Ordinary Becomes Extraordinary

Taking something ordinary and making it extraordinary.  That is what today’s story is all about.  The person in today’s story has a gift for doing that.  And she has many other gifts, too. Like the ease at which she strikes up and carries on conversations with strangers who become fast friends.  Talking with this person is certainly easy, and conversation with her quickly moves from ordinary to extraordinary.  I think we became fast friends by the time we were done.  And for me, that’s extraordinary!

Audrey Lassiter is not one to sit very long, so I felt privileged that we sat for over an hour talking about her life and involvement in Hayes Barton Baptist Church.  She said she thought about taking me on a tour around the church to point things out, and we did exactly that when we were through talking.  She is, as was said more than a few times on the recent Scotland mission, “a human version of the Energizer Bunny.”

But I digress as that’s not where we started our conversation.  We started with Audrey talking about rocks and burlap and flowers.  And giftedness.  “Everyone has God-given gifts,” says Audrey. “And the Lord has blessed me as my gifts are to be able to take something ordinary and make it extraordinary.  Like taking rocks and burlap and flowers and making a beautiful arrangement.”

“Each person has talent and has to make the most of it,” says Audrey, “You have to figure out what you can do and then do it.” And Audrey does.  She likes to work on projects, “on the planning, the seeing it happen, the getting it done, and the starting a new one.”

“I’ve always been like this,” reflects Audrey. “I remember as a child growing up in the country on a farm.  I’d spend half my playtime setting up boxes as playhouses before we’d ever get to play.”

That farm was in Hertford County, and Audrey grew up “working sunup to sundown” in fields of tobacco, peanuts, and cotton.  She went off to school at East Carolina University and eventually moved to Raleigh with husband Jimmy and the children and joined Hayes Barton Baptist Church.  “It was 1970.  We visited churches all over Raleigh.  The children had been to Bible school at Hayes Barton.  And when we talked as a family about where we wanted to go to church, Jim piped up at four years old and said, ‘I want to go where Bible school is.’ It has been ‘home sweet home’ ever since.”

And Audrey is a big part of making it “home sweet home” for all of us as she pays attention to the comfort and beauty that mark Hayes Barton Baptist Church.  “I turn the lamplights on when I come in, just like at home,” says Audrey.  “I take apart flower arrangements from Sunday and make smaller ones to put around the church so we have fresh flowers everywhere all week.  I go for balance in terms of function and beauty.”

The attention to detail that she has is extraordinary.  Instead of a cardboard box for DVDs on the counter at the Family Life Center, why not a pretty basket?  A balance of function and beauty throughout.

“The biggest project by far was the Family Life Center,” remembers Audrey.  “It was a year in the planning, and we still were here almost all night right before it opened.  Everything was handpicked by people like Lib Moore, Kathy Teague, Michelle Henson, and Tonya Hill,” says Audrey of the Family Life Center Decorating Committee.

Audrey has been on many committees and projects through the years and always with the intent of “making an impact on people.”  “When we’d go shopping for the rooms at Overtoun House in Scotland, we’d see it as part of our mission to talk to people and tell them that we are working at a place that is going to help women and girls in crisis,” shares Audrey.  “We can help them see Christ in us through our works.”

Likewise, Audrey wants people who come to Hayes Barton Baptist Church to see Christ in what is here.   The paintings, the candles, the crosses…all the details that surround us that we often look past and take for granted…Christ is in those pieces that have been so lovingly selected and placed by Audrey and others. 

As we toured the parlor and Cashwell Corridor after we talked, I began to see what Audrey’s keen eye sees.  A focal point here, a swath of light there, some color in a portrait, fresh flowers on a table.  Ordinary becomes extraordinary.  Because of extraordinary people like Audrey, Hayes Barton Baptist Church is extraordinary.  A reflection of God’s gifting and blessing.  Thanks be to God!