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Narrative Summary
Interview with Pamela Childress by Sarah Gollhofer
I recently had the great pleasure of interviewing Pamela Childress, or as I call her, Aunt Pam. As Pam and I attend the same church, Harmony Baptist in Rogersville, MO, I knew she was a Baptist, but I had little information about her religious identity. Pam is a Baptist and a former Pentecostal.
In our interview, Pam explained her religious upbringing, which began in the Assembly of God churches. She told me of her journey to becoming a Baptist who still dearly treasures her Pentecostal roots. Pam shared several very interesting stories from her childhood in the Assembly of God church, including foot washings and faith healers. Pam also told a story of when she was baptized. She was a small girl and never was a “water dog”, so when she was baptized she was under too long and almost drowned. She trudged out of the water and up to her mom and said, “Well, I don’t feel any different!”
The most beautiful part of my interview with Pam was that I was able to see how important her faith is to her and to see how closely her faith and the love she has for those dear to her are so deeply intertwined. Throughout our interview, Pam mentioned caring for others and for her family on numerous occasions. She also sees passing on religion to one’s children as one of the most important goals. We discussed how this plays out in her family and how some people just take longer to find Christ.
Pam recently lost her mother, my dear, sweet, incredible Gram, and we discussed the impact Gram had on Pam’s spiritual upbringing. She told her family’s favorite story about when Gram had her first heart attack at 40 and was legally dead for several minutes. Gram went to heaven and saw Jesus. He said her children would not be joining her as they were not right with God, so Gram came back for them. She was a little angry about it, which everyone found very amusing and totally understandable. Pam also told me some lovely thoughts she had about Gram and heaven that were most comforting. Through her relationship with God she has found peace in her mother’s passing.
I did not think it would be so easy to interview someone, especially as I am new at this, but Pam’s faith is so important to her and she was able to come up with beautiful answers without needed much time. One of the most memorable things Pam said to me was her response to my question “What is it that makes you feel religious?” She said:
“ Now it’s family. Now it’s a sense of being there for people who need you to be there. It’s that sense of being a good friend and knowing that a good friend is giving, and giving, and giving, and not really expecting anybody to give back. And knowing that there are times when you need to give that it isn’t possible for the other person to reciprocate for a long time. And -it’s one of those things that I’ve learned from God- is
love is one of those giving things. And it kind of changed how I look at accomplishments. True accomplishments.”
When I followed up with a question about how she viewed true accomplishments, Pam replied” True accomplishments are having kids, not with degrees, but happy and functioning. And true accomplishments are having somebody to be able to say that I touched their life.”
Missouri State University Spring 2014 Religious Lives of Ozarks Women