Published: October 27, 2009 04:34 pm      

Larue Barnes: Celebrating 50 years of ministry

In observance of 50 uninterrupted years of service as a minister, John and Virginia Glover will be honored at Field Street Baptist Church on Nov. 1.

In his youth his goal was to become a basketball coach.

John “Johnny” Neal Glover was born Aug. 10, 1940, to John and Ruth Glover of Gober, a small community near Bonham.

His father, a mechanic, owned and operated his own garage near their home and took his family faithfully to worship at Gober Baptist Church where he served as a deacon.

Beginning as a preschooler, Johnny shot baskets every day until dark — his hands, dirtied from the soil of his packed-down court.

At Gober High, he played guard on the Plowboys varsity basketball team, becoming an expert dribbler.

That skill led him to play basketball at Austin College, where he was awarded a full scholarship.

As a junior he was presented the Pat E. Hooks award as the college’s outstanding player.

His childhood was filled with hard work, self confidence and amazing talent.

“I’ve always loved to sing,” Johnny said. “I remember my first solo at church when I was 5 years old. Mother came up and moved me from behind the pulpit in the middle of the song so that she could see me.

“I sang on Saturdays on KFYN Radio at Bonham with Jean, my older sister, accompanying me at the piano. That was great fun, I thought, so at 7, I entered this talent contest where I sang ‘Mammy’ like Al Jolson, down on one knee with full makeup. I really belted it out and felt that I should win. But a blind boy, who was really a poor singer, beat me out with the judges.”

He grinned and said he figured that was show business. But he avoided contests after that.

His mother saw to it that he had piano and voice lessons.

The Gober School closed at “cotton-picking time,” and Johnny worked hard on the farms of his uncles.

He chopped and picked cotton and baled hay but never was encouraged to learn auto mechanics in his father’s garage.

“I’d ask my dad if he needed me to work, but all he would let me do was clean up the place a little. He’d say that my uncles needed me on their farms.”

Johnny graduated from Gober High School in 1958.

Enrolled in Austin College in Sherman the next fall, he was grateful for the scholarship, the only way he could pay his tuition.

Coming from a Class B school into a strong academic environment presented its challenges.

The church had been a part of his life as far back as he could remember.

He publicly professed his faith in Christ at a revival when he was 11 but said he made that decision much earlier because of his parents’ teachings.

The summer before his senior year in high school he had told God he would serve him in some special way.

Johnny met Virginia Neal from Bonham that year.

“The first time I saw Johnny, he gave a wonderful devotional speech on prayer at an associational youth meeting where kids from all the towns around attended,” Virginia said.

Johnny grinned and said, “When I met Virginia, my prayers were answered.”

They began dating and attending church events together. She didn’t have a telephone, so he called her grandmother who lived down the road from her and left messages.

Virginia was the oldest of four children.

Her parents did shift work at the local cotton mill in Bonham, so she rode the bus to and from school.

She had many friends and was chosen homecoming queen at Bonham High School her senior year. But for a time, Johnny distanced himself from her.

“I thought I needed to think more about basketball and my studies there on campus,” he said. “I needed time to think about what God wanted me to do.”

He remembered when he was 16, a mentor, Pastor Harry Ball of the Baptist Church in Dodge City, convinced him he should direct the music at a revival at his church.

“I was amazed that he thought I could do that. They took up money for me afterwards. I felt guilty about taking it and placed it in their offering plate before I left.”

In 1959, while in college, he became music director for Boyd Baptist Church in Bonham, Virginia’s church, and at First Baptist Church in Van Alstyne.

“When John came to my church, he was dating someone else, and so was I,” Virginia said. “Eventually, we started dating again. A few months later, he came to my house and asked me to go to the church to talk. I didn’t know what to expect — he surprised me with an engagement ring and asked me to marry him.”

Johnny and Virginia were married June 6, 1961, in Bonham. Because he worked more hours and did student teaching, he couldn’t play basketball his senior year — a difficult decision.

After graduating in 1962 he enrolled in Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

He chose a double major in seminary, with 130 hours in music education.

He was minister of music and education at East Baptist Church in Denison and later at North Park Baptist Church in Sherman.

He commuted to Fort Worth daily to attend seminary.

After graduating from seminary in 1966, the couple moved to Lubbock, where he served for seven years as a minister of music and education at Monterey Baptist Church.

“I loved the people there, but I felt that God was calling me to Pampa, where I served at First Baptist Church for over 29 years,” he said. “I have never been at any church where I wanted to leave. I have always loved the people and felt that they loved me.”

In fall 2001, he went home to pastor his home church at Gober part time and to work as a music associate for the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

In 2004, Glover came to Field Street Baptist Church in Cleburne as its first minister of senior and single adults.

He directs the Joyful Sound senior adult choir and heads up the Young at Heart ministry.

Third-, fourth- and fifth-graders make up his young musicians choir.

He teaches a Monday Bible study and visits the homebound and sick throughout the week and plans activities for singles.

Virginia directs a children’s choir and teaches a woman’s Sunday school class.

“John Glover epitomizes what it means to serve the Lord and his church with passion and enthusiasm,” said Dr. John Hall, pastor of Field Street Baptist Church. “He is exemplary in his ministry. There is no telling how many lives he has significantly impacted through these many years. He is indeed one of God’s finest servants. It is our joy at Field Street Baptist Church to observe and celebrate this milestone with John and Virginia.”

The Glovers have three children, Stephen Glover of Flower Mound, Teresa Glover of Plano and Dr. Michael Glover of Mansfield. They have three grandsons, Jeremy, Andre and Garrett Glover.

Glover remembers how he dreaded telling his father he wouldn’t be there to take over the family garage.

“It was before my senior year in high school,” he said. “I had attended Lake Lavon Baptist Encampment and made a commitment of my life for the Lord. I was his only son. I was afraid to go home. Who would take over my dad’s business? I took the easy way out and told my mother first. I knew she would tell him. Two days later Dad came in my room after supper — an ominous sign.

“He asked, ‘So you think you know what you need to do?’

“I said I did.”

“When you were little I was stricken with what I thought was going to be a life-threatening illness,” his father said. “At that time I asked God to give me the health and strength — to see you through the seminary.”

“I was astonished that my father had never told me,” Johnny said. “That was why he wouldn’t train me to be a mechanic. He understood God’s game plan before I did.”

Johnny will lead the music at 8:30 and 11 a.m. Nov. 1, with his previous pastor from Pampa, Dr. Claude Cone, presenting the morning sermon.

A churchwide reception will follow the evening service at 6 p.m. Guests are invited to attend.



Larue Barnes may be reached at laruebarnes@yahoo.com.