Why ‘pounding’ the new minister is a good thing

‘Hospitality is so important and often more important than many longtime members who have never moved realize.’

By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle

WACO, Texas — My youth minister son, Brady, and his wife, Mary, got a “pounding” when they moved to Texas.

Ordinarily, that might worry me.

But in the Christian context, it’s a positive thing — not a sign of an abusive congregation.

“Pounding” refers to the bygone practice — stretching at least back to the 19th century — of church members arriving at the new minister’s door with a pound of something, be it coffee, sugar, flour or honey.

“Of course, a pound wasn’t always a pound,” notes
TexasReader.com, a Lone Star history and culture website. “Someone might give a ham, a bushel of corn or a jug of molasses. Then they would spend the evening visiting with the new preacher, getting to know him and his family.”

For the Crestview Church of Christ — where Brady and Mary, both 23, began their first full-time ministry work a few months ago — the tradition remains alive.

Read the full column.

This column appears in the November 2016 print edition of The Christian Chronicle.