Generational Fruit

On Sunday, our rector, Jeff Miller, shared how meaningful it was to baptize five babies. He mentioned that the mother of one of the babies had been his and Kristin’s babysitter when they and their four children lived in Beaufort! He highlighted what a joy it is that multiple generations of families are part of the life of St. Philip’s. 

Two weeks earlier, I’d had my own “generational reunion” at church. On that day, I was serving as a chalice bearer, and during communion, two adult women approached me out of the blue and asked, “Are you Martha Vetter?” As it turns out, they were precious sisters who had attended my Good News Clubs in the early to mid-1980s when they were six and eight years old. 

Good News Clubs, also known as “Backyard Bible Clubs,” are opportunities for children to gather midweek in a family’s home and hear flannel board Bible stories and big book missionary stories. When I worked as a nurse in the old days at St. Francis Xavier Hospital (now MUSC’s Rutledge Tower), I’d run home, change clothes, and rush immediately to a home on Gibbs Street that hosted the Good News Clubs.At the first club meeting, we had seven children. The next week, twenty children attended. The week after that, thirty-five children came, and in our fourth week, forty-two children showed up! Eventually, I was teaching two Good News Clubs and one club for older girls called Bible Club.

Soon, another home started hosting meetings for much younger children. In time, we had one hundred twenty children attending our club meetings every week!

These two women who approached me, Caroline Kerr Thompson and Helen Kerr Kemp, had attended my club meetings––as did two other girls who are now mothers who currently attend St. Philip’s, Katharine Bair and Dorothy Lancaster. And Dorothy now serves as St. Philip’s Director of Ministry to Children and Families! After the worship service, we had such a sweet time catching up. The older sister, Caroline, lives with her family in Athens, Georgia, where her husband is an ordained PCA minister who works with graduate students in the Reformed Christian Fellowship at UGA. The younger, Helen, lives in Greensboro, NC, and her daughter is attending UNC-Chapel Hill in the fall––she will be participating in a Christian fellowship on campus after she arrives.

Caroline sent me an email the next day with a photo that we took together. She remarked, “I hope this picture encourages you that Gospel seeds were planted and took root. I thank God for you!” 

You can’t imagine how special her message was to me. It is especially meaningful to hear words of encouragement from my “spiritual children.” I’ve never had my own children, but I thank God that His faithfulness is great and my quiver is full.