Friendship-West Baptist Church Documentary

1:49 Let's do it. It's a crazy story that blows my mind. Every time I think about how Frederick Haynes and Friendship West came together. 1975, the year before the birth of Friendship West, my dad asked me as I was graduating from my middle school, junior high school we called it then, would I join him in a road trip from San Francisco to Dallas. That meant I had to miss the trip to Disneyland with my class, graduation, all that stuff, but it was with my dad. And so I took the world trip with him. And we drove from San Francisco, or he drove from San Francisco to Dallas with a stop on the way from my sister's graduation in Southern California.

2:43 And so we got to Dallas. We get to Dallas, and Reverend Robert L. Castle, who went to school with my dad, evidently, at Bishop College, he wants to take us out to eat. And so we go out to eat. And I'm 14 years old, not really paying attention, but I recall him talking about, I'm going to start my own church. and that really tripped me out like, you know, how do you start your own church? I am a member of Third Baptist, which is, you know, in excess of 100 years old. So I'm tripping him. Why are you starting a church? I don't know anything about that, but I remember in that conversation between Reverend Castle and my dad that he's, you know, talking about starting a church, his vision and all that stuff. And as a 14 year old, I'm like, I don't see how that's going to happened. The next time I see Reverend Castle is three months later when my dad passes and he and his wife come to the funeral and you know I remember him greeting me. We joined the first year 1976. My sister passed that little A-frame church on Polk and told us I saw black people coming out of that building. So we amazed and that week our founding pastor Reverend Robert L. Castle knocked on my door inviting us to church. I said oh no I have a small child not yet two years old and he's not adjusted so we don't go to church anymore. He said that's okay that's what my church is mostly just children.

4:25 If he talks too much we'll tell him to shut up. If he moves around we'll tell him to sit down. I said, if you're sure that's okay, we'll be there. And the next Sunday we went and joined. So, of course, three years later, I'm at Bishop College and start preaching a year after that. And interestingly, one of the things that, again, blows my mind in the backstory is that I was scheduled to preach for an MLK service in Beaumont, Texas in January of 81. 81. Yeah, it had to be 81. And so I go to preach, but I have to drive because, you know, they told me, you know, get there the best way you can. We'll reimburse you. I said, cool. So I ended up driving, borrowing a car from frat brother get to Beaumont and only that's when I discovered that I'm there on the wrong Sunday I didn't have an assistant so I'm thinking I was supposed to be there the fourth Sunday in January it's the third Sunday in January and so the pastor's wife because the pastor is out of town I call her and ask you know I tell her I'm here and she says well you supposed to be here last Sunday what happened and so she said just come over and you can stay the night and then get back on the road in the morning. I had no money, I'd run out of gas and this was not good so I go over her house, stay the night while I'm asleep she calls her husband who's preaching out of town. He calls a friend and his friend says man I I need to preach you tomorrow because my guest is sick and he can't preach.

6:20 What can I do? He said, oh, man, this is good. Young Freddie Haynes from Dallas, Bishop College student, is in town. This is the largest black church in Beaumont. So I ended up preaching there. And when I preached there, unbeknownst to me, Reverend Castle had pastored in Beaumont. Matter of fact, he pastored the church pastored now by my good friend John Adolph. And when I preach for Adolph, I look and there's Pastor Castle's picture on the wall. So there's a whole lot of backstory going on. And so I preached there that Sunday and they are very kind to me. They get me back to Dallas, give me enough money basically to cover my books and most of my remaining tuition. But unbeknownst to me, this is one of the best friends of Pastor Castle.

7:14 He calls Pastor Castle, tells Pastor Castle about me. Pastor Castle says, I know him. His dad and I were good friends. Where is he? He says he's at Bishop College. Monday, I'm on my way to class. The phone rings. It's a pay phone in the hallway. I walk by it. The doorm mother says, I know you hear the phone ringing. And so I said, but I got to get to class. You hear the phone ringing. So I answer the phone. And on the other end, somebody says, may I please speak to Frederick Haynes? I said, who is this? And he says, my name is Robert L. Castle. And I knew your dad. And I pastor here in Dallas, Friendship West. My best friend told me you preach yesterday in Beaumont. And I got to have you at Friendship West. And so I said, where's that? And so he tells me it's on Polk Street. And that is the beginning because about that summer was when I was able to preach, July. I preached for him in the summer and at the A-frame on Polk Street. And I never will forget it because it was for me a very humbling experience. I felt like I flunked and then after church no one really spoke to me and I'm like this was not good and so he takes me back to school tells me he'll pick me up the next day to give me my honorariums. I said okay cool he picks me up And he says, man, the people love you.

8:52 You got to come back. I said, no, I didn't feel the love. And I didn't say that out loud, but I said that to myself. He said, can you come next month? And so I said, no, Doc, I'm booked. I was lying, but I was going back to San Francisco to go home for a month. And then he said, well, can you come in September? I said, no, Doc, I'm booked. I'm really lying now because I ain't booked. He said, okay, October. I said, I'm booked in October, I got to do this. And he said, all right, first Sunday, February 1982, I need you to preach for me. I know you ain't booked that Sunday because that's Communion Sunday, and ain't nobody having you preach that Sunday. So I said, okay, I'll be there. I became a member because of several events that took place. First of all, I had moved to the neighborhood, and after moving to the neighborhood, we realized that we needed a church home for my wife and I and our children Maurice and Sheila.

9:54 We needed them to have a place to study and study the Word of God and feel comfortable. So we had been visiting different churches and then we saw this church at 7505 South Polk Street and we decided to go in and we met the pastor and everything and he was real friendly and it just seemed like that was the place for us to be. So that was Reverend Robert L. Castle III.

10:24 We became a member basically because of him and his love that he showed toward us. So the first Sunday in February 1982, I came back to Friendship West to preach. And unbeknownst to all of us, Reverend Castle had walking pneumonia and he passed that week. On February 25, 1982, Friendship West would face his first major trial with the untimely death of the founding pastor, Reverend Castle. Before he passed on, we used to have chats, we used to have conversations after Bible study. And one of the things he said to me was that, he said, you know, one of these days I'm going to go out to Bishop College and get one of them preachers out there and bring him over here and let him preach for us and then I'm gonna go on home and be with the Lord. It's amazing how that happened because our pastor Haynes father knew Pastor Castle and because they knew each other you know he just went out to Bishop College and was researching different people and by him being an alumni of Bishop College you know he just felt like that's what he needs to do. On On February the 13th, 1983, Reverend Haynes assumed pastoral leadership at Friendship West and was officially installed as pastor on April the 10th, 1983.

11:48 So I get a call from Deacon Wilson, who was chair of deacons at the time, and he said, you know, our pastor just passed, and we need a preacher for Sunday. Would you mind preaching? And so I said, okay. And so that Sunday I preached. Felt really bad. and after church they asked me to serve as interim pastor. And I came to Friends Hill West. My husband had been a deacon for years here at this church. One of the first deacons were Deacon Miles and Deacon Thomas. I was at another church, St. Philip Missionary Baptist Church, where I was engaged in a lot of activities. So it took me quite a few years to make my mind up about coming here. And I kept hearing so much about Dr. Frederick Haynes, a young man who came to this church at the age of 21 from Bishop College. I said, what's going on over there?

12:43 My husband said, you got to hear. And so I've counted it all joy. So that's the beginning of, you know, the relationship with, you know, Freddie Haynes and Friendship West. It was just a trip. Let me say this right quick because I got to know Pastor Castle. which I had no idea. 1975, he's talking about organizing a church that I'm going to end up preaching for and pastoring. You know, God is something. And then on top of that, that July of 81, when I preached for him, he picked me up Monday, took me to lunch, gave me my honorarium and stuff. But we had a long talk about what he wanted to do with Friendship West. and I hate to say it, but I'm in church, so I can't lie. I was so uninterested.

13:36 Number one, because I had had a bad experience preaching wise to me. And he's telling me about how the church loves me. And I'm like, no. And then he starts telling me about, well, this is what I'm going to do. We got eight acres of land. We're going to build out here. He's talking about being a church involved in the community. He said, you know, we were one of the first black churches in Oak Cliff when black people started moving to Oak Cliff. He said there was Concord. Bailey starts Concord. Tony Evans started Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. And and then there's Friendship West and Eastgate. He said we were the four who really started things here. And so I'm like, OK, that's nice. and he said, but I got a vision of acreage. That's why I got these eight acres and we're going to do this and do this and do this and he had these big plans and that intrigued me because I had preached in this small A-frame church but this brother has big plans and so I never will forget that and he talked about the educators in the church and so he said, we've got to have a vision for educating our kids because we had so many teachers and principals and educators who were members of the church.

14:56 So I look back on that time, and A, I can't help but reflect on the fact that, you know, I got to overhear in a conversation with Reverend Castle and my dad, this man is going to start this church. And I'm like, it ain't got nothing to do with me, but it had a lot to do with me. And then B, to go to a church on the wrong Sunday in Beaumont, but going to the wrong church evidently was the right thing in God's will that hooked me up with Reverend Castle. And then a church I thought didn't like me, you know, I'm the pastor. So that's, it's a trip. It's a God thing. You know, it's like God is really something. God continued to show that his hand was on Friendship West as membership grew to over 300 because of rapid growth.

15:56 On June 2, 1991, the Friendship West Church family moved by caravan from its original location at 7505 South Polk Street to the 616 West Keast Boulevard location. In June of 1991, we made the move to Keast. And so it was a faith step. So I begin with the faith, but then our faith worked because I shared earlier that it was also a time where it was a bad neighborhood. And so we're in revival. One night, Jeffrey Johnson is preaching, doing what Jeffrey Johnson does. And after church, across the street, there's a crime scene marked off by yellow tape. And we find out that three young brothers had been shot in a bathtub, mafia-like hit. And I'm like, we can't just do this.

16:50 Because we'd come out on Sundays to hear gunshots. And so we said, we've got to do something. So that was the birth of Operation Transformation. And Corporal James Allen led a march of all black men dressed in all black on a Saturday where we just walked through the neighborhood, silent march in black, came back to church where the sisters were waiting. And then we dispersed into the community to find out what the needs were. And we became the headquarters of the neighborhood association. We became, we birthed, and I got to give you this, one night, I told every representative who represented that area, from our city council person, to our county commissioner, to our state rep, our state senator, meet me at 10 o'clock and we're going to walk this area because I want you to see what we are up against and what we are dealing with, what the community is facing every night.

17:53 And so we saw, of course, the drug trafficking, the prostitution, all of that, that our neighbors were living with every single day. And again, that birth operation transformation, it birthed the relationship we had with that community. And it birthed for me what I've been trying to preach about on Polk Street. Keast made it happen. And that is a ministry mindset. Almost every ministry we have right now was birthed on Keast. And so you had all these ministries that were designed to meet the need of the community and what was happening in the church. And our motto became whatever problems exist in this community, we want a ministry designed to address it. And so ministries just just came out of everywhere. And we recognize our responsibility was to witness outside, which so for me, The greatest compliment we had after we moved here on Wheatland, January 1st, 2006.

19:01 I go back to Keast one day and somebody stops me and I said, no, they said, man, we sure do miss you. I said, I bet you don't miss the traffic on Sundays. They said, yeah, we miss that too. Because what came with the traffic was a church that cared about us. I'm asking you don't forget us even though y'all moved and that blessed me because they felt the impact of the ministry and I'm thinking because we used to you remember I mean parking on Sundays especially for that 9 30 service it was bananas it was no room on keys to get through there and we got in trouble with the city a whole lot but ministry was taking place And because ministry was taking place, I think God honored us. And so it was a faith that got us there, work that kept us there.

20:00 And of course, you know, a bad thing that became, again, a reflection of the ministry of the church was the whole Katrina piece. That is a huge memory for me. I never will forget the fact that when Katrina hit August, I guess it's what, 05, Katrina hits and you have all these persons who were displaced, labeled refugees by the media, which was such a such an insult. But they come to Dallas and because of the ministry mindset, we opened up our doors and became a 24-7 operation to the point where, you know, the city of Dallas looked to Friendship West for how to organize receiving our neighbors from Louisiana. and we were the motto.

20:58 No other church. We were the motto. We didn't have the facility or some of the other churches, but what we did, we set up a 24-7 operation to minister to persons who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. That's huge. I close with this, and that is on Keast. I cannot even give a shout out about Keast without giving a shout out about the Bishop Five revival. Because that vision of Willis Johnson, who ironically yesterday he sent to the Bishop Five, he sent a picture of us because he said that it was 31 years ago that we started. And I guess that's about right.

21:52 And they chose Friendship West because we had no idea if it was going to be a success. And we had that part, the partition where we could say, OK, if people don't show up, we'll just partition off the area. If they do show up, we'll open up the partition to the overflow, which was larger than the sanctuary. and they showed up like crazy to the point where that thing was, you know, it became the revival in town. But it also put us on the map as a church and so many people joined our church through that revival. Even though there were other churches involved, they kind of stuck with Friendship West. And so there's a whole lot I can say about Keese, but those are some of the highlights that really stand out. And we blew up.

22:53 I guess you look at it, too. I would say one of my most impacted. We always, when we was on Keese, we are the deacons and also the men's and the entire church. help with the community to improve their security, safety, whatever necessary to impact that community. Pastor Hayne always had a vision, had something going on. He had the support of the church and the entire membership. It was a march or whatever it was, to try to impact we involved in it. I was part of that too. It is so profound to think about the fact that the blowing up in terms of our growth, our numerical growth required, you know, making a move. We tried everything in our power to stay on Keast.

23:50 We even had a nice design of if we could buy the gas station and that motel that we could expand there. We thought about buying the bank across the street. Everything fell apart. And then, you know, Deb, who's in commercial real estate, said, well, what about all this land across from Carter High School? And so that set the stage for us to begin that long construction process. So to get to January 1st, 2006, you know, I come on that day to this space with the backdrop of, oh, my God, us marching around the land, you know, before there was anything here to claim it. and doing, as it were, what was done in Joshua.

24:46 We literally walked this property believing it was going to be ours and ended up getting 60 acres. And the construction began with all of the headaches that go with construction. And it was funny because January 1st, we made the move. December 31st, and this just hit me, December 31st was a Saturday night watch night service. We had watch night service in the old facility. And then we had our first service January 1st in the new facility. So watch night on Keast, first service January 1st right here on Wheatland Road. And so all of that is just a lot. It's like I'm thinking we're right around the corner from Polk Street, literally right around the corner from the A-frame facility. And so my initial thought is I went back to Reverend Castle and the fact that Reverend Castle had these big plans for Friendship West to the point where he purchased eight acres.

25:56 And I was glad to say, Reverend Castle, we got you 60 now. And so that was my first thought. Thank you, Reverend Castle, for having that big vision. and thank you, God, for letting me be a part of it. But then thank you, God, for doing exceedingly abundantly above all we all could ask or imagine. So that was my initial feeling, thinking on that morning. And then it was real funny because the balcony was not completed. And we told the construction people, we're moving in here on January 1st. We've had enough delays. We're moving in January 1st. And so we just moved on in here, even though some of the pews were not, you know, in place. And that was for me a very powerful moving day, because.

26:50 Again, I go back to 1975 and I go back to overhearing this man talking about starting a church, which was for me. Why would you start a church when there's so many out here? and then, you know, to think about how I even came into the picture and then to think about all of the persons who loved this church enough to make it what it has become. I don't even like saying the whole I thing because this ain't no Freddie Haynes thing. This is a God thing through a lot of people who made Friendship West what Friendship West has become, who bought into vision, who felt a sense of ministry and mission.

27:37 I'll give it to you like this. And I say it not just because he's presiding over this AV-wise, but Chris Norman is on staff here, but his dad introduced him to Friendship West. Friendship West ain't Friendship West without his late father because his father was strong in the music ministry, especially birthing the James C. Holmes male chorus. And I think about, you know, the Brother Normans of the church who gave their life to the church. But while they were doing it, they brought their children. And then Chris gets stuck here. And then Chris is on staff here. That is Friendship West. you know, dad, active dad member tells his son, you need to come check out this church. His son likes what he sees and becomes a part of the ministry. And that gets reproduced quite a bit.

28:41 I don't even know if you came here without mama, you know, so it's like mama gets here in terms of Dr. McGee doing what Dr. McGee is doing. Mama, tremendous educator, you know, and brings her educational expertise to Friendship West and the movement of Friendship West in terms of Christian education. And then next thing I know, here comes her daughter and her daughter, you know, not only becomes a part of the ministry, the music ministry and the like, but then goes off and only get your education, but then you get Texas College, blow up at Texas college, I'm tripping on how great you're doing at Texas college. And at the same time, I'm like, cause, cause, cause you all sang a rendition of lift every voice and sing down at the, um, uh, black Academy of arts and letters that had me just wiped out. I've, I've never ever heard it done better. And all I could say was that is Michelle McGee who goes to friendship West claiming you. I'm saying, she need to have friendship West, you know, uh, but I ain't trying to take away from HBCU. And then we have a conversation and you are actually open to making a move when we have a need. And I'm like, okay, I hate to take away from HBCU, but we're going to do this thing. And that's friendship West. That is friendship West. And so, so I look at the fact that you literally, you're a Friendship West baby with what? A baby and you're a Friendship West baby who has all kind of kids who claim you because of what happened at Texas College, including Saul. You know, that's your child, you know, and then I travel the country and I meet people who say that you are their mother. And I'm saying, she ain't that old, you know, and so to have these old kids, you know, who claim you as mama.

30:44 So, but that's Friendship West. And so there are personal stories that make Friendship West Friendship West. And so as much as I think about, okay, the big things we've done, it's those personal stories. People ask me, what do you see as your greatest accomplishment? No, it's not about my greatest accomplishment. It's about the personal stories. It's the lives who have grown up here, who have been touched here, who have gone off to other places and are making a difference there. All of that is Friendship West. The future of Friendship West is so exciting. And I want to say because of the pandemic, because I think the pandemic slowed us down and gave us an opportunity to reset. It gave us an opportunity to regroup, to be refreshed. And it's exciting to me when I look out on Sundays and I see so many new faces who have basically said, this is the home of Friendship West.

31:46 But then I travel and there are people who are saying, I'm tuning in every single Sunday. I'm with Friendship West. And then I have people on WhatsApp, you know, in South Africa, in Ghana, in Egypt, in some parts of Europe. And they say we're Friendship West. And so what excites me about the future is the fact that we still have a good number of members who have been with us, you know, through the years. They go back to Keast, even Polk Street and before. and they are still with us and then we are still being blessed with growth and the growth ironically is young and so it lets me know there's a rich future in store for us which will include not only understanding to use a Stacey Floyd Thomas term the high bridge approach where we are ministering to those in the house to those who are here, but those who claim us beyond here. And that is the big challenge.

32:54 All of my colleagues are talking about now, okay, how do we disciple and minister to and through those who are in other parts of the country, other parts of the world? That is a part of the vision we're trying to formulate or reformulate in this reset. But at the same time, we're going to do big things right here on these 60 acres that God has blessed us with. And so the whole redoing of a facility that, if we're honest, we came into this facility as there was about to be a technological explosion in terms of what churches look like on the inside. And so we're going to redo, renovate this facility to reflect the new era we find ourselves in. And at the same time, we have a children's church we're proud of, a youth ministry we're proud of. They need their own facility that is multi-purpose. And so the whole insmultainment vision is coming back, but it's coming back in a fresh way that reflects the age in which we live. And so I'm excited about the inspotainment district. So kids will get here on Sunday and then also have a place throughout the week. And here we are in a state where they're banning books. Well, this would be the place to come to read those banned books during the course of the week. And so to have a freedom type school where kids can come after school during the week on Saturday and study.

34:36 I'm hyped about that. I'm hyped about the fact that someone shared with me that he said, Frederick Haynes, Manuel Scott was your mentor. You've had great mentors. Why don't we have a listening room somewhere in this country? I think Friendship West is the place where people can come and hear the great preachers who have influenced Frederick Haynes as well as the rest of us in this country. So we talked about a museum, an African-American church museum that tells that story. We got to tell that story. That vision is alive and well. And I could go on and on, but the fact of the matter is we're not here by accident. None of what we have shared by way of our history is an accident. God's been setting stuff up the whole time to meet the needs of the community, to meet the needs of our people to meet the needs of black faith. And I don't think nobody does it better than Friendship West. And so in light of that, the future looks really, really bright. I feel like God has positioned me to set the stage for a greater future. What did Martin King say? I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as people will get to the promised land. So that's the good news. The good news is that the future is bright and if I had my shades on it would reflect how bright this thing is. And so Friendship West is a gift to the body of Christ.

36:05 Friendship West is a gift to black faith. I'm in a PhD program so I'll close with this in African-American preaching and sacred rhetoric. So I've literally studied the history of black faith in this country and on the continent. And I've seen how God has literally moved our people through faith to get where we are right now. That story has to be told and at the same time as that story is being told, that story is continuing to be written. And so Friendship West is that unique church that is a part of that written history, but Friendship West is also writing a new history. And so new chapters are about to unfold because that's just what God has done. And so it just like I'm tearing up right now thinking about you know how I got here, how y'all got here, how all got here with the story that is still being written and that's what I'm excited about. The best is yet to come.