Religion: A Pastor Ponders

A father’s influence

By Pastor William Jenkins

June 23, 2006

The late Dr. Bill Hinson, former pastor of First United Methodist Church in Houston, tells of a time when he and his seventh grade son, John, were engaged in a game of one-on-one basketball. They were having one of their better games, but the phone kept ringing.

It was a girl who wanted to be John’s steady girlfriend. He would go and talk for a moment and hang up, and she would call him back. He was exasperated because he wanted to spend some time with his Dad but she kept interrupting. Finally, the conversation went sour and he said, “Look, I don’t want to be your boyfriend. I don’t want to go steady with you.”

When the girl responded with an ugly word, he said, “And that’s another thing I don’t like about you. You have a dirty mouth.”

She said, “John, don’t you know everybody in our class talks like that but you.”

He said, “That’s all right; my daddy doesn’t talk like that, and until I hear him talk like that, I’m not going to talk like that either.”

Later John told his dad what had transpired between him and the girl. Dr. Hinson reported: “As soon as I had a few moments, I found a private place of prayer and I made a commitment to a son who by now has heard every kind of language there is. I know that, but I made a commitment that morning that even though he’d heard all that, he would never hear it from his daddy.”

Children are waiting for their fathers to set an example in their speech, in their conduct, in their faith, and in their love. Ponder that this Father’s Day.

League City United Methodist Church is located at 1411 Main Street (FM 518), one block east of Interstate 45. For information, call the church offices at 281-332-1557 or visit the website at

HYPERLINK - http://www.lcumc.org