Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Land of the Yankees

July 26, 2025

Yes, I am referring to Pennsylvania as the home of the Yankees, not the Phillies. I am from southwest Missouri. Sometimes referred to as the Ozarks. We are hillbillies and definite southerners. Travel another hour or two north in our state, and that statement is not true.

When Marianne asked me for my favorite foods, I shared that they were brown beans and cornbread. The ladies of the churches had no problem with the beans. Cornbread threw them, though. This was before Paula Dean and other southern chefs were all over the cable networks.

There was a white bread that had whole kernel corn floating in the loaf at most dinners I was invited to attend. Apparently, only one woman in the church had a recipe called Corn Bread, and that was it. When I enquired about this dish, I was told this. I explained the recipe for our cornbread, and it was told to me that it was called Johnny Cake. That is a Yankee name for sure.

During the summer, a church from North Carolina came to help us with backyard Bible clubs and a revival. When they arrived on their bus, I found out that I would have to translate for the students. The girls had the same challenge. Fortunately, we were all schooled in both southern and northern dialects.

Bradford is five miles from the New York State line, and Buffalo, New York, is one hundred miles north. I was able to travel to Buffalo and Niagara Falls twice during the summer. In one of the museums, I read about the last person to survive going over the falls. He was a young boy at that time, and I realized that we were the same age.

When it was time to return home, I was taken to Bradford airport and boarded a plane for Pittsburgh. I chose to fly home because I wanted to return as soon as possible. From Pittsburgh, we went to St. Louis, and I was supposed to have a one-hour layover. Once inside the terminal, I looked at my watch and I had five minutes to go halfway across the facility.

When I arrived at the gate five minutes late, I saw a clock on the wall. My watch was set to Eastern Time, and I was now in the Central Time zone. I still had my hour. This was my first time flying, and I loved all three legs of the trip to Springfield.

We celebrated my birthday that first night back. I was twenty when I boarded the bus and twenty-one when I boarded the plane in Bradford. I opened my presents, and Cindy and I went out to a movie. Don’t ask me what we saw. All I saw was her.

I’ve spent the last fifty years enjoying looking at her every day. Those ten weeks apart from her made me push to plan our wedding after I had graduated the next spring. Two weeks after the wedding, my job moved us. I knew that it could happen, and that was why we had to get married. I never wanted to be away from her again.

This was my first and only opportunity to be a church pastor. My ministry has been working as a workplace minister. My congregation was the people I encountered at my job. This wasn’t always just fellow employees. It was customers, vendors, and management at all the companies I worked for and visited.

Today, you are the ones that I want to benefit from everything I have learned during my lifetime. Fifty years of business experience, church membership, and Bible study are at your disposal. Thanks for logging in.

Gifford

July 24, 2025

I began in ‘Fifty Years Ago’ by telling you about where I was in 1975. I found myself in the city of Gifford, Pennsylvania. I was serving as a summer missionary and had a family for the summer that was not my birth family. I told you about Phil, Marriane, and Mary Anne. Let me tell you about the rest of the family.

Down the road lived Skip, also known as Phil, Jr., and his wife and children. Somewhat further away was David, his wife, and their child. I could walk to these two homes from the old house where I was staying. Phil and Marianne had moved into a house that was scheduled for demolition, rather than building a new house on the family property, as their two sons had done.

Also on the property was a mobile sanctuary for Hilltop Baptist Chapel. It was a modified trailer house provided by the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board. That summer, I learned a great deal about what HMB did for the ministries that were under their auspices.

The pastor at Bolivar Road Baptist in Bradford served at Hilltop as well as the home church. For that summer, he did not have to skip Sunday School to drive up the mountain to preach first, then back down for their services. I preached Sunday Mornings, led a Bible Study Sunday Night, and a prayer meeting on Wednesday night.

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Included in our ministries, mine and my fellow summer missionaries, were Vacation Bible School and revivals at these two churches, as well as two other churches that our youth groups went to for the summer months.

On Sunday Nights, I went to help the youth choir at Bolivar Road. The ladies were leading and joining the youth. I joined them as well. For the first week. The second week, I was asked to talk with the ladies before practice. They asked me not to sing with the choir. So, I helped off stage and behind the scenes. I have told people for fifty years that I am the only person I know who was asked to leave a youth choir.

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Fortunately, I already knew that I could not carry a tune in a bucket. I learned that in the sixth grade, our new music teacher took four of us aside for special training to help us sing on key. After six months, she gave up on two of us. She decided nothing she did would help us,

Back on the mountain, I would walk a trail into the trees whenever I had spare time. During the day, I took my Bible with me and would study where God was the only one to teach me. I’ve been letting Him do that for me for fifty years now.

At night, when I walked into the trees, I was careful to stay on the trail, only to go a few feet in. Having spent a lot of time on farms in Missouri, I was not your ordinary city boy. I have milked cows, plucked chickens, and picked many different fruits, vegetables, and berries. After the woods were engulfed in darkness, the stars shining through the trees were beautiful.

It is difficult to condense ten weeks into a couple of columns. Look for the true story of an Ozarks boy in the land of Yankees in the next report. See you then.

Fifty Years Ago

July 22, 2025

Yes, I was alive in 1975. If you were not, let me brief you on some things. There were no cell phones, home computers, or personal video games. There was college, and I had just finished my junior year at Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar, MO. In the fall of the previous year, I transferred there.

As I walked around my new campus, I saw signs requesting interested students to apply to be summer missionaries. I did just that and received my assignment in the spring. I would be going to Bradford, PA, for ten weeks starting in June.

When I applied, I had not met Cindy. By early June, we had been dating about eight months, and I was dreading being away from her for the summer. She went with Dad, Mom, and my sister to take me to the Continental Trailways Bus Station. You may have been there also. It is now the Discovery Center on St. Louis St.

I chose the bus to view some of America for the next twenty-four hours. We took I-44 to St. Louis, MO and then I-70 through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and into Pennsylvania. We stopped a few times en route, and the last one was for breakfast in Pittsburgh. I decided to find a café and went exploring outside the station. Smoke and the smell of the city drove me back inside and I grabbed something at the snack bar.

When we arrived at Harrisburg, I waited for my ride. I was on time and, after an hour, called the Baptist building to check. They told me that they wondered why I had not been at the airport like others. I waited another thirty minutes for a ride. We checked into a hotel, and I shared a room with another guy.

We spent two days training. There were over fifty students that would scatter across PA and North Jersey. I met Charlie Brown that summer. He was a seminary student who drove in. He had a VW with a CB radio that resembled a car phone. Remember this was the seventies and the CB craze was on.

When we left the state capital for Bradford, there were four of us with our driver from Bolivar Road Baptist Church. Michelle was from SWBC and lived in Bolivar, MO. Rhonda was from Texas, and I remember the other as Kentuck. Guess where she was from? Michelle and I had not met back home before that summer.

When we arrived at the church in Bradford, we split into four different homes. We had a brief meeting with the pastor, and I got in a car with Phil. We drove up the mountain to Gifford where I would be the summer pastor for Hilltop Baptist Chapel. I met the rest of the family and stowed my gear in the house that Phil grew up in.

Marianne was Phil’s wife, and Mary Anne, his daughter. That night I shared about Springfield. How big was it? I told them it was a small town. Only a population of 135 thousand. They looked at me strangely because the signs said Bradford had 23,000 and Gifford 65.

I met the rest of the family in the next few days. This is just the start of the story. The next column will be “Gifford”. Looking forward to it. See you then.

Judges versus voters

July 16, 2025

As I sit and listen to the words being delivered at a high school speech and debate tournament, my mind wanders momentarily. I am a judge. My mind should not wander. I am here to listen to what these students have trained long and hard to express.

Being a high school speech judge is much like being a voter. You must prove your qualifications to have the right to vote, which are similar to the qualifications for determining who is the best speaker.

You must be breathing. Non-breathers will scare both the politicians and the debaters. While many politicians may have been elected by people who are no longer alive, the actual ballot had to be marked by someone alive at that moment. If you don’t breathe, you cannot write, and to mark an election or a speech ballot, legible symbols are needed. The scratches may not resemble words, but they must be discernible by those people or machines whose job it is to determine and announce the decision.

You must be present. At least in body. Your mind and spirit may be elsewhere, but spirits and minds are not recognized by the officials who give you your ballot(s). They identify and count bodies as historians after a battle or skirmish.

You must prove you exist. The accepted method at a speech tournament is to be present. At an election, identification is needed. In Missouri, a photo ID is now required. This does not prove who you are, but allows the election judges to record that a certain person has already voted and will not be allowed to vote again.

You cannot discuss how you vote with others in the polling place. Judges cannot discuss between themselves after speakers and rounds, how they marked their ballots either. Secrecy in both cases can be broken after the event, if they desire to. I have written about speakers and other things I experienced at these tournaments over the years.

One of my favorite events was extemporaneous speaking. For the non-speakers that are reading this, in this event, you choose a topic fifteen minutes before your time to speak. You have magazines and other resources with you on possible topics. I also kept quotations or poems that could serve as introductions or conclusions.

Today, when I speak in churches or before other groups, I use these techniques. Thinking on my feet and expressing alternative opinions gives me an open mind and helps me make quick decisions. This has served me well in business as a manager, salesman, purchasing agent, and employee.

When you must make decisions, I hope you have these types of abilities, no matter how you learned it. Sports and other types of extracurricular activities can teach many things that are needed for a successful life. Often, we gain these skills by experiencing only when we need them. I’m glad I did not do that.

Friends and family

July 5, 2025

I want to talk to you about several things today. The first is family and friends. I am fortunate that I have had a lot of family all my life. I have two older brothers and a younger sister, thanks to my mom and dad. In addition, there was an abundance of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Many are now gone, but each generation is larger than the last.

The truth is that we are not as close as we once were. We have family reunions and attend funerals and sometimes even weddings. Not like we used to. The youngest generation doesn’t seem to marry as often as we did. Some of my cousins got married two or three times each. We all just tend to die once, and recently we are living longer. I know it isn’t due to healthy living.

What brought on this wave of nostalgia? A commercial about one of these delivery services. A lady is lying in her bed, and there is some unidentified noise and movement around her. The camera pans back, and her bed is caught between two automatic doors. The voice over says, “If you can’t take your bed to the store,” then they will bring whatever you need to you.

Guess what, isn’t that what friends and family are for? In the bad old days before smartphone apps, you just picked up the phone, plugged it into the wall, and called family or a friend to bring you what you needed.

We are suffering from violence, attacks, and other crimes against more people than ever. There seems to be no way to avoid this. My wife and I seldom leave our home at night. We have a security system at our place, and we know our neighbors. We feel secure in our home.

Do we need to have random strangers coming to our home bringing groceries, medications, and prepared food? There are cases where these random strangers return later, and you are no longer safe. If I do not know you, I don’t invite you into my home.

We go out to pick up carry-out. We do not choose Door Ditch, Pan Handle Pete, or Consta Cart to bring things to us. We occasionally ask our pharmacy to deliver prescriptions. We used to call the pizza place for delivery until the drivers looked like the perps on Blue Bloods or the undercover cops from Chicago PD. We have taken medicines for our kids, for their kids, or for ourselves. Especially when they were quarantined during the COVID-19 crisis.

Have you seen the original Crocodile Dundee movie? You know, the one named “Crocodile Dundee.” There is a scene in it where Dundee is told that the reporter he is visiting in New York needs to go to a therapist. Mick doesn’t understand. He asks, “Don’t you have any mates?”

Friends, family, or mates used to help each other out. They still do in some communities. Our neighbors, church community, and close family still do. I’ve been called by cousins and friends to officiate at weddings and funerals, as well as get someone to a doctor or take food for them when they are ill. It costs us money not to have people we trust and on whom we can depend.

The next time you need something and can’t go get it for yourself, stop and think of whom you can call to bring it to you. Can’t think of anyone? How about one of those that you did the same thing for last week? It’s been a while since you helped someone else? Maybe that is the problem?

THE MARSHFIELD PARADE

July 3, 2025

Around thirty miles from Springfield, Missouri, east on Interstate 44 is Marshfield. President George H.W. Bush visited there in 1991, and he was the second sitting President to do so. Harry S. Truman came in 1948 to be in the annual Independence Day Parade. This is the longest-running parade west of the Mississippi. For the Christian, it is a family-friendly event.

The square around the Webster County courthouse is filled with rides, food vendors, music, and during election years speeches. This will not be one of those years. This is no sophisticated big-city event. This is a county fair celebration.

The parade features antique tractors, horses, classic cars, bands, and patriotic floats by churches and civic organizations. Those who like the glitz and glamour of the Macy’s parades may want to skip Marshfield. No show-stopping here. Unless the livestock gets loose. If you are anti-American or atheist, do not attend if you are offended easily. Almost every area of America has a small town that goes all out for the Fourth of July. Marshfield is one of the Ozarks.

At one time it was unusual to visit Marshfield for the parade without running into a cousin or someone else from childhood. Most of the family have left Webster County, but a few family members and friends are still around. The crowds are larger and as with any gathering, more people mean crowding and rude behavior. Because of this and the fact that Springfield now has a Mid-Town parade, Marshfield no longer has the draw for my family that it once did.

These days you will find us at the Midtown Springfield Independence Day Parade. You do not have to ask about the date. The parade steps off from Central and Benton at 10:00 a.m. Bring your own folding chairs, a blanket, and anything you need while you wait until it starts. The route is down Benton Ave. to Washington Park.

At the park, there will be an ice cream social with games and fun activities for the whole family. Food trucks and other vendors will be available. Remember that fireworks are illegal inside the city limits of Springfield year-round. There is no permission for them even around the fourth of July.

Enjoy your Independence Day celebration wherever you are. The Fourth of July is about the anniversary of the signing of The Declaration of Independence. Without that brave act by dedicated men, the United States of America would not exist. Have fun and support our Constitution and the government that President Lincoln said is by us, for us, and through us.

NO ONE CAN TEACH YOU WHAT YOU DO NOT WISH TO LEARN

July 1, 2025

It seems like an easily determined idea, doesn’t it? Parents, teachers, and employers all fail to recognize this one fact. A father or mother attempts to teach a child how to use a spoon, a fork, or the potty chair before they want to. And it is always a struggle. I know. We tried that with Heather.

She would sit on the pot and not do anything. Then she decided she wanted to use the chair because she was tired of diapers. Why do training diapers help so many kids? They don’t want to lose the security of the protection from accidents, but they want freedom in the bathroom. They also wish for Mom and Dad’s approval.

Effective teachers find ways to encourage their students to learn, but may use games, toys or other activities that catch the attention and are interesting. This type of learning must be customized for every student. If you are fortunate, more than one person is captured by the same activity. Others require a different approach. Learning centers in classrooms take advantage of this principle.

Although I have never carried the title of “trainer” as a supervisor, manager, or an employee hoping to help someone else get ahead, I have trained hundreds of people in dozens of areas. Often, the lessons I taught to others were taught the hard way by trial and error for me. The desire to make learning easier for someone else makes me want to discover how to help them catch what I am throwing at them. This is how it should be done in the workplace.

The truth is that many are afraid to instruct others in what they know. They believe their job security depends on no one else knowing as much about their job.

On other occasions, we want to pass on knowledge, but do not know how because our school was hard knocks. We learned by doing and believe others will also. On-the-job training is good, but why shouldn’t those with more experience guide the newbies? Show them the things you tried first that did not work. Tell them why you do it the way you do and all the other methods that are not as good. These stop wasting time and effort.

If they listen. That leads us back to the title of this article. No one can teach you what you do not wish to learn. If you are stubborn and will not take instruction, you are doomed to repeat other mistakes and be thought less of.

When your trainer takes the time to show you their errors, you don’t have to repeat them. Hopefully, you will not be greeted with the worst of all educational philosophies, “Because I said so.”

It is time to take your company to the 21st century. Write a procedures manual that includes every process in your business. This is one of the requirements for all major companies. Certifications that multinational companies must maintain to bid on government contracts require this manual. Start with this item and see where it takes you.

How do you train?

June 29, 2025

Training is critical to job performance. It is one of those items that is taken into consideration with each new hire. Training is another cost for a new employee. If your company does not calculate this factor, it is still costing them money to train people for positions and functions.

The best way for most of us to learn is to be shown a task and then allowed to perform it until we are comfortable with it. The individual we are training sets such things as the number of repetitions needed, the amount of background knowledge required, and supervisory aspects. No two employees are ever the same, even if they are similar in some characteristics.

Over forty years in business in the office, out in the factory or shop, and everything from a line assembler to the operations manager, I have learned how to train and that many people are not naturally suited to train or be trained.

Three areas need to be looked at to ascertain that a company has adequate training. Does corporate management provide training guidelines? Do they provide the man (or woman) hours and equipment to allow for excellent education of job functions? Does middle management oversee the process thoroughly? If any of the answers to any of these questions are no, an employee may be lost due to a lack of training.

In some cases, higher-ups assume that the training takes place at the lower levels. That assumption is often incorrect. Top executives do not train; however, they need to guarantee that each level below them knows their responsibilities for advancement in the job performance of all under their authority. An office manager, branch manager, supervisor or foreperson should be held responsible for all those who are under them.

Training takes time away from daily responsibilities for both the new employee and the trainer. Other associates need to accept the extra load for those involved in providing proper training. If equipment needs to be used to learn, it should be provided. Often, special training centers can be assembled to give ongoing refresher courses in newly introduced functions. When you want an employee to learn new software, you must give them the time with that program and a trainer to accomplish the task.

Now we are back to the managers and supervisors for the oversight of all functions. A cursory glance at production or other work is not enough to determine if everything is going as planned. Quality inspection of work is required. Time and money are saved because these tasks are given proper emphasis.

One of the best tools I found at many of the companies I worked with was the procedures manual. This is a book of operations that are required for every employee to accomplish their assigned tasks. I’ve written and used these texts often. They are one more tool for training.

Why we won’t laugh when Jesus tells a joke

June 27, 2025

When someone tells a joke, you have two choices. You can laugh at the joke or not. The or not is the one that can help or hinder a storyteller. If you at least smile, then they are encouraged to keep trying. If you frown, we know we missed your funny threshold. When you rudely escort us to the door, we know we really blew it.

Some people do not realize how often Jesus got a laugh from His disciples and others around Him when he spoke. One classic is the “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into Heaven.” What is funny about this statement, you may ask?

Imagine Jesus walking down the road surrounded by his followers, with many Pharisees and Sadducees with them. He is talking about who will go to see His Heavenly Father. “It is easier.” He says, holding His arms out. This is a sign of a word directly from God. “For a camel to go through the eye of a needle.” As He brings his arms together and the two fingers on His right hand are just separated. “Than for a rich man to enter Heaven.”

“But, Lord, who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus replies that what is impossible for man is not for God. You don’t get the joke either. His followers did, and they laughed at the rich Pharisees who were there. They thought being Jews would get them into Heaven. Being a Baptist won’t do it either. No wonder we won’t laugh.

Our Lord was not making fun of His opponents. As He was hung on the cross, He said, “Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing.” He was not just referring to the Roman soldiers. The Jewish Sanhedrin that condemned Him to death did not know what they were doing, either.

They wanted the conquering ruler to free their country. They did not know that the suffering servant had to die first. That sacrifice had to come back to life to conquer death, not just the Romans.

Israel is still in danger of being exterminated by those who have hated them for thousands of years because Jehovah loves them, and other nations do not. Iran, Jordan, Iraq, and Syria are a few examples.

The individuals needed salvation before the corporate group was set free to rule themselves again. Just as we Gentiles need to make a personal choice to accept the Messiah or the Christ and build a relationship with Him, the Jews are required to make a private decision. Have you done that yet?

Terror in the hospital

June 24, 2025

Not really, but I had to get your attention, didn’t I? I went through the standard check-in for the emergency department. We went through the process of triage. I spent five hours waiting to be taken to a room. I’d been answering the same questions repetitively.

These are the typical neurological, cardiac, and psychiatric screening processes. Two EKG’s, blood work, and chest X-ray. I’ve gone through this many times before except for the psych evaluation. When I finally was taken to a room, we waited for all the test results. Nothing out of the ordinary was discovered.

I tried to sleep. I was still fasting, and they only checked my blood sugar twice in eight hours. The reason I was required to go to the ER was to make sure my blood pressure and sugar levels were in range, I did not have dementia, or serious psychiatric problems.

A taxi took me home where I waited for the driver to pull out and got into my car and left again. I spent the morning looking for a place to stay without returning home. There was nowhere that the Lord made available for me.

I had to swallow my pride and ask Cindy to forgive me. I knew it would not be easy. When I got back home and went into the house Cindy and I began the process of forgiving each other and trying to find a way to prevent this from happening again. I am currently continuing outpatient testing to confirm that this problem does not happen again.

Let’s face it, none of us are perfect. Almost every couple has arguments or quarrels. The way you handle them is the main problem. I handled this one incorrectly. We are continuing to work through whatever causes disagreements.

It is possible to find common ground on almost anything if you try hard enough. Understanding, forgiveness, and compromise are the keys. Most marriages fail when one spouse chooses that they must have their way.

It is important to talk things out and express love in your partner’s primary love language. Communication is so essential to every relationship, it should be a priority. Remember why you decided to get married and be sure you maintain those loving actions.

I base what I write on a Christian world view. That means I speak of what Jesus taught in treating others as you want to be treated. I also emphasize the way love is defined in First Corinthians chapter 13. Love is patient and kind, it is just the beginning.

Walk With a Servant