Rich Brown: Harmony Heights pastor meets troubles head on
4/25/09
Print this story
It was a year ago this month that Charlie Burnett came to a traumatic crossroads in his life.
The Harmony Heights Baptist pastor, who had suffered retinal occlusion (rupturing blood vessels) 14 years ago, leaving him blind in his left eye, suddenly found the same thing occurring in his right eye. The result was total blindness. Later he was to discover that his three great aunts had developed the same problem, leaving him to assume it was genetic.
"I had to make an adjustment," Burnett said (which may be the biggest understatement ever uttered in Joplin). "I had to decide if I was still going to preach or not and how it was going to affect my ministry, my church and me."
Burnett said this week that he not only has made the adjustment , but also preaches without any difficulty. In fact, the schedule that the 66-year-old Burnett maintains at Harmony Heights would make most younger pastors envious.
He holds services at 8:20 and 10:45 in the morning and 5 p.m. every Sunday as well as 6:30 p.m. each Wednesday. And that doesn't include the many visits he makes to hospital patients.
"I made the decision to continue preaching the first week I went blind," he said. "The leadership in the church and I figured out ways to make it work. I have a little rail built around the platform for me so I will not fall off. Someone helps me up to the platform and helps me get down and I have a chair on the side where I sit during song service."
Burnett said that he is doing fine physically and getting around well with the help of his wife, Ann, and others in church. In particular, he mentioned Ted Sheppard, an old Jasper High School friend and member of the church who takes him on most of his hospital visits.
"I still do weddings and funerals and continue all the ministry that a pastor should in a church," Burnett said. "I feel like if I couldn't do these things then I should not, but I am able to do them quite comfortably."
Burnett cannot say enough about the support and love he has been shown by members of Harmony Heights.
"The church has responded phenomenally, surrounding me with such love that is beyond measure," he said. "This has really been an emotional help."
Burnett has been senior pastor at Harmony Heights the last 14 years and before that served as associate pastor for eight years. His sermons may be heard on the church Web site: www.harmonyheightsbaptist.com.
Before joining Harmony Heights, he served as youth and music minister at Calvary Baptist. Before that he spent 10 years with The Gospel Lads, a nationally known gospel group that relocated from Southern California to Joplin in 1971 and took on Burnett as lead singer. The Lads worked with Cecil Todd and the Revival Fires ministry, traveling throughout the world.
"We did four prime-time TV specials, including one with Art Linkletter and another with Ronald Reagan," Burnett said. "We appeared on 256 TV stations across the country. A lot of our singing was done through Revival Fires for six years and then we went independent."
Burnett also sang with The Missourians and, though admittedly not on a regular basis, continues to harmonize with Old Friends, including Dale Sullens and Jarel Burnside. All three sang together when attending Jasper High School.
"We have too much going on to do singing as a business, so we don't call anybody and just use soundtracks for background music," Burnett said.
Sullens has a full-time lawn business in Branson, where he sang with the Foggy River Boys for 35 years, and Burnside is pastor of Arnhart Baptist Church in Purdy.
Whether singing or preaching, Burnett has spent the biggest part of his life in Christian service and, sight or no sight, he is not about to quit now.
"I want this to be an encouragement to those who have infirmities, especially with blindness," he said. "You can go on in life with different problems and when you have them, you have to meet them head on and don't just wallow in your troubles."
Address correspondence to Rich Brown, c/o The Joplin Globe, P.O. Box 7, Joplin, Mo. 64802.
Comment
on this story | Send a Letter
to the Editor | Email
this story to a friend |
