October is Clergy Appreciation Month. This month we will be profiling some of Madison’s memorable pastors. This article by Eileen Hocker focuses on several pastors, past and present.
It was the early 1970s. Madison had a one percent ethnic minority community. Midvale Baptist Church, a small church on Madison’s Westside, wanted to reach out to the African American community.
“I remember this guy named Dave, and his driver, who came through the community every Saturday to see who was coming,” said Rev. Alex Gee, pastor of Fountain of Life Family Worship Center. “Then on Sundays the bus came. It was called the Happy Bus.”
The Happy Bus was part of a vision brought to Midvale by a new pastor. And it was a vision that bore fruit in four future Madison church leaders: Rev. Alex Gee, Pastor David A. Smith, Rev. “Pinky” Frazier, and Lilada Gee.
“Our church was looking for an outreach possibility,” said Dick Cashwell, long time member and Sunday school director at that time. “But our news pastor had the specific idea for a bus ministry.” The idea was to bring children from Madison’s African American community to Midvale Baptist Church for Sunday school.
The venture was launched by Rev. Julius Stagner, shortly after he arrived in Madison from Commerce, Texas. “It took someone like Julius Stagner to pull this off,” Cashwell said. “He came from Texas where he had dealt with the issue of racial separation. He wanted to do something about it here.”
The Boom Years
Midvale’s bus ministry ran from 1971 through the early 1980s. There were six buses that picked up African American children from Madison’s south side and east side. “We have members who are still here because of the bus ministry,” Cashwell said.
“The Happy Bus was a green and yellow bus,” Rev. Gee reminisced. “It picked up about 25 to 30 kids. There were lots of us. And I remember that Rev. Julius Stagner had a southern drawl.”
“When we got the buses we painted them Packer colors,” said Cashwell. “We painted all the buses green and gold. We also doubled the number of Sunday school teachers because we knew there would be growth.” Cashwell said he remembered the room would be filled. “Sometimes there would be up to 200 kids in the Sunday school!” he said. 
In fact, Midvale Baptist Church’s membership reached a bulging 1,227 during the 10 year period from 1973-83, according to its history booklet Celebrating 50 Years of Faithful Service 1953-2003. And under the leadership of Stagner, Midvale exploded in evangelism and service to the community. So much so that the church needed more space, so in 1977 Stagner kicked off a building campaign.
“I remember the songs we sang on the Bus ministry,” said Rev. Gee. “We’d go into the classrooms, and then after classes they’d give us milk and cookies. After Sunday school, the kids would go to “children’s church”. According to Cashwell, Bettye Stagner almost single-handedly took care of children’s church. “His wife taught in the public schools, so she knew how to deal with large numbers of kids,” he said.
Tensions
The bus ministry was not without its obstacles. “We lost members because of it,” Cashwell shared. “I remember at a deacon’s meeting that Pastor Stagner was concerned about this. I said, ‘But we’re supposed to be a Christian church, and this fits into our mission.’” Alex Gee said he remembered that some church elders resigned because of the bus ministry. 
More trouble came from Midvale neighbors who did not like the buses parked on the lawns. Cashwell said they complained to the city and eventually, the church had to stop parking the buses there. In addition, Cashwell explained that many of the teachers and bus drivers experienced burnout. The continuing logistics of the bus ministry became difficult. Thus, in the early 1980’s, the bus ministry was stopped.
The Fruit
Some of the children who were picked up by the bus ministry in those days went on to become ministers in the Madison area. David A. Smith is pastor of Faith Community Christian Church, and co-host of the Sunday morning radio program “Let’s Go to Church” (along with Pastor Dee Duncan) on Madison’s talk radio 1670 AM, 7:00-9:00 am. He and Alex Gee were picked up on Madison’s southside. Rev. “Pinky” Frazier did ministry on Madison’s east side and was picked up from there as well. The bus also picked up Alex’s sister, Lilada Gee.
“I did the bus ministry for three years,” said Alex Gee. “From the 3rd grade through 5th grade. On the bus I met a boy named Tim who introduced me to his cousin, David Smith. We were seven years old.” David Smith and Alex Gee became good friends. Later they were each other’s best men in their weddings. “We learned ministry together,” Gee said. “David was my assistant pastor for almost 10 years before starting his own church.”
Alex Gee said the Happy Bus also had an impact on his mother. As she saw her children being cared for and ministered to by the bus ministry, it caused her to recommit her life to the Lord.
Rev. Julius Stagner returned to Texas after his tenure at Midvale Baptist Church. But the seeds from the bus ministry continued to grow.
“We recognized Alex’s name when he became a pastor,” Cashwell said. “When Julius came back to Madison for a visit, he visited with Alex Gee. What a great celebration that was, to see the fruit of his ministry from those earlier years.”
“I met Julius Stagner for coffee about 12 years ago at Perkins,” said Alex Gee. “It was such a privilege to see him again. My ministry is the fruit of his ministry, and I appreciated his courage.”
Stagner’s impact on Gee’s life will be noted in an upcoming history of Fountain of Life Family Worship Center being compiled by Kevin Evanco, who is on Fountain of Life’s pastoral staff. “Alex remembers that this pastor lost half his congregation just because he felt led to bring African American kids to his church,” said Kevin Evanco. “That made a real impact on him. It was Alex‘s first interracial religious experience.”
“I am a product of bus ministry,” Alex Gee said, “and I respect bus ministry and children’s ministry.”
-0-
Eileen Hocker attends New Beginnings Alliance Church.