A Man on the Go

Today’s story is about a passionate man, someone who has a zest for life.   Whether he is talking about the Coastal Conservation Association, Campbell University, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, or Hayes Barton Baptist Church, this person exudes an energy that shows others he is someone who is interested, involved, and invested in the world around him.  I like him for many reasons with three that come quickly to mind:  (1) he, along with a few other men, was willing to participate in the piloting of a couples Companions in Christ study; (2) he is always offering to help with Hayes Barton Baptist Church’s newsletter Faith Points; and (3) he loves dogs.  The man, of course, is Dave Hawkins.

David Hawkins and I didn’t get a chance to sit down and have a formal interview for this story.  He is a man on the go, after all.  Coming and going, more like it.  He is involved in many activities at Hayes Barton Baptist Church and outside of it as well, and he pursues his activities with enthusiasm and energy.

Dave thoughtfully sent me a page of notes about his life at Hayes Barton Baptist Church and then followed up with not one but two phone calls.  He wanted to make sure I received the notes and wanted to make sure another thought he had after sending the notes was included in the story.  He was driving to the coast when he called. I think I almost always talk to him when he is driving somewhere…to the coast, to Campbell, to church.  Coming and going.  I even received an email from him when he was on a hunting trip, I think, in South Dakota.  “When I see one of your emails,” Dave said, “I always answer even if I’m in the middle of nowhere.”

Dave has been attending Hayes Barton Baptist Church since 1946 and became a member in 1957.  He was baptized by Dr. John Kincheloe.  His wife Jennifer and daughter Michelle were baptized in 1990 by Dr. George Ballentine.  His mother Ruth Hawkins Wilson was a life-long member of the church and the Townsend Couples Class until her death in 2007.  Dave wrote, “She so loved Hayes Barton Baptist which was her life, along with her boys, after my Dad died in 1956. She married Bill Wilson in 1967.”

 One of the points Dave and I discussed when he was driving to the coast was something he wrote in his notes about his mother.  “When Bill died in 1985,” Dave wrote, “Mother had memorials left to place the cross in our baptismal area.  It always concerned her and Papa Bill that we had no cross.”  That is the “back story” behind the baptistery cross that is back behind the beautiful doors we have. 

Dave and Jennifer definitely see Hayes Barton Baptist Church as their church home.  “Jennifer and I had some time away from the church and visited other churches during Mother’s fourteen year battle with Alzheimer’s,” shares Dave, “but our heart always brought us back to Hayes Barton Baptist Church and ultimately to the Danielson Sunday School Class.”  Dave currently serves as the class’s president. 

Dave also is a first year deacon and involved in the Benevolence Committee, Sanctuary set up/ Greeting Committee, Welcoming Committee, and Support Circle (for homeless ) Committee.  “I always try to help opening night with the consignment sale and participate in Monday evening  Bible study and, most times, the Tuesday morning Yost Men’s Bible Study,” says Dave.  I also know he helps out around the office and then there, of course, are the very welcome submissions to the newsletter Faith Points.

The pilot class of Companions in Christ for couples was where I not only met Dave but found out about his love of dogs.  He was, if I remember correctly, in the process of having a new dog trained.  Being the dog lover that I am, I always perk up when hearing someone talk about a new pup.  As Dr. Hailey said in a recent sermon, “Everybody loves puppies.”  When someone like Dave talks about a dog, the love for the dog comes out in the talking.  Sure, the training may not quite be the success it should be from the start, but the love comes in the bonding of a man and his dog.

Dave is a man of action and a man of study.  He has been on mission trips to Helena, Arkansas, and the Kennedy Home for Children in Kinston. Among many things, in Arkansas, he helped with a building project and at Kinston, with a cookout.  As to his studies, he, Liz Bradshaw, and Honor Holmes became involved in the World Religion Department  at Campbell University following several Wednesday night sessions on Mormonism, Islam, and Judaism . “This has led to a serious involvement the Divinity School,” shares Dave, “where I am now attending classes and also serving on the Advisory Council for The World Religions and Global Cultures Center for The Campbell University Divinity School.” 

Dave not only attends classes but loves to read.  “Same Kind of Different as Me, The Faith Club, and The Hole in our Gospel in the last few years have made me a much stronger Christian and better person,” says Dave.  “These books and Campbell’s World Religion classes have made me acutely aware of the importance of understanding and truly knowing others.  We really need to understand our neighbors so we can truly love them.”

That understanding of love, that passion, is what Dave is all about. And he sees it at Hayes Barton Baptist Church as we celebrate our Heritage, Hope, and Home.  “The Danielson Class and David Hailey’s ministry have given us everything we could want in a church,” says Dave.  And Dave gives back to Hayes Barton Baptist Church similarly.  Whether he is coming or going, he is giving it his all.  Safe driving Dave!