Eastside Baptist Church

THE PRAYER.......

INSPIRATIONAL

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Pastoral Biography...

Philippians 1:6

"...who hath begun a good work in you..."

Pastor of 28 years, Richard K. Tosh. B.Music; M.Ministry; D.D; ThD.

My Great-Grandmother's Father, my Great-Great Grandfather, Richard Ellis was a circuit-riding Presbyterian preacher. My Grandfather, M.M. Keeton, was a Nazarene preacher who quit preaching and became a singer/piano player. Once, while preaching, his boys got in a scuffle in the church and the church folks criticized him so much for not controlling his kids, that he simply quit preaching. He was licensed in the Nazarene church in Tucumcari, New Mexico. So, he ended up in Red River County Texas and ended up playing the piano. His father, Jesse Keeton was shot and killed in Paris, Texas and is buried at Roxton, Texas. The family lived in the Hillsboro and Waxahachie area after that. Somehow they moved to the Panhandle of Texas for work and that's where I was born, Pampa. . We lived in Pampa, Skellytown, Spring Creek, Stinnett, and Borger in the Panhandle...I was saved at Victory Baptist Church in Stinnett, Texas, April 15, 1959...Bro. George Jackson was my pastor... But I left West Texas after I surrendered to preach at Victory Baptist Church in Stinnett, Texas after graduating from Stinnett High School. I had moved to Lubbock after graduation and worked for a summer and became a draftsman through a business college in Lubbock... being hired by the company owned by my teacher... But, I answered the call to this ministry and left the possibility of a degree in engineering at Texas Tech on the table. I don't know that I would have earned that degree. I was working already as a draftsman, designing residential home plans. I might have just stayed there until this very day...but things change...life is moving around us constantly...others lives are changing and sometimes....we cannot help BUT change...

I left Lubbock, Texas in 1965 and moved to Dallas-Oak Cliff to attend Bible School. Oak Cliff was a beautiful place to live...lots of trees and hills...wonderful people...the home of the Texas Theatre where they caught Oswald...but more importantly, home of the Stamps-Baxter Music Company and the Stamps Quartet Music Company...the home of those great singing schools...the most important place for Gospel music West of the Mississippi... Lots happened in Dallas. While living in Oak Cliff, I worked for Gospel Films Library. Our job was to receive Christian films that had been rented out, repair them, rewind them and case them and file them away until rented again. Then we would send those films out to churches all over the place. This was a part-time job while I was attending seminary in Oak Cliff. My pay was , get this, 90 cents an hour! I ate a lot of graham crackers and drank a lot of water while in Dallas. I didn't have a support system in place. No one was feeding me money. I just tried to endure. While remaining faithful to the Lord's work, I met Emma Lee Spencer and that was that. She was pretty. She was attending seminary, too. She was a preacher's daughter. And, she played that Stamps-Baxter style of piano...she had that swing-bass, octave-chord style of playing...I was sold by her talent and dedication to the Lord's work...She had always been a piano player for church since she was a teenager. Her dad saw to that. She has taught piano lessons in Haltom City for 50 years! Her dad was a preacher...Everything fell into place... So, our ministry was born and we were married at Southside Baptist Church in Fort Worth. Her father, Dr. A.L. Spencer and Dr. B. F. Dearmore married us. That was 44 years ago as of August 14, 2010.

.... All in Ministry. I was favored to receive several degrees. Have pastored Eastside since 1982. Love the ministry. Love the people. Don't always understand them, but love them. God knows the gains and the losses and "there's too much to gain, to lose" . I believe the people love us, too! They must....almost 29 years have passed.

Dr. Emma Lee Tosh holds a Doctor of Christian Education degree and a Bachelor of Music degree. She is the church pianist and plays an active role in the church. She is a native of Fort Worth.

Emma Lee is my miracle lady! She was struck by lightning at the church door a few years ago and survived. She suffered a severe stroke a couple of years ago and hardly missed a beat playing that piano! Thank God for the blessing of a faithful and industrious wife! She has been the mainstay in my life all these years.

Emma Lee and I began to sing together early in our marriage. We still sing together and all of our work is in the church... together....we're grateful for those who have joined with us in this work...