I have often said that my greatest spiritual heroes were members of my own family. One of them, my uncle Ross Rogers, passed away Thursday.

A minister for forty years, most recently to Senior Adults at Walnut Ridge Baptist Church near the Arlington/Mansfield (TX) border, he exemplified grace and peace to everyone – even those who were not gracious nor peaceful to him. For 20 years he served as Minister of Music to a pastor who treated him poorly and wanted him gone. After 20 years, he succeeded in having him fired. Around me, Ross was careful to guard his words about this man when lesser men, such as myself, would have let regrettable words fly.

Randy Weeaks, pastor of Walnut Ridge, found Ross attending his church, realized the depths of wisdom and God’s hand on him, and hired him. He was treated like a prince at that church. They will do it one more time in a Sunday afternoon funeral. In spite of the fact that our family is filled with Southern Baptist ministers or wives of SBC ministers, but because the church can turn out in droves, as Ross deserves, the funeral is on Sunday. I am humbled and grateful that I have been asked to participate.

For the last nine years, he lived victoriously over pancreatic cancer. For those of you who understand how aggressive and deadly pancreatic cancer is, you know that God’s hand was demonstrably visible in his lasting this long. There were many times the doctors were at a loss as to explain why the cancer was just inactive, without him undergoing any treatment.

Ross is my Dad’s older brother, the first of four (Dad is #2) and was always considered a bright star in our family. Many is the time that Dad found out that Ross was coming home from college when he hit the door and smelled brownies – Ross’ favorite. Of course, according to Dad, the only time brownies were ever made were when Ross was coming and then no one was allowed to touch them but Ross. If you got leftovers, you were fortunate.

Ross got to know his wife, my Mom’s twin sister, when he gave her a ride to come see me after I was newborn. That’s right, my Mom’s twin sister married my Dad’s older brother. He was my uncle in both directions. Aunt Suz loved him dearly to the end of his life. Over the last 9 years, she worked hard to help him deal with his cancer and in the last months, as things got much more difficult, she resigned from teaching to be there for him. As much as she loved to teach, she loved him much more. Before he passed he was able to tell her how grateful he was as they spent some of his last days together. Fortunately, Jenny and Liz, my cousins, were able to say good-bye as well. We should all be so blessed.

Ross, by the way, was classmate to several SBC luminaries at Mississippi College. Most notable among these are Morris Chapman and Jerry Rankin. He never sought to climb any ladders in the SBC, though he had connections if he wanted them. He was content to be a strong conservative who ministered in the place God gave him.

Ross was the first one to introduce me to biographies of great missionaries like Carey and Judson. His heart for missions was immense. His heart for God was moreso.

One final memory of Ross, and I hope you will enjoy it. When Ross would come home from college, Will, the youngest brother (in grade school at the time) longed for Ross’ attention. He would pester Ross until Ross would drag him out into the front lawn, tie him up, and come inside – leaving Will to bake in the sun and hollering for Ross to come get him. Everyone inside would just snicker. After a while, Ross would go out and ask if Will would promise to leave him alone. Will would swear that he would, if Ross would just untie him. Ross would let him go and they would go inside where Will kept his distance – for at least half an hour. After that, the pestering would begin again. After all, Ross was a great big brother, and who wouldn’t want his attention?

Posts with related content

• No Related Post