At Weeks End
My grandparents, Sherman and Ada Oliphant, were two of eight charter members of Humboldts First Baptist Church, where Beverly and I were married in 1965 and once again attend. Ive become well acquainted with Jerry Neeley, the minister.
Ive often said everyone has a story to tell. Neeley does.
JERRY NEELEYS career in music, an adjunct to his ministry, has its genesis in schoolboy curiosity.
As a shy youth in a small central Illinois town, Neeley never had dreams of the stage, or pulpit.
Even so, the curiosity of a seldom-used guitar stored in his brothers closet would not abate until one day he sneaked in and tugged it out. He strummed a bit, the sounds more noise than melody. But, fascination came to roost, and by trial and error Neeley taught himself how to play, picking up chords from radio programs.
Practice may not have made perfect, but it did prompt friends to pressure me to be in a high school talent show. Neeley reluctantly accepted the challenge, with a little help from a Ronnie Mil-sap song. My teachers and friends were impressed.
Next he performed with his churchs choir, continuing to play and sing by ear, which seemed to work. He didnt read music, still doesnt. When he writes a song he puts the words hes written by mentally humming a tune.
Neeley said he has had a helping hand. I look at my past and see God was leading in what I was doing.
Instead of following the crowd to college after high school, Neeley enlisted in the Army, with hopes of learning a trade. For 13 years at U.S. bases and in Korea and Germany, Neeley serviced the fuel and electrical systems in vehicles, helicopters and even heavy tanks. He continues to work under the hoods of cars brought to the Baptist parsonage.
Neeley devoted most of his first Fort Knox paycheck to buy his first new guitar and quickly took on with military bands.
We had concerts at the different bases, kind of like the singspirations we have in churches today.
When a chaplain heard Neeley give his testimony through music, he was encouraged to join the staff and for the remainder of his military service Neeley was involved in several services each Sunday.
He also earned a college degree while in the Army, often working all day on base, attending evening classes and then studying, sometimes until 2 or 3 in the morning.
But not everything was going according to script.
Just as his military career was coming to an end, so was his family. In 1995, my family fell apart. One reaction was to leave the church. But in a few years he would not only return but become more involved. By 1999, he was in the ministry as an associate.
