This Week in Texas Methodist History September 15

Future Bishop Oliver Eugene Slater Moves from Ozona to Woodlawn, San Antonio, September, 1942

A Methodist preacher’s career path often depends upon circumstances beyond his or her control.  Unlike other professions in which a young practitioner can chart professional growth and advancement in the profession, a Methodist preacher depends upon the wisdom of the Bishop and the appointment process to promote the most able pastors.  

Methodist preachers generally advance in responsibility to better appointments by moving to another church.  We hope that the process rewards merit, but timing is everything.  Is a desirable church available when a preacher is ready to move,. Maybe yes, Maybe no.

The entrance of World War II presented opportunities for younger pastors to get on the “fast track” for rapid promotions.  Hundreds of pulpit vacancies were created in 1942-1944 by Methodist pastors volunteering for the military chaplaincy.   

One of the main duties of chaplains for counseling young soldiers and sailors so naturally the military wanted mature chaplains who had the life experience necessary for helping late teenagers and young adults with their personal problems.  Military officials therefore instituted a draft age for ministers as 24 instead of 18 with the general population of young men.

One of the young pastors given a significant promotion was Oliver Eugene Slater of Ozona who was transferred to Woodlawn, San Antonio in September 1942 because the Woodlawn pastor, Edwin C. Calhoun entered the U. S. Army chaplaincy.  

As Slater tells in his autobiography, Oliver’s Travels:  One Bishop’s Journey, “Ozona was off the beaten path.  There was no railroad through the town.  In many ways we were an isolated community.”  

Slater was 30 when appointed to Ozona, pastored there for almost 6 years.  In those six years, he managed bring a wider perspective to what might have been a backwater.  One way he did so was by bringing eminent pastors to hold meetings.  He relied on contacts while a student at SMU to bring Marshall Steel of Highland Park, Dallas; Gerald Mann, SMU alum and Attorney General of Texas; Umphrey Lee, SMU President; and SMU professors Joseph C. Yarborough and John C. Hicks to Ozona.   It is doubtful that any other isolated Texas church could boast of such a distinguished list of guests.

Even more remarkable was his involvement in the creation of a Wesley House of the Woman’s Missionary Society in Ozona.  Slater reports that several women in his church were distressed over the wretched living conditions of Mexican Americans in Ozona.  Slater brought the need to the attention of WMS officers, first in San Antonio and then at the national level.  The Wesley house provided a full service educational and health program including a Boy Scout troop that won accolades.

The appointment to Woodlawn was just the beginning of a series of appointments to noteworthy churches.  He left Woodlawn for Bering Memorial in Houston and then from there to Polk Street Amarillo.  It was from Polk Street that Slater was elected bishop.  Eventually he came back to preside over the Annual Conference in which he had started. 

My father, John Wesley Hardt, also received a boost in his career because of the war time shortage of preachers because so many had entered the chaplaincy.  In 1943, he was a 21 year old seminarian who had already served two student appointments.  His father died while serving Malakoff.  Bishop Smith appointed John Wesley to take his father’s place.  Malakoff was such a good church that it never had a student pastor before or since, but the preacher shortage called for such matters. 

 

John Wesley’s appointment to Malakoff meant that his widowed mother and two younger sisters could continue to live in the parsonage.   There was plenty of room because Malakoff was also the home of my mother Martha Carson.  They were already engaged when my grandfather was appointed to Malakoff.  When Martha and John Wesley came from SMU on the weekends to preach, they could stay at the Carson home.  Like Slater he was also elected bishop.