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Bishop Nelson Gatlin and First Lady Kathern Gatlin wait for the parade honoring their service to the Sulphur Springs community to start in the cloudy Saturday afternoon. Staff photo by Todd Kleiboer -
Sulphur Springs City Marc Maxwell (left) gifted a plaque to Bishop Nelson Gatlin and his wife Kathern inscribed with Theodore Roosevelt’s “man in the arena” quote. Staff photo by Todd Kleiboer
Bishop recalls journey to Sulphur Springs
From a small Louisiana town to presiding over 45 churches in Northeast Texas, Bishop Nelson Gatlin started his faithful work at Sulphur Springs’ Michell Chapel Church of God in Christ (COGIC), where he also serves as pastor, 23 years ago.
“My bishop at the time was looking for someone to come here to replace the former pastor [B. L. Turman] who had passed away,” Gatlin said. “Two years had passed, and there was no pastor here.”
At that time, Gatlin was pastoring a small congregation in Linden, Texas, and the bishop took notice of their work and faith in maintaining the church.
“My late wife and I put so much of our own personal money into that church down in Linden and turned that little church around,” Gatlin said. “We never did get over 12 members because Linden is a very small town.”
Gatlin said when it was announced he would pastor in Sulphur Springs, he “jumped straight up,” having never heard of the city before.
“I’m a Louisiana boy, and I’d been in Texas in the Longview area and learned a lot of places around there,” Gatlin said. “Being up here 23 years, who would have thought it? I can truly say it’s been 23 wonderful years.”
In 1999, planning began to construct a new building for the Mitchell Chapel congregation, and the current chapel started construction in 2005 and finished in 2006. The former chapel is across from the church on J. D. Franklin Drive.
“Fourteen years we’ve been here, and God has blessed us,” Gatlin said. “But we’ve lost a lot of members this year due to COVID. It’s been a strange year.”
When Gatlin was named bishop in 2015, it came as a surprise, he said. According to Gatlin, he is the third in succession to Texas Northeast Third Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, an area that covers about 45 churches.
“There was another man that was considered ahead of me,” Gatlin said. “But our reputation, our mannerism of dealing with people and just being a people’s person, I think all of that attributed to my elevation.”
Gatlin was consecrated by Presiding Bishop Charles Blake Sr., at the time a member of the COGIC’s highest leadership called the General Board, in Longview, and it was one of the rare times that a high-ranking bishop had visited the area. Gatlin said 2,000 people attended the event.
“In matter of fact, the man who consecrated me bishop, he retired last night [Oct. 23],” Gatlin said. “He had been bishop for about 35 years, so he’s got a lot more years on me. I’m just in my fifth year.”
However, Gatlin has left his mark on the Sulphur Springs community who thanked him and his wife First Lady Kathern Gatlin in a drive-thru parade Saturday. Family members traveled from Logansport, Lou., his hometown, to celebrate his 23 years of service, and city manager Marc Maxwell and Alliance Bank president Tom Sellers joined in the parade.
“It brought tears to my eyes,” Gatlin said.
Maxwell handed Gatlin a plaque inscribed with a quote from Theodore Roosevelt, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood…”
“When they told me this was happening, I knew that was for you,” Maxwell said to Gatlin. “You are the man in the arena.”