Don C. Richter's formative moments

At age 12 I decided (with lots of encouragement) to become a
communicant member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Decatur,
Alabama. The communicant's class met with our pastor six Saturday
mornings for two-hour sessions. I don't recall specifics; by 1968 our
congregation no longer required memorizing the Shorter Catechism. But I
do remember how important and grown-up it felt having conversations
about faith in our pastor's study—not his office—surrounded by stacks of
well-worn commentaries and theology texts. A decade later I would
attend the same seminary that trained my pastor, reading some of those
same tomes I saw on his bookshelves.

It's one thing to admire
texts; it's another to perform them. In 1972, two high school friends
and I attended a performance of the off-Broadway musical Godspell.
Enthralled, the three of us lobbied to produce the play with our youth
group. Though the music score was widely available, royalties for the
book were prohibitive.

"You could just sing the songs," youth
advisers suggested. "But the songs won't make sense without the script,"
we argued. "Besides, we know where they got their material. We'll write
our own script!"