I wonder how far across America I would have to travel before I’d stopped hearing stories about Preacher Miller.

It is not surprising that he has been a regular topic in this place since we began in 1997. That is to be understood, though, since the old-time, backwoods, tell-it-like-it-is, church of Christ preacher climbed the pulpit steps at the church on Murphy Avenue for over 50 years, including all of my growing-up years.

If you knew him - or if you happened to run into him before he died in December of ‘89 - you couldn’t help but sense his uniqueness. Perhaps what got your attention was the immaculate black suit he always wore; or the powerful, raspy voice that could raise the rafters; or his unbashful sharing of the gospel wherever he was, often with the use of business cards that had the face of Jesus on them. To say he was unique is an understatement. I’d say he was a LaGrange hero.

But Preacher Miller was not just known in these parts. He is known far and wide. There is no telling how many churches he helped establish across this country back in the 40s and 50s. It was probably not too far short of a hundred. That must have been the age of revival, before television was popular and entertainment was king. People would come out to revivals for the fun of it, didn’t matter what church was putting it on.

I thought of all of this as I worked this summers with the church up in Lexington, a little Oklahoma town a thousand miles removed from LaGrange. I visited with a longtime member of the church there one evening, and before we finished she said, “By the way, you did know your grandfather baptized me.”

I did not know that. But I found out that he not only baptized Luvean, but he also baptized Arlene Cloud, one of my best friends in Lexington. One night back in the 50s while Preacher Miller was holding a meeting not far away over in Washington, Oklahoma, several of the young people decided it was time to be baptized.

“Preacher Miller marched us all down to the river,” said Luvean, “and he baptized the whole bunch of us.”

This LaGrange preacher not only helped establish churches across the country and baptized hundreds of people - maybe a thousand or more - he also debated any and every body who took exception with a belief brother Miller held. He always debated in a good spirit. I’ve heard that - at the end of a debate - he would stand up and holler out in his loud, raspy voice:

“All right, let’s shake hands and be friendly!”

That would ease whatever tension might be in the building that night.

The other evening, Luvean’s dad, Mr. Raymond Lindsey, caught me in the back of the Washington church where Grandad had preached years ago. And he told me this story:

He said he was there when Preacher Miller debated an educated man up in Oklahoma City back in the 50s named Joe Crumbly. They debated regarding how many cups were to be used in the communion. Preacher Miller started out as a young man believing in two cups or more, but he came over to the one-cup belief some years later and defended that practice until the day he died.

Mr. Lindsey said that in the debate Mr. Crumbly spoke first. Lindsey sat up near the front with a friend named Bob Cargill. Mr. Crumbly was an eloquent speaker and a smart man, and about halfway through Cargill elbowed Lindsey, and said, “Preacher Miller’s got his work cut out for him.”

Lindsey shook his head in agreement.

Crumbley finished up, and before he got to his seat Preacher Miller was already running up to the podium. He was seldom a man who would be out-quoted on the Bible, nor was he slow in getting started.

Lindsey said Preacher Miller hit that pulpit preaching and never slowed down, sweat dripping from his face the whole time. He took one of Crumbley’s arguments and turned to the Bible for a response; then he took another one and did the same. One by one he went down the line, pausing only a time or two to catch a breath.

About halfway through Preacher Miller’s presentation, Cargill elbowed Lindsey again, and said,

“I believe Preacher Miller can take care of his self.”

Steven Bowen welcomes comments at steven.bowen@redoakisd.org