Jeff Hampton – Page 57 – Jeff Hampton, Writer

May 4, 2023

It’s Always the People

For Wilshire Baptist Church

I only went to Sweet Temptations twice, but both times changed my life. It wasn’t the place; it was the people. It’s always the people.

Sweet Temptations was an intimate cafe and bakery near Skillman and Audelia in Northeast Dallas. It was popular with the Lake Highlands crowd, and while I’ve never lived in Lake Highlands, I heard good things about it from people at Wilshire who lived up that way. So, I was interested in checking it out sometime in 2004 when I was invited to a small lunch there to meet Doug Haney, the man who was to be Wilshire’s new minister of music. I don’t recall if he was prospective or already called at that time, but I was there representing Wilshire’s ushers.

April 28, 2023

The Best Time

For Wilshire Baptist Church

“If you want to hit the big time, you have to write and polish and keep doing that over and over again.”

That was the advice from the cowboy-hat-and-boot-wearing author of top-selling Western novels at the end of the day at the East Texas Book Fest a few weeks ago. He was funny and engaging as he talked about his journey from childhood dreamer to career man to second life as a prolific author of hide-and-leather fiction. And, he spoke the truth in his summary sentence about what it takes to be successful, but it was the end of a long day like so many other long days, and his words sort of floated to the floor as the other authors got ready to pack up and go home.

April 20, 2023

Dear Prudence

For Wilshire Baptist Church

Where do you see God? How do you find God? Those questions have been stuck in my mind recently, thanks to a young neighbor and my penchant for chasing musical rabbits.

This story is really LeAnn’s to tell: She was planting spring flowers in the front beds recently when a little girl on a bicycle engaged her in conversation about when she first began riding without training wheels and her late January birthday, which LeAnn and I both have as well. That news seemed to thrill her and she couldn’t wait to tell her daddy. And then she told LeAnn her name: Prudence.