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Hernando Today

Pants Earn $1,025 For Needy Families

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By KYLE MARTIN

Hernando Today

Published: March 12, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - There's a lot you can buy with $1,025: a new wardrobe, a top-of-the-line entertainment system, even a month of eating out.

Kenneth Gregory decided to spend his money on something he would never use.

Last week, Gregory learned that his pastor's baptism pants were up for sale on the online auction site eBay. The included photo on the listing shows a pair of double-knit polyester bell bottoms blazoned with a blue hounds-tooth checked pattern.

Strangers might be shocked by the sheer hideousness of the 1970s relic. But Gregory, 23, is quite familiar with the pants.

His father is a longtime deacon at Spring Hill Baptist Church and has been in charge of baptisms for more than a decade. Each Sunday the Rev. Ray Rouse performed a baptism, Gregory's mom brought the pants home for a wash. Gregory and his brother were both baptized by the pastor as he wore the pants.

They're as much a piece of history in the Gregory household as at the church.

But the end of an era arrived last week, when the baptismal was refitted with a pit that allows pastors to baptize congregants without getting wet. Without a need for a change of clothes, the pants lost their purpose.

But before Pastor Rouse retired them, he decided to pass them on to his associate pastor, Joe Ferreira. The gaudy pants have been a running joke between them for years, and Rouse thought he would have the last laugh.

Ferreira did him one better, though, and posted them on eBay, with the proceeds going to the church's benevolent fund.

Gregory missed the Sunday all of this was announced because he was working a double shift as a water plant manager in Land O' Lakes. But his parents enlightened him when he came home for the day and it set him to thinking.

He personally knew several families in the church who were dealing with unemployment. In contrast, he is a bachelor living with his parents and holding a decent-paying job.

"I know it has to be tough for those families," Gregory said Wednesday. "Helping people out in the church was worth it."

So Gregory started bidding. Every couple of hours he would check back and hike the price even more. He was responsible for bringing the price up to $200, then $400 and ultimately $1,025. Gregory was willing to go up to about $2,000.

"I'm glad it didn't get that high though," Gregory said with a smile Wednesday.

As it turns out, Gregory will steal the last laugh from Pastor Ferreira. Gregory plans to frame the pants and hang them somewhere near the baptismal.

The pants will be awarded to him during Sunday's service, along with two certificates. One is a playful tease naming him the "craziest member" of Spring Hill Baptist Church. The other is to commend his generosity.

Rouse said it's been fun for the church and that the money will help a lot of young families that are hurting.

"Even in a depression there are little glimmers of hope," he said.

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com.

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