The "Preaching Weatherman"
I first met Pastor Lyndell Hix years ago when we both lived in West Texas. In the mid 1990s, Lyndell served as the minister of Broadway Baptist Church in Sweetwater, TX. At the time I was starting my career as a meteorologist for KTXS-TV in nearby Abilene. KTXS-TV broadcast Lyndell's sermons during Sunday morning church time.
His friendly voice and TV appearances made a lasting impression. I also remembered him because he was also an Aggie. He graduated from Texas A&M University and to my surprise when he told me, he earned a meteorology degree!
(ABOVE: Lyndell with his wife Brenda. I first met Lyndell years ago in West Texas.)
But the Aggie weatherman became a preacher man! Lyndell felt the call to become a minister during his senior year at Aggieland. After finishing his meteorology degree at A&M, he attended and graduated from Baptist Bible College.
Now...fast forward to 2009....
The Channel 2 weather department received a rainfall total and email from a Tulsa area resident named Lyndell Hix. I never thought it might be the same person because I thought "Hix" was spelled "Hicks" in Texas. I replied, thanking him for the rainfall total. I also told him that I knew a man with a similar name spelled differently who was a Texas minister-- (I was wrong about the different spelling!)
I was astonished at his reply when he told me it was him! Pastor Lyndell Hix moved to the Tulsa area several years ago, and he's now the pastor of Southwest Tulsa Baptist Church. Funny thing-- he said that after I left Abilene, TX, he didn't know where I moved to until he saw me on TV-- we both ended up in the same city!
(ABOVE: The Hix family moved from West Texas to Tulsa where he's the pastor of Southwest Baptist Church.)
I called him on the phone to hear his voice and say "howdy!" Lyndell later surprised me by stopping off at the station. I shook hands with him for the first time since meeting him nearly 15 years earlier!
You can visit the "Preaching Weatherman" (that's my nickname for him!) on Sunday mornings at Southwest Baptist Church located at 5304 S. 33rd West in Tulsa.
Pastor Lyndell-- thanks for the rainfall total and for watching Channel 2! George
(Below: Lyndell and I. He came by Channel 2 to say "howdy!" He told me he's never done a weathercast in front of a green screen before. Hmmm- I wonder if we could persuade him?!)
