A Tribute To Sunday School Teachers: Sis. Ervie Lee Hooten

Recently, when in my hometown for my father’s funeral, my wife and I walked the few blocks from the house where I was raised to the church of my childhood. As I stood on the front steps of the church, tidal waves of memory inundated me. Those waves rose and came from fifty-plus years ago, from my childhood experiences in and around that stone church. Among them were many reminiscences of Sunday School. I thought of my childhood Sunday School classes and teachers. One teacher dominated those thoughts—Sis. Evie Lee Hooten. She’s the one who stood me in a corner for tying some girl’s dress’s bow to the back of her chair. She’s the one who got on to me for talking in class. And, she’s the one who impacted my life in a most powerful way. I cannot remember anything in particular she taught. I do remember the passion for Christ in her voice. I do remember her weeping while giving a testimony. I do remember the fervency with which she prayed and worshiped. And, I remember her interest in me. After a pause, we walked on past the church. It took only a few steps to be again reminded of Ervie Lee Hooten. She had lived next door to the church. I halted again as another spate of memories about her washed over me. Ervie Lee Hooten had not only been my childhood Sunday School teacher; she had been my father’s too. He too had memories of her getting on to him when he did not behave in Sunday School. Having taught both me and my father means she taught for a long number of years. She was 96 when she died. I never knew until I read her obituary online that she had attended two state universities and a Bible college. The obit also reminded me that she had devoted several years of her life to working in an orphanage. All I knew as a child was that she was a tremendously spiritual woman who always made me sense the presence of God. Above, I said I could not remember anything specifically she taught. I do remember two things she told me. When I was a young adult, she shared with me about a revival she had recently visited in another part of the state. The way she told it created a deep hunger in my heart to see God move and awaken churches. Another thing I remember was a story she told in Sunday School when I was quite young: As a teenage girl, having recently gotten saved, she went to a “picture show,” a movie. She told how, as the movie began rolling in the darkened theater that she started to feel uncomfortable about being there. Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She twisted around in her seat, but no one was seated behind her. Facing the screen again, she soon felt another tap; again, whirling around, she saw no one. The third time she felt the tap, she jumped up and ran out of the theater vowing to God that she would never go to “that worldly place” again. Now, this had to have taken place sometime around early 1930s. Just how bad could the movie have been? Yet, that was her heart—serve God all out. As her obituary put it, “She lived a life devoted to God.” Such devotion had its impact—to which I testify by finding myself writing of her. After I had gone into full-time ministry, each time I returned home and visited the church, she was one of the first to bee-line to me. She had dibs on me. She was my Sunday School teacher. One of the first things out of her mouth was, “Are you preaching tonight?” Her face would brighten if I was. After all, I was one of her Sunday School kids. Not long before she died, during a visit to my hometown, I stopped by her house just to thank her for the impact she’d had on my life as my Sunday School teacher. I never knew that would be the last time I would see her this side of heaven. For over forty-one years I have preached the Gospel. If my ministry has been beneficial in any way to anyone, I must allocate a huge portion of the credit to the impact of a Sunday School teacher, Sis. Ervie Lee Hooten. Just thinking of her makes me long for another move of the Spirit and to live more devotedly to God. Sunday School teachers make a difference!

A Tribute To Sunday School Teachers: Sis. Ervie Lee Hooten

Contact

Follow Us