a 1-year-old, so that church family was very instrumental in shaping my initial spiritual formation and in providing me a solid foundation in my church life. My first remembrances of church were from Jefferson Avenue. They were a special church family, and my experience there was a precious part of my early childhood.

Roy Hinchey was pastor. He was a great preacher and a highly respected man of God. I did not know it then, but God was using his ministry and influence to plant seeds that later grew into my call to full-time ministry. Brother Hinchey set a great pastoral example and I must have watched him closely.

I distinctly remember the time we were having a church-wide fellowship after evening service. I was only about 4, but I recall that for some reason unknown to me now, I walked onto the stage in the fellowship hall, climbed onto a chair behind the pulpit, opened my children's Bible and begin "preaching" my sermon to the punch and cookie crowd.

Ruth Hinchey punched her husband and said, "Look, Roy, that's exactly what you look like in the pulpit!" From that point on, Brother Hinchey called my "his little preacher boy," even after another job transfer moved us to Milledgeville in 1966.

I continued to follow Brother Hinchey's ministry when he joined the staff of the Georgia Baptist Convention. I was proud that Georgia Baptists had chosen him to pioneer a new ministry in church-minister relations. I remember that Brother Hinchey took many interim pastorates. I even remember seeing in The Christian Index that he served a church in College Park named Second Baptist. In fact, he was interim pastor twice at Second Baptist. Second Baptist relocated and became the current McDonough Road Baptist Church in Fayetteville.

When I went to Nassau as a BSU summer missionary in 1977, (it was a tough assignment, but someone had to do it), Hinchey had spent several months there serving at Central Baptist just prior to my arrival. So once again I crossed paths with his influence. I ended up going to seminary, and was eventually ordained to the ministry Jan. 1, 1984 at First Baptist, Milledgeville. I invited him to preach my ordination sermon. It was a great message for a special day.

During my first pastorate in Carmel, Ind., I invited the Hincheys to preach a revival. I was privileged to host them and spend time with them in the late 1980s. They were well received and he did a great job.

I returned to Georgia in 1991. When Brother Hinchey died, I did not learn of his death until the week following his funeral. I was so disappointed to miss it. I phoned Ruth Hinchey to express my sympathy and she told me she had some of Roy's stuff for me. I drove to East Point to visit her, and she gave me a box of his books and sermon manuscripts. Among the aged notebook paper containing hardly legible, handwritten sermons was my ordination message. I was thrilled to discover this sentimental sermon that meant so much to me.

Mrs. Hinchey also gave me his robe. Roy Hinchey stood over six feet tall and I'm a towering 5'6", so I've never been able to use it. But I have the robe hanging in my office, not so much as a tribute to a pastor that I thought so highly of, but as a constant reminder of his influence and impact.

It's amazing to think about one's influence. We are either influencing persons positively or negatively. We are either setting a good example or a poor example. We never know how closely we're being watched, so we have to be careful to do right and to be right. More likely than not, we're touching someone's life. And we're probably not even aware of the power of our influence.

I'm grateful for the life and influence of Roy and Ruth Hinchey, and for the loving support of the Jefferson Avenue Baptist Church family. Looking back, they had a great influence on my life, and they probably didn't realize the extent of their influence. They were just being what a nurturing church family ought to be.

The Rev. Dr. David L. Chancey is pastor, McDonough Road Baptist Church, Fayetteville.

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