The Brass Collection Plate

The following happened at a small country church near Freed-Hardeman University in Tennessee. Brother Eugene Hibbett, recently retired from Freed-Hardeman University, tells about preaching for a small country church in Tennessee where the husband of’ one of the members had attended for years, but had never obeyed the Gospel. One Sunday after the morning service, brother Hibbett went to his home, studied with him and was thrilled when the man agreed to return to the building to be baptized into Christ.

Because it was a small congregation, the newly baptized brother was the only one taking communion at the evening service. They passed the bread, and he partook without incident. Similarly, he drank of the cup. But then they passed the offering plate. It was of old design, made of brass and rather deep. He looked at it, not knowing what it was, and finally — spit in it! Brother Hibbett says that after the man realized what he had done, he was so embarrassed that it took a long time to ever get him to come back.