July 23, 2001

Small-church pastor sees growth amid pain
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___SHERMAN--Clyde Grimes is living in bittersweet days.
___He's not especially enjoying these days, but he's doing more than surviving them--with help from his church.
___Grimes is pastor of Ida Baptist Church in Sherman. The church is not large, but it is healthy. While it runs less than two dozen in Sunday School, almost a dozen people have been baptized there since the beginning of the year.
___While Grimes and his people have found a way to communicate the love of Christ to the rural community that surrounds them, the pastor's own grief over the death of his wife, June, looms large.
___The couple was married 54 years, two months and one day before her death in March. "My wife was a devoted Christian. I've never known anyone as good, much less better," he said.
___The tragedy was compounded when he lost his oldest daughter June 21.
___Grimes, who has been in the ministry for more than 42 years, said God has seen him through his grief. It is the work of God's Spirit that has accounted for the 11 baptisms in a church that averages 17 people in Sunday School on a good day. And two more people are awaiting their turn at the baptistry.
___The first person to accept Christ came to the church in a somewhat unusual fashion--her son and his bride-to-be were seeing Grimes for pre-marital counseling. The mother came along to one of the initial sessions and was in church the following Sunday. She accepted Christ as her Savior.
___Soon after her son and his new wife returned from their honeymoon, they were in church. Grimes was preaching the Christmas story and said: "There was no room at the inn for Jesus. Is there room in your heart for him?"
___"That young man came down and said, 'Pastor, I've got room in my heart for Jesus,'" Grimes said. "From there it just kind of took off. People just started coming and saying, 'I should have done this a long time ago.'"
___Grimes takes no credit whatsoever for the recent spurt in people coming to know Jesus.
___"The secret that I've learned the hard way through losing my wife--I guess it's not really a secret though because it's right there all through the Bible--is that through my weakness he's made strong," he said. "I just preach the Bible, I believe there's power in the word, and I just preach what it says.
___"There is a powerful movement of the Holy Spirit through the sweet people of that church. They love the Lord Jesus Christ; they're evangelistic, they visit, they hold Bible schools, they pray, they invite their friends to church. They're really dedicated to that church growing in the Lord."
___"I'm 72 years old, and I have an assurance that God put me in this church, and I plan to be here the rest of my life," Grimes said.
___He moved to North Texas from Houston in 1999 after his wife had a heart attack. Ida Baptist Church had been in decline, and First Baptist Church in Tom Bean had been sending lay preachers to the congregation to keep it going. In December 1999, Grimes was asked if he would lead the congregation.
___He told them he would be the church's pastor, but his first priority was going to be taking care of his wife.
___"And I did, I took care of her the very best I could, every day."
___And while Clyde Grimes loved his wife, Christ loved his church.

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