Worth Dying For (DRAFT03-for-print)

WORTH

DYING FOR

WHEN IT’S WORTH THE RISK!

WORTH

DYING FOR

WHEN IT’S WORTH THE RISK! ◆◆◆

——◆ AUTHOR ◆——

C LIFFORD M ATTHEWS

COPYRIGHTS: Copyright © 2019 by Clifford Matthews All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Printed in the United States of America First Publishing/Printing, 2019

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RECOMMENDATIONS Rick Lance, Executive Director, Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions [John 15:5] 'Cliff Matthews has written a story, his story, which is both inspirational and informational. The book informs people about how one can do ministry under the leadership of the Lord. It inspires anyone who wants to be faithful in following the Lord’s will for his or her life. Personally, I enjoyed reading about Cliff’s past and getting to know him and the life and ministry he lived. I know some of the people about whom he writes. I am familiar with the places he served.

Throughout the entire book, I felt a spiritual connection with Cliff and to the Lord we both serve. I recommend this book to people interested in ministry and in reading about a life so faithfully lived. Cliff has done us all a favor by writing this book and I appreciate his labors of love.”

——­◆—— Averyt Walker, Pastor, St. John Baptist Church, Brundidge, Alabama “I really enjoyed reading your book, Worth Dying For, especially the early part of your ministry. So many of the people and places were familiar and the history of churches in our area was very interesting. I also find it interesting that you included events from our nation’s history that had an effect on people and also the spread of the Gospel. I was encouraged by your testimony of how your calling has always been by God’s power and not by our power. The truth of the basic Gospel of Jesus Christ has always convicted people’s hearts and it is still doing so today. I was challenged in my own ministry by your steadfast commitment to the task God placed before you. Through your life story one can see that sharing the Gospel is not an easy task, but always a rewarding task. I would recommend everyone to read your life story and learn from the challenges you have faced and obstacles you were able to overcome by God’s power. Also to see how God was always with you and protecting and encouraging you in your times of need. Thank you for giving me this privilege to preview Worth Dying For.”

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Dr. Paul Matthews, Senior Pastor, Jubilee Baptist Church, Daphne, Alabama “My sister and I grew up hearing stories about Dad’s life filled with close encounters with venomous snakes, a bite from a Black Widow spider, an alcoholic father turned preacher and nearly being stoned to death in a riot in Panama. One day we begged Dad to “tell us more scary stories!” It was then that my mother made it clear that these were “not just stories that he made up—they were real!” and she had lived through many of them with Dad. It is my great privilege to recommend my father’s book of memoirs, entitled Worth Dying For: When it’s Worth the Risk. I have enjoyed hearing over the years about not only the dangerous obstacles my father faced as a Christian pastor and missionary, but also the great moves of God and the many people that came to Jesus through his faithful witness. In these pages I hope you will see that, as my father believes, it is worth any risk to help people come into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.

Dad, thanks for writing it all down and sharing a few more “scary stories.” We are grateful and blessed to hear them all!”

——­◆—— Leon White, Retired Missionary, International Mission Board, Venezuela, Florida Baptist Convention [I Thessalonians 1:3] “After 8 years of pastoring churches in Alabama and North Carolina and 20 years of serving with the International Mission Board, SBC, God, in 1990, led me to serve in the Church Planting Department of the Florida Baptist Convention. Clifford Matthews was my supervisor for this position for 8 years. Six of these years I worked as his associate in the Church Planting Department. It was during this time that I was privileged to get to know the heart of Clifford Matthews. God laid His hand on Cliff’s life early in his childhood and planted a deep desire in his heart for others to come to know the Lord he loved and served. Clifford Matthews’ heart is burdened for the lost. He loves evangelism, and church planting is his passion. I was privileged to be a disciple of Clifford for those 8 years and benefited much from his knowledge and leadership. After his retirement, Clifford felt compelled to write about his spiritual journey, Worth Dying For. This book is inspiring and educational. I recommend it to anyone who has a heart for evangelism, church planting or is seeking God’s will for his/her life.”

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Patsy Powell, Sister in Faith and Family “Even though I am the sister of the author, I did not realize how close to death my brother came several times. It was obvious that God spared his life by saving his body and his soul for a great purpose. This book would be good for someone who wants to know the hardships and rewards of following Jesus. It would be especially good for someone feeling called to the ministry. It shows the difficulties and joys of Christian ministry no matter the cost. The book also shows how God can transform a rebellious life into one which has the love and joy of Jesus. Clifford shows that his goal in life is to share the love of Jesus in every circumstance. Christians and non-Christians should be convicted on how they can come to Jesus and serve Him (God) to the fullest because of the testimony of a servant of God and a true Christ follower. Love you, my brother.”

——­◆—— Mary M. Mitchell, Member, Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, Troy, Alabama “Clifford Matthews has written a great book on missions and how to lead souls to Christ. Brother Clifford was pastor at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in the 1950’s. During his time of ministry at Mt. Moriah, he led many to Christ including me, my parents, my future husband and sister-in-law. Brother Clifford has left an indelible imprint on our church and the way we enjoy ministry.

Recently our church sought his help during our process of calling a new pastor.

He jumped in and led us in ways that encouraged and challenged us spiritually.

We feel grateful to him for his love and direction. Brother Clifford loves people and wants all to know how loved they are in Jesus. I found his book filled with that same spiritual challenge and spiritual encouragement that radiates from him. I highly recommend his book to anyone who loves people and wants to know how much they are loved by Jesus.”

——­◆—— Dr. John Sullivan, Executive Director Emeritus, Florida Baptist Convention (1989–2015) “Clifford Matthews’ book, Worth Dying For, is excellent and enjoyable. We first met when I moved to Jacksonville to become Executive Director of the

Florida Baptist Convention February 1, 1989. Cliff was leading our church planting ministry. It did not take long to know the passion he had for Jesus and church planting. To be able to read his life story has been an excellent journey for me to know him better. You will laugh, cry and be amazed almost simultaneously. He writes like he lives, with integrity and wit. You need to read this book.

It is quite a story. Most of all you will see the hand of the Lord in a servant’s life.

Cliff and Peggy are special folks. Read the book!

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TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS This book is written primarily for our families and friends. I want all of you to know the challenges and joys Peggy and I have experienced. The dangers and sacrifices have been nothing compared to the deep satisfaction of seeing God work, even in and through weak believers like us to encourage others in their real-life struggles.

OTHERS WHO MAY ENJOY THIS BOOK Those who want to know what life was like growing up as a child or teenager in the 1940s and 50s may enjoy this. Some say that life was far simpler then. Yes, it was slower and more concerned with the basics—food, clothing and a roof over our heads. If you think life was easier, you don’t know the tasks we faced every day, which had to be done to have the necessities of life: to survive. I think other necessities of life were recognized then better than they are today. For example, FAMILY, RELATIONSHIPS, COMPASSION, AND GOD are on my shortlist. I welcome readers who will enjoy these action events from my life, which show what it was like then. I have added the national and world events as they occurred before and during World War II, which affected families of that trying time. I’ve also included many of the important world and national events since then. Even though I was a child or student in those early years, many are still vivid in my memory. Others may be curious to know what it’s like when God turns a rebellious teenager into a sold-out follower of Christ.

Since that time, I attempted and Peggy with me after our marriage, TO DO whatever we felt He wanted and TO GO wherever He led us. Often through difficulties, dangers, and even our failures, He has still given us GREAT LIVES at every stage of the journey! This is NOT my full life story, rather it is a collection of challenging experiences in my life (our lives), which I trust you will enjoy. If it enables you to see how adventurous and fulfilling the true Christian life is, then it will be worth our efforts. Everything in the book actually happened as far as my weak memory allows and can be authenticated by others still living. I have had to recreate some of the dialogue, but it is what I believe was said or at least conveys what was meant. Since it’s written both by topics and by time periods, I have included some events from other time periods. These will include a statement of when I’m referring to unless it’s very obvious.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Copyrights.................................................................................................... 2 Recommendations........................................................................................ 3 To Family and Friends (and Others)............................................................ 8 Dedication.................................................................................................... 9 Foreword.................................................................................................... 10 Introduction.................................................................................................11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Born a Rebel............................................................................................. 13 Childhood Perils....................................................................................... 35 The Rebel Confronted............................................................................. 54 Lord, How Could You Love Me That Much?........................................ 69 Fools on Fire!............................................................................................ 83 After I Chopped Off My Fingertip: I’ll Preach, Lord!....................... 103 Preparing, Preaching, and Pastoring....................................................119 Revival Meetings in the ‘50s—Churches Jammed, Many Saved......... 130 New Orleans Seminary: Traveling to Study, To Preach on the Streets......142 Partners Together in Love and Ministry............................................. 165 Our First Church Starts—Cedar Hill and Dixonville........................ 187 Panama—Learning to Adapt and Staying On Mission...................... 210 Where God Wants Us to Plant Churches and Our Lives................... 222 Leading in Planting Churches in New York’s Capital: Albany, Schenectady, and Troy........................................................................... 249 Leading Church Planting in Buffalo and Western New York (Frontier Baptist Association).................................................................. 265 Leading Church Extension (Now Church Planting) Department, Florida Baptist Convention................................................................... 288 Entering God’s Open Doors After Florida Retirement...................... 312 The Road Ahead..................................................................................... 346 Appendix.................................................................................................. 400

INTRODUCTION

DEDICATION Dedicated to my mother, Gladys Shell Matthews, who was my guiding light and supporter all of my life as long as she lived.

And, to my loving wife, Peggy Galloway Matthews, who has been my faithful partner in life and in proclaiming Christ for over 61 years.

I want to thank Jerry Johnson and his supportive wife Lana, for his tireles work preparing this book for publication.

Peggy and I will never forget your labor of love.

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FOREWORD Terry M. Robertson, Executive Director/Treasurer, Baptist Convention of New York “What a treat is in store for you as you read through the pages of Worth Dying For! This first-hand account of God victories in and through the life of a long-time friend and mentor will encourage, inform and inspire you. Before Henry Blackaby wrote Experiencing God, Cliff Matthews was introducing new pastors, new church planters and potential workers to very similar concepts. In the early 1980s, Cliff so often said to the team that he was assembling, “that’s Providential”. As you read Worth Dying For you will realize the providence of God in the life and ministry of Cliff and Peggy Matthews. Their places of service, mentioned in the following pages, have included Alabama, Florida, the Panama Canal, and New York. It has indeed been providential that God has used this couple to significantly advance the Kingdom. They have become legendary in their impact. Personally, my life has been greatly enhanced by the Matthews Family. From the first encounter with them, I was positively impressed by Cliff, Peggy, Wanda, and Paul. They so clearly modeled a family seeking to allow God to use them to advance His Kingdom. I was honored to serve alongside them. The writing of Worth Dying For is, indeed, providential!”

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INTRODUCTION Panama City, Republic of Panama, January 9, 1964 When rocks, bottles, and pieces of pipe came crashing through the window of my little American rambler, I suddenly realized that Panamanians were very angry. Since mid-afternoon, I had been visiting newcomer U.S. families living in Panama City, while they waited for base or post housing. It did seem unusual that the streets were already jammed with people and cars by late afternoon.

The lack of street signs, erratic drivers, and my not knowing Spanish did not help. In one area of stopped traffic, small children pounded on my back fender.

However, my two years in Panama told me that excited children are the norm when an American shows up in a poverty-stricken area. They were usually just wanting a handout from the “rich” person from the U.S.A. Then, a uniformed officer stopped me. He didn’t understand English and his only Spanish that I recognized was the word problema.

I thought, “He probably didn’t say anything that I did not already know. It’s obvious that jammed traffic is a problem!”

To my right, the American high-rise hotel came into view, and there was a fire on one of the upper floors. “So, that’s the problem: spectators are causing the congestion,” I thought. I waited and waited and tried to break into the traffic lines ahead, but nobody would let me in. Finally, a little bus opened up a spot for me to get in behind him as the driver weaved his way toward the Canal Zone.

Near Fourth of July Avenue, the street that divided Panama and the Canal Zone, the bus driver turned off onto a side street. Relieved, I went straight toward the Avenue which led to the high expansion bridge over the canal to my home.

But, as soon as I got onto the avenue, rocks, bottles, and pieces of pipe burst through my windows, cutting gashes on my face and arms and sending blood running down onto my white Panama shirt. Looking a half-mile down the road, all I could see were huge crowds of angry people lining both sides of the street, shouting curses at, I supposed, Americans.

A thought flashed through my mind, “Where in the world is the U.S. Army?

I thought they were here to protect Americans!”

My car tag’s yellow color was a dead giveaway that I was not a resident of Panama but was from the Canal Zone. Since my little Rambler seemed to be the only Zone car on the street at that time, they all ran in front of it to try to stop me

or to throw anything they could find at me. Thank God that the lower roofline of the small car protected me from even more serious injuries.

I had no alternative but to go straight ahead where there was a burning barricade erected all the way across the street. Picking up a little speed to crash through it meant sending those in front of the car scrambling as they screamed curses at me, the ugly American.

Even teenagers joined in the assault. Holding pieces of scrap metal or broken bottles, they rushed toward me. When within range, they screamed their insults as they let fly their ammo. Others just stood stationary in front of the car as if they would not move, even if I ran over them. All I could do was keep going at a moderate speed but not slow enough for them to stop me. This was done instinctively, not because I had thought it through. I was in survival mode!

As the rioters shifted into the street turning right toward Balboa, I kept going straight toward the bridge; just in time, I saw that the bridge was blocked.

Groaning a prayer, I cried, “Oh no, Lord, what am I going to do now?”

Spotting a one-way street, I had not been on before, I made an illegal turn and was able to elude the angry protesters.

Driving through a residential area, I thought, “This looks like an area of Balboa.” Sure enough, familiar Balboa landmarks soon came into view: the post office on the right and the clubhouse across the street. A Balboa policeman stopped me when he saw the damaged car and my bleeding face and arms.

“I’ll get someone to drive you to the hospital,” he said.

“I’m doing okay,” I replied.

He insisted and asked a man nearby to drive me.

The man objected saying, “Will I get bloody?”

The policeman ignored his question and ushered him into the driver seat.

Thankfully, it was only a short drive.

As doctors began washing the crumbled glass from my eyes, they shared, “Several other zone residents have been hurt by rioters, but no one has been killed yet.”

“Why?” I asked.

“This morning,” they replied, “a group of Panamanian students tore down the American flag in front of the U.S. Administration Building and attempted to raise the Panamanian flag in its place. This followed several days of confrontations between students from the Panama High School and the Balboa High School. When the Balboa police stopped the students at gunpoint, arrested those in front of the U.S. Administration Building and took them to jail, the news spread like wildfire.”

“How?” I asked.

“By Panama radio stations who accused the Zone police of brutally beating the students,” they answered. “But why did even that cause such an angry mob so quickly?” I queried. “Nobody knows for sure, but the stations started repeating numerous stories of American Army and Air Force troops mistreating Panamanians, although U.S. authorities say that the stories are simply not true,” they replied. “Then thousands of people gathered at Fourth of July Avenue and soon became an angry anti-American mob.”

“You don’t have to tell me about the angry mob,” I said. “I’ve already experienced how mad they are at Americans.”

By the time the doctors stopped the bleeding and put bandages around my head and arms, Dr. Beebe, a Balbo pastor, was there to take me home. Thankfully, he was able to get there across the old bridge over the canal in the zone, two or three miles from Panama City.

My wife, Peggy, and our 15-month-old daughter, Wanda, had almost gone downtown with me that afternoon; they had decided to stay behind and attend a meeting that had already been scheduled with the women of the church that evening.

Being escorted in by Dr. Beebe with a blood-stained white shirt and bandages around my head and arms was almost too much for her. She started crying and just gasping with a shocked frown. I kept saying, “I’m OK! I’m OK!” She clutched our baby as if someone was about to snatch her out of her arms.

I held Peggy and Wanda close and led them to the sofa. After a few minutes, Peggy calmed down.

I excused Dr. Beebe, telling him, “Thank you for being there when we needed you.”

It helped that several friends, all military wives, received the news and called. I took their calls that night, but by the next day, Peggy felt better and could talk with them without breaking down. All their husbands had already been deployed to their stations along the canal or canal zone border.

Weeks later when things had calmed down and they could come back to church, I kidded the soldiers, “I thought you guys were here to protect us, but I was the only one in our church to get hurt!”

They countered, “We don’t protect people who don’t even check the radio news before going onto the most dangerous part of the city!”

The next few weeks were like living in a war zone. Immediately, anti-American protests sprang up all over Panama. Hundreds or perhaps thousands of Americans were working in businesses or as missionaries throughout the country,

many in the interior, far from Panama City. Apparently, Fidel Castro, having taken over Cuba, planned to instigate a similar revolution in Panama, thinking he could seize what he called “the crown jewel,” the canal.

Castro’s agents had friends who quietly took over the radio stations and newspapers. They ran no news; instead, they ran stories of how the U.S., and especially its military forces, had mistreated the Panamanian people. Thankfully, local friends of threatened Americans stepped up to help and even protect their foreign brothers and sisters. For those who feared the possibility of bodily harm, of which there were a few, they went into their homes until the danger was over.

The only place where we could get the news that was not Communist propaganda was the Armed Forces Network, and that was mostly military news.

After a few days, we American people were so hungry for uncensored news that commercial airlines began to bring in plane loads of newspapers from Miami.

It was worth paying several dollars for news written by uncensored journalists.

After thanking our military members for helping and protecting us, I told them, “Most of you have spent time in other countries; we had not. Now I realize as never before the wonderful difference of living in the good old U.S.A.! I had never thought about how valuable our freedoms of speech and press were until they were stifled.”

Within a few days, news of the riots in Panama got out in the states. My family and friends wrote, “When are you coming home”?

“We’re not!” was my quick reply. “I’m not going to let danger keep me from doing what God has called me to do!” Those who knew me well remembered my experience as a 15-year-old that gave me that kind of determination.

But earlier life-shaping struggles must be told for you to understand how God prepared me to be sure that following Christ is worth dying for!

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1 BORN A REBEL 1938 | Age 4

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s a young boy, I wanted to do whatever I pleased. This family photo shows my mother holding my younger sister, my two older sisters, my dad’s firm look, and my angry expression.

—1938, age 4.

I did not want my older sisters or even my parents to exercise any authority over me.

My uncontrollable nature must have just added to the hard times Mother and Daddy had raising a family in that day. By 1938 the effects of the Great Depression were still being felt. Although unemployment and salary levels had returned to pre-1929 levels, the unemployment rate was still near 25%.

It was a difficult time for families.

Add to that the anxiety over the war clouds hanging over Europe and Asia, which

eventually led to World War II. Congress tried to relieve citizen’s fears by passing for four years in a row the Neutrality Acts of 1935-1939.1 But then, in 1939, Poland was invaded by Germany and Russia, killing 66,000 and wounding 133,600 Poles. They then divided and occupied Poland between them, beginning World War II.2 My mother’s family of seven were, in modern terms, ‘truck farmers’. They grew, worked, harvested, and peddled their crops with only hand tools and two mules. When I was a boy and would stay with them a week in the summer, I was

able to help as they picked peas and other vegetables, watermelons, or whatever was in season.

As I became an older boy, my parents let me spend a week or two with my grandparents, helping them pick peas and other vegetables. Then, we would load their two-mule wagon with their farm products.

The next day, we would rise early and eat a big breakfast Grandma Shell cooked after she had milked two cows. Uncle Cecil would draw water from the well to water their mules. Grandpa Shell and Uncle Cecil would drive the mules while sitting on the wagon seat, a board mounted on springs. We boys sat on the watermelons or whatever we could. The hour-long, four- or five-mile trip was a bumpy ride but was still better than walking. I actually thought it was fun.

We would take their farm products to Chapman, a lumber mill town about five miles away and peddle them door-to-door. This was their only livelihood.

If we got hungry, we cut a watermelon or cantaloupe. The highlight of the day would be the quart carton of ice cream we bought from the W. T. Smith Lumber Company Store. We would divide it among us and enjoy!

1941: My Granddaddy Clifford and Grandma Ada Shell— Many in my daddy’s family lived in Chapman and worked at the lumber mill or veneer mill. He had learned how to run the makeshift equipment to cut and dry the sheets of veneer made from lumber. This gave him opportunities to work, not only in lumber mills but also in veneer mills.

My parents moved to Troy when Daddy became the superintendent of a veneer mill, Troy Veneer & Crate Company. They made veneer from logs heated to high temperature in a steam box, turned into hot sheets of veneer, which was then cut into smaller pieces and air-dried in racks in the yard.

These crates were shipped to fruit and vegetable growers.

Mr. Dunbar, the mill owner who rented them the rundown house where I was born, provided cold and airy rooms with only a fireplace for heat. By 1936 when

Jane was born, we four children and our parents were struggling to survive.

Most men, like my daddy, walked to work. A few caught rides with others or rode bicycles to work. I faintly remember him riding a bicycle. Clearer to me is that later, he added an engine under the bike crossbar and made himself a motorbike. My friends, whose dads were still walking, were jealous that I had a daddy who could do that.

My mother learned from growing up on a farm this absolute necessity: EVERY FAMILY MEMBER MUST WORK HARD TO SURVIVE! My four sisters complied with this rule, but I rebelled and tried to get by with as little work as possible, which usually backfired on me.

Mother would say (after we got room for a garden), “You children go out and hoe the corn and peas; since there aren’t but three hoes, Earnestine can pull the weeds up in the turnips.”

I would object, “She always gets the easy job! Why can’t I pull up the weeds and let her hoe?”

Mother would reply as usual, “Clifford, go do what I told you to!” I would slowly obey her, knowing a switching would result if my objections continued.

This stubbornness of mine brought into play another iron-clad rule of Isaac and Gladys Matthews: CHILDREN MUST OBEY THEIR PARENTS OR BE STRONGLY DISCIPLINED! Mother would say to Jane and me, “It’s time to wash the dishes; Clifford, you wash them and Jane can dry them.”

I would reply, “Why can’t Jane wash them and me dry them?”

“Because I’m telling you to wash them,” she would answer.

“It’s not fair! She always gets the easiest jobs,” I would claim.

“That’s enough out of you!” she would say firmly. “Go out to that bush in the backyard and get me a switch.”

When I returned with the switch from the yard shrub, she would take me into the bathroom, hold me by the arm and say, “Son, this hurts me more than it does you!”

Then, holding me with my back-end toward her, she hit me on it with the small switch until it stung. I sometimes cried out, “STOP! STOP!” to which she paid no attention. It stung, but the marks were gone in a few minutes.

Mother closed this punishment with, “Now go and get to work on those dishes!”

I would go, grumbling under my breath, “My friends don’t have to wash the dishes.” I would rapidly put the dishes through the dishwater and into the drainer for Jane to dry. I always had to get in a closing shot at Jane: “You don’t have to do as much work as me!”

Her reply: “You’re just lazy, so mother has to spank you a lot!”

“You got the last part right!” I would retort.

But, honestly, I can’t remember a spanking mother laid on me that was not deserved, although both Jane and I also probably missed a few we deserved.

Mother was often merciful, even with our constant bickering.

When I was perhaps five or six years old, mother’s sister, my Aunt Mamie, visited with us for a few days. I didn’t hang around long when they started talking about all the people they knew growing up and what had happened to them. It was so boring that I left the room. Since my friends were all busy that Saturday, I looked through some old funny books until I found a favorite Superman book, the best entertainment available.

About the middle of the book, Aunt Mamie’s voice rose louder with a strong expression of concern to mother, “Gladys, I don’t know what in the world you’re going to do with that boy!”

I knew she was talking about me, but it didn’t bother me; I just continued looking at the Superman story. Oh yes, neither mother nor Aunt Mamie knew I was in the room next door. They assumed I had gone outside as usual.

This incident did not affect my behavior. In fact, I had forgotten it until many years later when my cousins and I were recounting funny incidents from our childhoods, and it came to my mind. After hearing it, they gave me a real ribbing. But the laughing was enjoyable for all of us. There’s nothing like a few years to put things into perspective.

◆◆◆ ________________________________ 1. American History, Review Text, Hartford, NY., Page 494 World War II, Neutrality Acts, 1935–1939 2. Ibid, World War II, Page 497

2 CHILDHOOD PERILS 1935–1944 | AGES 6 months–10 years

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hildren growing up in the 30s and 40s faced many more threats to their lives, health, and survival than children do today. Lack of vaccinations and inadequate medicines allowed for many childhood diseases that are not common today. Chickenpox, whooping cough, and measles would go through families, one member at a time. Polio and heart diseases struck some as well. Household accidents brought injuries to all; some were life-threatening.

WILL MY BABY LIVE OR DIE? I experienced one of these at only six months of age. My mother and her hired helper literally saved me from the flames of our fireplace into which I had fallen. It was a cold January day when my mother hired Carrie to help her wash our dirty clothes, including diapers from the baby, and Daddy’s greasy clothes from working on mill machinery. In those days it was a miserable job, especially in the winter, which required boiling them in a wash pot, beating them with a hickory paddle, and then scrubbing them on a ribbed washboard, before hanging them on outdoor clotheslines to dry, no matter how cold it was.

Mother had tied me in a little chair in front of the fireplace: the only warm place in the cold house. She and Carrie went to the backyard to wash: something she had done many times before.

Over the roaring of the fire under the wash pot and their beating of the clothes, they finally heard my screams from inside the tightly closed house.

They found me in the fire, crying and kicking, with the left side of my face severely burned. My mother wondered, “Will my baby live or die?”

She realized she had to get me to a doctor, but she also knew nobody in the neighborhood had a car. She did know Mr. Dunbar, my dad’s boss, had a car

and lived just a quarter-mile away on North Three Notch Road, just a mile from the hospital.

She wrapped me in a blanket and asked Carrie to take care of my four-yearold sister. Then she rushed the quarter-mile to the back door of Mr. Dunbar’s house. Hearing the baby’s cries and seeing his injury, Mrs. Dunbar welcomed them into the warm house. She sent her household worker to tell her husband to rush home with their car.

The car arrived soon, driven by my daddy, Isaac. He took us to Dr. Stewart, who had delivered me in their home six months earlier. Dr. Stewart administered first aid and a sedative, and I began to quiet down and doze restlessly. The doctor assured my parents, “Your son will live, but he will always have a badly scarred face.”

They were somewhat relieved, but the deep lines of anxiety did not leave their faces. Dr. Stewart told them, “I can treat him while he is recovering from the burn. Then, you can take him to the Crippled Children’s Clinic, a charity that treats all severely burned or injured children. For now, you can take him home. Bring him back next week for me to change the bandages.”

His nurse shared with my mother, “The Crippled Children’s Clinics are held several times a year in various Alabama towns; they offer free treatment for crippled and burned children. Here’s a list of the places and dates of the clinics.

You should send them a card to register for the one where you want to take him, but wait at least three months for the burn to heal. I’m also giving you an appointment for next week and some baby aspirin for when he is crying with pain.”

My own earliest memories of the Crippled Children’s treatments are going to a clinic held in a school in a nearby town. Dr. Hannah, a very caring physician, examined my burn and asked mother, and later me, questions about it. This resulted in a series of treatments, including surgeries, which lasted into my early teens.

When I was twelve or thirteen, Dr. Hannah told me, “There’s a way we can make your burn scar look more like the rest of your face, but you’ll have to spend several weeks in the children’s annex of Mobile Infirmary. We’ll take skin off your arm and graft it onto where the scar is on your face. Would you like for us to try that?” he asked me.

As a sensitive young student, I had already begun to feel inferior, and the scar just made it worse. So, my immediate answer to Dr. Hannah was, “Yes, I’d like for you to do the surgery. I want to look more like my friends.”

My mother agreed, “That sounds like a good idea; we will miss him, but he is old enough to take care of himself.”

So, Mother and Daddy soon took me to Mobile, where I lived in the Children’s Annex with approximately twenty-five children, many severely crippled or burned. A teacher helped us keep up with our school work. The surgery was not so bad, but the daily submerging my arm in hot saltwater was painful, especially at first. The skin graft healed, but it still looked bad to me. Gradually it improved; in a few years, I forgot about the scar except when asked about it. It was my final treatment.

However, as a teenager, I thought it made me look ugly, which limited my self-confidence. It was several years later when I realized how God had used it to reshape my life. This will be shared with you a few steps further on this journey.

WE NEED A HOUSE WITH ENOUGH LAND FOR A MILK COW AND BIG GARDEN! Mother pleaded with daddy, “We need a milk cow and enough land for a pasture and big garden!” He agreed and went to talk with Mr. Dunbar, the mill owner where he worked, about a loan to buy the house with four acres of land just diagonally across the street from where we lived.

Daddy explained to Mr. Dunbar, “Since I hope to work at your mill for a long time and our family is getting larger, we need our own house with room for a big garden and a milk cow. Can I get a loan from you to buy the house across the street from us?”

“Oh golly!” he replied in his typical Michigan style, “We can let you have the money. But we’ll have to draw up a mortgage, charge you interest and take some out of your pay every week until it’s paid for.”

“That sounds good,” answered Daddy.

“Oh, golly, then I’ll get Harvey to start preparing the mortgage papers,” Mr. Dunbar replied. (*Harvey Johnson was the long-term bookkeeper for the mill and Mr. Dunbar.)

As he stood to leave the mill office, Daddy thanked the mill owner who was known for being tight-fisted with his money, saying, “I really appreciate this, Mr. Dunbar!”

My parents bought that house in 1939 when I was about five years old.

My mother got the family together and told us, “We’ve bought the house across the street and will be moving our stuff over there. I’ll need everyone to help. First, Earnestine, you can go over to the house with me, and we’ll give it a good cleaning.”

“Can I help?” I begged.

“Not now,” she answered, “but you can start putting your toys and clothes in your little wagon while Miriam stays here and looks after your little sister, Jane, and you.”

On Saturday, some of our neighbors saw that we were moving and came over to help. I thought it was fun, pulling my little wagon across the street with two or three toys and my favorite clothes. Then Mrs. Vernon and her daughter, Mae, my oldest sister’s age, who had become our closest friends, came and told mother, “We’re fixing dinner for your family, and I will take the younger children to our house until you finish.” That pacified me; she usually gave us cookies.

One of the things I liked about our new home was that the trees were small enough for me to climb. Even at that young age, I shimmied up to the lowest branches of the pecan tree in our back yard and began to climb higher until mother said, “That’s high enough; you come on down; I’m afraid you’re going to fall.”

My response was almost always: “But Mother, this is fun!”

As I grew up, the tree continued to grow, so I would challenge my friends, “Let’s see who can climb to the top of the tree first!”

Letting them start first, I would quickly pass them one or two limbs up on my way to the top of the tree.

Of course, this also caused my mother a problem in trying to keep me under control. She gave me strict orders not to climb either of the trees at our new home. Yet, when she looked out the kitchen window, she often saw me in the top of the pecan tree. This brought her rushing outside, calling me down, and applying a good spanking to my behind. It’s sad to say, but as soon as she got back into the house, I would head up the tree again, even though I knew it might bring a harder spanking and confinement to my room.

“When will you ever learn?” was often her plea Our new home was Mother’s delight because it immediately gave us room for a large garden. It was probably about an acre, but it seemed to be much larger because we had to work all of it with only hand tools. However, the memories of the delicious, big red and pink tomatoes we grew still make my mouth water.

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? When I was a small boy, perhaps five or six, I remember taking my miniature cars into the living room where Ernestine and her boyfriend were sitting on the sofa.

She and Edward were whispering softly to each other. The doors to the living room were open so I went in to crawl on the soft rug, playing with my little cars.

Edward acknowledged my presence by asking, “Clifford, are you having fun?”

“Uh-huh,” I replied, while they continued whispering to each other.

I interrupted them by asking, “What are you talking about?”

I don’t remember their reply if they made one. They must have been wishing I would leave, but they never told me so. Looking back years later, we all laughed about it.

My antics must not have discouraged them too much: they got married in 1941 when I was six or seven years old. Edward was a telegraph operator and ticket agent at the ACL railroad station. He rode his bicycle to our house most days, and sometimes he would let me go into the ACL office and watch him telegraph Morse Code messages to other train stations. I thought it was so amazing that by just pressing the machine with his fingers one way or another, he could send letters that formed words and even sentences to other towns.

Soon after he and Ernestine got married, he volunteered for the Air Force to avoid being drafted into the army. The World War II draft began in October 1940; by the time hostilities ended in 1947 one hundred million men had served in the U.S. Military forces.1 MAD DOG UNDER THE HOUSE! One of my earliest memories happened after we moved across the street into our new house. One day we heard a dog under the house barking and growling very loudly.

I asked mother, “Can we go out and look at that dog?”

“No,” she answered.

“Well,” I explained, “my friends and I played under the house this morning.”

(We often did that.)

We four- to six-year-olds spent most of our time outside. We had discovered a new place to play under the house. It was four or more feet above ground level at the back, sloping to a foot in the front. The dirt was dry and soft enough for us to crawl around on our knees.

When I asked mother, “What are all those little holes in the dirt?” she explained, “Those are homes for doodlebugs, small creatures with plump little bodies and two small prongs sticking out from their tiny heads. They make their nests in the soft sandy clay dirt under our house, and they leave a hole in the shape of a top.”

Jane wanted to know, “Will they bite you?”

“No,” she answered, “they are docile creatures who are harmless.”

We would explore in those holes, going round and round with a finger in-

side the hole until the doodlebugs came to the surface. Since they would not hurt us, we competed to see who could catch the most; then we simply turned them loose back under the house. We also drew pictures in the soft dirt with our fingers or with sticks and impersonated our favorite radio mystery heroes by acting out scenes of catching the villains.

But on the day the dog started barking and growling under our house, mother warned us, “Don’t go out there! If it’s a mad dog and he bites you, you’ll get rabies and go mad, losing your senses and becoming like a wild animal, trying to bite your body or other people.”

She paused to let that thought settle. Continuing she said, “Your jaws will finally lock together so you can’t eat; then you’ll starve and die a horrible death!”

After that description, we had no desire to go outside! Our question became, “When can somebody come and get rid of the mad dog?”

“Wait till your daddy gets home,” she said, “He’ll know what to do.”

Daddy listened to the dog and concluded, “He sure sounds like a dog gone mad.”

So, he called the police and told them, “We’ve got a strange dog under our house and he’s growling and barking loudly; do you think he might be a mad dog?”

The policeman said, “We’ve heard about a mad dog on that side of town. DO NOT go outside until I get there!”

“We’ll wait ‘til you get here,” Daddy assured him.

We were happy to see the policeman show up in his uniform. He drew his pistol cautiously and walked toward the back of the house.

Myriam asked mother, “Will the mad dog bite the policeman?”

“No,” Mother said. “He’ll shoot and kill the dog before the dog can bite.”

Sure enough, that policeman crawled under the house, and the dog growled ferociously. We soon heard two loud shots—then silence. Soon, he borrowed our rake and drug the dead dog out to the squad car, telling Daddy, “We’ll have to get him tested to verify he was mad.”

The tests came back positive. We were glad we had obeyed Mother’s warning.

For a long time after that scare, my friends and I did not go under the house.

When we finally did, I suggested, “Let’s wear shoes, and I’ll get our flashlight to be sure there is not a dangerous dog under there.”

CHILDREN’S RECREATION IN THE 1940s TO MID-1950s From the time I was five years old to my teens, my friends and I spent much of our spare time playing in the woods back behind our house. Since we were

the only family on Copeland Street with woods or a pasture, they came to our house. Before the U.S. got involved in World War II, we played Tarzan games, imagining we were rescuing Jane by swinging beyond the small stream-branch on a vine.

At other times, Burney, my next-door neighbor and closest friend, would challenge us, “I can swing farther past the branch than any of you!”

We accepted his challenge, each of us swinging as far as he could, dropping off the vine onto the ground beyond the branch. He usually lost because he was the heaviest.

After World War II began, we changed to war games. Six or eight of us would choose two commanding generals; then each chose his team members.

We then flipped a coin to see which team would be the U.S. and its Allies; the other team would be the Axis Powers, made up of Germany, Japan, and Italy.

After the teams were stationed on opposite sides of the branch, we began firing mortar (rocks) at each other. If anyone got hit, he was considered killed. The goal was to capture, kill, or surround the other team and obtain their surrender.

It sounds dangerous, but none of us ever received serious injuries.

DADDY TOOK ME AND MY FRIENDS FISHING By the time I was five or six years old, I had heard my Uncle Cecil say, “The most fun I ever have is when I go fishing.”

Daddy told me, “We’ll go fishing when we get home next week.”

I asked him when we got home that Sunday night, “Can you take me fishing tomorrow?”

“I’ll have to fix some poles for us tomorrow after work, but we’ll go fishing Tuesday after work if you will dig up worms for our bait from your mother’s worm bed,” he replied.

On Tuesday I begged mother, “Show me where the worms are and how to dig them up.”

“Okay,” she agreed. “Find a small empty can in the trash and get the digging fork we use for planting things. I’ll meet you in a few minutes at the place where I throw the old coffee grounds.”

When we got to her worm bed, she took the digging fork and told me, “Put some dirt in your can and be ready to catch them when they wiggle and crawl to get away.”

We soon had twenty-five or thirty wigglers and red worms.

When the mill whistle blew at five o’clock, Daddy came home promptly and

found me waiting. He stuck the cane poles in the rolled-down passenger side window after I got into the front seat with our worms.

“We’re going to Spurlock Hole, out near the Conecuh River,” he said, “I hear that some people have caught big ones there!”

Dreams of catching several big fish filled my mind. As we pulled off the road to park, he led me down an old, muddy logging road, from which a trail led to the pond.

As we unwound the line on our poles, he said, “Watch me bait my hook; then you can bait yours.”

After I tried two or three times, the worm stayed on. After showing me how to swing the bait out to where I wanted it, he suggested, “Why don’t you throw yours out near the cypress knee sticking out of the water?” I lobbed it fairly close to it and waited a few minutes. When no fish bit, I said to Daddy, “Can I try another place?”

“Yes,” he said, and pointed me to a shallow area where the bank was bare from use by others.

As soon as I threw it out, the cork started bobbing. “I’m getting a bite!” I cried out.

“Wait a minute,” he said, as he hurried to me. “Don’t pull it in until he starts running off with it,” he explained.

About that time, the cork started moving away. “Now!” he exclaimed.

When I pulled it straight up as hard as I could, the pole, line, and a small fish all went over my head into the woods behind me.

“I caught one!” I beamed, “Can I keep him?”

“Yes,” Daddy said, “but we’ll have to put him on our stringer so he won’t get away.”

That was the first fish I caught, and I caught two other small brim that afternoon. But I was hooked (pun intended). Every day when Daddy got in from the mill and was not working on something at home, which were not many, I begged him, “Can we go fishing today, Daddy?” He went with me when he could.

Of course, some of those fishing trips when none of my friends were with us ended at a country store selling liquor illegally. Years later, I learned that when the Prohibition Repeal,2 Amendment No. 21, was approved in 1933, with the help of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, liquor could only be sold at State Stores in Alabama, and none could be sold in the evenings. Many small, rural store owners would buy cases of small bottles of liquor legally, but sell it at night for a much higher price than retail. Daddy went to one of those stores, left me in the car with a candy bar and went in to drink for 45 minutes or more.

Later, he would return to the car, smelling like the liquor he had drunk. Since it was completely dark when we got home, Mother would invariably ask, “Why are you so late? I was worried about you.”

His answer: “The fish were biting so good that we just couldn’t leave!”

We all knew it was not true, but Mother left it at that. She let Daddy teach me how to clean the fish, and then she fried them for us, even though they were small.

SQUIRREL HUNTING WITH MR. MASSEY We didn’t have a good place to use our dogs to hunt squirrels until I was thirteen or fourteen. However, at about age eleven or twelve, my parents gave me a new single-shot 410 shotgun—a good gun for hunting squirrels. I still hunted them down by the branch, especially behind the Lee’s house, but I only remember bagging one. That was soon after I got my gun, when I was very determined to kill a squirrel under whatever conditions were necessary.

I could see them at a distance, but they would hide when I got near. Frustrated, I finally shot at one from too far away, and I actually wounded him. He ran up a hill, with me chasing him as fast as possible in the rough terrain of the wooded area. There he ran, into a hole in the ground with nothing showing but the end of his tail. It scared me to try to pull him out by his tail; he might bite me! But I was determined to take this critter home!

So, putting the gun close, I shot him in the hole. He shook a little while and then was still, allowing me to grasp his tail and cautiously pull him out of the hole.

He was dead and still bleeding but mangled. That gave me a problem because mother always said, “Don’t kill anything if you’re not going to eat it.”

Taking it home to mother anyway was my only choice because it was very important to me to prove that I had finally bagged a squirrel. Oh, the ribbing I got from my friends, saying, “You must have gotten that squirrel from the road when your daddy ran over and smashed it!”

Thus, my early days of squirrel hunting were disappointing.

After Northside Church opened in 1946, we got to know Mr. Massey, an early member, deacon, and Troy City fireman. He heard we had some hunting dogs and asked Daddy, “Do you have anywhere to hunt squirrels?”

“Not with the dogs,” answered my daddy. “Neither does Clifford know how to hunt squirrels with the dogs.”

“If you would like, I can take him to my brother’s farm south of town. He’s

got some good places to hunt squirrels where I can teach him how to hunt them safely,” Mr. Massey replied.

When Daddy told me Mr. Massey would take me with our dogs, Mac and John, to hunt squirrels, I really got excited, telling Mother, “Now I’ll be able to kill some that we can eat!”

At church he asked me, “So, you want to go bag some of those furry ‘hideand-seek’ squirrels with your dogs?”

“Yes, sir, I do, but all I’ve got to hunt with is my single-shot 410,” I replied.

“Hey, that’s the kind I use,” Mr. Massey answered.

“When can we go?” I wanted to know.

“What about Saturday?” he answered.

“Good,” I said, “but I won’t get home from my paper route until seven.”

“Okay, I’ll pick you up at seven-thirty. Have your dogs on leashes, and we can put them in the back of my truck,” Mr. Massey replied.

“I’ll be ready!” I said, which did not fully express my excitement.

At his home on Saturday, he explained how we would squirrel hunt with our dogs, Mac and John: “When we get to the woods, you can release the dogs; we’ll load our guns and give them a little while to smell out the area for a squirrel. If they pick up a trail, especially if it’s hot, they’ll start barking occasionally.

We’ll just wait until they’ve tree-d* the squirrel. Then we’ll go to the tree; you’ll get on one side of it and I will be on the other, and we will look all over our side of the tree for the squirrel. If either of us sees him, he’ll take a shot. If we don’t see him, we’ll take turns shaking a vine or bush while the other one looks for the squirrel. He shoots if he sees him.” (*When the dog has a squirrel up a tree, his barks change to short, continuous barks. This lets the hunter know the dog has the squirrel up a tree.)

I wanted to know, “If the squirrel runs, can both of us try to shoot him?”

“Of course,”, he said.

“It’s going to be easy,” I thought. I would soon learn how mistaken that thought was.

When Mac started barking, Mr. Massey spoke up, “He’s found a trail!” After a few minutes, his barks became more rapid and intense.

He said, “He’s getting closer!”

Suddenly the older dog, John, began his short, steady barking, indicating he had treed the squirrel. We hurried toward him, pushing through bushes, thornfilled vines, and across a narrow branch. Finally, we found him sitting at a large oak with leaves still green and a few acorns left on it. But no squirrel could be seen even after we looked for several minutes.

“You stay on your side and be ready to shoot if he moves,” Mr. Massey said.

He pulled on a vine going up the tree and nothing moved; but when he shook it harder, a squirrel began running out a limb toward a nearby tree. I tried to get my gun sight on him, but I never could catch up to him. By the time he jumped to the other tree, I desperately just pointed toward him and shot in his direction.

Of course, the shot missed.

While I was reloading my gun, Mr. Massey was running toward the other tree. By then the squirrel was hidden in the thick leaves. After not seeing him there, he said, “You shake something this time.”

As soon as I started shaking a bush, that squirrel ran out another limb, but this time Mr. Massey’s single shot killed him, and he fell to the ground. I rushed to get him, but Mac beat me and didn’t want to turn him loose. When he finally turned him loose, I held him up and said to my hunting teacher, “You got a good one and he’s not even bloody!”

“I was lucky,” Mr. Massey replied. “They’re hard to hit running.”

Before the morning was over, we had bagged three squirrels, and I finally shot one of them.

“That was really fun!” I told Mr. Massey. “Thank you for taking me and showing me how to hunt them.”

“I enjoyed it, too,” he replied, “I’ll go with you any Saturday I’m off.”

Since he was not working every other Saturday, my family and friends knew where I usually was on those days. How lucky and blessed I was to have Mr. Massey as a friend when I was a young teenager.

“BLACK WIDOWS ARE DANGEROUS BECAUSE THEIR BITE IS POISONOUS!” Mother had given me that warning once when I was helping her clean up the yard. An old board was turned over to be moved when she informed me, “Don’t let that black spider bite you because his bite carries a poison that will make you very sick or may even kill you.”

Before she smashed him, she urged me, “Look carefully at his jet-black color except for the bright red dot on his bottom.”

A year or more later, Daddy was going to take me and my friends fishing when he suggested, “Crickets make good bait, and a good place to catch them is the field behind the mill where scrap wood is thrown out. They nest under the old boards.”

We all got ourselves a paper bag and rode on our bicycles to the field. As

we walked through the field, Warner said, “Look, there ought to be some under these old crossties; they’ve been here a long time.”

When we turned it over, crickets went everywhere, along with some bugs and spiders.

“Let’s catch as many as we can!” I called out to our friends, “Help us before some jump away and hide!”

We all got down on our knees and began catching one at a time and putting them in our bags. As I ran one down, I felt a sharp sting on the back of my arm and dropped the cricket to smash the black spider which was biting me; then resumed catching more. Suddenly, I remembered mother’s warning, “Black widows are poisonous!”

“That spider was black with a red dot on his belly,” I thought; then I jumped on my bike and yelled to my friends, “I’ve been bitten by a black widow—I have to get home!”

By then, we had a car and mother had it at home that day. When I told her about being bitten by a black widow, she grabbed her keys and purse, adding, “Come on; we’ve got to get you to the doctor!”

After Dr. Stewart’s receptionist heard from mother what had happened, she immediately responded, “I’ll tell the doctor,” as she went back to the treatment room.

Returning soon, she said, “Come with me,” and she motioned us into a separate treatment room.

When he came in, his question to me was, “Clifford, what have you gotten yourself into this time?”

“Oh, I was just catching crickets for fish bait,” I replied, “when something stung me under my arm—I expected a wasp, but it was a black widow spider.”

“At least you knew what it was,” he replied as he looked at the place on my arm, which was beginning to swell and turn red.

Dr. Stewart’s diagnosis: “The black widow’s poison takes effect slowly, but you’ll start hurting in a few minutes and will feel severe pain for several days.

Mrs. Matthews, take him on to the hospital; I’ll be there soon. You can check him in, telling them that I’m sending him and to take him to a room.”

Mother wanted to know, “Will he be all right?”

“Probably,” he answered, “This spider’s bite can sometimes kill a small child, but not likely someone Clifford’s age.”

Mother looked like that was not very consoling to her.

We went to the Old Beard Hospital, which was a half mile or so from the doctor’s office in downtown Troy. They put me in a room and told me to

change into a hospital gown. Before the doctor got there, I told Mother, “My chest is hurting.”

She reminded me, “Dr. Stewart said you would be feeling some pain.”

When he arrived, I described my increasing pain. He gently explained, “There is no antibody or anti-poison for this spider’s bit; we’ll give you some medicine for pain, but it won’t stop it completely. You’ll experience it moving down a little in your body each day until it goes away from your feet in four or five days.”

The next three or four days were difficult. I didn’t want anything to eat, although mother got me to force down a little once or twice a day. After a few days I asked her, “Can you bring me some of my old ‘funny books’ and a few of your cookies?”

My three oldest sisters, Daddy, my friends—Burney, Warner, and Wayne— Dr. Ammerman from First Baptist Church, and others came to see me, but I barely noticed them during the first couple of days.

On the fourth day, I asked the doctor, “When can I go home?”

“In two more days if you’re still feeling better,” he promised.

At home I realized how good it was to be there with my family, enjoying mother’s cooking, my friends, and my own bed, especially the first week when my parents gave me a reprieve from having to help with household chores.

Some adults, but mostly my classmates asked, “Will you ever catch crickets from that place again?”

“NEVER!” was my quick reply; “I’ll just use wigglers for bait instead.”

◆◆◆ ________________________________ 1. Ibid, American History, Word War II Draft, 499, 501 2. Ibid, Repeal of Prohibition, Page 368

3 THE REBEL CONFRONTED 1944–1947 | AGES 10–13

“PRAY FOR OUR COUNTRY!” MRS. COX URGED, “JAPAN ATTACKED US AT PEARL HARBOR!”1

O

ur second-grade teacher led us to read the Bible, say the pledge of allegiance, and pray for our country every day of class. But, the days of December 7 and 8, 1941 were unforgettable. Our usually-cheerful teacher spoke in a very solemn tone, “Hundreds of Americans have been killed and many more wounded at Pearl Harbor. PRAY for our country and for the families who lost loved ones,” she begged. I thought about my Uncle Willy Brown Matthews, who was in the Air Force and wondered if he was okay.

The next day, when the U.S. had declared war on Japan, Mrs. Cox pleaded with us again, “War is a terrible thing because many of our young men will be killed in battle. But we have to defend ourselves or be destroyed as a nation!”

After two or three students prayed for the U.S., she continued, “Some of your parents will be drafted to fight, while other families may need to move to work in factories to build war supplies. We’ll ALL HAVE TO SACRIFICE EVENTUALLY.” As seven-year-olds, we did not understand all that this meant, but we did love our country and our families. When she sensed that many of us were scared, she reassured us, “GOD WILL BE WITH US. We can do what the Bible writer did when he said, ‘What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.’ Psalm 56:3.” Many of us breathed a sigh of relief.

RATIONING, SAVING FOR WAR BONDS, AND EATING MORE HEALTHY

However, in early spring of the next year (1942), the Food Rationing Program began. This was done “to avoid public anger with shortages and not to allow only the wealthy to purchase commodities.”2 There soon followed the rationing of clothing, shoes, coffee, gasoline, tires, and fuel oil.” While life during the war meant daily sacrifice, few complained because they knew it was the men and women in uniform who were making the greater sacrifice. A poster released by the Office of War Information stated simply, “Do with less so they’ll have enough.” On the whole, the American people were united in their efforts.

As a child, I don’t remember rationing causing many adversities for our family, but it was probably different for adults, especially parents. I just remember being sent with money and ration coupons to the nearest grocery, Hamilton Jones on North Three Notch Street, to buy bread and sugar. Their shelves were so bare that sometimes there was no bread or sugar available.

But our family still had plenty of meat from the two hogs we raised and slaughtered each year. Most of our other food came from our large garden.

Some families with parents like ours, raised on farms, were more self-sufficient, so they did not find rationing to be such a hardship.

Many of the frugal actions the government begged people to take were already being practiced by my mother. Some of these included the following: “Save more”; “And buy War Bonds,” which provided two-thirds of the cost of the war.3 We skimped on food, clothes, shoes, and even Christmas gifts to buy War Bonds. All children in school, even in elementary grades, were told to bring money, just coins for most of us, every week to buy stamps to save for a war bond. We pasted them in our bond booklet until there was $18.75 for a $25 War Bond.

The government also encouraged citizens to: “Eat healthy-use less meat.”

Our family was already doing that by having many meals with only vegetables, cornbread, and milk, all coming from our garden. The grist mill ground our corn for the bread, and our cow furnished the milk. Our breakfast was less healthy, but mostly raised by us: eggs from our own hens, bacon or ham from our hogs, blackberry jelly made by Mother from the wild berries we had picked, and butter from our cow; the flour mother bought to make her delicious biscuits was the only exception.

REPAIRING, RIDING, AND SELLING MOTOR-SCOOTERS Since most people could not afford a car and grew tired of having to walk everywhere they went, motor-scooters became a popular business. Daddy would

buy used ones, repair them, and sell them for a profit. It was great having one or two around, especially after we got a motor-scooter with a big flat body supported by two wheels in front. Riding my friends around the neighborhood in it was fun.

That is, until my daddy left the dirty and sometimes-complicated mechanical work for me to do. His familiar instructions were, “I’m leaving this job with you while I’m at work.”

Then, “Take some grease out of the can and mix graphite with it; use the old brush to spread it on the scooter chain; roll it around until the whole chain has grease on it. Run it down the road and back; if the chain is too loose, tighten it with the screw in the back. You should be done by the time I’m home from work.”

His instruction for the grease job the next time: “Fix some grease for this scooter chain and put it on it like you did before.”

Some of the jobs, I seldom completed right, if at all. He would come home and fix or finish it, while fussing at me, “When will you ever learn to work on a motor?”

Of course, I never did, because much of it was boring to me.

HER EXAMPLE OF LIVING CONSISTENTLY BY FAITH When I got up early as a six or eight-year-old child, it was usually to shoot at the birds with my sling-shot or, later, with my air rifle. Other days I got up to help my friends finish a “building” project (with scrap lumber) we had started the day before. Mother was already up with her Bible, notepad, and sometimes another book spread out on the dining room table. As time went on, it became apparent to me that she always got up early to read her Bible before doing anything else.

It was several years later when I began an early morning paper route every day before her practice had much significance to me. She was still getting up early every day to read God’s Word and to pray. When a late frost killed our tomato plants, it looked like we would not have the income or food we needed that summer. She might say, “Papa always said if we worked hard and trusted the Lord, He wouldn’t let us go hungry.”

But she had adopted this faith as her own, adding, “God loves us and will provide what we need!”

It became easy to connect her daily Bible reading and prayer time with her kindness, patience, and unwavering faith during the day. Facing the challenge of guiding, working with, and sometimes disciplining five strong-willed chil-

dren, she seldom ever lost her temper. Even if she firmly switched me for some mean or rebellious action, she never flew into a rage as she carried out a fair and deserved punishment. Even when I was rebelling, her example convicted me!

CAN A TEN-YEAR-OLD GET A PAPER ROUTE? I knew some boys a year or two older than me made money delivering papers, so, I said to mother, “Is it okay for me to ask the Troy Messenger for a job?”

“Sure,” she replied. “Tell them you had your own peanut business.”

At the Messenger office, I asked the man at the front desk, “Do you have a paper route where I could get the job delivering the papers?”

“Yes,” he answered, “We’ve got one the boy is giving up. Do you think you can learn where to leave the papers? There are 27 houses, all on South Three Notch.”

“Yes; I’m good at fourth grade math,” I answered. He seemed willing to give me the job, but said, “You’ll have to collect the money for the papers every Saturday. Can you collect it, mark it in your carrier notebook, and then turn it in to the lady in our office?”

Me at age 11: paperboy in the afternoons; mornings too at age 12— “Sure,” I said confidently, not betraying my uncertainty about how to do several of the things he had enumerated.

I was glad to hear him say, “Come after school tomorrow and you can begin to learn the route by going out with the boy who has it now.”

“Okay,” I said, rushing home to tell my mother and friends: “I’ve got a job delivering papers!”

READING WHILE WAITING DEVELOPED A SKILL FOR FUTURE MINISTRY

Although I learned a lot about running a small business, the most valuable thing for me was reading the old paper while I waited for the new ones to be printed. I read the “funnies” first; then I looked at war news photos from the World War II front lines. This included 1944, when the U.S. and its allies launched the Normandy Invasion, and 1945, when intense fighting in the Pacific was liberating the Philippines and other Japanese strongholds in the Allies’ “Island-hopping strategy” of moving toward Japan itself.4 The photo of American Marines raising the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima in 1945,5 may have been what motivated me to start reading the paper. Wanting to know more, I eventually became interested enough to read the entire war reports.

After two years of these unscheduled daily reading “lessons,” it became easy to quickly read through any story about the War. Even more eye-opening was the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, August 6, 1945! That was followed by another one on Nagasaki three days later.6 I looked through every paper, hoping to find more stories or pictures. All the world noticed Japan’s surrendered on August 15, 1945. OUR FAMILY LISTENED FOR THE NEWS: “JAPAN’S SURRENDER SIGNED!” Their formal surrender took place on the battleship USS Missouri on September 2, 1945.7 This became known as V-J Day, an important date for Americans to celebrate our victory over Japan and the end of World War II. My dad and many others took the day off. We drove to a creek near my mother’s home to celebrate with others in the Shell family. The adults listened to the radio news to hear when Japan would formally surrender. My cousins and I enjoyed the narrow, cold, flowing creek that had few places over my head. Finally, a chorus of shouts came from the car radio listeners. Even we young teenagers rushed to the cars to get the news: “Japan has signed the Allies’ terms of surrender!”

◆◆◆ ________________________________ 1. Ibid, Pearl Harbor, American History, Page 500 2. Ibid, Rationing, American History, Page 501 3. Ibid, War Bonds, American History, Page 501 4. Ibid, Island—Hopping Strategy, American History, Page 503 5. Ibid, U.S. flag, Iwo Jima, American History, Page 503 6. Ibid, First Atomic Bombs dropped, American History, Page 503 7. Ibid, Formal Surrender of Japan, American History, Page 503

4 LORD, HOW COULD YOU LOVE ME THAT MUCH? 1947–1949 | Ages 13–15

AT AGE TWELVE (1946) DELIVERING 125 MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER EARLY EVERY DAY.

T

his additional job for several years supplemented my earlier “training.” Since these papers, left on the sidewalk corner up from the police station downtown, sometimes arrived late, there was nothing else to do but to read yesterday’s larger paper.

Through several of those years, I was also devouring all the Hardy Boys books from the school library. On Saturdays, my friends and I became the Hardy Boys ourselves, acting out their narrow escapes, outwitting criminals, and discovering hidden treasures in the woods and along the “branch” (small stream) behind our house. We never found any real treasure, but, unknown to us, we were building our own treasures: loving a challenge, embracing creativity, and problem-solving.

There was no way that ten to twelve-year-old boys could realize these fun times would help prepare us for the difficulties of working with all kinds of people and situations and result in changed lives all across the U.S. and even in some foreign countries.

Judge for yourself: Did all these things just happen “by accident?”

No one who knew me as a child would have ever imagined that I would do what He has made possible for that awkward boy!

FIRST CHURCH EXPERIENCE: SINGING WITH GUSTO BUT BORING CHURCH

Although I don’t remember my parents going to church until my teenage years, Mother believed children needed to study the Bible. When I objected, she explained, “You need to learn the truth about God and how to live right according to the Bible. It’s not too far for you children to walk downtown to the First Baptist Church Sunday School and morning worship.”

She must have sent me when I was nine or ten years old. I was in the Junior Department, made up of several girls’ and several boys’ classes of nine- to twelve-year-olds. Each Sunday the Junior Superintendent, Miss Dixie Jernigan, led an opening assembly with a song, announcements, and brief comments on the theme or scripture being studied.

After that, she sent us to our classes, where each teacher would lead his or her age group class in reading and discussing the scripture. We then came back together for a closing assembly, where Miss Dixie led us to enthusiastically sing a chorus or two. She recognized new members and visitors and bragged on a class or two with high attendance or new members.

I enjoyed the boys’ class with some of my school friends present and a man teaching who involved us in the study. But the climax was the department closing song: Miss Dixie would challenge us, “Can the girls or the boys sing the loudest?” We would sing with such gusto as to drown out the poor girls.

Yes, I would have to say, “It’s a good thing nobody judged us on being in tune or not.”

The song we usually sang or shouted was this one: Every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before.

Every day with Jesus I love him more and more.

Jesus saves and keeps me and he’s the one I’m living for; Every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before.

(This was a chorus sung in many Sunday School departments in the 1940s.)

Bellowing it out gave us a sense of accomplishment, but I never thought about what the words meant. We were just enjoying the challenge of the moment.

The morning worship service was another thing. Starting with “high church” music and songs I did not know, much less knew how to sing, my only thought, which I sometimes whispered to a friend, was, “Will it ever end? That big dinner mother cooked will be cold.

The pastor’s sermon was even harder to endure. He used words beyond my vocabulary and spoke in a “mourning” tone that did not appeal to a fun-loving

boy. Of course, I’m sure the service was not designed for children. I was glad when it was over.

My sisters and I kept going each Sunday because my mother told us, “We don’t want you to grow up as ignorant heathen!”

Overall, it gave me a mixed feeling about “church”: I liked the Sunday School with my own age group but did not see why I needed “church” (worship). It did make me feel there should be reverence when a person is in God’s presence, at church. And we enjoyed “playing around” and teasing the girls on our one-mile walk home. Plus, there would be plenty of good food waiting for us when we got there, although it would be cold if the sermon was long or if we played too much on the way.

“WE’RE GOING TO JOIN THE CHURCH!” If you’ve read the previous chapters, you know that by the time I was 12 or 13 years old and a freshman at Troy High School, I had accepted some Christian teachings. But my life was one of rebellion toward my parents as well as resentment toward anyone who exercised control over what I could or could not do (parents, older sisters, teachers and other authorities). My faith was what might have been called “hand-me-down religion”.

Looking back, it’s clear to me now that “joining the church” at age twelve was one of the causes. This happened through the actions of several well-meaning people at First Church. The Junior Sunday School Department Director, Miss Dixie, told us we were “graduating” to the higher department, “I want all of you to ‘join the church’ before moving up to the next department.”

Christians in that day in the South assumed that a person who joined the church was making a commitment to accept and follow Jesus Christ. My experience showed me that many of us did not at all understand the need of what scriptures call repentance or personal faith, both of which involve deep commitment. Nevertheless, in our ignorance, some of my friends and I decided to join the church.

When I told my mother that some friends and I, who were graduating to the Intermediate Department, were going to join the church. She replied, “You can’t do that until you know what you’re doing.”

When I told my Sunday School teacher, his response to my mother’s rule was to ask me, “Well, you believe in Jesus, don’t you?”

“Yes,” I said, thinking about Him standing on the mountain teaching, as well as dying on the cross. But there was no understanding on my part of WHY HE

DIED or of the COMMITMENT NEEDED to turn from my rebellion and trust Him personally. It was simply mental assent.

“That’s all you have to do,” he said.

So, I went home and told my mother, “I talked with my Sunday School teacher, and he said I understood enough to join.”

My mother acquiesced.

The next Sunday a group of us boys went forward during the closing hymn and asked to join the church, agreeing when asked, that we would be baptized.

As far as I can remember, no one talked with me about what it took to personally trust Christ to forgive and change my direction in life or what it meant to become His follower, much less the deep meaning of baptism by immersion.

WE BOY SCOUTS HAD FUN—EVEN BREAKING STREET LIGHTS Mother allowed me to go to the Cub Scouts and, when I was old enough, the Boy Scouts. These troops and dens were sponsored by the First Baptist Church.

We had to buy our own uniforms for each one. I remember the blue shirt and small blue cap we all wore to our meetings, held at our Cub Scout Den Mother’s house.

I don’t remember where the money came from, but I think mine may have been one thing my parched peanut sales made possible. Our den meetings started with some roughhouse playing outside, like wrestling matches or touch football. Then we usually wanted to know, “What are we eating tonight?”

Our Den Mother might say, “It’s a surprise!” or “Sloppy Joes again.”

Whatever it was, there was always plenty. She led us in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag, had us recite our motto, and reviewed other things we were learning. It was a very wholesome and fun time for me in those young years.

When I got old enough to go into the Boy Scout Troop, it felt like I was ‘growing up’. We prided ourselves in living out our motto, Be Prepared. This meant learning wilderness survival techniques, like starting a fire without matches, learning edible plants and berries, building a lean-to, sleeping in a pup tent and trapping game. These skills were tested on weekend camporees, where we competed with other troops for prized awards. It was fun to just be with my Boy Scout friends, as well as to enjoy the beautiful out-of-doors.

But our ages and rebellious natures caused us to also do things that were wrong, even illegal, as well. Riding home in the back of our scoutmaster’s truck someone (surely not me) suggested, “Let’s bring along some rocks and see who

can break out a street light first.”

It was fun when one of us finally hit a light and it flamed out, but we couldn’t shout for the winner, lest our scoutmaster hear us and demand an explanation.

PEOPLE FROM THE LITTLE RED BARN Strangers seldom ever came to our house or to anyone else’s house on Copeland Street, although my mother welcomed everyone who knocked. After all, she said, “Many people still don’t have jobs because they lost everything in the Great Depression. They may be hungry and looking for a meal.” Someone occasionally came to our door to ask mother, “Ma’am, I’m hungry and wonder if you have any extra food?”

She would reply, “If you can eat cornbread and black-eyed peas, I can feed you.”

Almost all men out of work answered, “That sounds good.” She would include a glass of iced tea or milk and even tomatoes, if they were in season.

We children were always curious when strangers came and hung around to listen to what they said. Our curiosity level was raised even higher when two middle-aged women stopped by because we had already seen them calling at other houses on our street.

Mrs. Pearl Reeves and Mrs. Ione Jordan came to invite our family, especially the children, to attend a new Sunday School beginning in the little red barn next to the mill where my dad worked. I can’t remember anyone else from any church coming to invite us to Sunday School or church during the twelve years I was growing up there. First Church had sent a bus to our neighborhood for a while, but when no adults rode it, they stopped it.

My friends and I became excited about going to the little red barn; it sounded like more fun than our class in the “school-looking” downtown church education building, and it was only a half mile walk instead of a mile. These ladies also surprised us by asking our ages, favorite games, and foods we liked. Many adults, except perhaps our teachers and families, ignored children as if they were not important. Not these ladies; they showed a personal interest in us.

When we went to the little barn on Sunday, we met a handful of workers from First Church who continued to show concern for us, as well as all ages.

Mr. W. D. Hart, who worked on the railroad and had an interest in the activities boys liked, was the Sunday School superintendent. A young man, Mr. Clyde McGuff, teacher for the youth, kept the lessons interesting by letting us compete in quizzes on the Bible.

So, we kept attending, started reading the Bible more at home and invited our friends to go with us. In a few months, the number of children, along with a few adult family members, including my mother, had grown enough to look for a preacher. The workers invited a young student from Troy State Teachers College (now Troy University) to come each Sunday to conduct a worship service after Sunday School.

Unnoticed by me was an article in the Montgomery Advertiser also in 1947.

Its March 12th issue reported that a joint session of Congress had approved a Truman proposal that committed the U.S. to assist any nation threatened by Soviet actions. This was later called the Truman Doctrine. It was also the beginning of four decades of what came to be known as the as the Cold War, which included the Korean and Vietnam, and altogether lasted from 1950 through 1975.

James Earl Peacock was a tall, lanky blonde student-pastor who got around in a World War II jeep, which he had bought at an army salvage sale. I don’t remember any of his sermons, but I can’t forget the many hours he spent driving us boys of the community through the Conecuh River swamps in his old fourwheel drive jeep. Sometimes a log or other barrier would block the jeep. He’d stop and say, “Okay boys, let’s see if you can move the log.”

We loved jumping out into the mud and proving our strength to move the largest obstacle.

We learned how much fun Christians can have when a leader has a wholesome view of life. Brother Peacock was only there for a couple of years. When he graduated and moved away, I overheard my daddy say, “God used him to help some ‘beginning-to-stray’ boys in our neighborhood get into church.” A new church was emerging from the compassion of the student pastor and the caring volunteers.

The handful of people soon grew to 50 or more at times. When W.D. Hart challenged us, “Everyone try to bring someone new and let’s try to have 54 in Sunday School on my 54th birthday. That’s the best present you can give me.”

We all brought others and had 56 there.

“WHAT A VICTORY!” He exclaimed.

For the first time, we had about fifteen adults, partly because Bro. Hart had told us, “Try to get your parents to come with you!”

At least half were at Sunday School or the worship service for the first time.

However, youth and children were by far still the largest group. Within a year, several of these adults were converted to Christ, baptized, and began serving as church leaders. After another year, the new adult members and the workers from First Church both felt God wanted them to organize into a church.

In October 1948, with the assistance of First Baptist Church, they constituted as Northside Baptist Church with 55 members. In 1949, First Church erected an auditorium for their worship. Soon afterwards, they called F. R. Bowman as their pastor.

Also in 1948, the Soviets set up a land blockade of West Berlin. This could be done because East Berlin encircled all of West Berlin. President Truman could have stopped this blockade with military intervention. He chose instead to send planes dropping huge packages of food and other necessities to West Berlin.

I read about the airlift when I was a 14-year-old delivering the Advertiser in 1948.

Pictures were printed of the Allies’ planes dropping the packages to our friends in West Berlin.1 This continued until May, 1949, when the Communists removed their blockade. When the Truman Doctrine2 was adopted by Congress saying that the U.S. would help any country threatened by the Communist Block, it seemed to be the right thing to do by most Americans. It also led to our being heavily involved in both the Korean and the Vietnam Wars, both of which started in 1950.

“WOULD YOU LIKE A PING-PONG TABLE WITH LIGHTS OVER IT IN OUR BACKYARD?” Brother F. R. Bowman, modeled living for God daily and caring for others. He was a middle-aged man who was patient with us, yet confrontational when necessary. He observed our boredom in the evenings as we enjoyed soft drinks and joked with each other, probably irritating customers, at the small grocery across the street from the church parsonage.

Then he asked us, “Would you like for me to set up a ping pong table with lights over it in our backyard?” He added, “Then you guys can have fun here.”

“That would be great!” was our chorus of replies. And no matter how late we played as noisy teenagers, he never came out and yelled at us.

He was an excellent leader and pastor. Although weak in his preaching delivery, he liked to give young Christian members chances to serve in the church. This encouraged us to stretch our wings and to do things we never thought we could.

WHY WAS A CHURCH STARTED IN AN AREA WHERE ONLY 60 FAMILIES LIVED? It was years later when I learned how unlikely it was that a new church was started in our neighborhood: very few new churches were started by Baptists in Alabama in the 1940s. It was the World War II years—money and volunteers were scarce. Most of those that were started were located in cities with growing populations. There were only about 60 families living in the area impacted by the church in its early years. Usually a church start required a much larger “pool” of people because a much smaller percentage of the people were responsive. No residents in our community had requested a church be started.

I’m convinced that this was GOD HIMSELF CHOOSING TO INTERVENE in an unlikely setting because He loved children and their families!

MR. WILKERSON WILL TEACH YOU THE GROCERY BUSINESS While in elementary school my teeth developed many cavities. Mother told me, “You eat too much candy; I’ve got to take you to the dentist.”

After several painful trips to get fillings in my decaying teeth, Mother said, “When you grow up, you could go to dental school and become a dentist; then you wouldn’t have to work so hard like your daddy and could make lots more money.”

Her ‘dream’ never appealed to me. I thought, “Who wants to spend every day inside, with your hands in other people’s mouths?”

This was before the day of dentists wearing rubber gloves. But she did remind me how hard my daddy worked for low wages. So, as I grew older, my search began for the kind of work that I would like that would provide a good living.

My ninth grade teacher said, “You need to decide whether or not you’re going to college. If so, you need to take the courses during the next three years which will prepare you for college entrance.”

I knew I did not want to go to college. I thought, “I don’t want to keep going to school and having to study every day.”

She continued, “Another alternative is to sign up for the Diversified Education program for the next three years. Each morning you’ll take classes and study the business you want to learn about. Each afternoon you’ll work with a company in that business and learn how to operate it. They will also pay you a small salary while you’re learning.”

That sounded good to me. After I talked with some of my classmates about what job they wanted to learn, one friend said. “I would like to work in a men’s department store.” That did not sound like a job I would like to do every day.

I asked another friend, Bobby Hattaway, “What job are you hoping to work in?”

He said, “I’m planning to learn the grocery business. I helped out at a grocery store a few times, and we did all kinds of things that let the time pass by fast.”

The next day I asked my DE teacher, “Are there many workers needed in the grocery business?”

“Yes,” she responded, “there are a lot of places looking for workers in that business. Mr. Wilkerson is a good one. He’s been in the business for a long time and knows everything about it. If you’re willing to work hard, you’ll do well with him.”

“Okay,” I replied, “I would like to talk with him.”

She gave me the store address.

When I met with Mr. Wilkerson, I asked him, “What would you want me to do if I became a DE student working with you?”

He replied, “If you want to learn the business you have to do a little bit everything—stocking the shelves, helping clean the store, learning to cut meat and waiting on customers. And anything else that needs to be done. I would want you to work every afternoon during the week and all day on Saturday, and I’ll pay you the regular wage per hour the DE program requires.” He added, “After you finish your three years, we may still need you here, or you may want to work somewhere else. You might even want to start your own store.”

“Do you think I could do that?” I asked.

“Of course,” he replied, “if you work hard and learn how to manage a store, you could; you will know enough to start out small and grow your business.”

So, we agreed to my coming to work the next Monday.

The job and training were all that my DE teacher and that Mr. Wilkerson had promised, and more. It helped me learn to relate to and talk with people, to prepare for the influx of people at certain times of the year, and to negotiate with customers who were dissatisfied. Overall, it was an experience which helped me grow in understanding the real world and how I fit in it.

For example, the farmers brought their cotton to the gin near our store, beginning in August, through September, and tapering off in October. They only got paid immediately for the cotton seed by the gin. So, being the only store nearby where they could stock up on the food staples for their families for the coming winter, they bought large quantities.

In July, Mr. Wilkerson said to us workers, “Boys, we’re going to have a lot of 50-pound bags on the floor, giant bags of sugar, and large bags of flour being trucked in this month. We’ll put all there’s room for on the store floor; you’ll take the rest to the back room and bring out more when it gets short.”

When a lot of farmers showed up, he would say, “Fellows, we’ll stay after closing time and help people until they’re all taken care of, as well as stay on until you’ve restocked everything on the floor.”

After I was converted to Christ my second year at the store, my life and work habits changed. When a customer returned some partly-rotted cabbage, I said, “We’re sorry this happened; let me help you find another head that you’ll be happy with.”

Other employees looked at me as if they were thinking, “What’s wrong with you? She should have looked at it carefully before buying it!”

And when my supervisor showed me how to put his hand on the scales while weighing meat to make a bigger profit for the store, I refused to follow his instructions, which would have cheated our customers. However, I failed to tell him that being a follower of Christ kept me from following such policies.

Another change had me praying for God to provide opportunities for me to share my experience of salvation. Some days, coming home to mother, I would happily share, “God gave me the courage to share about Christ with a teenage boy who needs Him.” Other days I had to confess, “I prayed today for this couple who really need Christ; he was cursing and she was hard to please; but,” I continued, “I was too scared to share how Christ could make their lives much better.”

“Son,” she responded, “I’ll be praying the Lord will give you more courage; HE will give you BOLDNESS if you’ll look to HIM!” I also became concerned for the three others who worked at the store, none of whom showed a deep commitment to Christ. One appeared to be an alcoholic, another was very rude to most people; another man’s language, greed, and dishonesty looked like he was not a Christian either. My efforts to “let them see Christ in me,” were not enough and I longed for the courage to confront them boldly with the full message of the Gospel. My being younger than they caused me to fear speaking up, and thus, caused me to fail.

Looking back, I wish I had taken to heart Paul’s plea to young Timothy, “…I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God…For God gave us a spirit, not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord…” (2 Tim. 1:6-8). Even now, I need more of the power of God, set on fire by the Spirit, to boldly proclaim the good news of Christ, especially when fear threatens to hinder me.

WE BOY SCOUTS CONTINUED TO EXPAND OUR ‘FUN’ When our scout troop members were in high school, we rode our bikes to the meetings. Five or six of us usually tried to find something that was more exciting to do after the meeting. It had been fun to break out the streetlights, and we never got caught.

One night we found a dead cat and looked for ways to parade him. Someone suggested, “Let’s leave him on the front porch of the town mayor.”

“No,” I said; “Where can we put him where EVERYONE will see this poor cat?”

“I know,” spoke up one boy. “We’ll put him on the flagpole of the high school.”

“Great idea!” everybody agreed.

So, we went to the school and tied him to the chain at the end of the pole, and one of us hoisted him to the very top of the flagstaff. We all DID cheer when he reached the top. Then we looked around to see if anybody else was within earshot. Seeing no one, we felt we were not seen or heard and quickly slipped home the back way on our bikes.

Another night we were looking for something to eat but had no money to buy it.

“Well,” an older guy said, “They have food in the lunch-room.”

Another answered, “It would be illegal to break in.”

Someone made light of this fact and said, “Nobody will know; besides, they’ve got extra!”

That seemed to satisfy everybody; so, we went out to the high school on our bikes and hid them in the back. Finally finding a window in the gym open enough for us to squeeze through, we slowly made our way in the dim lights to the lunch room. Obviously, there was no alarm system or night watchman!

To our surprise, our lead boy said out loud, “There’s no food here. It must be shut up in the cabinets that are locked.”

But one was open and we found some big cans inside, nothing more than peaches; that’s the only thing to eat that we could find or get into in the entire lunch room! We all ate a peach or two, but that was poor pay for all our effort to break in.

By that time, we were getting scared, so we scrambled back through all the doors and out the window, headed home on our bikes, heeding an outspoken boy’s advice: “Let’s take the back roads home, one at a time, so nobody sees us!”

As far as I know, nobody ever suspected we were guilty of these misdeeds.

After all, we were “good boys” who were in Sunday School and the Scouts!

BROTHER WHALEY: “I KNOW IF I DIE TONIGHT, I’LL GO TO HEAVEN, NOT HELL!” One night our pastor asked Brother Whaley, a schoolteacher/preacher member of Northside to speak. He said, “I know if I die tonight, I’m going to heaven.”

His confidence was based on trusting what Jesus promised in the third chapter of the Gospel of John. That night I lay awake wondering whether I would go to heaven or hell if I died that night. Reading and trying to understand John three was my next step. It never occurred to me that Brother Whaley would have gladly talked with me about the promises in that chapter.

I also started listening more to the pastor’s sermons, but after delivering newspapers at daybreak, it was hard to keep from getting drowsy when sitting still in church. Neither was our pastor the most captivating speaker. My friends and I continued doing anything we could to have fun, although some of what we did was breaking the law.

You may think those actions were not so bad but were merely pranks immature kids do. Yes, but looking back, I remember a deep resentment toward anyone who told me what I could or could not do. This resentment extended to my parents as a young teen. They not only told me what to do but punished me when I disobeyed them. At the same time, I wanted the assurance that the school teacher/pastor at our church obviously had. At times, I would even read some of the Scriptures he spoke about that he said gave him assurance. But that did not give me peace nor answer the big questions raised in my heart by Brother Whaley.

There were no answers to the big questions he raised until, in my mid-teens, I began to read the Bible more purposefully in search of how I could know I had eternal life, not realizing that my self-centered attitudes hindered understanding and following the Truth. He had said that the Gospel of John was the book that told how to be sure I was a Christian. I read it some, and I believed in Jesus, but I still was not sure I had eternal life!

HUNTING FROGS OR COPPERHEADS? After the new church moved into its own building in 1949, Johnny Strickland started a Royal Ambassador chapter, meeting weekly at the church. This was a Southern Baptist missionary organization for boys. Our chapter was made up of 10-15-year-old boys. Johnny, with the help of his wife, Betty, also provided refreshments after our recreation time at the end of each meeting.

Each of us had an RA Handbook, which had Scriptures for us to memorize, which gave me my first clear exposure to how a person could become a Christian.

We were expected to first memorize the answers to questions which stated the purposes of Royal Ambassadors. Each meeting was begun with questions like these, whose answers were part of our memory work: Q 1: “Who is an ambassador?”

We were expected to answer, “An ambassador is one who represents the person of a king in the court of another.”

Q 2: “Whom do we represent?”

We were to answer with the words of 2nd Corinthians 5:20: “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” You may say, “The KJV English sounds so archaic and unclear to us today.”

True, it is, and it does. But I must answer: It was all we had, and our leaders stood for Christ and shared the GOOD NEWS with others in ways that helped us practice representing Christ daily.

To help us memorize Scriptures on how to become a Christian, Johnny asked us: Q 1: “Why does EVERY PERSON NEED CHRIST? A: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23.

Q 2: “If we continue doing wrong or sinning, what will we earn?”

A: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23 Q 3: “What did Christ do to pay for our sins?”

A: “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:8.

Q 4: “What can we do to be forgiven and become a Christian?”

A: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

This was just the beginning of my knowledge of Christ, but it must have been part of the Biblical basis which prepared me for a life-changing trust in him later.

Our RA Leader also took us fishing and did other fun things with us regularly. Once, while we were enjoying hot dogs with iced tea after a chapter meeting, he asked us, “Have any of you boys gone frog hunting before?”

After all of us shook our heads with a “no” response, Warner asked, “Will you tell us about it?” “Surely,” he replied. “First, big fried bullfrog legs are delicious, just as good as Mrs. Matthews’s fried chicken.”

Seeing he had our attention, he continued, “They live in ponds and come to the edge at night, making loud croaking sounds.”

“How do you hunt bullfrogs?” I wanted to know.

“You ease quietly around the edge of a pond, shining ahead with a good flashlight where you hear one croaking; some people try to ‘gig’ them, but I like to shoot them with my .22,” he explained.

Burney asked, “Do you think there would be any frogs at the old pond up the road from the church where the trains pump water into their engines?”

“Sounds like a perfect place!” he responded.

We were showing our excitement about this new adventure, so Johnny asked us, “Do you want to go hunt some on Friday night? I’ll be home from work, and Betty can cook our frog legs.”

Our mouths were already watering. He suggested, “Let’s meet at the church after it’s good and dark, and we can walk down the road to the old pond.” That suited us; six or seven of us agreed to be at the church by 8:00 that night.

On Friday night, Johnny came with his .22 rifle and a long, bright flashlight.

“I’m sure glad you brought a good light; my ‘possum-hunting light’ is too dim to shine far,” I shared with him.

We walked down the road to the place that looked like an overgrown path to the old pond. Getting there was harder than we thought it would be—thick brush, bamboo (vines with large thorns on them) and the uneven path filled with baseball-sized stones made it slow going. When we finally got to an open place, it was the pond dam. And the frogs were sending up a loud chorus of croaking.

We must have bagged some frogs in our slow hunt across the dam, but I honestly cannot remember. I only remember one we got on the other shore of the old pond.

As we pushed our way through to the side bank, our leader focused his bright light on the water’s edge beginning at our feet and slowly ahead about 25 feet. There was perched a huge bullfrog, croaking so loudly that his noise was drowning out the other frogs. Johnny took careful aim and ‘nailed’ him to the log. Some of us couldn’t help but let out a muted, “Way to go!”

He asked us boys, “Who will go step out on the log and retrieve our frog for supper?”

When nobody else volunteered, I reluctantly offered, “I’ll try to get him.”

Inching my way through the thick bushes and thorns, I finally got to the swampy area where the log was visible. Johnny instructed me, “That big log is where he is; just make a long step out to it and you’ll see him.”

Even with my dim light I could see the log, although not completely because of big water weeds blocking my view.

I would have to make a leaping step to get both feet on the log, but I thought, “That shouldn’t be too hard to someone who climbs trees to shake out possums.”

Bracing myself with both feet, I then raised my right foot and started my jump to the log. But when my foot was almost there, I instinctively jerked it back! Johnny then shined his light on the log where I would have landed, and immediately shouted, “GET AWAY FROM THAT LOG!” Moving away quickly from the muddy shore, I then looked back.

There, coiled to strike, was A COPPERHEAD SNAKE, one of the most poisonous of the vipers in south Alabama forests. Johnny shot at him, but he slipped away into the murky water.

When I got back to our group, my friend, Burney, said, “LET’S GET OUT OF HERE!” “YEAH,” I said, “I don’t want to hunt anymore tonight.”

Our leader agreed, “Yes, we’ve done enough frog hunting tonight.”

Retracing our way to the road and then up the road to the church hardly a word was spoken. We all got in Johnny’s car and rode to his house.

Only then did he break the silence with “I didn’t know frog hunting would be so dangerous;” he paused, “BUT GOD HIMSELF TOOK CARE OF US TONIGHT! When we got to their house and Betty heard that we would not feast on fried frog legs, she quickly fixed us some hot dogs. I said to her, “I feel weak all over.” She got out some ice and gave me a large glass of iced water. By the time we sat down to eat, the other boys began to talk quietly.

As we finished, our leader quieted us down and spoke to our experience, “Boys, not only Clifford, but all of us have gone through great danger tonight.

I understand that most people bitten by a copperhead die. Now we know God’s promise is true, ‘though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me…’ Psalm 23:4 (KJV).”

“If I had died, would I have gone to heaven?”

I got home and told my parents, “A copperhead almost bit me tonight.”

My dad, whom I think had recently committed his life to Christ, reinforced what Johnny had said with, “God protected you, son!”

Going to bed, I couldn’t sleep but kept replaying the events of the night.

Thinking about my own spiritual need, I wondered, “If I had died, I’m not sure I would have gone to heaven.”

But my leader and my dad’s words reminded me that GOD PROTECTED ME. It dawned on me that I REALLY BELIEVED THAT! “Lord, How Could You Love Me So Much?”

Something Brother Bowman did was to bring outstanding pastors to preach in our annual revival meetings.

Soon John Bob Riddle, a pastor in Montgomery, Alabama, came to preach each night in a week of revival services. He kept my attention by describing real people whose lives were changed when they came to know and follow Jesus.

MY LIFE BEGAN TO CHANGE DRASTICALLY THE NIGHT HE DESCRIBED CHRIST’S SUFFERING LIKE THIS: His back was already mangled by the Roman “cat-o-nine tails,” the pieces of bone and metal shredding his flesh. Roman soldiers laid the rough wooden cross on his back and compelled him to carry it until, in his weakened condition, he fell beneath its weight. A foreigner was forced to carry it the rest of the way up the hill that looked like a skull.

Soldiers drug him to the cross laid out by an already-dug hole. They grabbed his hands, pulling his mangled body against it, and pounded jagged spikes through them. Others drove a huge spike through his feet. As they lifted the cross with him on it and dropped it with a thud into the prepared hole, excruciating pain raged through every joint and organ of his body. Blood began dripping from his hands, feet and head, where sharp thorns pressed into his skull. The soldiers sat on the ground and tossed dice to see which would get his clothes, especially the seamless coat. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. The passing crowd yelled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross if you are the Son of God! The religious leaders, who had schemed with the Roman rulers to have him condemned, mocked him: “He saved others”, they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the King of Israel! Let him come down from the cross, and we

will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” Jesus prayed, “FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.” The two criminals being crucified on each side of him taunted him, “If you are the Christ, save yourself and us!” But one of the criminals, finally overwhelmed with conviction, spoke loudly to the other, “Don’t you fear God since we’re dying for what we’ve done wrong, but this man has done nothing wrong?”

He pleaded with Jesus, “Remember me when you come in your kingdom.”

Jesus replied, “TODAY YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE!” From noon until 3:00 in the afternoon, the sun stopped shining and darkness covered the land while an earthquake shook the ground under the feet of those around the cross. Above the whining of the wind Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?” As I sat spellbound, the preacher stopped; looking at us in the youth group, he asked, “WHY DID JESUS STAY ON THAT CROSS? He was the Son of God; he could have come down.” As he paused, I could not see why he did.

With deep conviction he said, “BECAUSE JESUS LOVED YOU SO MUCH, He was willing to stay on the cross and suffer the punishment for everything you’ve ever done wrong!”

I knew I had done A LOT WRONG, especially being rebellious and selfish.

As he continued, I was thinking/talking in my own heart to God: “Lord, I don’t know how you could love me so much! Please forgive me. Jesus, help me to follow you.”

I was so caught up with awe at Jesus’s love that I don’t remember anything else the pastor said. After a while, a sense of relief came over me.

At home I read John 3 again. I thought, “This now makes sense!”

Verse 36, the last one, says, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

I remembered what Brother Whaley had said, “This scripture says that anyone who believes (trusts) in the Son has—present tense—everlasting life.”

It was clear to me that the new, special kind of life begins immediately when one believes in his heart. Then I KNEW I HAD BELIEVED in the Son and had everlasting life!

From that time forward, my life took on new meaning; my deepest desire was to do what God wanted me to do. Of course, I shared this coming to personal faith with my closest friends and family. They were supportive and some

were excited, especially Burney, my friend next door. Even though he was two years younger than I, he had made a similar commitment and understood how the love of Christ could awaken me to trust Him. I LEARNED SOON: IT WAS NOT GOING TO BE EASY TO FOLLOW CHRIST. When I shared my experience with a classmate at school, he laughed at me, adding, “There’s nothing to this; you just got carried away. I don’t think it’s going to help you!” That stunned me; it was unimaginable that someone I knew well enough to consider a friend would actually make fun of me after hearing how I had realized Jesus loved me enough to die for my sins.

As I shared this confrontation with my friends who were Christ-followers, they replied, “He doesn’t understand what you’re talking about.”

Brother Whaley’s advice: “Pray for him!”

The focus of my life changed from living for what I wanted, to doing what pleased Christ and helping others know Him. My life began to change immediately—I read the Bible more, started showing more respect for my parents, and became concerned about my friends who did not know Christ. To other teenagers living nearby, I’d stop by their homes on the old flatbed scooter and invite them by asking, “Do you want to have fun with us riding down ‘thrill hill?’”

On Sunday, I would offer, “I’ll give you a ride on the scooter to Sunday School if you’ll be ready at 9:30.”

Sometimes Burney and I would say to our friends on Knox Street, “Do you want to go ‘possum hunting’ with us Friday night?”

In the woods while we waited in the dark for the dogs to hunt, we would point to the bright stars overhead and ask, “Who do you think made them?”

Boys would usually say, “God, I guess.”

“Do you realize He loves YOU?” They might reply, “I’ve never thought about it.”

We would then share Scriptures like John 3:16, saying, “God loved you so much that He gave His Son, Jesus, to die for your sins.” Several of these friends eventually came to Christ. What a joy to walk with Him daily, see Him answer our prayers, and sense His guidance in our lives!

◆◆◆

________________________________ 1. Montgomery Advertiser, Montgomery, Alabama, 1948, Berlin Airlift 2. Ibid, M. Advertiser, March, 1948 3. Montgomery Advertiser, Montgomery, Alabama, March, 1947

5 FOOLS ON FIRE!

A

few years after my conversion, I heard Dr. R. G. Lee, famous preacher and orator who was pastor for many years of the Bellevue Baptist Church of Memphis, Tennessee. I’ve never forgotten what he said about the importance of being zealous in following Christ, “I’d rather be a ‘Fool on Fire’ (for Christ) than a ‘Scholar on Ice’.”

Looking back years later, it’s obvious THAT was a good description of me and my close friends—Randal Peacock, Burney Enzor, Stuart Sunday and my sister, Jane, on the back row. soon after several of us became Christians.

Non-Christians said of us, “They’re fanatics,” or “They’ve been brain-washed.”

Even ‘older’ Christians in the faith said, “They’ll get over it.”

The following are some examples of how, perhaps, we were ‘fools for Christ’, even as Paul says he was. Of course, I’m sure we came nowhere near suffering for the Savior as Paul did.

“DO YOU REALIZE YOU’RE GOING TO HELL?”

James Powell was a classmate of mine in Troy High School. He also attended our intermediate Sunday School class for teenagers who were studying the Bible each Sunday. Then under Brother Bowman’s leadership, Northside had a soul winning study, which included a special class for high school students.

We used a booklet called Fishers of Men. For the first time, we realized that we could share our faith in Christ and were even obligated to do so. We learned Scriptures with which we could share the plan of salvation from the Bible.

When the class was over, our teacher said, “I want each of you to ask God to show you someone with whom you can share the gospel with before Sunday.”

Burney and I agreed that we were concerned about James Powell, a friend in our Sunday School class with whom we had never shared the Gospel. So, after our class Sunday we asked him to stay and talk with us. My question to him was this: “Do you realize you’re going to hell unless you accept Christ?”

He was stunned and had no real answer except, “I hadn’t thought about it.”

So, we took the scriptures that we learned in our Bibles and shared with him why he was lost and needed Christ. Then we showed him that God loved him and sent Jesus to die for his sins, as well as rise from the dead to give him life.

After we finished, Burney asked him, “Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins on the cross?”

“Yes,” he replied.

Then I asked him, “Are you willing to trust him to forgive you and to come into your life?”

“Yes, but I don’t know HOW to do that.”

“Just tell Him,” I instructed, “Lord, I’m sorry I’ve sinned.”

He prayed, “Lord, I’m sorry for my sins.”

“Then tell Him you believe Jesus died for you, and ask Him to come into your heart.”

He continued with stumbling words, “Jesus, I believe you…died for my sins…come…into.. my…heart…I trust you.”

Burney asked him, “Did you open your heart to Jesus and ask him to save you?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Do you believe He did?” he asked.

“Yes,” he answered with a smile. “I believe He came into my heart.”

We then showed him the Acts 2:41, “...then they that gladly received his word were baptized…” He agreed to go forward in the church that day and profess his faith in Christ. When he did, the church people rejoiced with him as a new believer. Soon after that he was baptized. A few years later, in 1957, he and Betty, who had also come to Christ at Northside, got married

I had the privilege of returning as his pastor forty years later in 1997. James Powell never claimed to be a perfect Christian or great leader. However, he lived a lifetime seeking to help others in practical ways and thus serving his Lord. He went to be with Christ in 2010 with a lifetime record of knowing and serving Jesus. I’m so glad that I had a small part in his becoming a Christ-follower.

BROTHER JAMES EADEY CRIED WHEN HE PREACHED ON HELL Despite the name revival, they were primarily evangelistic services, designed to bring non-Christians to hear the Gospel and to accept Christ. Although still continued by some churches in the 21st century, most local churches now use other methods to proclaim the Good News, relying primarily on their Sunday morning worship services combined with the invitation and witness of members.

One of the early preachers whom Brother Bowman invited for a revival was Brother James Eadey, pastor of a church in Opp, Alabama, near where he grew up. He preached with more fervor than most I had heard up to that time, expressing clearly his love for God and compassion for people. Only one of his messages made such an impact on me that I have not forgotten it. It was a sermon on hell.

Brother Eadey began this message by saying, “I do not enjoy preaching on hell, but it must be proclaimed to warn people of the terrible consequences of rejecting Christ!”

I think he then read Luke 16:19-31 (KJV).

The following is his sermon as I remember it: “This wealthy man had everything he wanted on earth, but he must not have been a follower of Christ; otherwise, he would have helped the poor man, who was apparently without food every day.

Jesus said the rich man died, was buried, and immediately woke up in hell, being tormented. Imagine his being engulfed by the flames of hell, which never stopped, but neither did they consume him!

His suffering was so terrible that he begged for one drop of water to cool his parched tongue!”

By this time tears were beginning to run down Brother Eadey’s cheeks.

He continued, “Jesus frequently warned of the terrible suffering in hell for those who reject Him: ‘and if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.’” Mark 9:47–48 (KJV).

Jesus used the word for hell, which described the city dump outside Jerusalem that never stopped burning, where people threw all kinds of dead things.

What a gruesome picture of separation from God forever!

“You may ask,” Brother Eadey anticipated, “how can I escape hell?”

Jesus answered that question in John 3:14-16: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

“If you believe that Jesus died for your sins and will turn from your sin to trust Jesus to save you, you will not perish in hell but have everlasting life!”

He stood, weeping at the front of the church full of people, and pleaded, “if you continue in your rebellion and rejection of Christ, you’ll end up in hell, in torment, just like the rich man Jesus told about. But you don’t have to risk that; God loves you and gave Jesus to die for your sins. TRUST HIM TO SAVE YOU TONIGHT—you may not be here tomorrow! This is the day of salvation—COME!” The Hymn of Invitation, “O Why Not Tonight?” continued his plea: “O do not let the Word depart, And close thine eyes against the light; Poor sinner, harden not your heart, Be saved, O tonight.

Second verse: Tomorrow’s sun may never rise to bless thy long-deluded sight; This is the time, O then be wise, be saved, O tonight.

Chorus: O why not tonight? O why not tonight? Wilt thou be saved?

Then why not tonight?”

NIGHT FISHING WITH SWINSON OR FISHING FOR BOYS?

Swinson and Vergi Kimbrough became very active members of Northside soon after being saved when Brother Eadey was there for the revival. Since they were younger than the other leaders of the church, they became close friends of the youth, especially us teenage boys. Some nights Vergi invited us to his house for a snack after church. We talked about all the wonderful things that God was doing in our lives and our struggles to follow Christ.

One of our favorite things he did with us was to take us ‘night fishing’. This meant we caught puppy dogs and crawfish from the branch back of our house for two or three afternoons. He would get off from work early and take us to the Connecticut River. There we cut poles three or four feet long from small trees and bushes and tied a short, heavy line with lead and a big hook on each one for our night fishing.

Before dark, we would set our poles out, bait them and stick them into the banks of the river. We found a place to camp and built a fire, eating snacks, such as Vienna sausage and sardines and crackers, while we waited for an hour or so after dark for the fish to get caught. Then we took our flashlights and checked the 20 or 25 polls we had set out. If there were any fish on them, we strung them up and went back to the camp for another hour or two for another check for fish.

Heading home, we would make it before midnight.

Early the next morning I would take one of the boys on my Harley 125 back to check for more fish. After two or three nights of this fishing, we would have enough for a fish fry. Vergi would cook the fish for us along with French fries, slaw, and hushpuppies. It was always great fun to go to their house to eat and to talk about what we had done to catch the fish.

One day, Warner invited John Folmar, who lived next door to him, to go along with us night fishing. I knew him at school for his habit of constant cursing. That night we caught several catfish and Swinson said, “Why don’t we go ahead and have a fish fry tomorrow night?”

Burney answered, “Hey, I’m already hungry.”

“John, can you join us tomorrow night?” I asked him.

“Sure,” he replied” I have nothing to do at home.”

The next night we gathered at their house and went to the dining room table to enjoy the fish. As we ate, Burney kidded, “Did you fellows see how Warner was slipping and almost skidded into the river last night?”

He answered, “Well at least I didn’t get one of my shoes so stuck in the mud that others had to pull me out.”

“Hey, what about the expression on John’s face?” I said, “Remember when he pulled up what he thought was a big fish and it was just a long, snake-looking eel, which had twisted our line into a pile of knots!”

After stuffing ourselves with all we could hold of the fish, French fries, and hushpuppies, Swinson led us into the front living room where we sat around on a sofa and some chairs to talk. He showed us a new booklet of sermons he had ordered through the mail from Evangelist John L. Bray in Florida. It was exciting to hear him read some of the teachings and scriptures in the booklet, Heaven Hell and Salvation. “Look at this,” he said, “Jesus, in Matthew 5:22 (KJV), said, ‘If anyone is angry with his brother and says to him, ‘You fool!’

He shall be in danger of hell fire.’”

He taught in verse 29, “If thou right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”

Swinson also read from John 14, where Jesus said he went to prepare a place for us in heaven. He read verse 14, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father but by me!”

Burney said, “I’m glad to know if I get killed living with such dangerous friends as you boys that I’ll go to Heaven to live with Jesus.”

On salvation, Warner read what Paul said in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Swinson added, “After attending the revival and hearing brother Eadey two or three times, I realized how badly I needed to be forgiven and receive salvation through Jesus.”

I chimed in, “When I heard a message about how much Jesus loves me, even enough that he would die on the cross for my sins, it turned me to him.”

Others shared how they had come to faith in Jesus Christ and how he had changed their lives.

Suddenly John burst into tears; “I’m going to hell,” he said, “because I’m not saved! I’ve always just wanted to do as I pleased.”

He caught us by surprise. After a brief pause and what he said sank in, Swinson spoke up again, “John, you can be saved tonight. if you’ll repent of your sins and trust Jesus, he’ll give you a new life.”

He asked John, “Do you know you’ve sinned and need forgiveness?”

“I’ve sinned a lot, especially ‘cussing’ and lying, and even ridiculing my sister when she goes to church,” he replied.

“Do you believe Jesus died for your sins?” Swinson asked.

“Oh, yes!” He answered.

“Are you willing to turn away from your sins and trust Jesus to come into your heart and give you a new life?” he asked him.

When John nodded, he instructed him, “Just pray and tell him that you’re sorry for your sins and you want to trust Him to forgive you and save you.”

He bowed his head and closed his eyes, “Lord, I’m sorry I’ve used your name in vain and done so many other bad things; Jesus, I thank you for dying for me on the cross; forgive me, and make me a new person like my friends.”

He opened his eyes, wiped the tears off his face with a shirt sleeve, and broke into a big smile. John sat speechless for a while and then said quietly, “I feel better.”

We all gathered around him expressing how happy we were to help him become a fellow Christian.

Burney said, “I know you’re going to make a great follower of Christ because everything you do is with all your strength!”

Warner added, “I’m glad you could see how much fun we have.”

We talked for another hour or two, sharing scriptures which meant a lot to us in learning to live the Christian life. Swinson showed him Matthew 10:32 in his Bible, “Whoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my father which is in heaven.”

John asked, “Do I go forward in church and tell the pastor I’ve trusted Jesus as my savior to confess him?”

“That’s right,” Swinson replied. Then he showed him Acts 2:41 which says, “They that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.”

Before we left the Kimbroughs, I asked John, “Would you like for me to stop by and take you with me early in the morning to check the hooks and take off any fish we caught during the night?”

“Sure,” he said.

“OK, I’ll be there soon after daylight,” I promised him.

When we got to the river and started checking each of the makeshift fishing poles to see if we had any fish, John stepped in a place that did not look muddy but his shoe sank deeply into the mud; he reacted, “God...I didn’t mean that.”

Later as he removed a catfish from a hook, his fin stuck into his hand, and he cried out, “Damn!...I mean...that hurt!”

By the end of his first day back at school, his friends had noticed the difference in his language. One of them asked, “What’s happening to you, John; have you reformed or something?”

“No,” he replied; “I invited Jesus Christ into my life at my friends’ house. He doesn’t want me to cuss like I used to.”

On Sunday he joined his sister in going to church, where he went forward and confessed his newfound faith in Jesus. He told the pastor, “I used to make

fun of my sister for going to church, but this week I invited Christ into my life; He has changed me, and I want to be baptized.”

The church people welcomed him with big hugs and, “we’re so glad you came to Christ!” and “We’ll be praying for you.”

John became a regular participant in our group of excited Christian boys.

After I left the area, I lost touch with him, but I know he continued to follow Christ. Years later he even sent a check to the Northside Church to pay for a much-needed sign. He had noticed how badly they needed a new sign when he visited back in Troy.

THE LOS ANGELES CAMPAIGN OF BILLY GRAHAM MADE HEADLINES IN TROY1 I listened to Billy Graham preach on mother’s kitchen radio any time it was publicized that he would be on.

There was a great attendance and response to the Gospel in the first two weeks of the Los Angeles Campaign. The 30-year-old Billy Graham wrote his friends. “We are having by far the largest evangelistic campaign of our entire ministry!”

He and the campaign leaders prayed and struggled about whether to continue the campaign longer. They left it up to him and his final decision was as follows: “I want a short extension and wait to see if God does some amazing thing, showing we should continue.”

THEIR ANSWER CAME WHEN STUART HAMBLEN WAS CONVERTED He was a famous singing cowboy and a legend on the West Coast. One night at the crusade, Graham pointed his long finger into the audience and said, “There’s a person here tonight that’s a phony.”

Hamblen jumped up and walked out from the deep conviction that this accusation applied to him.

Days later, coming home in the middle of the night, he woke up his wife, Suzie, and told her, “Get down on your knees and pray for me; I’m miserable!”

She did, but he got no relief. So, at 2:00 a.m., Hamblen called Billy Graham and told him, “I need to come to your room so you can pray for me.”

When he got there, he roared, “I want you to pray for me!”

Graham replied, “If you’re not going to go all the way and let Jesus Christ

be actual Lord of every area of your life, there’s no use in asking me to pray for you because we’re both wasting our time.”

At about 5:00 a.m., Hamblen promised those gathered around him in Graham’s room, “I will give up every mean and wicked thing in my heart.”

He shared in his testimony later, “Billy prayed, Grady Wilson prayed, my wife Suzie, prayed and I prayed…I felt I was kneeling at the feet of my Jesus.

‘Lord,’ I prayed, ‘you’re hearing a new voice this morning!’”

That day he announced to his radio audience that he had given his life to Christ.

“I’ve quit smoking, and I’ve stopped drinking; at the end of Billy’s invitation tonight I’m going to hit the sawdust trail.”2 The sensation was enormous; hundreds of newcomers flooded the tent. That night reporters and photographers flooded the building, creating quite a distraction; newspapers blared vendor headlines. The campaign was continued for a week because of God answering their prayers for a sign.

In our own Troy, Alabama, Stuart Hamblen’s conversion made headlines.

Newspapers reported the thousands of people attending the Los Angeles Campaign and changed lives of the hundreds who came to Christ.

We teenaged Christians eagerly read each day’s paper, amazed at what God was doing. This news SET US ON FIRE to witness and to trust God to do here what we read that He was doing there!

A week later they asked for another sign. Jim Vaus, notorious wiretapper for Mickey Cohen, called “czar of the Los Angeles underworld,” came forward at the invitation.

His prayer with his counselor: “Lord I believe this time from the bottom of my heart… It’s going to be almost impossible to straighten out this bewildered, tangled life of mine, but if You’ll straighten it out, I’ll turn it over to You, all of it!”

The news flashed across America: “WIRETAPPER VAUS HITS SAWDUST TRAIL!” The campaign became the topic of all of Los Angeles. Consequently, alcoholics, prostitutes, and broken human beings of all kinds came to ask for personal workers to come to them outside the tent because they were afraid to go inside.

On the seventh and final Sunday of the crusade the tent was filled by midday for a 2:30 p.m. service, and the street was blocked by those unable to get inside the tent!

The next day Ruth and Billy Graham took a train for Minneapolis. They were treated as celebrities. In Kansas City, reporters with photographers boarded the train, hoping to interview Billy Graham.

“The Grahams realized that Billy had been catapulted into fame. They were bewildered, frightened lest they fail their Lord in these new opportunities, uncertain whether this was a climax or a beginning, yet tremendously encouraged.”

“I feel so undeserving of all the Spirit has done,” Graham wrote later. “The work has been God’s and not man’s; I want no credit or glory. I want the Lord Jesus to have it all.” [See Appendix] TROY NEEDS REVIVAL! TWO WEEKS OF SERVICES AT THE ROCK BUILDING After reading the newspaper reports of the spiritual awakening in Los Angeles with Billy Graham preaching for seven weeks in December 1949, we Northside youth wondered if something like that could ever happen in Troy, Alabama. Throughout 1950 we prayed occasionally about the need for citywide revival in the churches. We also continued to follow the newspaper accounts of the great crowds attending crusades to hear Billy Graham.

We read with delight the newspaper reports of the 30,000 attending the closing rally of the Columbia, South Carolina Crusade. Six weeks later at least 25,000 attended the Boston Peace Rally, concluding a crusade with thousands coming to Christ.

By the end of 1950, we were convinced: “Troy needs a citywide revival!”

So, we went and talked with Brother Bowman, our pastor. He said, “I’ll help you, but you need the support of other Troy pastors.”

Burney, Warner, and I went and talked with at least three or four of Troy’s pastors of the largest churches. We were disappointed, because in spite of their saying, “I know we need a real revival in Troy,” each one ended the conversation with this: “I can’t help you promote it right now.”

Finally, at our pastor’s suggestion, we went and talked with E. J. Isdell, the associational missionary for the Salem Troy Association. He worked with all the Baptist Churches in the county. When we met with Brother Isdell and told him the vision we felt God had given us for a citywide revival, he said, “Sure, I’ll help you.”

Then he suggested, “You’ll need to find a building with a large auditorium to hold several hundred people.”

After our discussion of several sites, we agreed that perhaps the auditorium of the Rock Building in downtown Troy would be a good place.

Then he asked, “Who is going to be the preacher?”

“We would like to do the preaching,” we answered.

He replied, “You fellas are probably good preachers, but you’re pretty unknown except at Northside, your home church. If we get a local pastor to preach, this would increase attendance and give broader publicity.”

“What about Swinson Kimbrough, the pastor at Enon? He’s preached in revivals in some of the country churches,” I asked.

He replied, “You boys can talk with him.”

We agreed.

“I’ll check on the availability of the Rock Building,” he offered. “I’ll let you know if it’s available; then you can go by and look at it. Also, find out which two weeks it’s available. But especially talk with Swinson to see what weeks he would be available to preach if God leads him to do so.”

When we talked with Swinson, he agreed, “I’ll preach in the main services when it’s available if you fellows will conduct a youth meeting an hour earlier.”

“That sounds good to us,” I answered.

So, the next day we looked at the Rock Building and set up two weeks for night meetings, six weeks away. Then we went back and talked with Brother Isdell again to finalize all our plans.

We got flyers printed, which read, “TROY CITYWIDE REVIVAL!” and included the Rock Building with the times and the dates of the meetings. Delivering a batch to the churches, we asked the pastors and other church leaders, “Will you plead with your people to pray that God will revive our hearts in Troy?”

We spent time praying together and distributing flyers door-to-door for the month before the meetings began.

When the first night service was held, we had a little over one hundred in attendance, which was disappointing to us. But we stayed to pray afterward and asked God to work in a great way. Those who came were mainly from Northside and Enon churches, with a sprinkling of people from other churches who had heard Swinson or knew us. The attendance stayed pretty much the same each night, except an occasional night when Northside or Enon pastors urged their people to help bring a bigger crowd. Our largest attendance during the services was when the Baptist Children’s Home brought their children and youth. They swelled our attendance to over four hundred on that night.

The greatest disappointment for us was that only two or three people came forward to confess their faith in Christ. Several others came to rededicate their lives to Him. At the time, we were disappointed in the attendance at the citywide revival, but felt this simply confirmed how desperately the churches and Troy needed

real revival. In our view, most of the pastors were unconcerned about a spiritual awakening happening in our city.

However, after studying revivals in college and seminary, it dawned on me that we had not had the weeks and months of prayer by the people of Troy for God to work in their hearts and lives to bring a deep-seated revival. This was a case of our zeal running ahead of our knowledge.

We wanted God to work, but depended on our feelings and work, rather than enlisting others to pray and to lead all the necessary preparations. Although we did not know it at the time, probably the greatest benefit was to us and learning that God works on HIS schedule and not ours.

A WEEK AT BIBLE MEMORY CAMP AND OTHER REWARDS: MEMORIZING 20 VERSES A WEEK FOR 12 WEEKS In 1950, some of the ladies at Northside came to our youth class to invite us to participate in Bible memorization. They said, “you can earn a week at camp and other rewards by memorizing 20 versus a week for 12 weeks next spring.

They told us, “beautiful Winnataska Camp is nestled in the mountains north of Birmingham.” They described how the BMA memorizing worked: in the spring, we would receive a new booklet each year. The scriptures will be printed for 12 weeks under the theme for each week. Women of the church will be our ‘hearers’. At the end of each week, we will go to the house of our ‘hearer’ and recite our 20 verses.

Within a few days, after we recite our verses for the week, we will receive a reward for that week. This will be a book about a missionary, a biography of a famous Christian or perhaps a bible game. At the end of the 12 weeks, we will each receive a free Scofield Reference Bible. When summer comes, we will have a free week at camp; our parents will have to take us there and return for us after the camp is over.

Several of us got excited about participating in this Bible memorization and the rewards we would get. Burney Enzor, my sister, Jane, Warner, and Wayne Floyd and I (perhaps others) asked to be enrolled. No doubt, some people, maybe even lukewarm Christians, must have said or at least thought, “Those young people are crazy to try something like this.” And, “I doubt any will ever finish memorizing 20 verses a week for 12 weeks! That’s learning 240 bible verses.”

Early in 1951, we started our 12 weeks of memorizing scripture and reciting it to our hearers. This strengthened and encouraged me in following Christ. I don’t know anything that has meant more to me in my Christian walk.

Some of the early Scriptures we learned were John 1:1–18, 32–34; 3:1–20; 4:7–26; 5:5–24; 6:27–40; 7:31–39; 8:25–36; 10:1–18, 27–30.

After each week’s verses were recited, we received a book through the mail.

One of the first ones was a devotional book by Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ.

Others which I have kept and read occasionally include Daily Strength for Daily Needs, Christians You Would Like to Know, by Dorothy Haskin, Not Now but Afterwards, messages by James McKinley and For All Eternity, an exposition of I Corinthians 3:8–15 by Dr. N. A. Woychuk.

Attendance that summer at Camp Winnataska proved to be an experience that shaped me for the rest of my life. We were awakened each morning by a soloist’s voice broadcast through an amplification system heard throughout the camp. His melodic words, such as: “Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness! Morning by morning, new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided–Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!”4 All of us in the cabins, either for boys or for girls, dressed and climbed up the steep hill to the open-air chapel for Morning Watch. The first day we always started with the song written by Dr. Woychuk, the President of BMA: “Miracle Camp, we gather here again, Miracle Camp, the place that God did plan; through many years his wisdom did design this lovely place for fellowship divine.”

Third verse: “Miracle Camp, this is our holy ground, Miracle Camp, where heavenly life is found, thru’ Jesus Christ, who saves and satisfies and leads us on to willing sacrifice.”

We sang many well-known choruses like, Every Day with Jesus and Altogether Lovely and He is Lord; also, a large number of new choruses and worship hymns. Some of our favorites were How Great Thou Art, When I Survey, Beyond the Sunset, No, Never Alone, Take Time to be Holy, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, It Took a Miracle and God Hath Not Promised.

Dr. Woychuk himself led the Morning Watch time except when he enlisted other leaders to bring a short devotional.

We then went down to a big casual breakfast, after which it was time for us to clean up our cabins and finish getting ready for the day.

At 10 a.m. we each went to his own small group, which met at assigned places on the campsite. This involved studying some of the Scriptures which we had memorized. Our teachers called on different ones of us to recite them; then we looked them up in our Bibles and participated in an interactive study. This helped us to understand the Scripture because, at that time, the only translation we had was the King James Version.

Morning worship was at 11 a.m. After singing two or three hymns, we heard a testimony of how God had helped those sharing to sustain their walk with Him; then a biblical message and in-depth exposition of scripture related to our studies.

After our main meal at noon, we all retired to our cabins for a time of rest, while our counselors dealt with any issues which they felt needed to be addressed.

Most of the afternoon was given to recreation, some organized running games between cabin teams and others where we were allowed to participate in whatever we wanted to or just to watch others compete.

There was time before the light supper for us to visit with friends, walk the trails or go to the mountain outlook, which gave a beautiful view of the entire mountainous area. This was a favorite place and time for me to enjoy meditating on God’s greatness and on what He was saying to me through our worship and studies that day.

Evening worship included two or three well-known hymns, sometimes a testimonial to what God was doing in someone’s life and a profoundly biblical message. The preacher spoke passionately, explaining foundational scriptures, which pointed us to how we could overcome hindrances and live as He wanted us to live daily.

Retiring to our cabins, we were led by our counselor in sharing prayer requests and praying for each other before retiring, tired, and ready for a good night of sleep.

Some of the lasting results of my taking part in the BMA memorization and camps are: • A deepened walk with Christ • 1000 VERSES of scriptures, KJV, memorized in 5 years (19511955).

• Many of these can still be recalled, meditated upon or quoted in preaching or teaching.

• Growing my appreciation for spiritual worship.

• Many worship songs I’ve retained for my private and public worship times.

• God used my experiences in memorizing scripture and worship at the BMA camp to help prepare me for a lifetime of ministry and service.

Looking back, it’s evident that BMA was one of God’s divine interventions to prepare some of His servants for the work He had for us to do.

◆◆◆ ________________________________ 1. Crusades, The Los Angeles’ Campaign, by John Pollock, Minneapolis, MN, 1966, pages 59–70 2. Ibid, Crusades, pages 62–63

6 AFTER I CHOPPED OFF MY FINGERTIP: “I’LL PREACH, LORD!”

F

rom the time they came to Christ, Swinson Kimbrough and his wife, Virgie, had taught the Bible in Sunday School, led classes in Discipleship Training (previously Training Union) and participated in all the church’s activities. He soon became the director of the BTU. Brother Bowman even asked him to ‘fill the pulpit’ occasionally in his absence.

SWINSON TOLD THE PEOPLE OF NORTHSIDE, “GOD HAS CALLED ME TO PREACH!” This was in early 1950, not more than two years after his conversion. When he talked with Brother Bowman, he recommended to the church that they issue him a ‘License to Preach.’ When the church took this action, it soon became known by the churches of the Salem-Troy Baptist Association. It seems likely that Pastor Search Committee chairmen of churches without pastors told their members, “This 26-year-old has lived here all his life, got saved at Northside and been trained by Brother Bowman, who has led that church to grow steadily.

He should become a good pastor.”

Churches immediately began to invite him to come, and ‘supply preach.’

That Summer, two ‘halftime’ churches, Enon and Shiloh, in adjoining Communities, extended ‘a call’ to him to be their pastor. Within two years the Enon Church became the first rural church in the Association to have services every Sunday.

Fast forward: He stayed as pastor there for five years, during which time the church baptized 95 new members, grew from 52 enrolled in Sunday School (Bible Study) to 178 and Vacation Bible School from 54 to 124.1

He and Virgie later moved to a church in Butler County where he eventually became the leader, as Director of Missions for the Butler County Baptist Association. As an avid reader, ‘self-educated’ student and spiritual leader in a day when the internet and its resources were not in existence, God used him and Virgie to extend His Kingdom in many places and ways. It all began when a humble pastor, F. R. Bowman of Northside, gave him opportunities to serve, even though he was a new follower of Christ.

BECOMING CHURCH TRAINING DIRECTOR AND ASSOCIATIONAL BTU LEADER After Swinson left Northside to become a pastor, the church asked me, “Will you replace him as director of Baptist Training Union (later name, Discipleship Training)?” “Are you sure the church wants me to lead BTU since I’m so young?” I asked. The pastor replied, “we know how God has changed you and used you to bring in others.” I accepted the job. It helped me learn to publicly speak when it required me to give a devotional each week at the opening assembly of all members. I challenged my friends and other members, “Let’s increase our attendance for our evening growth study as well as the evening worship service.”

We grew some in BTU attendance, I think because more youth came. The new youth also brought some of their family members to BTU. As a result, Associational leaders asked me, “Will you become our BTU leader?” “Yes,” I replied, “If you think people will accept a 16-year-old to encourage churches to provide more training for Christians. I’ll challenge them to grow and to increase their concern for sharing the gospel with others.” “We really need that to happen in the churches,” they agreed.

Miss Phillips, the Director of Missions for the Association, invited me to “visit key church leaders and churches with me to encourage them and their Baptist Training Union leaders.” This humbled me to say to the Father, “I thank you for opening this door for me as well as the opportunity to meet more pastors.” I thought, “It will be good to hear their stories of how God called them and placed them in the churches where they are serving.”

When I asked BTU leaders and pastors, “may I share how many members at Northside began to share their faith after the church provided soul-winning training?” Often pastors responded, “Yes, but did those trained actually bring others to Jesus and the church?” “Yes,” I replied, “allow me to share an example or two.” They were ‘all ears.’ Driving home, I expressed my gratitude to God,

“Lord, I’m amazed at Your giving me these times when I share, even with pastors, what You have told all us Christians to do!”

BURNEY ENZOR SAID, “LET’S PRACTICE PREACHING TO EACH OTHER” Even before any others of us felt God’s call to preach, four or five of us loved to hear evangelistic preachers. If a revival were held in any of the nearby Baptist churches, we would go to the services. Usually, the preacher would proclaim the Gospel passionately, pleading for people to come to Christ.

Occasionally we got disappointed. For example, after Ray Forman, the young pastor of Glenwood Baptist Church, 15 miles South of Troy, preached in our revival at Northside. His messages were delivered dramatically and fervently. Several people professed Christ as their Savior.

A couple of weeks after the revival, we decided to visit his church one Sunday night. What a disappointment—few people were there, and his message was not delivered with the level of excitement we expected. We did not understand why at the time, but later learned that when a church prays for weeks for God to work and gathers a large crowd, it makes a big difference in how a pastor preaches and in what results in the lives of those present.

Although Burney was younger than some of us, including Warner and me, he felt God was calling him to preach before any of us, including Swinson. So, we were not surprised when he suggested to us, “let’s start ‘practice preaching’ to each other every week. The fact that we thought that would be fun indicates that several of us thought God might eventually call us to preach.

We named our group of half a dozen boys the Preparatory Servants, selecting as our purpose statement II Timothy 2:15 (KJV), “Study to show thyself approved unto God, I workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightfully dividing the word of truth.”

A different boy preached each Thursday night in a small classroom at our church. Each one proclaimed loudly what God’s word said and meant to him. I don’t remember any of those messages, but I do remember the enthusiasm and joy at our preaching to and hearing from others. No doubt God himself was mercifully preparing a naïve but committed group of boys for his work. We were from ‘across the tracks,’ and yet He had work to be done by us across the country and world. His plans amaze and delight me.

ON NOVEMBER 5, 1950, BILLY GRAHAM’S ‘HOUR OF DECISION’ WAS AIRED I listened to it from the first broadcast on the radio. What I did not know was that only a series of miracles brought Billy Graham’s program on the air [See Appendix]. It was broadcast on Sunday afternoon. While the rest of my family went to take naps, I closed the three doors to the kitchen and turned to the program. Then I lay down on the floor with the radio nearby, not wanting to miss a word.

Billy Graham’s sermon on the half-hour broadcast, the Hour of Decision, was the highlight of each week for me as a new Christian. During the week, friends and I discussed it and shared it as a witness to others. It kept me on fire to spread the Gospel. Almost a year after the program’s beginning, God called me to preach the gospel. He had used the Hour of Decision to help prepare me for his call to preach. It continued to be a great encourager for my ministry and life as a Christian for many years to come.

A few months after Swinson left Northside, he came back to preach one Sunday.

After that evening service, we youth gathered around him outside. “Are the people at your church receptive to your preaching?” we asked. “Yes,” he said; “in fact, some absentee members have come back and a few visitors.” Another question was; “Do the people welcome you when you visit and their homes?”

“Most of the time they do,” he said.

“A Church family invites us home for dinner every Sunday, and it allows me to talk with them about their relationship with Christ. When I visit in their homes, the people welcome me, although some might be out in the field working. If they are, I go out and talk with them there. I’ve had several opportunities to share the gospel.”

The next question: “Is it hard to prepare three sermons every week?” “Yes,” he said, but once I start studying and praying about what God wants me to preach, it’s pretty easy to get it all together. I just have to spend a lot more time studying, and, of course, that’s a blessing.”

One of us asked him, “how did you know God was calling you to preach?”

“Well,” he said, “I became concerned about, ‘what do I want my life to amount to?’ “Not,” I thought, “to be a maintenance worker at the high school. As I searched the Bible about how to find His will and prayed for his leadership, I began to think that perhaps he wanted me to preach the Gospel. Hearing other messages inspired me, but often I thought of better ways to present the Bible message than those I heard from others.

After a month or two of thinking and praying with Virgie, I said to the Lord, ‘Father, you prayed for your children to walk with you and to share your message. I want to do that. If you want me to preach the gospel, just show me in ways I can understand.’

From then on, it seemed every time I heard a sermon or heard the Bible taught, God would say in my heart, ‘YOU could do THAT; why haven’t you volunteered?’ After a while, I was so burdened about it. I went and talked with Brother Bowman. He asked me several questions: first, “do you have a growing conviction that God is speaking to you about preaching?” “Yes,” I said, “I can’t get it out of my mind. Brother Bowman’s comment was, “That’s the spirit of God.” Another question: “Are you willing to sacrifice time and even money to preach the gospel?” He explained, “many pastors have to continue to work at their jobs because small churches can’t pay them enough for their family to live. Are you willing to make that kind of sacrifice?” “Yes,” Swinson said, “and I’ve even talked with Vergi about it, and she will help me in whatever way needed.”

“How do you feel,” the pastor asked, “when you give the opening devotional for BTU or teach in Sunday school?” “That’s the best feeling I ever have!”

Swinson replied; “and when I speak about Jesus to lead people to trust Him.” Brother Bowman prayed for me and asked the Spirit of God to give assurance in my heart that this was His will.”

“Then I laid my life out before God, saying, ‘Lord, I’m your servant, and I’ll do whatever you want me to do and go wherever You want me to go…’ By that time, I was overcome with emotion and finally just said, ‘Amen!’ Brother Bowman embraced me and said, “God is going to use you in a great way!”

“Virgi and I talked that afternoon, and I told her about our conversation and prayer together. ‘Swinson,’ she said, ‘If this is what God wants you to do, I’ll help you in whatever way is necessary.’ I felt peace in my heart that God wanted me to preach the gospel. So, I told the pastor, and he brought it up for the church to license me to preach. I’ve never doubted his call since that time.”

AFTER LOSING A FINGERTIP: “I’LL PREACH, LORD!” When Swinson shared about his call while we stood there in the churchyard, I felt all the other boys were looking at me. I could not get away from the impression that God was talking to me also about preaching the gospel. I slipped away to get home, trying to avoid questions others might ask me.

At home, I read some of the scriptures about the call of God and went on to the bed. But with all this on my mind, sleep was slow coming. Waking up tired the next morning, I went on to work, but not very productively.

My mind kept replaying Brother Bowman’s questions to Swinson, especially the one about how I feel after giving a devotional or leading someone to accept Christ. Regardless, I was not able to get out of my heart the conviction that God wanted me to preach His Word. I kept telling myself, “I’m willing if I know He is calling me,” but did nothing to confirm it by talking with our pastor or my friends.

GOD USED AN ACCIDENT IN MY WORK AT WILKERSON’S GROCERY TO BRING ME TO A COMMITMENT I had gone home for lunch, and after eating a good meal mother had fixed at lunch, I sat down in a comfortable chair to rest for a few minutes. But there, on a small table by the chair, were a couple of booklets of sermons mother had received through the mail from a Pentecostal evangelist. I picked one up and glanced through the chapters, finally coming to one where this evangelist described how Satan tempted him to quit preaching. The story was intriguing—he was a young man who had miraculously raised enough money to buy a tent, chairs, and other equipment for having revival meetings. All these things were burned up in a fire that started in his truck. As he tried to pull the tent and equipment off the vehicle, it exploded and demolished everything.

Stranded on a remote mountain, with the cold wind howling, he cried out to God, “Why, Lord, would you let this happen?” “Satan was trying to convince me to give up the ministry.” ‘It’s just not worth it,’ he caused me to think.2 But after a cold night, his hand touched the old guitar. Then he began to sing, and suddenly, God came to his rescue. A glow covered him. The light of the sun broke through, and this tired young preacher felt it as healing light. Soon his dad arrived to help him find a way to continue his ministry.

My mother’s voice interrupted my thoughts, “son, isn’t it time for you to get back to work?” Looking at the clock, I saw she was right; I was late and jumped out of the chair to rush back to work. On my way back to work, my mind was running over what I had just read and what Swinson had told us about how he knew God was calling him to preach. It was apparent to me that my experiences during the last few weeks were similar to his.

As soon as I walked in the door, Mr. Wilkerson said, “get that pork loin out of the refrigerator and cut it up so it’ll be ready for this evening’s customers.”

That was usually a regular job. It merely meant using a sharp knife to cut the loin meat of each rib down to the prominent bone at the bottom; then with it laying on the block, taking the cleaver and chopping it off, then continue this process until you finished the whole loin. But when you got near the end, it was a little hard to hold it as you whacked it off. It required your giving careful attention to what you were doing. Instead, my mind was on a testimony I had read at lunchtime and whether God was calling me to preach.

When I chopped off the last pork chop, I felt the pain as the cleaver severed the end of my finger. “I’ll preach Lord!” I cried out immediately. This experience uncovered my feelings—convictions that God wanted me to preach. It sealed my call beyond any doubt in my mind.

After work, I rushed home to tell Burney, “God has called me to preach!” He paused for a minute and said, “I knew Wednesday night that He was speaking to you about that. You showed you were under conviction.”

When I told my mother about my call, she said, “Son, you need to do what God’s calling you to do, and I’ll always be praying for you.”

On Sunday, I caught Brother Bowman alone and said, “God has called me to preach!” He hugged me and said, “I’ve thought God was calling you for several months. Even your opening devotionals each Sunday night for training union showed God was working in your life.”

MY LICENSE TO PREACH: FIRST SERMON— GENESIS TO REVELATION IN TWELVE MINUTES Brother Bowman announced that morning to our congregation, “one of our young men, Clifford Matthews, feels God is calling him to preach. I’m asking him to share next Sunday night how he knows God is calling him. Then we’ll vote on whether to license him.”

That week seemed to fly by. My mind would jump from one Scripture to another, reading each one, but the feeling I should look up another one. I am not sure, but it seems that by Saturday night Paul’s call in Acts 9:1–8, 17–18 was the one to use. However, I continued looking up other passages on Sunday afternoon, which might be better.

In the end, my conversion and call to preach were the main things God wanted me to share. These I proclaimed passionately that night, departing from my text to quote various verses from the Bible.

That night I shared, “ever since Swinson announced God had called him to preach, I’ve been feeling God wanted me to preach also, but I’ve been afraid to

tell anybody. When he spoke last Sunday and talked with us boys after church, he said, “it was impossible for me to get out of my mind that God wanted him to preach.” “That’s exactly the way I felt,” I said, “but I have failed to tell anyone.

Thursday, God let me read a booklet where a man told how he once started to quit preaching, even though he knew God had called him.”

“I was convicted again that God was calling me, but failed again even to tell my mother, but just went on back to work. Cutting a pork loin into chops, I chopped off the end of my finger. Instantly I cried out to God, ‘I’ll preach, LORD!’ Pray for me.”

The pastor asked the church, “Do I hear a motion that we license Brother Clifford to preach?” One of the deacons spoke up, making the motion. Other members expressed their confidence that God would use me. The church approved the proposal unanimously. Looking at me, Brother Bowman said, “I want you to preach next Sunday night.” “Okay,” I said and began thinking of Scriptures I wanted to study.

“Clifford Matthews, whom we believe to have been called of God to the work of the GOSPEL MINISTRY…is licensed to preach…and to exercise his gifts in the work of the ministry by NSBC, F.R. Bowman.”

The next Sunday night, I preached my first sermon. My subject eludes me, but I do remember that I read or quoted Scriptures from many books of the Bible.

At the end of the service, Brother Bowman had me stand at the front so that people could come by and express their intention to pray for me. Many did more, saying, “that was a wonderful message,” “God is going to use you to do great things,” and “you’ll become a good preacher!” My mother said, “son, I’m proud of you for obeying God’s Call. I’ll be praying for you.”

After most people were gone, my friends stood around talking about the service.

Burney brought me back ‘down to earth’ by saying to me, “you only preached 12 minutes!” “It seemed longer than that to me,” I replied, while thinking to myself, “I’ll need to study more next time.”

LATER: I REMEMBERED MY GRANDMOTHER’S PRAYERS Years later, I remembered an experience with my grandmother Laura Matthews, when she lived in a little house across the road from us. As small boys, Mother let me and my friend walk with her to the end of New Street, where Mrs. John Lee lived.

We played around in the house while they caught up on the latest neighborhood news (and gossip?). It did not surprise me that they wore billowing dresses down to their ankles made from the cotton print cloth from our hog feed bags. Nor that they wore cotton stockings wherever they went held up by elastic bands to just below their knees.

My grandmother had told me she was going for a ‘prayer meeting,’ but I had no idea what that was. Until she called us back to where they were seated with, “You boys will need to stay here now and be quiet while we pray.”

They got down on their knees and began to pray, first for each family member and friend by name, then for leaders in our town and other officials they knew about, government leaders—the governor, the president, Vice President, and Congress. Then their church pastor and his wife, the deacons and all the members they knew. They pleaded for God to protect the young men being drafted who would fight in the War if America chose to join it. They remembered the missionaries and their families and asked that the heathens would be converted.

By then, I was wondering when they would ever finish. With my thinking about sneaking out and barely listening, my grandmother said, “Father, help even these young boys to become great servants of yours when they grow up.”

While knowing she had prayed for us, I did not have the slightest idea what she meant, assuming it was just another one of those things that adults say that doesn’t matter.

It was only after God called me to preach that the memory of that prayer came to mind. “Thank You, Lord, for answering my Grandmother’s prayer!

Help me to be faithful to preach Your Word,” I whispered.

ADVICE FROM A FELLOW NOVICE PREACHER After enjoying a big Sunday dinner, my mother cooked for our entire family, my mother and sisters were cleaning up and washing dishes. Jim Cumbie, my brother-in-law, and I began to talk. He had been a preacher of the Gospel for only two or three years and a pastor for almost that long.

It was years later when I thought about that the G. I. Bill, adopted by the Congress in 1944, paid his tuition to go to Troy State to become a teacher/pastor of small churches. Veterans since that time continue to benefit in many ways from it.

“Have you had many opportunities to preach since God called you?” he asked.

“Not nearly as many as I want,” I replied. “Do you have much difficulty preparing sermons? If so, would you be able to prepare two or three messages every week?”

“That would be hard,” I said. “What my problem is now is my sermons are so short.”

His suggestion: “You can get some excellent sermons—from messages in the Sword of the Lord magazine. Some of these are by pastors and preachers of our day while others are by famous preachers of the past, like D. L. Moody and Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Their sermons have helped me, and I’m sure they will help you.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll subscribe to it, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy all the sermons; maybe they will help me.” He continued, “but remember to not pay much attention to John R. Rice’s criticism of Southern Baptists and other Christian groups; he goes overboard. I don’t even read what the editor says.”

I subscribed to the Sword of the Lord and soon found out what he was talking about. Rice made very pointed, harsh comments about churches like Northside and others in our association. I simply read the excellent sermons by great men of God of the past, as well as those of our day.

I learned from experience that as I studied the Bible, God would lay a passage from the Scriptures on my heart; then I would try to outline it in a way that people would understand. Next, I had to think of examples I knew of people I have known or read about who lived out the meaning of God’s word. I found it was a joy to preach God’s word and to plead with people to follow Christ. Even more important, I learned from my personal Christian walk: It is even more important that CHRIST IS REAL and LIVING THROUGH ME. Otherwise, my preaching will be dry and lifeless.

Who introduced me to Vance Havner’s Devotional Books and Books of Sermons, I don’t remember.

God used his writings to touch me deeply in the early years of my ministry.

It was as if he was talking to me face to face. Years later, I heard him preach in person a couple of times and got to meet and thank him for boldly confronting us Christians with Christ’s demands. But my own spiritual vitality was refreshed then and is restored now when reading His rebukes to us believers and pleas for us to live in the power of Christ! [See Appendix] Some of his Bible-based challenges were so convicting to me that I often have shared similar messages, including my own experiences, with churches where I am preaching.

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1. Salem-Troy Baptist Associational Annuals, 1950–1955 2. Faith, Reverend J. Charles Jessup, publisher; J. Charles Jessup, 1949 3. Ibid, J. C. Jessup, March, 1949

7 PREPARING, PREACHING, AND PASTORING 1951–1955 | Ages 17–21

A

EXTRA TRAINING FOR A ZEALOUS BUT IGNORANT ‘PREACHER BOY’

fter my being licensed to preach in September 1951, I expected a church to call me as pastor soon. My friend, Swinson Kimbrough, had been called to be the pastor of two churches very soon after he was licensed by our church. Of course, I never considered the fact that he was 10 years older than me. Churches were not ready to accept as their pastor someone who was still a high school boy. I can add now; neither was I prepared to be a pastor.

It was a year of hard work and opportunities to share Christ, with plenty of difficulties. Every day began at 5:00 a.m., when I left home to deliver 125 Montgomery Advertisers on my 125 Harley to homes on Murphree, North Three Notch and adjoining streets. Even when I drove through their yards, nobody complained. I still needed the $5.00 a week that Mr. Herman Youngblood paid me.

At home, I quickly swallowed mother’s big breakfast of eggs, usually bacon or sausage, grits, and her whopper biscuits. Then to Troy High by 8:00 AM for the morning, including my class for Diversified Education on how to operate a grocery store. Eating at the school cafeteria was still the quickest and cheapest lunch.

By 1:00 p.m., I was at work at Wilkerson’s Grocery, the other part of D.E. study/work training. It was also where there was the greatest ‘open door’ to share my faith in Christ with those with whom I worked and all kinds of people who came to the store—From Seniors to high school students and hard-working laborers. Unfortunately, I missed many opportunities to witness because of my

own fear or uncertainty about HOW to introduce the subject of Christ to those who did not know Him. One night a week, I attended a Bible Survey college course through a local Howard College Extension Center. In the two years of these studies, we did a thorough Bible survey study of all the Old Testament and New Testament books, taught by local seminary-trained pastors. This required intensive study of Biblical Backgrounds textbooks and reading through much of the Old and New Testaments during our home study.

I also continued to lead the Baptist Training Union (BTU) at Northside, giving a devotional every Sunday evening before the studies. As well as visiting more pastors and churches, encouraging them to begin BTU in their churches.

Burney, Warner, other Christian boys and I continued to pray for and spend some of our time with lost boys, looking for chances to share Christ or to take them to church. Years later, Burney liked to remind me, or at least claimed, I sometimes knocked on his window at 2 AM and said, “Get up; it’s time to pray!”

Those times when WE DID get up in the middle of the quiet nights TO PRAY FOR OUR FRIENDS TO COME TO CHRIST AND FOR GOD TO REVIVE THE CHURCH, are times that still remain in my memory as blessed times.

TEENAGE ‘PREACHER BOYS’ PREACHED TO THOUSANDS ON GOOD NEWS RADIO On Sundays, after my newspaper deliveries, I rushed to WTBF to help or ‘preach’ a 10 to 12-minute message on the Good News Program. The 30-minute program was begun by men of Northside’s Baptist Brotherhood to prepare for and publicize a revival during (I think) the Summer of 1951. The church paid to have the program on the air every Sunday for a month or two. They asked us, “would you ‘preacher boys’ like to speak some of that time?” “Of course,” we responded. It excited us 15 to 17-year-olds that WE could ‘preach’ Christ to thousands of people.

Consequently, when their funding ran out, we jumped at the opportunity to continue the program, giving us the chance to preach the Gospel on radio EVERY Sunday. I know Burney, Warner and I took turns preaching and probably others, at least part of the time. However, after paying the bill for just a couple of months, our small incomes were exhausted. So, we had an impromptu meeting, and I asked, “do you fellows think God wants this program to continue even though we don’t make enough money to pay for it?” “Yes,” we all agreed.

Burney said, “Let’s ask God to show us how to come up with the money to pay for continuing to preach the Gospel on the radio. After all, Jesus told us, ‘Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” (KJV). We agreed, and each of us prayed out loud. I think mine was something like this: “Lord, we believe you want us to continue to preach the Gospel on radio, but you know WE DON’T HAVE THE MONEY. So, we’re asking YOU to show us where and how to get the money needed.”

Burney opened his eyes and said, “Let’s ask some of the men at our church to help us pay for it for the broadcast for a month or two.” Warner asked, “Reckon some of the Christian businessmen in town would help us?”

We ended up getting several Northside men to help us temporarily and decided to offer some businessmen the chance to sponsor the program, including brief advertisements each week. A different one became our sponsor each week.

The program continued indefinitely, even after we moved from the area. My daddy, I.N. Matthews, who was called to preach and ordained in 1954, joined our schedule of speakers and continued preaching on the radio as well as enlisting others until after his retirement in 1975. God answered the prayers of three unlearned but believing teenage preachers FAR BEYOND ANYTHING WE COULD HAVE DREAMED! PREACHING THE GOSPEL? OR REBUKING ‘WORLDLY’ CHURCH MEMBERS? There was a rare opportunity for me to preach in a small church in our county. The few people present—10 to 20—was disappointing to me. They, however, were probably disappointed in the preacher boy they had speaking.

I DO REMEMBER some of my earliest sermon topics. The title for one came from my hearing, Billy Graham preach on, “Can America Stand?” That’s all I remember about it. Another message was based on Ephesians 5:11, which said, “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” I faintly remember rebuking Christians who danced, drank or cursed.

Unfortunately, I ignored many other teachings in this chapter, which urge us to show the love of Christ to others and to avoid covetousness and idolatry.

When I described my sermon to Brother Bowman, he counseled me, “that’s the way to preach if you DON’T WANT a church to call you!” It was much later before I realized church leaders want a pastor who “preaches the GOSPEL OF CHRIST”, NOT one who just “harps” on how bad people are.

I don’t remember it if any church called me back to preach again. However, I enjoyed the many activities and ministries we were busy at Northside, as well as finishing high school as a senior.

TROY STATE COLLEGE (NOW TROY UNIVERSITY) FACING LIFE AS IT IS; BAPTIST STUDENT UNION HELPED. Being discipled by a wise, Spirit-led, and adequately-educated pastor—F. R, Bowman, gave me a far better start than most men beginning their ministry in that day. For my early teen years, he was always there helping me come to Christ, to be saved, and to obey God in His call for me to preach. Working at Wilkerson’s Grocery exposed me to all kinds of people, as well as the demands and joys of working with and for people in the ‘rough and tumble’ business world. Experiencing God’s call in a loving church, being Licensed to preach by them and ‘supply preaching’ when I had opportunities brought me many blessings.

But entering Troy State as a student in June 1952, revealed to me a totally new world, where greed, rejection of Jesus, and self-centered living dominated.

At first, my desire to escape to my safe haven of Christian friends and church was tempting. But after praying about it, God impressed me, “who is going to stand up for the truth and tell them of Jesus’s love if YOU don’t?” By prayerful dependence on God’s strength, I resolved to speak up for Christ, even when professors ridiculed my ideas.

It was comfortable living at home, only a mile from the back of the campus through a short cut from our house. Consequently, the ride on my 125 Harley to the back entrance of the classroom building brought me to where I could park it, enter the classroom building, and step down the hallway to my class.

TSC PROFESSORS: LECTURES, LIES, AND DEBATES My plan for college was to get through as soon as possible and eventually graduate so that I could REALLY ‘preach.’ I wanted to complete college at the lowest cost while continuing to serve as Pastor of two parttime churches.

Troy State College (TSC) was easy for me to go to, and the costs were very minimal. Unlike today, I could use my meager income from part-time grocery store work and pastoring small churches, that usually paid only $20 or $25 a week, to pay my own way through college. To do this, I attended Troy State for three summers and one full year and completed Samford University after

two more years. There I had to find part-time jobs to supplement my church and revival income in the summers.

LECTURES: My first summer class was a history course, my chosen major, taught by Dr. Trapp. He was a good one to be my first professor because he was a pleasant man—middle-aged, tall, broad-shouldered with a good sense of humor in his lectures. I soon learned that it was necessary to take extensive notes in his classes because this is how he prepared the tests given frequently.

If he included a date or emphasized the historical importance of an event in his lectures, it was likely to appear on the next test.

To make a decent grade, Dr. Trapp only required us to read the text, take the right notes, and make decent grades on the tests. I would later say the course was natural, although, at the time, I assumed it was just ‘college as usual,’ even though it WAS HARDER than high school.

I must say that I had many excellent professors who stuck to their subject and helped us students learn by various methods of teaching. Overall, TSC was a valuable experience.

DR. KILPATRICK’S FRENCH CLASS WAS FUN AND EASY I was advised by the ‘educated’ pastors in my hometown to take a foreign language in college. They said it would be helpful if I ever studied Hebrew and Greek, which they also thought were important in teaching and preaching from the Bible. I reluctantly followed their advice, which showed that my acquaintance with foreign languages was nil.

Dr. Kilpatrick’s French course was more a ‘selling job’ on living in France, rather than one to help us learn the language. He genuinely enjoyed telling stories from his many years living in France, as well as French jokes. With my being such an excellent scholar, they usually ‘went over my head.’ He was a stout, red-faced man, including his long nose. As he finished up a favorite story on France, he would smile and make a wide-sweeping motion with the lower finger of his right hand.

To some of us students, it looked like the motion for a victory lap, as if he were saying, “see, France is the superior place to live!”. The extent of my learning French was a few greetings, such as “Bonjour, madam.”

And “Oui, monsieur.”

“WHY DO YOU SAY, ‘IT TOOK MILLIONS OF YEARS FOR THE EARTH TO BECOME SUITABLE FOR HUMAN LIFE?’”

Some instructors at TSC were prejudiced against the Bible and Christians who believed it, especially if they were Freshmen. I’ve not forgotten two encounters with them in my classes.

I asked the question above to a professor who liked to ‘harp on’ the scientific facts of evolution, which I considered a theory. From the beginning of the term, he would frequently wander off his subject to ridicule us freshman, whom HE apparently regarded as ignorant because many of us believed that what the Bible taught was true. It also seemed to me that he thought our lack of higher education meant we knew little.

“Geological evidence has proven beyond any doubt that it took natural processes billions or trillions of years for the ice cap to melt, and in the process, scrape out the valleys and oceans through very gradual erosion and melting of the ice.”

“There were even volcanoes and earthquakes which made the earth what it is today.” I replied, “I believe that God created the earth to be basically what it is today, although I know he could have taken years. The Bible also states that a worldwide flood caused many of the changes in the earth that we see today.”

The professor answered sarcastically, “Scientists put no credibility in the notion of such a worldwide flood that could change the earth so drastically.” Then he issued a challenge: “If you can show me evidence from one real scientist that such a flood occurred and could have caused the numerous changes on the earth, I will look at it. Otherwise, just credit this to the uneducated Bible-teaching churches attended by people who are so weak and scared, they trust a holy book as their only hope for their superstitious beliefs.”

Standing up in the class, I had to reply, “I don’t agree with you; I’m sure there are scientists who are Christians and believe the Bible is true”. “OK”, he replied, “just bring me their writings, and I’ll show you they have no credibility!”

So, I said to myself, “I’ve got to begin a search for scientists who profess to be Christians.” The Troy State College library had no help for me in this search. So, I contacted Dr. Claude T. Ammerman of Troy and Dr. Frank Lyons of Brundidge, two pastors with Ph.D. degrees. They ask me, “have you looked in a large Christian bookstore? “No”, I answered, “but that sounds like a good idea”. They suggested visiting the largest Baptist bookstore in Alabama, located in Birmingham.

Not having a car that was in a condition to drive to Birmingham, I got my dad to take me one Saturday afternoon. Even at the large bookstore, there was just a limited supply of books on scientific subjects. I found several refuting the theory of evolution. But I kept looking and eventually found one entitled, The Flood, written by a Christian geologist and university professor. He believed

and gave a mountain of evidence that the flood described in Genesis 6–8 was a very plausible reason for the momentous changes in the crust and genealogy of the earth.

He thought the “fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened (Genesis 7:11, NASB), were volcanoes, earthquakes and other unusual revolutions of nature caused by man’s sin. When I presented the book and its evidence in a class session, our teacher said, “I’ll take the book and look it over and bring it back to the next session.” If he ever referred to it in the classroom again, I don’t remember it. He did give me the book back with a comment, “It will take a lot more than one scientist to change the facts verified over many years by hundreds of highly qualified researchers!”

“I’VE NEVER FORGOTTEN YOUR DEBATE IN THE CLASS WITH THAT ATHEIST PROFESSOR!” —Classmate Margene Bass It was just a routine trip to Walmart for food to replenish our kitchen cabinets, perhaps in 2010 or earlier. “Clifford,” I heard and turned around to see who was calling me, “is that you?” It was Margene Bass, whom I had not seen in years, still smiling, even though seated in a wheelchair. She was the same short spunky lady with whom I graduated from Troy High School.

After we shared what had happened in our lives recently with each other a little, she surprised me by saying, “I will never forget your debate in our class with that atheist professor.” She refreshed my memory, “I think it was the last day of that class. Throughout the quarter, our instructor had clearly stated his atheistic views and criticized those who believed in God, especially us following Christ and the Bible.”

Almost like a final declaration to the class, he said something like this: “I hope some of you WAKE UP to a more informed view of life based on education and research. If you persist in following your Sunday School remembrances, you’ll never go anywhere in this advancing world. You may still trust your parent’s traditional faith or an antiquated Bible.”

“But, if you want to be successful, those beliefs will cause you to be left behind in this modern day. When you study the facts of physics, history, and even astronomy, you’ll see that different generations of people created their own gods to fit the age they lived in. Most of those gods have been discarded and so will whichever one your family worships today. You’ve got to learn enough to make it on your own.”

Let me tell you about this ‘debate’ as I remember it: The above declaration was all I could take. I prayed silently, “Lord, help me to stand for you.” Raising my hand, I stood up to say “the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ are some of the most historically verified facts of history. His disciples’ lives were changed by believing in and following Him and his teachings. Mine has also been changed by Him. When I realized HE LOVED ME enough to die for my sins, I trusted Him to forgive me and make me God’s child. He came into my life and changed me to live for him, stop being so selfish and do all I can to help others.”

The professor interrupted me to reply, “You may mean well, but everything you’ve said is subjective and not based on facts. People imagine their ‘god’ does all kinds of things for them, but many wake up later to learn from psychology why they had such a so-called ‘spiritual feeling.’ If you want to be a knowledgeable Freshman, you need to stop wasting your time seeking some kind of divine encounter, but catch up on what smart and educated people have learned about the world and man today. Then study the proven facts in your field so you can compete with others to get ahead.”

Answering his put down, I confidently shared “those who knew me before I came to Christ as a selfish, rebellious and mean teenager will verify that CHRIST has made me into a different kind of person. From my parents to my friends and employer, they never expected me to suddenly become positive, kind, and ready to help anyone in need. Christ was and is a real person and my personal Savior and friend.”

“He will give a fulfilling life to anyone who will follow him, including you. Jesus said, ‘come to me, all that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’”

“No, thanks,” he answered sharply. “I’ve learned through years of study how to look out for myself, and I don’t need any such crutch. Students, instead of trusting old, but unproven claims, from whatever faith others may believe in, trust yourself and your intellect to prepare for your life! In a world that requires advanced knowledge and skill, a good education, rather than worrying about the future, can prepare you for a great and prosperous future.”

I spoke up, “but trust in YOURSELF ALONE won’t help you endure the storms of life and be ready to face God at death.” He quickly countered, “You can believe whatever you choose, but I don’t believe any of that stuff. Instead of worrying about ‘someday’ when I’m dead and gone, I concentrate on living in the present, enjoying the pleasures of life and maybe helping an open-minded student to see how much he needs to learn.”

God gave me unusual boldness to say, “I’d lot rather be in my shoes than yours! If I’m right, I’ll enjoy walking with Christ daily, assisting struggling people, fellowshipping with loving Christians, and then going to be with Christ and all His followers when I die. Even if I’m wrong, I will enjoy life much better than if I had tried to make it on my own!”

Barely pausing for breath, I looked at him as I said, “If you’re wrong, you’ll live in uncertainty, have no help for the troubles of life and die without hope; then you’ll have to face the God you denied in judgment!”

“WHICH WILL BE THE BEST LIFE?” I concluded.

The bell for the class to end rang. Our professor said nothing but briskly walked out the door. Several students spoke to me: “thanks for standing up for the truth.” And, “if he never heard the gospel before, he heard it today.

Thank you.”

Walking to my car, I was turning over these things in my mind and wished I could have done better in presenting Christ versus the professor’s human logic. Getting in the car and sitting down, I was suddenly weak all over. I simply bowed my head and said, “Lord, I thank you for your Holy Spirit, giving me the words and power to stand up for Christ and Your Word. HOW GREAT YOU ARE, LORD!” FRANCIS SULLIVANT AT TSC WAS A GIFTED BAPTIST STUDENT DIRECTOR She was a spunky, short, redhead, who loved students and mission work. She took the time to listen to students who needed to talk with a dedicated Christian with experience in college life.

She also set up and administered Noon Day Meditation. This BSU luncheon offered a devotional speaker at noontime while we enjoyed a free meal. When she found out I was a ministerial student, she included me on the speaker’s list, allowing me to share a 10–15-minute devotional periodically. This made it easier for me to get to know the more committed Christians who attended because they would hang around after lunch to talk unless they had a class.

“IF YOU, LORD, WANT ME AT MOUNT MORIAH, LET THEM CALL ME TODAY!” I prayed that prayer in September 1952, shortly after my 18th birthday and after finishing my first summer quarter at Troy State. It was what is called a

‘fleece.’ I was asking God himself to work a miracle to reveal His will to this ignorant, frustrated, yet believing preacher boy.

Judges 6 tells us about Gideon, whom God had called to lead the Israelite army to fight a vast army of the Midianites and their allies. Humanly speaking, it was an impossible task.

WHY was I growing impatient to become a pastor?

It had been almost a year since I had been called and licensed to preach by my home church. Few churches had even asked me to ‘fill the pulpit’ when their pastor was away. The Mount Moriah church asked me to come ‘supply preach’ one Sunday in January. I enjoyed preaching to the 10 people present and even got invited home by the Mallets for Sunday dinner. That night I conducted another service for an even smaller group. Later they called me and asked, “Can you come back two weeks from now to fill in again?” I agreed.

They continued to call on me to preach on the first and third Sundays for two or three more months, with no questions about whether I was interested in being their pastor. That’s why I was growing impatient to know whether they wanted me as their pastor.

During my prayer time that morning, I prayed, “Lord, you know I’ve felt like I could serve this church, yet they haven’t even asked me about doing so. I want to get busy visiting people and witnessing to share the gospel, but I can’t do so if I’m not their pastor. So, let them call me today if you want me there!

I was asking for “a fleece,” asking God to give me a sign to verify His will.

This was based on what God did in response to Gideon’s prayer for a fleece.

Judges 6:36–40 ESV says: “Then Gideon said to God, ‘if you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel that my hand, as you have said.’ And it was so.”

“When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, ‘let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground, let there be dew.’ And God did so that night, and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.” Gideon asked for double proof that God would do what he felt helpless to do.

That morning during their Sunday school and worship service there were about 15 people present and the Mallet family invited me again for Sunday dinner. I stayed for a while and visited, but nothing was said about my becoming their pastor.

Going home, I usually completed preparing my message for that night. This time I had only one. The ONLY SCRIPTURE which came to my mind was Peter’s question to the Cornelius family, “Why did you send for me?” Acts 10:29 (ESV). Looking it up in Acts 10, it seemed to be a good text—IF THEY CALLED Me—for an acceptance message to the church. I talked with the Lord, “God You are the Almighty. If they don’t call me, You have some other place for me.” The Holy Spirit gave me peace.

Later that afternoon, I heard a knock on the front door and went to find a lady from the church. “Well, Clifford, we want you to become our pastor—The church voted to call you after our service this morning.” “Great,” I responded.

“I’ll accept your call and believe God will bring people to Christ as we share the Gospel with them.”

God was merciful to His discouraged servant. As the church member left, I closed the door, bowed my head, and said, “Lord, I thank You for answering my prayer.” Two years of God transforming lives at Mount Moriah lay ahead for this very blessed preacher of the Gospel! God is patient and opens doors for those disciples of His who want to proclaim, “JESUS IS LORD!” After about six months there, I was able to buy my first car, one rebuilt after an accident, by Foster Stephens, a close friend at Northside.

“THERE’S A HALFTIME CHURCH HERE THAT MAY CALL YOU AS PASTOR.”

Updated Photo and My First Car, a 1946 Chevrolet, Bought from Foster Stephens in 1953— It was unusual to receive a long distance call in 1952. My sister, Jane, called me to the phone, saying, “it’s from Jim Cumbie.” When he shared with me an invitation to come every other weekend and spend the night with them while serving as pastor of the Sweet Home Baptist church at nearby Shreves, I was

surprised. “But I don’t have a car,” I said, “and no other way I can get there.” He answered, “you can catch a bus in Troy and get here before noon on Saturday; then on Sunday night, I know that there’s a bus that goes to Montgomery and probably another one to Troy.”

“They would like to have you come to the church this Sunday for a trial sermon if you can get here,” he said. “OK, I’ll check the bus schedules and see if I can make it, but I have to be back in school the next morning at 8 o’clock,” I replied.

In my devotional time early the next morning, I prayed, “Lord, here’s another opportunity to preach the Word! it would be a privilege, so show me if You want me to go and, if so, how to work it out.”

The next morning, I stopped by the bus station and asked, “do you have a bus going from McKenzie on Sunday night to Troy?” After checking the schedules of buses coming to Troy on Sunday nights from Montgomery, he said, “there’s only one way you can do that. A bus leaves McKenzie at 9 PM on Sunday and arrives in Montgomery at 11 PM. Then you’ll have to wait at the Montgomery station until 5 AM, Monday when another bus leaves for Troy. It gets here at 6:15 AM.” As I stood there, it dawned on me that God was opening another door for me to preach the gospel. “Sir,” I asked, “how much are tickets for going to McKenzie on Saturday morning, returning to Montgomery Sunday night and to Troy Monday?” “The cost,” he said, “is four dollars.” I open my billfold and had only one five-dollar bill left. Giving him that, I was glad to hear him say, “OK, here are your tickets and dollar change; you’ll leave here Saturday morning at 8:00.”

That night I called my brother-in-law and told him, “I’ll get there Saturday morning before 10.” “OK,” he said, “I’ll pick you up at the bus station and take you out to Brother Rockefeller’s house in the Shreves community. He will either go with you or tell you where to start walking through the community to meet some of the people. He’ll also bring you to our house in time for supper.”

Sweet Home Church called me as a pastor, and I served them just one year, preaching, ministering and witnessing two weekends each month. However, that year was significant to me as a young pastor. The people took me into their homes, and if it was time to eat, they asked me to eat with them.

Each Sunday, one of the men like Deacon Alva would say, “Brother Clifford, we want you to go home with our family for dinner today if you can eat what little we have.” “I’m sure I will enjoy it,” was my reply. Like most of those who had a vehicle, Brother Alva only had a work truck, and he insisted, “YOU ride in the cab with me; the rest of our family will gladly ride in the back.” I obliged.

I told my brother-in-law, “I’ve never met more caring people who truly enjoy the preaching and teaching of God’s word.” The four deacons, Brothers Alva, James, Smith and Rockefeller, set the example for the small church. They worked their small acreages of land with mules and hand tools, tithed on their meager incomes and spoke boldly for their Lord wherever they were. They helped their young, inexperienced pastor with wisdom far beyond mine.

A few people in the community did not profess to know Christ. I think the deacons and I witnessed to most—God’s Spirit drew several to trust Him. When I asked Brother Rockefeller, “where will we baptize?” He replied, “In the pond back of my house.” I was glad it was not Winter.

I borrowed some old shoes to wade out to the waist-deep water, even though it was hard to keep from losing them in the boggy mud of the pond bottom.

If I remember correctly, 3 adults and 4 or 5 children and youth proclaimed their newfound faith in Christ. Except for a couple of deacons who accompanied those being baptized, the congregation listened and watched from the pond bank. We all thanked God for honoring His Word! It was my first ‘pond baptism.’

“IF YOU WON’T CONFESS AND ASK THE CHURCH TO FORGIVE YOU FOR BEING DRUNK, WE’LL HAVE TO KICK YOU OUT OF THE CHURCH!” However, there was one incident when I was not sure the deacons really cared enough. On Saturday, Brother Rockefeller said to me, “the deacons want you to meet with us this afternoon at my house.” “Sure,” I replied, and made a mental note to save that 3 o’clock time.

After prayer, he called on brother Smith who ran a small store in the community, to share. “One of our members, brother, was drunk at the voting polls last week,” he said. Brother Rockefeller replied, “I think we ought to talk with him and give him a chance to confess his sin to the church; if he will not, we will have to recommend that he be kicked out.” All agreed. I sat quietly, the inexperienced pastor that I was, intimidated by all these men older than me, whom I supposed were mature leaders.

They set Sunday afternoon at three as a time to meet with him. Rockefeller agreed to contact the man and ask him to meet with us. When they got to the meeting, the ‘straying’ man came in, even though a little late. If I had ever met him, I didn’t remember it. “Brother,” our chairman said, “some of our group saw you drunk at the polls. Don’t you know that’s a sin and hurts our witness

as a church?” “It’s no worse,” he replied, “than things many of the members do who claim to be perfect! Why don’t you bring them before the church! They’re hypocrites.”

Ignoring his accusation, our chairman spoke to the accused man again, “if you won’t confess and ask the church to forgive you for being drunk, we’ll have to kick you out!” “You can have this sorry church; it’s full of hypocrites!” he said, as he jumped up and headed for the door. “Wait a minute, brother,” one of the deacons cried out.

“FORGET IT; YOU WON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ME COMING BACK TO YOUR SO-CALLED CHURCH!” he said, as he slammed the door leaving.

I sat there, stunned. Then Brother Alva spoke up, “Well, brothers we’ve done all we can; if this man will not repent, we’ll have to kick him out. I make a motion,” he said, “that we report our meeting to the church and recommend that he be removed from membership.” Brother Rockefeller asked, “does everybody agree with that motion?”

“Yes,” all the deacons said, while I sat quietly. The chairman turned to me and said, “well, pastor, are you in agreement with what we are recommending?”

“Brothers,” I said as I measured my words and spoke quietly. “I am a young… and…inexperienced pastor. I’ve never had to deal with something like this.

You men know your church and your people... I trust you to do what you feel is God’s will.”

“All right,” Rockefeller said, “Is everyone in agreement that we bring up this recommendation at a ‘called’ business meeting Wednesday night at the church?” Each deacon said, “yes” or nodded his head. They then closed the meeting with prayer. I breathed a sigh of relief, “I will not be here when this recommendation is brought to the church,” I thought.

That was my one and only experience of a church practicing direct, and what I thought was judgmental, church discipline. “There must be a better, more gentle way to deal with this kind of person who is struggling and may not even be a Christian!” I thought on my long trip home.

That one scary experience does not overshadow the great blessing of serving at Sweet Home Baptist Church. I was blessed by the deep commitment and love for each other of these hard-working and humble Christians. I would never be the same!

In addition to thanking them individually, I told the church my last Sunday there, “I will never forget how you accepted and listened to this young and inexperienced preacher. Your hospitality and love have blessed me a lot. I thank God He let me learn from and serve you for a year!”

MY THIRD HALF-TIME CHURCH By the end of September 1953, I had resigned Sweet Home Church near McKenzie. Then October 1st, I accepted the call of the Hales Chapel Baptist Church, located just five or six miles out of Troy on the Luverne Highway.

Serving both churches in the Troy area made it easier for me to continue being a pastor of two half-time churches. In September, I had begun traveling each Sunday night after church to Birmingham to attend Howard college.

HOWARD COLLEGE (NOW SAMFORD UNIVERSITY): BARRACKS, BOOKS, AND BOBBYS. THE BARRACKS were the boys’ dorms—old barracks obtained from postWorld War II military sources. They were shotgun-type buildings with a hallway in the middle and student rooms on each side. Each room had space for a bunk bed, one desk, and two straight chairs. I don’t remember anyone complaining about the cramped space and skimpy furnishings. I think most of us felt fortunate to be in college, preparing ourselves for what we wanted to do or felt God wanted us to do.

On school days, I spent much of my time in that room or in class with an occasional visit to the library. For the first year, I had the place to myself most of each day, except for the noise in the hallway from people talking or playing a radio in a room. The reason was, my roommate, Jose, an Argentine student majoring in organ, was gone to practice all day at a nearby church with a big pipe organ.

There was a meeting room with a table and an old sofa that held 15–20 students if we brought the chairs from our rooms. So, I helped start a Bible study of students in the evenings once a week. Several ministerial students took turns leading a brief devotional or Bible study. This did not work out too well with all the noise from guys talking as they went to or from their rooms. As we neared finals, we agreed to stop.

BOOKS: this was more about PROFESSORS than books, although we had to read long assignments in short time frames. Howard was truly higher education. It was much more complicated than my courses at Troy State.

Dr. ‘D’ for Davidson was my professor of the New Testament, who led us ministerial students, plus lots of others, in a survey study of every book in the New Testament. He was sharp and passionate to help us understand and follow the Word of God. His course required reading of biblical introduction texts re-

lated to each book of the Bible. I enjoyed learning more about the way people lived and believed when Christ came and the dangers and threats endured by early New Testament churches.

We were required to learn broad outlines of each book, to read about the historical setting in the time of the Roman empire and the culture and religions of cities where Paul went on his missionary journeys where churches were started.

We studied the historical background for the writing of Revelation and circumstances surrounding the final years of the Apostle John’s life.

Dr. ‘D’ required that we study regularly; to be sure that we did, he gave daily ‘pop’ tests. These were based on our textbook and other reading assigned for that day. His course helped us to develop outlines on each book and to have a better understanding of the entire New Testament times and writings.

One of my first professors was Dr. Chapman, instructor for a Church Leadership Course. An older gentleman, he always wore a suit, dressing meticulously. He even told us that a pastor should never go out into public without wearing at least a coat and tie. That sounded like a joke to someone serving country churches—ME. Us students kidded each other with, “where’s your coat and tie today?”

Dr. Chapman was somewhat liberal in his theology, but we did not have to endure much of his teaching. The reason—the course consisted primarily of lectures by pastors who were specialists in specific areas related to church leadership. Most of us paid little attention to his theology or his instructions on how ‘a minister’ should dress.

We were more interested in asking questions to the lecturers about what had worked best in teaching and discipling people in their churches. I learned from pastors known for winning the lost or other aspects of ministry, holding on to their printed lectures and referring to their ideas for several years.

Dr. Dale was my instructor for the History of the Old South. He was an interesting teacher with a good sense of humor and a broad knowledge of what the South was like in past years. I enjoyed his stories about the POMP and HYPOCRISY of many well-known Southerners of the past. The highlight of that course was the visit to us by ladies of the Daughters of the American Revolution. They told us about a contest for papers students could write about a part of American history. At each school, a $25 reward would be given to the student with the best essay. Since I was most interested in spiritual awakenings in America, I finally settled on, The Revival of 1800 in Kentucky. This was an exciting study, which included delving into the records of the famous CAMP MEETINGS, their excesses, and successes. Reading how the gospel spread

on the Kentucky frontier from one new settlement to another with mostly lay preachers, showed God at work.

I even got engrossed reading historical records and learned much about the difference between genuine faith and ministry and that based on extreme excesses of emotionalism. My only regret is that I did not save that paper, although I’ve found a rough draft, which I wrote in 1954 or 1955.

OH YES! I WON THE CONTEST AND $25 PRIZE FOR HOWARD! From that point on, but especially later in seminary, writing “term papers” and even essay questions on exams were not dreaded but done with zeal. This awakened writing ability helped me earn my university degree and an advanced degree in seminary.

In the business and ministry world, it enabled me to write news articles, strategy proposals and action plans, bible studies, and now, books on subjects of great importance to me.

BOBBYS. This refers to my friend Bobby Britt, but also to Bobby Bowden, Howard’s Quarterback, who later became the famous football coach of Florida State University.

Bobby Britt became a close friend until the end of his life.

I learned soon after getting to Howard and meeting him, he loved sharing Christ with others. He and I went to the city park downtown in Birmingham, finding mostly vagrants (homeless men), sitting on the park benches with nothing more to do. We would sit down with each one, take a new testament, and share the plan of salvation.

Some did pray a prayer to be saved, but they always asked us for money. We learned not to give the money because many would use it for alcohol. Instead, we would take them to a nearby restaurant; if they refused that, we knew they were not sincere in their commitment to accept Christ.

Witnessing with Bobby in the park, I asked him, “What plan do you use to present the Gospel?” He replied, “I just share whatever comes to mind at the time.” I asked him, “have you heard of the Roman Road?” “No,” he replied, “What is that?” I suggested, “Let’s turn to the New Testament book of Romans.” There we looked at Romans 3:23, 6:23, 5:8, 10:9–11. This provided a simple way of sharing the gospel of Christ and calling on a person to make a commitment to Him. When I first got to Howard, my meager church salaries of about $100 a month barely covered living expenses. Tuition there was also higher than TSC.

When looking for a job, the only one I found at first was eight hours at a socalled self-service laundry. Some customers left their clothes for us to wash and dry them at night. The big dryers made the small room hot, and the only cooling was a window fan. When I got back to my room, although it was near midnight, only a cold shower would cool me off enough to sleep. Of course, neither was air conditioning available in those days.

Bobby was working downtown as a clerk at a National Shirt Shops store.

In the ‘50s the business had a lot of ‘traffic’ so they needed several clerks.

When he heard where I worked, he asked me, “would you like to work where I do in the evenings just from five to eight and 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Saturdays?” “That sounds a lot better than what I’m doing now,” I replied. He added, “we have to ‘dress up,’ including a white shirt and tie.” “That would be a relief!” I answered.

He helped me get a job there. We then used our lunch hour to give out tracts and share the Gospel with people waiting for the light to change at a busy intersection near the store.

Let’s let Bobby himself tell of our relationship at Howard college from his book, Tis Grace Thus Far, the Amazing Grace Story of Bobby Britt: Clifford Matthews, a God-called country boy from the city of Troy, deep in the southeast corner of the state of Alabama. His face had been scarred and disfigured by a fire in the early days of his youth.

But the ugliness of the scar was lost in the enthusiastic joy of Jesus, which radiated his face. We were drawn together like magnets and shared sweet fellowship in our mutual love for Jesus. I helped Clifford get a job with the National Shirt Shop in downtown Birmingham. During our lunch break, he would drag me down to the corner of Second Avenue and Twentieth Street and hand out Gospel tracts to the crowds that passed by. It was a day in which such was well-received, and few tracts were simply tossed away. A few times, as small groups would gather, we would boldly lift voices and preach with honking horns and the rush of the people. Surprisingly, several individuals would linger, captured by the Spirit, and ask us to pray with them to receive Jesus. Clifford Matthews was the first individual to take the time and sit down with me and lead me down what is called The Roman Road, a simple method to lead an individual to the saving knowledge of salvation offered by Jesus. With few alterations to that

plan of instructions, I can honestly say I have seen thousands of persons on trains, planes and buses, and kids on bicycles, in homes, and places of business, men of considerable means and men of no means, bow their heads with tears, and be swept into the Kingdom. Thank God for tutoring a young city boy on how to open the gates of glory, armed with no more than a New Testament and the anointing of Jesus to lead others into the Kingdom.1 O’ TO GOD, I PRAY THAT I WOULD BE BECOME HALF THE MAN HE DESCRIBED ME TO BE! [See Appendix] After Bobby Bowden became quarterback for the Howard Bulldogs, he became the talk of the students, especially every Monday during the football season. His Saturday playing was what we talked about. After his freshman year at Alabama, he moved back to his hometown of Birmingham and become Howard’s quarterback for 1950–1953. He not only led the Bulldogs to a league championship but also earned All-American honors in 1952 as a quarterback.

He returned to his alma mater to serve as head coach from 1959 to 1962 and amassed a record of 31 - 6.

Bowden continued to be an outspoken witness for Christ through his years as a coach at West Virginia and Florida State. He won 377 games over his long career coaching at Howard, West Virginia, and Florida State. Bobby Bowden was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006. We who were his classmates at Howard have followed him through the years and thanked God for his joy in sharing His Lord and giving glory to God for his achievements.

Samford University Department of Athletics Hall of Fame inducted Bowden into its inaugural class in 2017.2 MY FIRST CHURCH PLANT, EVEN WHEN I DIDN’T KNOW IT In the Spring, I think, of 1953, Miss Sullivant, our BSU Director on campus, got the idea of helping a closed Church reopened its doors. The Bethlehem Baptist Church had not met for Sunday school or worship of any kind for at least several months, perhaps even several years.

She contacted some people in the community and met two young women, the wives of the Rockford and Meredith Waters brothers, who had attended the church before it closed. They agreed to clean up the inside and make it so we could come on Sunday afternoon and conduct Sunday school classes. So, Miss

Sullivant enlisted students, including myself, to teach a Sunday school class every Sunday afternoon.

Within the same time frame, 1953, President Truman relieved Gen. Douglas MacArthur after his insubordination to the President.

He had publicly disagreed with the way Truman was leading the U. S.’s participation in the Korean and Cold Wars. At the same time, President Truman was defending himself against Republicans who said he was soft on Communism. Most people in South Alabama admired General MacArthur, although they felt the President’s leadership had to be respected.3 CAN WE HAVE SUNDAY SCHOOL AND PREACHING EVERY SUNDAY AFTERNOON? We taught Bible in Sunday School for several weeks before the handful of people attending found out that I was a student pastor in addition to being one of their volunteers. They asked me, “would you be willing to preach every Sunday afternoon after Sunday School?” When I agreed, they spread the word through family and friends, “we’ll have preaching every Sunday at 3:30!” A few new people came, including the Waters brothers.

The first service was unforgettable to me—it was a chilly, windy day; some windows were still broken, which rattled the shades when the wind blew. The floor had cracks wide enough to see the ground below. My notes, which I had laid out on the flat speaker’s podium, swept away. I dared not try to chase them down-they were immediately out of sight. This meant I had to speak extemporaneously, a little scary to a 19-year-old, who had been preaching only a little over a year.

You would expect a ‘rabbit chasing’ message. It was worse—as I remember it, my first sentence was, “Abraham was asked to go to an unknown land…”

Looking up for what was next, my notes were gone and I went completely blank. Floundering for words, I paused and said, “there is a God in heaven (a different message) who was looking after Daniel…” At least I remembered enough about Daniel to bring a short message. Forget Abraham!

Talking to Rockford and Meredith Waters after the service, I asked, “Do you know someone who could fix the windows?” “Sure”, Meredith replied, looking at Rockford nodding his head. “We’ll fix them this week,” he promised. While retrieving my notes from under a pew several rows back, I thought, “It should help our attendance if the building looks like something is going on here.”

After a few months of Sunday school and worship, a few people had confessed Christ as Savior, including Rockford. So, I told him, “I’ll begin visiting people Sunday afternoons after the services if you’ll go with me.” “I’ll introduce you,” he agreed, “if you’ll do the talking from there.” He knew everybody, but also soon began to jump into my conversations with farmers describing their need of rain or discussing the price cotton was bringing.

Some of the people we visited, especially those who started attending asked, “Will you restart the church and have regular services, including Sunday School for our families?” As you can imagine, that was exciting to this young ‘preacher boy!’

By the Fall of 1954, it had become obvious that the community needed a church. Some had already come to Christ and the people were very responsive.

So, those attending who were members in the past and the new people who had become Christians came up with a budget and invited me to be their pastor.

After their invitation and everyone praying about what we should do, I felt led to resign as pastor of Mount Moriah, where I had served half-time for two years and become their pastor.

This meant preaching in morning and evening services every first and third Sundays. They made no other demand, although it was commonly assumed the pastor would conduct funerals, care for those critically ill, and work with the deacons to lead the church. In a small church, these duties took very little of my time. My own hunger and commitment to the Lord was to use most of every Saturday and Sunday afternoon to visit and witness to the lost or to the weak Christians not in church.

Many came to Christ during the two years I served as pastor of the Bethlehem Church. We baptized seventeen the first year and eighteen the second year and saw the Sunday School grow from 30 in 1952 to 73 in the fall of 1955.4 VBS increased from none reported in 1950 to a high of 52! It was one of the most blessed experiences of my early ministry—especially when evangelist Bobby Britt, my classmate from Howard, came to preach in two revivals. We saw whole families come to Christ, and the joy they experienced in obeying him, loving each other, and reaching out to their neighbors and friends was beautiful.

God was at work, even like He worked when Northside was a mission Church, reaching out to lost people like myself as a teenager and my family.

Bethlehem was also the restart of a closed church and became my first church planting experience, although I did not realize it at the time.

MY FIRST EDUCATIONAL GOAL WAS REACHED WHEN I EARNED A BACHELOR OF ARTS DEGREE ON MAY 29, 1955 FROM HOWARD COLLEGE!

◆◆◆ ________________________________ 1. ‘Tis Grace Thus Far, the amazing grace story of Bobby Britt, 2011, published by Bobby Britt Evangelistic Association, page 232–233 2. Samford University, Department of Athletics Hall of Fame, 2017 3. To the Best of My Ability, James McPherson, DK Publishing, Revised Edition, 2oo4, pages 239–240 4. Ibid, Salem-Troy Annuals, 1952–1955

8 REVIVAL MEETINGS IN THE 50s —CHURCHES JAMMED, MANY SAVED 1953–1963 | Ages 19–29

F

rom 1953 through 1963, I found my summers packed with preaching revival meetings, mostly in rural churches in South Alabama. I continued to be a pastor during those years, but missed preaching in my church in the evenings and occasionally on a Sunday morning during the Summer months.

I needed those Sunday times to begin revival meetings in other churches.

THE SEEDS OF SPIRITUAL AWAKENING One of the seeds for spiritual awakening nationally was Billy Graham’s Los Angeles campaign in the fall of 1949. It went from a tent holding 6000 to 9000 and from 2 weeks to 8 weeks. After the conversion of Stuart Hamblen, ‘the singing cowboy,’ who was on national radio daily, the campaign made nationwide NEWSPAPER headlines: “Stuart Hamblen walks sawdust trail.”1 Two weeks later Jim Vaus, wiretapper for the infamous Mickey Cohen, dubbed the ‘king of Los Angeles underworld,’ came to Christ. The newspapers blared again: “Jim Vaus, Mickey Cohen’s wiretapper, converted.”2 From that point on, Billy Graham was a celebrity who was covered by the news media wherever he went. After a full year of preaching in several states that required stadiums to hold his crowds, people began to increase their acceptance of evangelists.

ANOTHER SEED FOR SPIRITUAL AWAKENING IN 1949 WAS FEAR GROWING OUT OF WORLD CONDITIONS

World War II had ended on September 9, 1945, with the signing of surrender by Japan. However, less than three years later—June 24, 1948—the Berlin Crisis erupted because of actions led by Communist governments. This became the first international crisis of the Cold War.3 During the Berlin Blockade, Stalin tried to drive the Western allies out of Berlin by blocking all surface routes to Berlin from the three Western zones of Germany. The allies resorted to an Airlift, supplying two-million West Berliners with food, medicine, and other necessities for almost a year. Russia then abandoned the blockade rather than shoot down the planes and risk starting an all-out war.

Because of the public attention on Billy Graham, other evangelists, like Eddie Martin of Pennsylvania, became widely accepted. When he conducted a revival meeting in 1953 in Central Park Baptist Church, the largest church in Birmingham, Alabama, it was packed with people hungry to know Christ or to recommit their lives to him. This was when my friend, Bobby Britt, went forward to rededicate his life and confess God’s call for him to become an evangelist.

Twenty other young men who felt God’s call to become pastors or evangelists also came to confess their calls from God. Martin met with them after the last meeting of the crusade in the church. He promised, “God is at work! We must join Him to share Jesus with multitudes of people who are lost! I’ll be praying for you, brothers, to boldly preach and personally witness of Jesus’ power to save all who will believe. Christ loves to transform even ‘hopeless’ people. May He use YOU to bring a mighty ‘SPIRITUAL AWAKENING’ across our land!”

Bobby went home and woke up his mother to tell her, “God has called me to preach, and I’m going to quit my job and enroll in Howard college.” She was both amazed and excited. When he told his church, and they told other churches about his call, some began to call on him to preach. Others called him to ask, “Will you preach in a youth revival in our church?”

Here is a quote from him about the responses of those days in the 50s: Headline: “THE GLORY DAYS”: Those four years of college days (1953–1958) and preaching opportunities are looked back upon with absolute amazement as I consider the gracious hand of God upon our lives. Television was still in its infancy, organized Little League sports had not come on the scene, most wives were still homemakers, and the church was the central

place of interest and activity. When a revival was announced, the people would set aside the date, and most of the church buildings would fill.

In spite of all the deficiencies and failures of those earlier years, literally, hundreds of people were saved, all from churches filled beyond capacity. Revival meetings extended to extra days, and there were many times when the Glory of God was so evident that one could sense and know his dynamic presence.

The time of invitation sometimes lasted half an hour or more as we sang “O, why not tonight,” “Don’t go away without Jesus,” or “There is room at the cross for you.” It can only be attributed to God’s abundant Grace, Mercy, and Patience.”4 Especially in the South, most rural churches had a week-long revival meeting as an annual event. Other cultural conditions that may have helped encourage people to attend revival meetings are reported in this news from 1952 in the People History:5 In 1952, despite the war in Korea, Americans considered themselves to be prospering with the average worker earned $3400 per year, a college teacher could expect to receive $5100 per year. Three out of five families owned a car. One in three homes had a television. The average woman in America married by 20 years of age and looked forward to raising a family, but few continued with a career after children were born. Fast food restaurants were growing in popularity, and the scourge of polio hit many thousands of families (50,000 estimated). The average cost of a new house—$9050. Average wages per year—$3850; price of a gallon of gasoline—$.20; average cost of a new car—$1700. The average cost of rent—$80 per month.

Even though it was estimated that 34.2% of American households had a TV in 1952,6 none of these were in the rural areas of south Alabama. That was because there were only a few television stations broadcasting and they were all in large cities. I visited numerous rural families in the early 50s, yet never saw a television set.

The people in these country communities were farmers who worked hard

physically every day and had very little to do at home at night except listen to the radio. This meant that the churches’ summer revivals had very little competition.

Almost everyone had a fundamental view that truth is what we could observe daily—the creation by God, the Bible as his Word, and our accountability to Him. Their crops were ‘laid by’ until the time of harvest, later in the summer and early Fall. The church was the center of community life, and people looked forward to a week of spending time with their friends and family at the revival services.

I hasten to add—these positive factors influencing people to attend the revival meetings cannot explain the miracles which God did. ONLY THE POWER OF GOD can explain the changed lives of the hundreds and thousands who came to Christ in the South.

Only the Spirit of God could have drawn people to Him in cotton patches, country stores, their front porches, and churches. We saw people come under conviction by the spirit—proud men were humbled, submissive wives became outspoken, religiously illiterate people of all ages confessed their sins to God. All invited Jesus Christ to save them through their tears.

I will describe just a few of the specific revival meetings in which I saw God at work. Then introduce you to individuals God changed for the rest of their lives. My knowledge of these people was sometimes limited, but I’ll relate what I remember. More details are given to my home church and my first church because I knew the people at a personal level at that stage of my life. I will ‘fill in the blanks’ when I cannot remember the details of how things happened, but it will be what I think must have taken place. Even as a new Christian, it was apparent to me that GOD WAS WORKING! GOD USED REVIVAL MEETINGS TO HELP START NORTHSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH [See Appendix] Even when I was a teen in the late 1940s and early 50s, God used revival meetings to bring many of us to Christ.

Men like my dad, who worked hard during the week and spent a large part of most weekends drinking heavily. Profanity, family abuse, and sometimes violent behavior were their vices. Many Christians of that day called them “sinners” or described them as living “ungodly lives.”

As I said earlier, Brother Bowman invited dynamic preachers known for being evangelistic, boldly urging people to repent of their sins and trust Jesus to ‘save’ them. They did this in the revival meetings as well as in visiting them in

their homes. God used His Word and his servants to bring all kinds of people to openly confess Christ, join the church, and begin living changed lives.

My daddy was a millworker and a heavy drinker on the weekends. Charlie Ammons, a painter, and fishing pole maker, also abused alcohol heavily. He and his family lived across the road from the Northside’s building; he had not shown any interest in the Almighty since his childhood. After his coming to Christ, he quit drinking, became a member of Northside, and soon a deacon.

Others did not practice obvious sins, but had not been to church in years or shown any evidence of concern for their spiritual lives. Like Swinson Kimbrough and his wife, Vergi, and his parents, the elder Kimbroughs.

They came, I think, to one of Northside’s first revivals in their new building in 1948. I’ve already referred to Brother James Eadie of Opp, Alabama, as the preacher in those meetings in which many came to Christ and joined the church.

All the Kimbroughs immediately began studying the Bible in Sunday school, attending all the worship services and showing their leadership skills in Training Union. Swinson and Vergi began teaching in Sunday school within a few months of their conversions. Some of the other converts from the revival also grew and strengthened the church. Admittedly, as usual, several did not prove to be faithful Christians as members.

MY FIRST REVIVAL IN WHICH I PREACHED AND FIRST BAPTIZINGS They were at my first church, Mount Moriah, just a few miles north of my hometown of Troy. After becoming a pastor in October 1952, I began visiting the people in the community door-to-door. Within a few months, I had gotten to know most of the people in this rural area.

Soon after school ended in June 1953, we had our vacation Bible school. It was conducted and mostly led by people from within the church, who stepped up for this critical time. By then, I had an automobile and joined with Charlie Mallet and another family or two to haul children to VBS five mornings a year.

My friends from North Side helped out in the VBS, which enabled us to do a good program for children and youth. Parents were very receptive, and many showed up for the family night on the closing evening of the VBS. Near the end of school, we had a decision day, in which I invited the older children and youth to confess Christ as Savior. I had talked with many of these personally and led them to invite Him into their lives. What a joy when several came forward to confess their faith openly!

HOMECOMING DAY IN THE 1950s Two or three weeks after the VBS, on the third Sunday in July we had our annual Homecoming Sunday. This was a significant time in that day and the members diligently prepared for it. Of course, they sent letters to invite nonresident members and friends.

On the Saturday before the homecoming, a group of members swept the churchyard clean, as was the custom of the day. They washed and polished the furniture until it shined. The men stretched hog wire on short posts, for which they had dug holes and then pounded them into the ground with their ax heads.

These makeshift tables even surprised me because most churches had outside wooden tables, even in that day.

When the day arrived, whole families dressed in their Sunday best, joined in singing enthusiastic songs of praise. The church was packed, and we had the opportunity to encourage everyone to attend our annual revival, which was to begin the next Sunday.

I was attracted to the desert ‘table’, with its assortment of pecan, apple and peach pies, homemade pound cake, banana pudding, layered chocolate cake and my favorite, lane cake with its mixture of candied fruit, chunks of nuts and shredded coconut. Not to mention the ‘tables’ piled high with large platters of fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, peas, butterbeans, snap beans, collard greens, baked sweet potatoes and cornbread to go with it.

Some brought ham and thick-sliced bacon just out of the smokehouse, and English-pea casserole.

PREPARATION FOR THE MOUNT MORIAH REVIVAL A few people in the church joined with my ‘preacher boy’ friends from North Side to go door-to-door the week before the revival. We distributed flyers and looked for opportunities to share the gospel with those who did not know Christ. When needed, we prayed for people in their homes. There was an excellent response wherever we went.

Doing the preaching myself was a joy, primarily since some in the community had not yet heard me preach. Again, we had the help of musicians from Northside. They and other friends attended. With a good crowd each night and enthusiastic services, God worked in the hearts of people.

I talked with the parents of children who had accepted Christ in VBS. Some were hesitant about allowing their children to be baptized at such a young age.

I went over the plan of salvation with each child in their presence so they could understand what kind of commitment the child had made.

My prayer was that the parents would see their own need for Christ. For others, I had to answer, the best I could, many questions.

By this time, I had gotten to know Ben McQuagge, a self-taught student of the Bible, who was well-known in the community for his strict Bible views, and I would even say their spiritual faith. However, he was not a member of a local church. His children came to VBS, while his wife insisted from her family background that they go to the Church of Christ. He objected to that church because they believed baptism was essential to salvation.

Since some of his children had come to Christ at the VBS, he and the whole family went to the revival. We rejoiced the night when he led most of his family to confess their faith in Christ, request baptism and membership in the church.

He became known as a faithful Christian in the community and the church.

Other faithful members now who were baptized then (1953), are Mable Horn and Harold Mitchell. A few years after that time, I had the privilege of officiating at the wedding of Harold Mitchell and Mary McQuagge, even though I was no longer their pastor.

The men of the church had worked hard before the revival rebuilding the baptistery. It was located immediately in front of the church, perhaps 75 to 100 feet down the hill through the woods. A spring flowed there, which they had boarded up to enclose a four by ten-foot area so it would fill to three or four feet deep or more with water.

Those coming to Christ during the year had to wait until Summer to be baptized. Even then, the spring water felt like it had just come out of the refrigerator. This was my first time to baptize, so I had studied the Pastors Manual and talked with my pastor about how to do it. Those being baptized stood together with their families near the pool, around the makeshift baptistry.

There was an air of excitement. We all sang together one verse of, Shall We Gather at the River? Whole families came for this beautiful time. As an example, for each candidate, I raised my hand high and proclaimed, “because of your profession of faith in Christ and to obey his command, I baptize YOU, Mary McQuagge, in the name of The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!” Placing a handkerchief over her nose and mouth, I plunged her under the water and backed up.

Families rejoiced after each member’s baptism. A total of ten people followed Christ by confessing Him as Savior in this public act of baptism. Our praise continued as we closed with, “O Happy Day.” I thanked God for his wonderful grace, which had drawn these precious people to confess our Lord. Since

I was not only the pastor of my first church but was also baptizing the early new believers of my ministry, I was of all people most blessed. Praise the Lord!

“THERE’S A MOCCASIN IN THE POOL!” After the closing song and prayer, someone from the other side of the pool from which we had just exited, shouted, “Watch out; there’s a moccasin in the pool!” The whole crowd of us hurried to get away from the pool, while one young man RAN up the hill to get a hoe out of his truck to kill the snake. Some may remember this incident differently, but I’m reporting what my weak memory brings back.

Since some, especially those baptized, talked fearfully about the incident, I spoke to that issue in the service that night. “If you’ve become scared for anyone else to be baptized,” I reminded them, “our Savior, who promised us, ‘I am with you always, even to the end of the world,’ has kept his promise.

He protected us from being bitten by this snake. He will always protect those who follow Him.” Ten baptized did not seem like a large number on that day. However, the previous five years of the church, the total number baptized for all five years put together was only nine. To us, it was evident that God had done a great work.

ENON CHURCH REVIVAL: SUMMER, 1953 My first revival meeting outside the church where I was pastor, was with Swinson Kimbrough at Enon, his first church. He became their pastor in the fall of 1951 before my call to preach. His first revival was in 1952 when he preached.

Many came to Christ his first year at the church, including a large number during their 1952 Summer revival. Soon afterward he baptized 29 people, including many adults who had been saved during his first year as pastor.

—Revival Preacher in the 1950s

Enon was and still is a large rural area known for its red dirt that grows great peanuts and large families. It was not unusual for a farmer’s family to have five or six children. All family members helped plant, cultivate, and gather the harvest for the two or three crops they grew. This was done with mules as their only power except for their own strength.

First came peanuts and all the labor that went into the fertilizing, then plowing the ‘middles’ and hoeing between the plants. At harvest, they plowed up the peanuts with a mule, then shook and used pitchforks to put them around ‘stack poles’, as high as they could reach. Second, corn, which they used to feed their hogs, cattle, and even chickens. Some also grew cotton, another labor-intensive product.

The church had weekday morning revival services in addition to the main services in the evenings. After the 11 o’clock service, one of the church families would invite us home for dinner. This gave me a chance to get to know the family members better and to inquire about their spiritual condition.

If there were several teenage children, I would ask one, “Would you like for me to share how you can KNOW you have Jesus in your heart and are saved?”

Most replied simply, “Yes.” Then I’d share the Gospel with the older children and youth in the family together while their parents listened. Some were willing to pray a prayer like this: “God, I know I’ve sinned; I believe Jesus died for my sins; forgive my sins and save me.”

Some of the fathers in those families were not Christians themselves. I would ask the father, “show me what you’re growing this year.” He was glad to take me around in his old truck if he had one; if not, we walked. He was not in a hurry, so we had time to talk about his crops. Whether he was a Christian or not, he would say, “I just want you to see how God has blessed my crops.” This allowed me to ask him, “Have you ever asked Jesus to come into your heart so that you KNOW you have eternal life and will go to heaven when you die?”

Some of the tough farmers prayed with stumbling words, asking Jesus to come into their hearts. Others promised to consider a commitment of their lives to Christ and attendance at the revival services that week.

Swinson also followed Brother Bowman’s practice of having a list of people who had visited the church or shown interest in their spiritual condition. He took me, his revival preacher, to visit them and to look for opportunities to share Christ with family members. We visited with some wonderful families, some of them working in the field. They would stop their work, allowing us to find out about their families, favorite crops, and whether they had come to faith in Jesus.

Our goal was to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit and to talk with them about Jesus loving them enough to die for their sins on the cross. Some

did commit themselves to Him as Savior and Lord. Several walked forward that night during the invitational hymn to confess their newfound faith in Jesus and to ask for baptism and membership in the church.

At this revival, I had the opportunity to preach to the most massive crowds I had ever addressed. Over 100 packed the building each night. I will never forget the zeal of the pastor, love of the people, and their responsiveness to the Good News of Christ. Enon became a very strong church throughout those years.

Christians in the association praised God for His amazing work in a remote rural area.

MAY 17,1954 THE U.S. SUPREME COURT OUTLAWED RACIAL SEGREGATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS In many areas, especially in the South, school boards went by a previous court ruling that allowed “SEPARATE BUT EQUAL” schools for Blacks and Whites. This brought several confrontations between state police and federal troops or US Attorney Generals forcing the enrollment of Black students. One of the most publicized was the Arkansas Governor sending the state’s National Guard in September 1957 to prevent the admission of black students at Little Rock’s Central High School. President Eisenhower sent federal troops to enforce the ruling of the court.

BETHLEHEM REVIVAL: SUMMER OF 1954 One of the reasons I invited my new friend, Bobby Britt, to preach in our revival was his boldness to confront people wherever they were with their need for Christ. Serving as a pastor for almost a year, I had gotten to know many of the people very well. Often during my own prayer time, I would go to the cemetery behind the old church building and look across the graves down the hill to the beautiful forests and few homes visible and talk to the Lord, saying, “Live through me and give me the boldness and leadership of the Spirit as I seek to share Christ.” I had shared my testimony with many people. However, still being shy and visiting by myself, I often lacked the courage to ask them directly, “have you ever invited Jesus to become YOUR Savior and Lord?”

Bobby was especially good at talking directly to ANYONE ANYWHERE. Several men, women, and children came to Jesus in the revival. Consequently, they professed Christ and asked for baptism and membership in the restarted church. He was also an impressive-looking young man, preaching in sport

coats of various colors. He described biblical characters, vividly dramatizing their stories. Then he would tell about people he knew whose lives were changed when they came to Jesus.

—Vacation Bible School at Bethlehem, 1954.

That summer our VBS was held a little before the revival. We had 54 children and youth to come, and some even made commitments on decision day. I taught them to sing some children’s choruses. They loved to learn new songs, which even the adults did not know. We started each revival service with all the children gathering at the front to sing those same choruses.

I cannot forget their joy and their parents’ pleasure in hearing them sing loudly, “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy down in my heart!” or, “Climb, climb up sunshine mountain, heavenly breezes blow. Turn, turn from sin and doubting, looking to the sky (with the appropriate motions).”

Some young men, their wives, and children all came to Jesus in the revival.

Consequently, most professed Christ and asked for baptism and membership in the restarted church. By the end of the revival, we had 18 people of all ages ready to be baptized. *I will never forget his sermon on the Syrian Army Commander told about in II Kings 5. After describing his great fighting as the army’s captain, he then

paused and declared dramatically, “but he was a leper! Leprosy was an incurable disease in that day.” After a pause, he continued, “you and I also have an incurable disease-it’s called SIN, caused by our rebellion and failure to obey God. Jesus loved us enough to die in our place. If we repent and ask Jesus to forgive and to save us, He’ll come into our hearts and give us new lives and the assurance of heaven.

I trusted Jesus to forgive all my sins. Since I invited Him into my heart, IT’S A JOY TO LIVE FOR JESUS EVERY DAY!” BETHLEHEM REVIVAL: SUMMER OF 1955 People were so blessed at Bethlehem by the ministry of Bobby Britt the previous summer, that we invited him back to preach and work in our 1955 revival.

My goal that summer was to share the gospel with every person in the small community who had not yet come to Christ.

We started by visiting with Harold Anderson, whose family lived right back of the church cemetery. His wife professed to be a Christian, but Harold had never turned his life over to Christ, even though he had attended some of the services the previous year.

As Bobby confronted him with the consequences of continuing to reject Christ, he broke down and asked Jesus to forgive him and save him. Making his profession of faith that night was just the beginning of a changed life which he lived and spoke about all the rest of his days, including several years when he was elected to serve as the sheriff of Pike County, Alabama.

A young man who came to Christ that year was Wendell Taylor. His family were Christians, and he came to church sometimes but had never openly confessed Christ or followed him in baptism. As we visited with the Taylor family, I excused myself to go outside to discuss privately with him his relationship to the Lord. He made a commitment and came that night to declare, “I’ve trusted Jesus to forgive and save me!” *We kept up with him because a few years later he married a young lady my wife, Peggy, knew. They built a new house adjoining that of his parents. Wendell became very active in the Army National Guard Unit in nearby Brundidge.

He made it his full-time career. Through many years of service there, he faced all kinds of circumstances, including short term deployments overseas.

He died of cancer at age 39, after over 20 years of service. The National Guard renamed their armory in Brundidge to ‘Fort Wendell Taylor.’

When the week ended, I looked over the names of all the people with whom

we had shared the gospel. In looking over that list, I could not find any unchurched person left with whom we had not shared Christ except an older man who professed to be a member of the Primitive Baptist Church. God had honored his Word and blessed our witness and preaching of the Good News!

During the two years, I served as a pastor in Bethlehem’s small community, 35 people were baptized. It seemed like we almost saw Gospel saturation.

Praise God for His work!

I’m postponing my last story of revivals in the 50s until AFTER the first story in the next chapter to clarify the chronology of events.

God used His servants to bring many to Christ in the 50s. We preachers all hoped it was the beginning of a profound spiritual awakening. Looking back, that does not seem to have been the case since the momentum and receptivity to the Gospel had not continued. However, God set a fire in many of our hearts, which continued to burn, and we have passed it on to others. Without the work of God at that time, the continuing effect through multitudes of changed lives today may not have been seen.

◆◆◆ ________________________________ 1. Ibid, This section, pages 62–63 and pages 64–66 2. Ibid, Crusades, pages 64–66 3. Ibid, American history, page 553 4. Ibid, ‘Tis Grace Thus Far, page 71 5. “The People History” online, 1952. Accessed 3/18, 2017 6. Ibid, “The People History” online, 1952. Accessed 3/18, 2017

9 NEW ORLEANS SEMINARY: TRAVELING TO STUDY, TO PREACH ON THE STREETS AND TO BECOME “A WORKER APPROVED BY GOD” 1955–1958 | Ages 21–24

I

CONTINUING TO PASTOR WHILE ATTENDING SEMINARY

planned to resign as pastor of Bethlehem and Hales Chapel Churches and move to New Orleans. Thank God, He opened a way for me to continue to serve churches while in seminary. Let me tell you how He did it.

In our summer revival in 1955 at Bethlehem church, we had a total of 17 children and adults come to Christ. We had no place to baptize them ourselves.

So, I spoke to Rockford Waters, by then, one of our deacons, “Do you know any place we could baptize these new members, perhaps in a church or in someone’s pond?” Brother Waters thought for a minute and responded, “I believe St. John Church has an ‘inside baptistry,’ in the floor of their auditorium.”

I asked him, “Can you check on that and see if we could baptize there soon?”

He went to Elmer Fleming’s house, a deacon at nearby St. John, that Sunday afternoon and reported back to the Bethlehem congregation that night. Brother Elmer said, “I’m sure the church will be glad to let you baptize here next Sunday night, but I’ll check with them tonight to confirm it.”

Rockford also reported, “the St. John pastor recently resigned, leaving some people who were saved but not yet baptized. They wondered if you could baptize them at the same time the first Sunday in August.”

Both churches met at St. John’s building the next week, the first Sunday in August, for an evening of worship and baptism. After the service, a deacon of the church asked me, “would you like to be a candidate to become our pastor?”

“No, I’m going to move to New Orleans to go to seminary by September 1st,” I answered. The deacon replied, “I’ve heard that Brother Bozeman, the pastor at a nearby church in Coffee County, is driving to seminary each weekend.”

This raised my excitement level so much that it was hard to think. Recovering quickly, I ask him, “Can you get me brother Bozeman’s number or one where he may be reached?” “OK, I’ll check it out if you’ll give me your family’s phone number so that I can call you.” I gave him my parents’ number where I was living.

When I called Brother Bozeman and asked, “do you have room for another rider to seminary?” he became excited also and said, “I’ve got room for you to ride along with three other students in my station wagon and me. He told me, “the cost is five dollars a week.” “Then I’m on board for September 1st?” I wanted to be sure. “You bet,” he answered.

At home, I thought over how fast things had worked out for me to have a weekly ride to New Orleans; it humbled me. I bowed before the Lord to say, “Lord, are you cracking the door for me to serve as St. John’s pastor?”

When I called their deacon and let him know I would be available, he suggested, “Why don’t we set a date, perhaps the third Sunday in August for you to preach a trial sermon?” “OK,” I answered, “but that’s going to put me close to the time when I have to be back at seminary.” “Well, since everybody has heard you preach once, we’ll set next Sunday for you to do the trial sermon.” “That will work for me,” I answered.

On the second Sunday of August, it was a joy to preach at St. John. I preached in the morning AND evening services, and the church set the next Sunday as the day to vote on my becoming their pastor. God’s Spirit worked in my own heart and in the people in both services, and the next Sunday, they called me with only two or three dissenting votes.

It seemed to me that ‘God did it again,’ answering “the desires of my heart” as a pastor while attending seminary. He did even more by giving me a much larger community to work in during my three years in seminary. This is the promise of Psalm 37:4 (KJV), “Delight thyself also in the Lord: and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”

“By your grace, I will prepare myself to be a good minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ my Lord,” I whispered to the Father.

ST. JOHN’S REVIVAL EXTENDED TO TWO WEEKS This is another account of REVIVALS IN THE 50s placed here to fit this event in its chronological order. Looking ahead to the middle of my first year at seminary, I had served the Bethlehem and St. John churches on the weekends for five or six months.

I can’t remember how I convinced the St. John people that we needed a new revival in the spring. Except that Dr. Leavell’s evangelism class had taught me to do some new things in a revival – having the meetings at a different time of the year, publicizing the services in the newspaper and radio and distributing flyers to every home in the community.

He also encouraged us to preach to groups of people outside the church. We did all these things in preparation for our spring revival in 1956.

For example, Byron Galloway a St. John leader, arranged for me to preach to the road crew of 15 to 20 men he supervised. I went to where they met early one chilly Spring morning. After his introduction, I proclaimed Christ, and they were very receptive, but most seemed to be Christians already.

We also enlisted an outsider, James Ray of Troy, to lead the singing. He was a well-known leader in the county association and even on the Troy City Council. As a member of the Bush Memorial Church and a very personable man, he was also a good singer.

In preparation for the revival, we had already started having a youth choir practice every Sunday night before the evening service. I taught them several new choruses to sing before each revival service. I think we also had ‘cottage prayer meetings’ each week for a month in homes led by men of the church. I passed out a half-page prayer sheet and asked St. John people, “will you list lost people you know—keep it in your bible; invite each one to the revival and pray daily for them to be saved.”

Since unchurched people in the ‘50s came to church better on Sunday night, we began the revival, I think, the first Sunday night after Easter. Several new, young families were attracted to bring their children to sing with our excited children and youth.

Families who had not been attending church brought their children. People who knew each other hung around afterward to ‘catch up’ on the news. I visited several of the new families at their homes and asked them, “have you ever repented of your sins and asked Jesus to come into your heart and save you?”

For many who answered, “no,” I shared the scriptures, such as Romans 3:23, 6:23, 5:8, and 10:9–10.

Each night of the revival, some new families would be there. A few nights, someone accepted Christ. However, after several nights, not many of those unchurched families with whom we had shared the Gospel had surrendered to Him. Three of the four store owners in Tarentum were attending, as well as several ‘sharecropper’ families that barely got by farming a little bit of land with their mules. In all these kinds of families, the wife and mother was often a believer, but the father and husband had never followed Christ or even attended church much.

As we approached the end of the week, the church was full, but only a few had openly confessed Christ. On Friday night, I asked those present, “would you like for us to continue the revival services another week?” There was a unanimous “Yes,” even from the non-Christians. So, we decided to extend the revival services for another week. Don’t ask me how I could afford to be out of school for another whole week—I don’t remember.

That Sunday before the second week, several new families with their children were at church services, either in the morning or the evening. I asked every Christian, “will you go off by yourself every morning and pray for those in your family or friends who are lost? Ask God to lay someone on your heart with whom you can share your joy in knowing Jesus. This may the time when the Spirit of God is convicting them more than any time in their lives!”

As we started that Sunday night, the church was packed, and people were happy and enthusiastic. God answered our prayers—whole families came to confess Christ, request baptism, and to become members of the church. Some of these families were those Christian wives whose husbands came with them to confess Christ and to join the church together.

One of the great things God did was to draw at least seven men, previously unchurched and most unsaved, to confess Christ or rededicate their lives to Him. This included three of the four store owners in Tarentum. There were also sharecropper families, at least one with six children.

BEGIN TO PREACH EVERY SUNDAY AT ST. JOHN? Near the end of the second week, I got an idea on how St. John could have preaching every Sunday morning as I also continued to serve Bethlehem as their pastor. We agreed to switch the times of Sunday School and the services at St. John on the second and fourth Sundays. On those Sundays, we would have the church service at 9:45 AM, and that would give me time to get to Bethle-

hem, a five-minute drive away, for their 11 o’clock service.

I asked someone to notify the Troy Messenger and radio to make this announcement of the new services of St. John. Being the young and ignorant pastor, I was, it did not occur to me about checking to see if this would be OK with the people of Bethlehem church.

THE ONLY TIME I’VE GOTTEN FIRED When I got home the next weekend, everyone I saw at Bethlehem before Sunday and especially on Sunday told me, “you can’t be at St. John on the second and fourth Sundays if you’re going to be our pastor. You have to be at Bethlehem on those Sundays!” “I’ll still be here for the services morning and night just like I always have. I won’t be here for Sunday School, but I haven’t been doing anything then anyway.” It was apparent I had hurt their feelings.

That Sunday morning, the leaders of the church announced, “We’ll have a meeting tonight after worship time with our pastor to discuss his plans to be absent on Sunday mornings.”

At the meeting, they stated to me again, “You’ve got to be our pastor on the second and fourth Sundays, and you can’t be somewhere else.” In spite of my explaining again, “this will not harm you or our ministry here,” they adopted a final decision that “our pastor MUST BE HERE ALL-DAY ON THE 2nd AND 4th Sundays.”

Having prayed most of the afternoon, I responded that night, “I feel God has led the St. John people and me to make this decision for services every Sunday.

If you cannot accept that, I will not be able to continue being your pastor.” One of their leaders said, “then don’t come back to Bethlehem!” That was ‘cutting,’ but God had made clear to me this was His will, so, HE gave me the strength to accept it without resentment.

One thing that made it even harder was that I had been used by God to lead to Christ and baptized most of Bethlehem’s members. Looking back, I became content that He knew what was happening and was still in charge.

PASTORING ST. JOHN FULLTIME ON WEEKENDS The next Saturday when I was back at St. John, I visited several families and asked them, “are you agreeable to our continuing to be a full-time church with services at the same time every Sunday?”

Some replied, “I regret that we hurt the feelings our Bethlehem brothers, but we need to go full-time.” Others added, “Brother Dane (the deacon chairman) may not be in favor of this.”

So, I visited the deacon before the Sunday night service. I said to him, “I regret what happened about the Bethlehem church being upset, but it honestly did not occur to me that we should check with them before adopting such as plan.” He expressed great regret also saying, “I would not do anything to hurt the feelings of our Christian brothers at Hilliard’s Crossroads” (where Bethlehem was located).

As I sat waiting, he finally continued, “I would not do anything to hurt people’s feelings in our neighboring church, but I guess there’s nothing we can do about it now. I wish some of us had thought about it ahead of time.” Pausing, “but brother Clifford, I think the church should go on and have preaching every Sunday.”

At St. John’s meeting Sunday night, various members got up and expressed their support for the church continuing the plan to have full-time services, but to have all the morning services at 11 AM. I got the sense that they were waiting for their church leader/deacon to speak before making a motion for this to be formally adopted by the church.

Finally, Bother Dane stood up and said, “brothers and sisters, I deeply regret the pain we have caused our friends at the Bethlehem church.” After describing in detail why what we had done was a mistake, he then said, “however, we can’t do anything about that now, and we need to become a full-time church, having services every Sunday morning and night. I make a motion that we make that decision and pay Brother Clifford the same thing every Sunday ($40.) that we were paying him every other Sunday.”

Everyone present breathed a sigh of relief and voted unanimously to approve the motion. Believe me, there was joy in the hearts of God’s people that night, but especially for this inept pastor who had gotten himself into a bind. God graciously delivered me from trouble and provided a great opportunity to lead His people at St. John to bring many more to Jesus and to build His Kingdom!

All praise to HIM! TRAVELING TO STUDY Having my ride to New Orleans secured for the first year with Welby Bozeman, I started the next week. The first night I spent at the old campus downtown where students had to stay until the seminary was sure there were rooms ready for them at the new campus.

That week I was introduced to New Orleans when one student said, “we’re going downtown to eat some pizza pie.” I had never eaten pizza, much less pizza pie. It seemed to be a strange food to me, but it was good.

That week, I also went to the reception for all students at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Roland Q. Leavell, the president. He and all the students there were straightforward to talk with and were looking forward to the year.

DR. J. D. GRAY, BOLD PASTOR/PREACHER, FBC, AND CITY LEADER Dr. Gray was a strong leader and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Pastoring in a predominantly Roman Catholic City, he had found ways to help the city overcome some of their problems and become a desirable place to live. This had been good for the seminary as it sought to evangelize and plant churches.

Dr. Gray was one of our first preachers in chapel when the school year began. We enjoyed his jokes and preaching, but afterward, other students asked us, “did you know that he openly smokes cigars?” We did not, and that did not lower our respect for him, even though smoking was NOT looked down on as it is today.

DR. LEAVELL TAUGHT AND PRACTICED EVANGELISM This was one of my first courses during my first year. We used his book, Christ’s Imperative Commission, as our textbook. Evangelism was something that he inspired us TO DO by his teaching, but also by telling us almost every class of someone he had talked with recently about Jesus. He was also an ‘old school’ teacher and required us to memorize the material for his assignment each week. The class was a good learning experience and lab for trying out many methods of sharing Christ.

Dr. Leavell ‘PREACHED’ the introduction to his book to begin the course: “GOD MOVED ON!” This was one of the most rousing calls to evangelize that I had ever heard. It made me glad I had gone to the seminary instead of following my inclination to be satisfied with the training I already had. [See Appendix] WHO WILL RECITE THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT TO THE CLASS?

A few weeks into the course he made a challenging offer, saying, “whoever will memorize the Sermon on the Mount first and recite it to the class, I will give a book on Jesus’ famous sermon.” I thought, “I can do that; I’ve already learned much of it through BMA (Bible Memory Association).” So, I started work on it as a whole.

Two weeks later, I told Dr. Leavell, “I’m ready to recite the Sermon on the Mount.” He said, “okay, I’ll call on you.” I waited one week—two weeks—and went back to him again, “I just wanted to tell you that I’m ready to quote the Sermon on the Mount.” “Okay,” he said.

I kept waiting for several weeks, and he never called on me. So, I thought to myself, “maybe he forgot all about it.”

Then one day he cleared his throat, which he only did when there was something important, he was announcing, “Mr. Matthews is going to recite the Sermon on the Mount to us.”

I was scared and, in my heart, said, “Lord, help me.” If I had looked intently at the other 119 friends and classmates of mine, I would’ve been even more scared. I walked to the microphone at the front of the auditorium used as our classroom, remembering from BMA to learn to perfection the FIRST and LAST sentences of each chapter, which meant ‘the rest of it’ would probably flow easily.

Chapter 5: “And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain: and when He sat, his disciples came unto Him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying…” I remembered. Then ending chapter 5 with “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father, which is in heaven is perfect.”

Chapter 6: “Take heed that you do not your alms before men, to be seen of them…” Ending with “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

Chapter 7: “Judge not, that ye be not judged...” Ending with, “And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”

As I finished the Sermon on the Mount and walked toward my seat, the entire class burst out with applause.

Dr. Leavell thanked me. He presented to me, I think later, two books, one being a book of his sermons. The other was one by James Thompson, The Sermon on the Mount. Inside was a note addressed to me personally, in which he told why this book was being given to me and signed, “Abidingly your friend, Roland Q. Leavell, November 8, 1955, New Orleans.”

As you can imagine, I treasure that book and the experience which brought it to me. “THANK YOU, LORD, for answering my prayer for help.” ONLY HE COULD HAVE ENABLED ME to take advantage of this opportunity to exalt Jesus and His precious teachings.

DR. ROBBINS: A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF JESUS’ ‘BLESSED’ TEACHINGS Another professor that was a blessing was Dr. Ray Robbins, New Testament Professor. One thing I enjoyed was his explanation of the “blessed” scriptures in Matthew five.

A SAMPLE OF HIS INTERPRETATION: First, Matthew 5:3 “poor in spirit”—our spiritual bankruptcy; we are in poverty spiritually. 5:4 “they that mourn”—repentance; realizing we deserve God’s judgment but will be comforted that Jesus loves us regardless. [See Appendix] Another teacher I fondly remember is Dr. J. Wash Watts. He taught the Old Testament, including the O T survey course. Having served as a missionary in Israel, he made it come alive. My last year, I audited his course on Isaiah. What a thrill to hear his descriptions of the people, culture, and Land of Israel and how Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah in that setting!

PREACHING AND WITNESSING ON BOURBON STREET The first Field Mission weekly assignment I accepted was preaching/witnessing in the Bourbon Street area of downtown New Orleans. The seminary had permission from the city for us to set up a portable power, speaker and music box on downtown streets. 15 or 20 of us rode down on the school’s bus and started by playing a hymn or two on the music box. Then one of us each week would preach, while the rest scattered out into a one block area of bars, looking for someone with whom we could share Christ.

“I THOUGHT YOU JUST ASKED JESUS TO COME INTO YOUR HEART?” ONE UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE there took place while I was sitting on the curb with a vagrant man. He allowed me to share the plan for salvation with him from my pocket New Testament. Then I asked him if he was ready to ask Jesus to forgive him and save him. He said, “yes, I’m ready.”

He bowed his head and followed me in saying, “Jesus, I know I’m a sinner; forgive me and save me.” (abbreviated). Ending his prayer, he looked up, then YELLED at the vagrant on the other side of the street, “I’ll get even with you, you damn bum!” I said to him, “I thought you just asked Jesus to come into your heart?” Standing to walk away, he yelled, “oh hell, I’ve done that plenty of times!” I stood up, shocked, not knowing anything else I could do.

MY SECOND YEAR AT NOBTS Riding with Ray Foreman was an education in PRAYER and FAITH in itself. He was the pastor of the Salem Baptist Church in nearby Brundidge. I cannot forget my first ride in his big Mercury. As we got on the straight road from Brantley to Dozier, he floorboarded it. When I sneaked a peek at the speedometer, it was bumping off 100 mph. However, God was merciful to his servants.

We made it safely!

At Dozier, he picked up Ralph Jernigan, another third-year student. However, at midyear, Ray no longer drove home on Fridays. I assume he had fewer classes and left early each week.

I began my first year of Greek, remembering the difficulty I had with foreign languages in college. It was no different at the seminary. I DID NOT become a Greek scholar, but at least it helped me to be able to use a Greek/English dictionary and to be able to look up the meanings of Greek words.

THEOLOGY THAT PUT THE CLASS TO SLEEP Dr. Ted Clark, my Systematic Theology teacher, to me, was more like a dull philosopher than an excited teacher of Biblical doctrines. He would start lecturing on a doctrine, remembering every detail of how it became relevant, who emphasized it and he would get so engrossed that it was like he was ‘in another world,’ turning to the chalkboard to write notes too small for us on the back row to read. Since he was oblivious to everything else, students on that row (where

I usually slept) would slip out the back door of the ‘shotgun’ type classroom.

He never noticed their exit. No, I resisted the temptation to join the ‘exodus.’

We were expected to read assigned books on Biblical theology, which were helpful. For our final exam, he used the method of testing we had faced in earlier tests. There was ONLY ONE QUESTION: “Write as much as you can on one important theological teaching of the Bible.” This was my favorite way of testing because I loved to write on a biblical subject which I had studied about in the Bible for years. ‘Salvation,’ my chosen doctrine, was a subject that required the entire class time, with my writing as fast as possible. That was an easy way to make an ‘A’ for me.

DR. PENROSE ST. AMANT TAUGHT CHURCH HISTORY WITH ITS SPIRITUAL LESSONS. He made it so compelling that it was hard for anyone to go to sleep. One student said, “we learned more biblical theology in his class than in any systematic theology course!” How true. His tests, however, were NOT EASY! Like most history courses, we had long reading assignments, important events, and their dates, as well as the details of what happened to learn.

We also had to research and write ‘term papers’ on various epochs of church history. For me, this was a pleasure, but it did take ‘burning the midnight oil.’

DR. GENTER L. STEPHENS TAUGHT US NONMUSICIANS HOW TO DIRECT SINGING He was a baldheaded man with quick humor and a snappy leader of church music. He assured us that all of us 25 or more, mostly ‘preacher types’ would learn to direct church music before the term was over. I was one of the many ‘doubting Thomas’ preachers at that point. He accomplished this by making us memorize the value of each note by its shape. Then the meaning of each ‘time’ sign at the beginning of the song. He led us in beating out each time. Finally, he had the music for several hymns played while we had hymnbooks open and tried to follow him as he beat it out. Eventually, I think all of us learned to direct church music ‘after a fashion.’ As I later felt God’s call to plant churches, this limited skill was helpful at times.

HITCHHIKING ADVENTURES

The last quarter of my second year, I had no transportation to get from New Orleans to Troy on Friday each week. Ray Foreman was no longer available.

So, I did what a few travelers in that day were forced to do, I hitchhiked from New Orleans, Louisiana to Troy, Alabama, each Friday afternoon and evening.

It was a 320-mile trip but seemed much longer when you’re ‘thumbing’ it.

Those days could be called “memories I like to forget.” I think the first week, a little black coupe stopped and the man motioned me to the driver’s side, “you drive; but check the oil first,” he instructed me when I finally understood his garbled words. As I pulled out the knob to open the hood, it came loose and kept coming. “That’s OK,” he mumbled, “just close the hood good.”

It soon became apparent why he needed a driver—his incoherent talking and the smell on his breath reeked of alcohol. However, I needed a ride. So, I put up with his ‘impaired’ condition and drove to Mobile. While driving, I asked him, “Have you ever trusted Jesus to save you from your sins?” I think he dozed while we were talking, so I asked him again, “have you ever been born again?” NO REPLY. Seeing a highway intersection ahead, I said, “this is where I get off,” pulling to the side of the road. Laying a gospel tract on the dash, I told him, “read the Gospel in this leaflet; Christ can give you a new life!” I grabbed my bag from the back seat and got out as he stumbled around to the driver’s seat.

As I watched him weave down the highway, there was nothing else I could do except PRAY, “Lord, protect this poor soul and bring somebody along who can help him know the Savior.”

One problem getting to Troy on Friday night was that I would get to Luverne late—9 to 10 at night and could not find a ride for the 21 miles to Troy. Sometimes I had to find a public phone (scarce in small towns), call my daddy collect and ask him, “can you come and get me in Luverne?”.

One night, a couple of young men DID stop for me. Alternatively, perhaps they were looking for fun, like scaring someone with a joy ride. When they found out I was a seminary student and preacher, they KNEW how to make it a night of thrills…The driver pressed the pedal to the floor on the powerful Old’s ‘88 they were driving. Even today, the road from Luverne to Troy is still hilly and full of ‘hairpin curves’. As the driver picked up speed rapidly, his buddy took a swig from a bottle of booze and handed it to the driver while he was going around one of those scary curves.

Did I detect a snicker from the other young man? I think so as he glanced at their praying passenger whose eyes were wide open, but he was definitely praying. Too bad, he did not offer me a drink; it would have given me a chance

from my daddy’s experience to provide him with a better life. It was a quick trip but seemed to me to never end.

Finally, they let me out in downtown Troy. I handed them a Billy Graham leaflet, “Steps to Peace with God,” and told them, “If you ever feel your need of peace with God, this will give you what the Bible promises.” Taking my small bag, I started walking the mile to my parents’ home.

When I got home near midnight, my mother was still sitting up at the dining room table with her bible. She said, “I just felt you needed God’s protection in a special way tonight, so I stayed up to pray for you.” After I thanked her, I said, “Wow! God, YOU heard HER tonight; you might instead have gotten a call from the funeral home!”

These were just samples of the ‘adventures’ when there was no other way to get home and to my church except to ‘hitch’ with whoever would stop.

As the weekend hitchhikes continued, I asked myself, “are most of the people who will stop for us ‘thumbers’ those who are drinking and driving and want help driving?” Since I can’t remember many sober drivers picking me up, I assume there was a large percentage of those who stopped in need of driving assistance.

However, I think most need even more to know and follow Jesus. Nevertheless, I’m grateful they were generous in giving a stranger/needy student a ride.

Thank God, I finished that quarter and the second year in seminary with my life and my call to ministry still intact!

During the Summer, I began to pray for a better car so that I could make it back safely through my third year. I saved all I could from the revivals preached to help on the down payment. I think my dad found a 6-cylinder Ford (people then wanted only eight-cylinder cars, especially Fords) at an ‘end of season’ sale for a very reduced price. After I scraped together all I could for the car, my parents, I think, paid the rest.

MY THIRD YEAR IN SEMINARY AT NEW ORLEANS When the Fall term began in 1957, I was scheduled to graduate in May 1957, although it became one of the most challenging, yet satisfying years of my life.

OTHER MISSION VOLUNTEER CLASSMATES HAD BECOME MY CLOSE FRIENDS By my third year, the students who felt called to mission ministry had spoken out enough, that I knew 8 or 10 fellow students who were burdened with

carrying the Gospel to foreign lands or USA areas were the evangelical message of Christ was scarce. I enjoyed learning where God was calling others to serve while praying for His direction, myself.

Each time a missionary spoke in chapel, I asked, “Lord, is that where You want me to go? However, even though I was willing to go anywhere in the U.S.A., it’s territories, or any foreign field, I received no ‘call’ or sense of God’s clear leadership. That is until I took the missions course.

DR. GREY ALLISON: “TOWNS OF 10,000 WITH NO EVANGELICAL CHURCH!” Dr. Grey Allison taught the mission course where God’s Spirit spoke to me.

He went on a round trip of mission needs in the central and west coast states of the US. On his return, he said to our class, “In California, there are towns of 10,000 people with NO EVANGELICAL church of any kind! Even in Ohio,” he reported, “I saw new suburban developments with thousands of people without a Southern Baptist Church!”

I thought, “my hometown of Troy has 10,000, and there are four Baptist Churches and others who preach the gospel.” God’s call came to me almost instantly. I surrendered right then ‘TO GO WHEREVER GOD WANTED ME TO GO TO START A CHURCH.’ That night, alone with God, I prayed, “Lord, I’ll go to one of those needy areas, and with your help, I’ll proclaim Christ and start a church!”

Through the rest of that busy and difficult year, I continued to believe that’s what God wanted me to do with my life—to plant a church or many churches in an area where the gospel of Jesus may not yet be known.

EXPOSITORY PREACHING CLASS: PREACHING WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS Dr. James Taylor led my second homiletics (preaching) class, this one on expository preaching. He taught us the value of developing our messages on what the Scripture text says. Previously I had sometimes taken a text and departed from it to preach on what I wanted to get across. While this type of message allowed the preacher to cover whatever issues he thought were needed, it failed to explain and proclaim the message of the verses read. It also led to Biblical ignorance of the congregation.

My intentions had been right—I often read one or more verses, like John 3:15–18, took a subject from it, perhaps: “God Loves the Whole World” and then developed my message with whatever points I wanted to emphasize. These might be as follows: 1. God created the world. 2. God judged the world but saved Noah and his family. 3. God sent His Son to save the world.

After turning in several expository sermon outlines and having our professor or his ‘Fellow’ (graduate student) grade my paper along with instructive notes, I learned more on expository preaching. Each student then ‘preached’ a message he had prepared to the class, while we all filled out Critique and Evaluation forms. The fun part was discussing with the preacher our critiques, while Dr. Taylor gave further insights.

“OPEN DOORS AT MIDNIGHT!” In the expository preaching class, I got to know Bobby Jack Martin much better than before. He became a lifelong friend, although we were out of touch for many years while I was serving as a home missionary in New York and he was serving as a foreign missionary in Africa.

When he brought his message to the class, he chose Acts 16: 25–32, “Open Doors at Midnight.” He drew out of the scripture text that there was (1) the open door of prayer, (2) the open door from things that imprison us, (3) the open door of the jailer’s heart, and (4) the open door of salvation for the jailer and his family. This became a scripture on which I developed similar messages throughout my lifetime.

CAN I PASS HEBREW AND GRADUATE? After over two years in seminary, I knew that there was plenty of Bible study help in understanding the language in which most Old Testament books had been written without being a Hebrew scholar. Plus, becoming an expert in Biblical languages was not going to be an essential tool in planting a new church.

Knowing these facts and hearing the horror stories by students who struggled to pass Hebrew, I DON’T KNOW WHY I TOOK IT, except that I had planned my curriculum for three years to include Languages.

I struggled to learn the bare basics of the Hebrew Language. Having put it off until my last year, I did not have much to do except endure the late hours of study and trust God to help me survive, at least with a passing grade. That’s not the best motivation, but it became my strongest in this case.

Perhaps everyone knows that there’s a different alphabet to learn with different shaped letters and punctuation.

One thing I learned well—my hat is off to anyone who becomes proficient in Hebrew! I did learn to use the tools which translate the alphabet and the words into English. Of course, that did not help me enough to pass the course.

In the Spring of 1958, before we were set to graduate in May, us third-year students taking Hebrew started meeting every Monday night to ‘help each other’ with our assignments for the week. We met in the lobby of the dorm, where most of us lived. We seemed to not only encourage each other but to help all of us ‘practice’ the words and translations we had due that week. Our professor, Dr. Olen Strange, was not only understanding but must have been merciful, because I did not hear of anyone in our group failing the course.

THREE YEARS TRAVELING, STUDYING AND ATTEMPTING TO PASTOR CAME TO AN END MAY 16, 1958, WHEN I RECEIVED MY DEGREE FROM NEW ORLEANS BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY! There was only one sad note—Dr. Roland Q. Leavell was not there. He had gone from his house of clay to an everlasting home with the Lord whom he loved. However, there were fond memories for most of us. We had learned at the feet of a school president who took the time to teach and model his passion for sharing Jesus! With most of us just beginning our lifetimes of ministry to the Lord, this was very valuable to me.

Dr. J. Wash Watts—another teacher, missionary and MAN OF GOD—had become the interim president of the seminary, who awarded us our diplomas.

Another V.I.P. was at my graduation—PEGGY JUNE GALLOWAY (soon to be Mrs. Matthews). During that year, God had drawn us together, I am sure, in order for us to have a loving partnership through which we both could fulfill His call to missions. ALL GLORY TO HIM!

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10 PARTNERS TOGETHER IN LOVE AND MINISTRY

1958 | My Age 24–until... Peggy’s Age 19–until...

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ll three years that I was attending seminary while pastor of Saint John Baptist Church, there was a group of 10 or more young ladies there in their senior years of high school. They were committed Christians, and, I’ll say, good looking and attractive, many outgoing. Peggy was one of those young ladies, but she also played the piano. So, I worked with her regularly in things related to music.

The second year I was in seminary, I also began asking her to type some things for the church. The list is endless: newspaper articles, letters, programs, flyers… Fortunately, she was taking secretarial courses, even in high school.

Not to mention that she did not expect us to pay for her work. Peggy and several of those friends graduated from high school in 1957. That summer, they started commuting daily to Troy State College.

AN UNANTICIPATED ROMANCE LEADS TO A LIFETIME PARTNERSHIP For the Fall quarter, these students chose to stay in the dorm for their first regular year in college. That became a problem for the church and me because they rode together to Troy on Sunday afternoons. That left us without a pianist for the evening service. Since we needed her to play the piano, I told her, “I’ll take you back to school if you stay to play for the evening service.” “Okay,” she agreed.

However, I had been driving another good-looking young lady home after church, Martha Sue. We would sit in the car and chat for a minute or two, and

then she would go into their house, or maybe I walked her to the door. So, I had to tell her, “I will be taking Peggy to school after church and won’t be dropping you by your house.” This was a little awkward, not that we were serious with each other, but I guess I was looking for a mate, so you never know what may happen.

After a week or two of taking Peggy to Troy, I thought, “This is a little abrupt just to drop off Peggy June”; so, I asked her, “Would you like to stop for hot chocolate before we go on to your dorm?” “Sure,” she said. After a few Sunday nights of conversation over hot chocolate, as Peggy remembers, I told her, “I never get any mail at school; if you write me this week, I’ll start writing you.”

Those letters helped us, not only share what was happening with us but personal feelings toward each other.

By the beginning of 1958, I started stopping by to talk with her on Friday nights after I got home from New Orleans. Her parents were already in bed.

We would go to the kitchen adjoining their bedroom; Peggy sat in a small chair made for her as a child, while I sat on a low stool. We began by sharing, almost whispering, what had happened to us that week. Then we inquired about each other’s feelings, especially about marriage. (i.e., Did we love each other enough to spend the rest of our lives together?)

One Friday night, I shared with her what a friend of mine at school, Wayne Upton and his girlfriend, Barbara, had done to be sure they should get married.

After feeling they loved each other a lot, each decided to pray and to ask God to show them if HE wanted them to get married. When they both felt God was leading them to marry, he came to school and told us, his friends, excitedly: “that’s all you have to know. If it’s God’s will for you to marry each other, go ahead and get engaged! WE DID!” Peggy and I began to pray for God to show us his will. Of course, some of us at school who tried his approach did not find it immediately helpful. Peggy and I talked about it and decided that God was leading us to get married. But after a week or two, we decided we had ‘jumped the gun.’ So, we waited for a few weeks and then told each other again, “I still want to be engaged to you.”

Yet, after a week, we began to have doubts, so we canceled our date with each other to be married.

At the same time, both of us were going through various things at school that required a lot of late-night study and other issues that left us under stress. When I asked God to show me HIS ANSWERS to my difficulties and uncertainty about marrying Peggy, HE GAVE ME PEACE after I asked myself: ‘Has HE led us together? A clear ‘YES!’ Do I love HER? And does SHE love ME?’ Both a strong ‘YES’!

I finally reached a point when I said to Peggy: “I love you deeply and I’m now sure God wants us together! Will you marry me?” “YES!” she said with deep feeling as she gave me a big hug.

Peggy’s parents had heard me tell about wanting to go out West or somewhere else far from Alabama. Churches need to be started in many of these places which would not be like the ‘dead’ ones there. With pastors who would preach the gospel personally door-to-door and from the pulpit. God, I felt, was calling ME to start some of those churches. Her mother did not seem unhappy about this. Her dad was heartbroken about his little girl being taken to live so far away from home. He said, “If you go with Clifford somewhere a long way from here, we’ll seldom ever see you again until we die.”

His feelings did not stop her from agreeing to go with me to Montgomery to pick out her engagement and wedding rings. Where did I get the money? I started first by raiding my piggy bank. From my childhood, I had saved money $25 from the sale of a calf my parents gave me when I was only twelve, silver dollars I had picked up along the way, two-dollar bills given to me, older silver coins and a $25 War Savings Bond.

These were ALL MY VALUABLES. I converted all this to cash and the little I had saved since we began to get serious (from revivals that Summer) as we went to Montgomery for her to select her engagement and wedding rings. It was fun to watch her smile when she found just the right ones! It was also gratifying to see her friends’ responses when she showed them her engagement ring. I had seldom seen such ‘carrying on!’

The rest of the Summer, both of us were very busy—ME preaching revivals and HER living and working in Montgomery, while preparing for the wedding set for October 12, 1958.

I was also struggling with where God wanted me to serve first after leaving St. John when we got married. Two opportunities were offered to me: my brother-in-law, Jim Cumbie, was superintendent of a small school district in Butler County and was preparing to move. He told me, “I’m sure the school board will invite you to succeed me, with your advanced degree, if I recommend you.”

As the Fall drew closer, He told me, “I’ve got to know whether you will take this job or it will be too late! You can make a good living here and still serve as pastor of a church.”

At the same time, I had gotten to know a fellow student, James Nelson. He was a mission-minded man with a family of eight. God had used him to revive and grow the East Brewton Baptist Church in East Brewton, Alabama. He had shared with me, “God has laid on my heart to start five churches in this area.

Will you and Peggy come start one? If you feel God’s leading, perhaps Cedar Hill and Dixonville, down in the edge of Florida, could be started at the same time.”

I made a trip and met with Johnny Belle Batson who lived in the Cedar Hill area. She was deeply burdened for the lost in that area, where she and her family lived. Her husband, Dempsey, saw the need but did not promise to be an active participant. James Nelson drove me through the community where 750 to 1000 people lived, with no evangelistic church. His church was only 3 or 4 miles away, yet they had NOT been able to reach many people in the Cedar Hill area.

After I looked over the community where many people lived without an evangelistic witness, I felt that’s where God wanted us to live and serve. Then I called my brother-in-law and told him, “God has called us to plant a church, and I will not be interested in being the School principal.”

One problem was that the church had no money to help pay a pastor to start the church. This meant that the people who were brought to Christ would need to immediately begin paying the church expenses (rent, utilities, literature), as well as what they could to support their pastor. Peggy had said, “I’m willing to work as a secretary somewhere in the area.”

A shirt factory was looking for a typist at that time.

Brother Nelson had asked the Alabama Baptist State Board of missions if they could provide pastoral assistance for a while to help with the salary of the pastor who was to start the churches. A month before we were to get married, we still did not know whether there would be any assistance available.

We prayed and waited another week. Soon he called to let me know, “Alabama Baptists will provide $200 a month toward your salary.” This gave us more confidence that God was leading us there. And that we would be able to make it without being ‘in a tight’ financially.

Just a week before the wedding, Peggy’s daddy said to her, “If you don’t marry him, we’ll buy you a new car!” Thank God, that did not discourage Peggy from moving ahead, as she turned down her dad’s offer.

PARTNERS TOGETHER IN LOVE, & MINISTRY” —WHEREVER HE LEADS, WE’LL GO!” The wedding was all either of us had ever hoped for: we stood in front of a giant heart decorated with flowers made by the florist. Her mother had made her beautiful long dress, as well as the dresses for the bridesmaids. Brother Bow-

man, my pastor from Northside, led the ceremony, including our vows. My sister, Jane, sang for us, “Wherever He Leads We’ll go!” And a romantic song. Her daddy did give her away and showed no regret. My daddy was my best man.

“MR. AND MRS. CLIFFORD MATTHEWS, HUSBAND AND WIFE, FOR AS LONG AS YOU BOTH LIVE.” Then that memorable moment—“I now pronounce you husband and wife!”

We were finally committed to each “for as long as we both lived!” A never-to-be-forgotten joy filled our hearts. YES, I kissed the bride!

After the reception at the church, we changed clothes and prepared to leave on our car, decorated appropriately by young people from the church. Of course, they had written things all over it and hung cans behind the back bumper. As we got into the car and waved goodbye, I started it and ‘gave her the gas,’ but nothing happened—we did not go anywhere. Some of the teenage boys had jacked up our back wheels, so all they did was turn. They had to have some fun with their ‘preacher’ before he left them! After that was corrected, we were on our way.

PEOPLE IN LOVE AN UNFORTUNATE CHURCH SERVICE Our first night was spent in a motel in Montgomery. We decided to go worship at the First Baptist Church. This was where Peggy attended while she worked that summer in Montgomery. When we got to church and went into the worship service, it soon dawned on us that we had dropped in on a Deacons’ ordination service. Not too inspirational for newlyweds, but we did not leave. I still don’t know why not.

HONEYMOONING IN A CABIN AT DESOTO STATE PARK As we drove the next morning toward our ‘honeymoon’ cabin in the Desoto State Park in North Alabama on a mountain highway, we had a flat tire. The road slanted sharply downhill to the right. As I jacked up the car to put on the spare, it started leaning, as if would slip off the jack and go downhill to no telling where. So, I said to Peggy, “You hold up the car on this side while I take off the flat and put on the spare.” Believe it or not, she held the car up, so it did not slip off down the mountain. Talk about a strong partner—WOW! It was a wonderful few days together. The mountain scenery—a high waterfall was running off the rocks at the top and then dropping into the small stream far below. A visit to an underground cavern, which I believe was our first. But none of these brought joy to us like being so enthralled with each other.

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11 OUR FIRST CHURCH STARTS —CEDAR HILL & DIXONVILLE 1958 | My Age 24–until... Peggy’s Age 19–until...

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fter stopping back by to see our parents, we finally arrived at our home sweet home in East Brewton, Alabama. It was a small house, which a compassionate church member donated to our use free for the first month. Another member who had rental apartments brought a refurbished sofa and bed. The pastor of our sponsoring church, James Nelson, saw we had no refrigerator, stove or kitchen table.

He returned to the church and came back with a man from his church, who helped us unload the refrigerator and stove from the church kitchen and a small kitchen table with chairs.

It was a joy to finally begin our lives together, in love with each other and deeply committed to what God had called us to do – start churches in Cedar Hill and Dixonville.

MENTORED, PRAYED, VISITED PROSPECTS AND WORKED HARD James Nelson’s vision for East Brewton Baptist Church was to start 5 new churches in the area, even though his church had only 200 to 300 in attendance.

James’ wife, Anis, was a great mother of 4 girls and 1 boy, and a good cook.

She also helped us newlyweds by showing Peggy how to make biscuits, which gave us many years of delicious breakfasts.

After we moved in, Mrs. Batson gave me the names of some people she knew, whom she thought would be interested in the church or responsive to the Gospel.

Dempsey showed me the possible meeting place— a building which had

previously been a bar, caught on fire and was now vacant. We visited the lady next door, who owned it. She agreed to rent the building for a revival, two weeks later, and longer if needed.

Some members of East Brewton Church, Dempsey and I cleaned it and got rid of the smoke smell. Others brought folding chairs for us to use as long as we were in the temporary facility. It had a low ceiling but was adequate to seat 30 or more people. We also obtained a borrowed piano for the music.

After setting the first week of November for a week-long revival, I had two weeks to meet people, share Christ, and invite them to the revival. Going doorto-door, I told them, “we’re starting a new church, and I’m taking a religious census to find out who lives here and their spiritual needs.” In that day and place where people were more trusting, even of those they did not know, they shared each family members name, age, and religious preference. If they had a phone, they gave me their number, as well as address.

I then asked each adult, “are you a Christian?” For each who was, I asked, “where are you a church member?” After writing down the family information on a religious census card, I would ask those who said they were not Christians, “may I share what the bible says is necessary to be saved?” Almost everybody replied, “yes.” After reading Romans 3:23, 6:23, 5:8, and 10:9–11, I asked them individually, “Would you like to invite Christ into your life?”

Since people in that day considered this to be a very serious decision, most simply said, “I’ll think about it.” I gave them a scripture tract, New Testament, or Gospel of John and invited them to the revival. We then enjoyed a few minutes of getting better acquainted.

During the two weeks, we invited everyone to meet each Wednesday night at the Batsons for prayer and to get to know each other better. On Sundays, we had a mini worship service in their home. Singing from hymn books without an instrument and my sharing a message from the Bible. We also invited those who wanted to confess Christ or transfer their membership to the new mission church to come forward. I don’t remember anyone coming. Peggy and I and the Batsons had already made our commitment to transfer our memberships to the new church.

It was a different day, when most women, but especially mothers, DID NOT work outside the home. They welcomed the pastor into their homes and shared their family’s needs freely. Most said, “We’ll come to the revival at least one night.” Others promised, “I’ll try to come to the revival meeting in the refurbished house.”

To begin with, we had 10 or 12 people from the community attend the revival. This number grew night by night until the temporary building was filled

with 35 people. At least 5 or 6 people confessed Christ as their Savior and asked for baptism. Seven or eight came to transfer their membership, including three families from our sponsor Church.

Those I remember are Dempsey, Johnnie Belle and their son, Gordon Ray Batson; Catherine Hyde and her children; Raymond (for baptism) and Mary Weaver and their two small children; Eldon and Mrs. Weaver and their two grown daughters, Eunice and Louise (baptized); George and Hazel Holder; Grace Hoomes with her children, Ruth and Kenney; Mr. and Mrs. Spinks; and others, whose names I do not remember. Some of these confessed Christ and were baptized, but I’m not sure which.

After the service on the last night, I met with those who had made a decision. Ten or twelve of them were there. I told them, “we need a Sunday School superintendent to enlist workers and visit with me, Sunday school teachers, a treasurer, and a clerk.”

Raymond Weaver, a new Christian, agreed, “If you’ll work with me to lead the Sunday School, telling me what to do, I’LL SERVE.” Catherine Hyde decided, “I’ll care for the young children in Sunday School and church.” Jonnie Belle Batson agreed, “I’ll be the church treasurer if you’ll elect Finance and Counting Committees.” Someone offered to be the church clerk and others to work with the children and youth. I taught the adults and Peggy another age group to begin with.

We briefly planned our services for the next month, meeting in the same facility. Wednesday nights, we met to pray, study the Bible, and review plans for Sunday school and worship the next Sunday. We also talked about families for whom we would pray or visit. I volunteered, “Raymond and I will visit those for whom we are praying.”

Our primary goals for the first year of the mission church: continue building relationships and witnessing to people while planning other activities to teach God’s word and grow the church. Most of the members began serving through their changed lives, teaching God’s Word, or helping with building maintenance or greeting others at the services. Admittedly, not all were faithful every Sunday and Wednesday. We gathered a few together for a small choir, including all ages.

A month or two after Cedar Hill was started, Peggy and I started the Dixonville Baptist Mission, across the river, partly in the edge of Florida. It was about 5 miles away. This meant that Peggy and I taught Sunday school at 9 o’clock at Cedar Hill and had morning worship at 10; then we drove to Dixonville and conducted worship at 11, followed by Sunday School at 12. Peggy played the piano, and I preached and led worship at all the services.

Peggy especially worked hard. She rose early each weekday to prepare breakfast for us. I then drove her to work at the shirt factory, where she typed all day long. When I picked her up in the early evening, we went home and ate her quickly-prepared meal before going to a planning meeting at one of the churches or visiting those receptive when the whole family was home.

CHURCH CONSTITUTED WITH 50 MEMBERS After about a year after starting, I felt we were strong enough to function on our own as a church. Our mission congregation asked the East Brewton Church and the missionary of the Escambia Baptist Association to help us organize as a church. This required our agreeing on our Purposes, Church Covenant, Articles of Faith and the legal documents required to be a non-profit organization.

After our sponsoring church and the mission church agreed on the proposed documents, we invited ordained pastors and deacons of other Baptist Churches to meet to review our records and to approve our Constitution as a new church.

Those who could come met, discussed possible changes with us, and reviewed our program for the Constitution Service. Several went for the Sunday afternoon service.

We had already prepared a one-page statement of our intention to obtain property, erect a church building and to proclaim Christ in all the world through giving to missions and going where God led us. We stated our intention to request affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention, Alabama Baptists, and the local association. In advance, we asked those who would commit to being members to sign a roster.

At the service we sang a hymn, inviting others to come forward and sign the list, which would make them charter members of the new church. I think a few new people came to confess their faith or transfer their membership.

On November 8, 1959, we constituted as the CEDAR HILL BAPTIST CHURCH, about a year after we formally started, following our first revival.

It was a great time of celebration for us at Cedar Hill in East Brewton, but also for all the churches in the Association. We rejoiced that God had blessed His Word, saved people, and honored the churches by giving fruit for His Kingdom!

It doesn’t get any better than that for followers of Christ.

We were already looking at possible sites for a church building. The property was soon found on which to build our first ‘church’ building. The property was purchased, and plans were adopted for it. Even though we had obtained building plans and a loan from the Home Mission Board, we needed volunteers to do

most of the construction. These came mainly from the new church, including nonmember men. A few men from the East Brewton Church gave us help.

WE ALSO SOLD CHURCH BONDS TO HELP FINANCE OUR BUILDING Peggy and I bought a $500 bond. We financed our purchase and finished paying for it, I think before we moved from Cedar Hill. I found out how difficult construction work could be, especially when someone is out-of-shape. The sore hands, aching back and muscles, and general fatigue are unforgettable after that first Saturday we dug the trenches and poured the concrete for the foundation walls. Did they have backhoes in the 50s? I don’t know, but our leading men— Dempsey Batson, Raymond Weaver, new members and men from our sponsor church, surely knew a better way. OR, maybe they were following my urging to ‘do everything possible to save money.’

Anyway, the carpenter we had hired to guide us, pounded sticks into each corner, marking off each side of the footing. It was to be about 18” wide and 12” to 15” deep, all dug with hand shovels by perhaps six or seven of us. I thought THAT was tiring. We then started making the concrete in a gasoline-powered mixer towed in by a pickup truck. I’m guessing it made 4 or 5 gallons of the mix at a time. We heaved in several shovels of gravel and sand, then poured in the needed water and a bag of mortar. The cement mixer then turned it ‘round and ‘round until it was thoroughly mixed.

That’s when the hard work began—we put our 5-gallon buckets under the spout, and he filled each about half full of mixed concrete. I could hardly ‘lug’ mine to the place where the foreman wanted it. After we used all that ‘making,’ we started the process all over again; however, some of us were so worn out, we doubted our survival through another ‘making’ of concrete. After perhaps a half-day of this ‘bone-wrenching’ labor, all I wanted was some more cold water and a place to lie down and rest.

Believe it or not, by working most Saturdays and many nights during four or five months, we finished the building, seating 75 for worship, 2 restrooms, 3 classrooms, and an office. Most of our active adults and some youth stuck with us all the way. WHY? To have a building which will attract those who needed Christ, who might never come to our converted bar.

ON JUNE 19, 1960, WE HAD OUR FIRST SERVICES IN THE NEW FACILITY

AN EVENT MANY OF US REMEMBER: U.S. U-2 SPY PLANE SHOT DOWN BY RUSSIANS That happened the month before we had our first service in the new building. I remember that Khrushchev gleefully presented the pilot, Francis Gary Powers. President Eisenhower candidly admitted he had known and approved the U-2 flights. I think most Americans at the time simply assumed such actions to gather intelligence by our leaders was necessary to be prepared to defend ourselves THAT FALL WE HELD A REVIVAL IN OUR NEW BUILDING Brother James Nelson preached and his younger brother, Morris Nelson, led the worship music. James and I visited prospects, both lost and saved, each afternoon, talking with them about following Christ. Some, although I don’t remember how many, confessed Christ and asked to be baptized. Others recommitted their lives and transferred their membership.

Our next two years were filled with the joys of family and friends of our members at Cedar Hill coming to Christ and the struggles of new Christians as they grew and sometimes were defeated in attempting to follow Christ. It was a very busy time as I (we) had a tough time starting the Dixonville Mission, with Peggy still working as a secretary, by then at First Baptist Church, Brewton.

Some of our remembrances of Cedar Hill, precious to us, are those of people whose lives were transformed as they trusted Christ as Savior or became more deeply committed to HIM. There were too many to list their names, and we can’t remember all their names after over 50 years. Peggy and I will never forget their love and sacrifices to expand God’s Kingdom. We look forward to seeing them again at the feet of Jesus in heaven. [See Appendix] DIXONVILLE (LATER RENAMED TO RIVERSIDE) BAPTIST MISSION Even though we had a tent revival at Dixonville, a couple of months after starting Cedar Hill, there were very few people who got involved, and it was challenging to get the church started.

A ‘REAL MISSION FIELD’!

We began with significant needs and bright prospects. There was no other church in the Dixonville area except the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Reorganized—commonly referred to as LDS. There were no evangelical churches located within a five-mile radius of this populated rural area. Significant numbers of people of various ages, especially large numbers of children, lived in the region. The part of the area in Florida was a prosperous farming area, with fertile, flat land. Farmers had built beautiful homes and operated the latest farm equipment. Ninety percent were members of the LDS Church.

A family living on the main road, Alabama 41, offered to let us erect a tent on their lot across the highway from their house. This is the main route to Milton, Florida, to which some people in the East Brewton area drive daily in carpools for the better-paying jobs.

We experienced discouraging results in our Dixonville tent revival. East Brewton and Cedar Hill men had obtained the use of a tent, which provided room for seating 100 or more people. They brought folding chairs for 100, a podium, and a small stage. They helped us distribute attractive flyers about the revival to each home in the community.

I put the news on the radio station and in the local paper, announcing, ‘New church starting at Dixonville.’ We were optimistic about the tent revival based on the excellent response we had seen earlier in our revival in the refurbished burned-out building at Cedar Hill.

The November weather hindered attendance. Chilly rain required our finding a space heater and propane tank to keep people warm inside the tent. It was not the safest arrangement, but the best we could do with our ‘fair weather equipment.’

The first night or two, only eight or ten people came from the community and about that many from Cedar Hill church. The family from across the road, including two children, came and brought an elderly lady with them.

Three or four children from Cedar Hill joined the three or four from the community to sing the choruses they had learned there.

God’s spirit affirmed his presence as I preached on “Open Doors at Midnight” from Acts 16. We asked all Christians to come early the next night to pray for the revival and people they knew who needed Jesus.

As I visited door to door, it became clear that most people in Dixonville itself were related in some way to the Latter Day Saints Church. They resisted even letting me talk with them. When I shared with anyone who came to the door what we were doing, they said: “We’re not interested!” Others simply replied, “OK,” as they closed the door. The very few times I got to ask anyone, “Are you a Christian?” their quick reply was, “I’m a Latter-Day Saint.”

At least one encouraging visit came when we met a family with roots back in Tarentum, Alabama, where Peggy grew up. We talked with Gordon and Martha McClendon and enjoyed the time of reminiscing on what it was like in the rural area where they grew up.

Then I asked Gordon, “Are you a Christian?” “Yes,” he replied, “we’re Christians, and this area needs another church.” Then he confided with me, “The people who go to that building on the next road do not talk like Christians.

We went once, and it did not seem like a church; I think it’s a ‘cult’.”

By then, I was getting excited about finding this couple, thinking, “Here are some folks who will help us start the church!” So, I asked them, “Will you help us start this new church?” “We’ll do all we can,” Gordon replied, “but don’t ask us to join—we’re leaving our membership at Dorcas Church, where we hope to be buried someday.” They did come to many of our services, including the tent revival.

Nearing the last night of the revival, only two families from the community plus the McClendon’s had attended. Only the family across the road and their lady boarder had requested to transfer their membership; no one had come to Christ. My spirits were as chilly as the cold weather.

On the last day of the revival, James Nelson, my church sponsoring pastor, offered to visit with me early that morning. We visited where I had not been—in the outlying areas and roads of the community—and found a sparse population of people. After talking to a couple whose house was in a beautiful setting, their not-too-enthusiastic response was, “we can’t come to the revival tonight, but we will think about coming to the new church some Sunday.”

As we walked back to James’s rundown truck, he pointed to the sun appearing large just a little above the horizon. Its beams were streaming through the tall pines and highlighting brightly colored wildflowers. “Isn’t God great!”

James smiled with delight; “He made all this beauty, but no wonder, He’s the Almighty! Even more amazing, He loved us enough to send his son Jesus to die for our sins on the cross!”

A lump came up in my throat, and I prayed silently to the father, “Forgive me for doubting your power to draw people to Jesus as I’ve proclaimed the Gospel.” As we drove toward home and talked, James and I discussed the challenges and opportunities. He said, “This is a difficult mission field but the power of the Gospel to change lives is still our power!”

Soon after the revival, our new-found friend, Gordon McClendon, asked me, “Do you realize your new member has invited a man to live with her without marrying him?” This brought me to a new awareness that Satan was continuing

his work. Confiding with James, I told him, “I realize there’s no way we can start a church when our first members live like that!”

So, I invited three men from Cedar Hill and East Brewton to go with me to visit this erring couple. As we talked with them, I asked her, “are the two of you married?” Her response, “that’s none of your business; it’s OUR LIVES; we can live as we please.” “I’m sorry,” I replied, “but we cannot keep you as a member of the church if you’re going to live that way. Why would you make that choice when you know what the Bible teaches?” She replied as though I would surely understand, “he will have to give up part of his pension if we ever get married. We need that money.”

“May I ask you another question?” I answered. This time HE reacted angrily, “We don’t need any nosy preacher telling us what to do. We’ll do what we want to, whatever you say. Get out of our house!” As we walked away, I thought, “What could I have done to convince her how serious it is to claim to be a follower of Jesus?” There was deep sadness felt by us Christian men as we drove away.

By the time the tent revival ended, we had found a decent vacant house to rent as our first meeting place. First, we had to clean it up and decide which two rooms we could combine for the worship area. This left three rooms for Sunday school classrooms. After meeting there for 3 or 4 months, I got a call from the owner, “The house you are renting was set on fire,” he said, “and I think it was arson. I cannot rent it to you anymore.”

Since we could find no other available meeting place in Dixonville, we had to look closer to East Brewton near the Conecuh River. There we rented a lovely house. It was just three miles west of the handful of families in Dixonville on Hwy 47 and near Riverview Road East. That road also went west toward Jay, Florida, about 6 miles away. After relocating, we changed our name to Riverview Baptist Mission but continued to look for property to buy in Dixonville.

Riverview Road had become a favorite place for working people to come to live. Consequently, it was more densely populated than most rural areas. Retail clerks, mechanics, and loggers had found a pleasant rural setting where they had moved their families, often with several children.

THIS IS THE LAST TIME I WILL MOVE THIS PIANO! There we also found a home for Peggy’s piano. Moving it from her parent’s house in Tarentum was far more complicated than we expected. I got three of my friends from Troy and Tarentum to come to help me move it, thinking two men on each end would be enough.

It was easy enough for us to roll it out of the Galloways home onto the porch, but when we got to the steps, we ran into difficulty. With two of us on each end of the piano, we struggled to lower it down the steps one at a time. But as we were attempting to roll it out on boards into the truck, one board gave way.

Without one of our guys rushing to hold it up on that side, it would have crashed to the ground and probably injured some of us. We finally did recover it and got it into the truck.

Eventually, we got the piano to the church meeting place at Riverview. There I called some of the men from Cedar Hill and East Brewton. Six came to help us move it from the truck, literally carrying it from the truck to its new resting place. It was then that we looked inside the piano only find that the entire frame WAS SOLID METAL “This is the last time I will move this piano,” I told Peggy, “this will be its permanent home!”

MRS. PIERCE AND HER FAMILY HELPED ENLIST MANY FOR THE NEW CHURCH As I visited on Riverview Road, one mother and her children got excited about the new church. Immediately they start coming to Sunday school and worship, bringing three of their neighboring children.

When I visited back with the Pierce family, there was an opportunity for me to share the gospel with her and her husband, Curtis. She was very receptive, but I did not pressure them to make a commitment then. He was less enthusiastic about the church but did at least come with her. That Sunday, she came forward during the invitation, followed by him; each prayed for Jesus to save her/him and asked for baptism.

Mrs. Pierce also offered, “I can help teach the children and will be glad to take Peggy with me to visit my neighbors. On Saturday, she and Peggy visited several families with children. Some of them came to Sunday School, including two or three parents. It was great to have a new Christian who was a part of our church family and enjoyed helping get other people involved.

In preparation for our Spring Revival, we arranged to have ‘cottage prayer meetings’ in at least two homes. The first home was with the family across from where the tent had been, on the edge of Florida. Even though they had not been very faithful to attend church since our meeting place had moved, they did agree for us to meet in their home and to invite others to come. Only their family and three other people showed up, but we were glad to have even three new people. I led the small group in prayer and then asked those present to come to

our revival to be held in our new meeting place.

The ‘cottage prayer service’ hosted by Mrs. Pierce showed what God can do through a new Christian. She asked her son to open his larger house. Twenty to twenty-five people packed into the house. Peggy and I led the children in singing the songs they had learned at church. They loved it and the new children wanted to learn them. Peggy, Mrs. Pierce, and I prayed briefly for these families and for the revival. This ‘crowd’ seemed packed with people SEEKING TO KNOW One who had changed the Pierce family. It was obvious that God was at work. His Spirit spoke to my heart, saying, “This is your opportunity to proclaim the gospel of Jesus your Lord.”

I brought an evangelistic message I think from John 3:16. In the end, I asked those present, “Do you believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins?” Many nodded in the affirmative; so, I asked, ‘are you willing to invite him to come into your life and save you? If so, raise your hand.” When 10 or more raised their hands, I led them in a prayer to invite Jesus into their lives. Then I asked those who had prayed, will you come forward Sunday at church and confess your faith in Christ and ask for baptism?” I think most of them nodded in agreement. Praise God for His Almighty work!

Before the revival, I tried to talk with all those who had committed themselves and reviewed the plan of salvation with them. It was a great time to answer their questions and to ask, “Are you still sure you want to follow Christ?”

Most answered, “Yes!” I think most of them eventually confessed their faith in Christ, were baptized and became members of the new church. How amazing what GOD had done when I had felt starting this church was hopeless just a few months before! This experience was a significant factor in preparing Peggy and me for a lifetime of planting churches.

That summer we had our first VBS with 25 children present, more some days.

Many members and other volunteers helped conduct an excellent program for the children. We were excited that God had broken open the doors in a needy area for a new mission church. But especially that HE had drawn them to Jesus.

A SUPPORTER BECOMES A DIVIDER Soon after the VBS, a middle-aged man, who introduced himself as Brother Jack Matthews, visited us from the Baptist Church in Jay, Florida. He eventually joined, saying to the mission church, “I’m a lay preacher, can teach Sunday school and even fill the pulpit when the pastor has to be away.” He seemed to be passionate to spread the gospel, and we welcomed him as we would anyone who would help us.

He immediately started teaching a Sunday School class. Soon I asked him, “Will you supply-preach for me on Sunday night when I will be away in a revival?” Peggy said to me when I returned home, “He did a pretty good job for a lay preacher.” Two or three weeks later, I was away in another revival and returned in time to preach on Sunday. When we got to the church, only about half as many people, as usual, showed up.

Somebody asked Peggy, “Did you and Clifford get a copy of a letter from brother Jack Matthews? “No,” she replied. Then I asked, “What did it say?” The lady replied, “It said, ‘Brother Cliff is still looking for property in Dixonville, but the church should be located near the river. If you agree, meet with me at Brother Smith’s home Sunday, and we will start another church.’ “Sure enough, even though I had baptized most of those new Christians, about half of them left us.

Although this was an unfortunate incident, which set our church start back, I learned a lot, and we continued together to spread the gospel for at least another year through the Riverview Baptist Church. One of the exciting experiences of those two years was inviting two young men from Brewton, George Nall (Elsie) and Dewey Odom (Jackie), to start preaching on Sunday nights at Riverview.

After our building at Cedar Hill was completed, our ministries and the demands on my time increased. Add the four services on Sunday, and it’s obvious why it was a relief to have some help. We also saw these two young men develop into good ministers of the Gospel.

One of them, George Nall, with his wife, Elsie, later became pastor of the Riverview Church. In 1963, when he became pastor, it had been renamed again to the Southside Baptist Church. I understand that George and Elsie had several years of ministry there. I think the other young man went to seminary to further prepare himself.

I thank God for revealing His great rewards to church planters, that in spite of all the discouraging defeats and even the hindrances of others, His purposes WILL BE FULFILLED!

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12 PANAMA­­—LEARNING TO ADAPT AND STAYING ON MISSION 1962–1964 | God Gives Us Children

PRELUDE: We lived and served in the Canal Zone and assisted with mission work in the Republic of Panama for three years—January 1962 through December 1964.

T

he Panama Baptist Convention was organized in April 1959, by drawing together four groups of Baptists: (1) Spanish speaking, by far the largest population living in all parts of the country with their largest church being First Baptist Church of Panama City. (2) English speaking West Indian churches made up of African background people, some formerly a part of the Jamaican Baptist Union. (3) Many Native Indian churches with the most significant number of churches and by far the largest population being the Kuna speaking San Blas Indian churches on the Southern Atlantic Coast and mainly on numerous offshore islands. (4) English speaking churches made up mostly of United States citizens with all four churches located within the Canal Zone.

All the Canal Zone churches sponsored several mission churches, mostly with Spanish speaking people. The state religion of Panama is Roman Catholic but only predominate among the Spanish speaking people. There were vast jungle areas of the country where only small groups of Indians lived speaking their own dialects. Despite all the different groups of people, I seldom ran into noticeable animosity against me as a United States citizen except for Roman Catholic opposition to our outreach among Spanish speaking people. This was the largest and dominant group of people in the country.

HOW WE FOUND OUT ABOUT AND GOT TO THE CANAL ZONE In the early part of 1960, James Nelson, my sponsor church pastor, began to make plans to move to the Panama Canal Zone. He shared how Edmond (‘Stoney’) Stallworth had told him about the needs there, even while they were both in Howard college. In June 1960, Nelson and his family moved to start a new church in Gamboa, halfway between Balboa on the Pacific and Colon on the Atlantic, in the Canal Zone. The Cocoli Baptist Church, where brother Stallworth (Stony) was now pastor, sponsored the church he started and from which they reached out to other areas needing the Gospel.

When they first got there, there was no housing available in the Canal Zone, so he bought pieces of plywood and boarded up the underneath parking garage of another missionary for his family of eight.

They lived there for several months, using the half bath and the downstairs laundry room as their only access to water as well as bathing.

By October 1960 the Chagres River Baptist Church of Gamboa was organized.

This put a new church made up mostly of United States Pan Canal workers and their families located midway from the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the Canal.

James also needed a boat to go on the vast Gatun Lake to villages of Panamanian squatters along its shores. Finding nothing he could afford, he went to the army salvage store, where he found an adequate boat, but it had a hole in the side. He bought it for $25 and fixed it up so he could visit these villages who had no gospel witness.

He also had another problem. He did not speak Spanish. But he had learned how to pronounce Spanish words; so, he took tracts, small leaflets in Spanish and read them to the people. Using this method, he could share the gospel with everyone who would listen in each village. In one community, the mayor wanted to hear his message. After he had listened to the message from the leaflet James used, he committed himself to Christ and was baptized with the other new believers in his village.

In June of 1961 my sister, Jane, and her husband, Earl Jeffres, also moved to the Canal Zone. He and Jane had also become friends with the Stallworths and learned about the needs in Panama while they were at Howard. In 1961 Earl had already received his medical degree in the states.

They moved to the Canal Zone for him to do a one-year intern at Gorgas Hospital from June 1961 until June 1962.

One of his dreams was to do medical clinics in the Republic of Panama. This door opened for him. Panamanian mission churches got permission from their

government for him to conduct medical clinics. Many poor families, who may not have seen a doctor before, were treated, allowing the church members to share Christ with them.

Edmund “Stoney” Stallworth influenced the Nelsons, my sister, Jane, with Earl and Peggy and me to consider serving in Panama and the Canal Zone.

I learned about the mission needs in Panama through the Nelsons and as well as Earl and Jane. It was evident to me that there was a great mission challenge there. So, it was no surprise to us when we received a letter of invitation from the Cocoli Baptist Church inviting us to visit there in view of possibly becoming their pastor.

Brother Stallworth had resigned as the church’s pastor to become their mission leader. During his military service years before in the canal zone, he had met Olga, a young Panamanian lady who helped lead him to trust Christ. She had returned to the states with him to get his education at Howard College. They had then returned to the canal zone where he continued to work for the U.S. Postal Service, which also allowed him to work his way through college.

Even before his call to be the pastor of the church, he had helped them start a new mission church at Huille, just 25 miles into the Republic of Panama. He had also helped them build the church structure at Huille in 1957.

In 1958 he was called as pastor of the Cocoli Baptist Church. During the time that he was pastor, he helped them start four new mission churches in remote areas throughout Panama.

So, the church paid for Peggy and me to fly down for a visit and to preach in a revival during December of 1961. I had felt called to plant churches in a ‘pioneer,’ area of the United States, but I wanted to get more experience first.

So, I shared with Peggy, “perhaps we need this mission experience to get us ready to serve where it’s going to be hard.” “Okay,” she answered, “it won’t hurt to check it out.”

We drove to Miami and caught Panama Airways flight to the canal zone. It was a test of faith to even fly on this vintage World War II plane, which had been remodeled into a passenger plane. It shook like it was going to come apart before we got off the ground right. In flight, it rattled and shook like no plane we had boarded before.

Brother Stallworth and some of the people from the church welcomed us with smiles and a gift at the airport before driving us to the Canal Zone church.

On the way, they pointed out “squatters’ mountain” where hundreds of people lived in huts made of cardboard and scraps of metal and wood. It was a

vivid picture of physical need in this strange country where the doors were wide open for sharing the gospel.

COCOLI PEOPLE WELCOMED US TO PANAMA IN 1962 The exciting week at the church allowed us to meet wonderful U.S. military and a few civilians at the church and to see just a little of the mission activities of the church. It affirmed our sense of God’s call to serve with them.

After we returned to the states, an airmail letter soon arrived from the church, informing us: “Cocoli has called you to become our pastor. If you agree that God has called you to serve with us, we hope you can be here by about the middle of January. The Pan Canal Company has agreed for you to move with your belongings on their ship. The next cruise leaves January 15.” Peggy and I felt God leading us to accept their call. We notified the church and prayed God would guide us in finishing up with the two churches He had allowed us to start.

We had only three weeks to resign the Cedar Hill Church and Riverview Mission Church, pack our limited belongings, and say goodbye to our families.

On January 15, we departed from New Orleans via the Pan Canal ship, the Cristobal. Passage on it was usually reserved for the U.S. employees of the Pan Canal Company. Along with our packed suitcases, a box or two of books and our clothes, the ship brought on board our small American rambler auto.

To Peggy and me, who had never been to sea, it was comparable to an ex-

tended (10-day) vacation cruise in the Bahamas. The food was excellent—tropical fruit, tasty gulf seafood of all kinds, and many dinner choices from the best steaks to deserts we had not had before. All served by our waiter with a towel over an arm to respond to our slightest desire. We spent much daytime on the deck, viewing the beauty of the gulf or relaxing in our room. Seeing a movie or talking with our new friends kept our time interesting. We enjoyed all this, knowing the sacrifices we would be called on to make as missionaries would be a drastic change.

PANAMA AND THE CANAL ZONE: ON-THE-MOVE MILITARY FAMILIES AND HARD-WORKING CIVILIANS The military people were only there for three years, while the civilians were considered permanent. The men in the U.S. Army, Air Force and a few in the Navy where a joy to work with—they would tackle any job. They had converted a single room in the church building into a tiny apartment for us to live in temporarily. It had an adjoining bath and closet. We simply had to walk outside around the sidewalk and to the kitchen for Peggy to prepare breakfast. It took some adjusting but was okay for a few months.

There were no windows, just screens. All the houses there were built that way. The tropical climate required no heat or air conditioning (if it had been available), although the dry season produced very high and uncomfortable humidity. Our church worship area, seating over 200 people, had one side with reliable screens allowing circulation and some light. It did seem strange to be preaching or worshiping and hear the sounds of birds calling loudly from the jungle outside.

We were thankful to God that Peggy soon became pregnant, but had to endure several months of the ‘blues.’ She was very sick every morning and only liked to eat tomatoes and ice cream. It appeared to me that she was also homesick as she often moaned and groaned with that distant look in her eyes. I would say, “Come on, honey, let’s go over to the clubhouse, and you can get an ice cream soda.” The government owned everything in the canal zone so we could only buy groceries at the base exchange or some other government store.

The only Canal Zone ‘restaurant’ on the Pacific side was the clubhouse.

U.S. civilian families operated the Canal. They lived in a nice housing area and received good pay, but had to cross on a drawbridge, often waiting for ships to get to Cocoli, which caused us to have just a handful of civilian families in our church plus a missionary family.

Hubert and Eva Hurt operated the seminary in the republic, perhaps 15 miles from our church. They were members, and she and their two children were usually there to play the organ. Often, Hubert, the Seminary Director was regularly visiting with Students, who are also serving as pastors of new churches.

The military and civilian members worked very well together in the church, including officers and enlisted men. Cocoli Church had a strong worship training and missionary work of ministry. There were Americans of all kinds with many young families and children living there. Once a family came to Christ or transferred their membership, they usually served in the church and in our mission outreaches in the Republic the rest of their three years of duty.

Then they returned to the states are to their next assignment.

The church was located in a military housing area with two or three families living in each building, all erected above ground on concrete posts. These families met all newcomers in their area and invited them to our church. Almost every Sunday we would welcome several new people to worship with us. This enabled our members and me to share the gospel personally and see many come to a strong faith in Christ.

STORMS WE WEATHERED THE FIRST YEAR—1962 First, was the exit of about 1/3 of our members—between 75 and 100 people—during the summer months. Of course, this made it difficult to operate as well as to meet our financial needs.

Second, the Cuban Missile Crisis developed in October and put most of the men in our church on such a strict alert that they could not return home or attend church for six weeks.

On October 22,1962 President Kennedy announced to the nation on a radio broadcast that the Soviets were helping Cuba build a nuclear bomb launch site which could strike as far away as 2200 miles.

President Kennedy announced a quarantine of Cuba, which Americans called the Cuban Blockade. I will never forget the sight from the new bridge spanning the canal on the Pacific side. In the Pacific Ocean, as far as I could see, there were American battleships lined up, waiting to travel through the canal and help block the Soviets from bringing nuclear weapons to Cuba. For a few days, the possibility of war was genuine. Eventually, however, the Soviets backed down and removed the materials for launching a nuclear bomb from Cuba.

HELPING PEGGY BE READY FOR OUR FIRST BABY What a memorable experience serving with the Cocoli Church was fifteen of us men from the church leaving at daylight one morning to travel 50 miles to San Jose mission in the interior! There we worked alongside Panamanian, Hispanic church members in the hot sun completing the block 80 capacity building.

All materials were donated by the members of Cocoli, along with the work done by the church and the mission members.

This was near the same time when some of the same men, several of whom were new Christians, obtained used lumber from a small military house being torn down. They brought the lumber to a hillside near the church where they had received authority to build a pastorium for the church. Fortunately, this was built before Wanda was born, allowing us to move into a new home just before she was born.

About 11 p.m. on October 26, Peggy woke me up with, “I’ve got pains; what do I need to do?”

“I don’t know,” was my answer. Since her doctor had said for us to come to the hospital when her pains began, we both got up, got dressed, and headed for Gorgas hospital. If we had been forced to wait for the drawbridge until a ship was released from the lock to exit the canal, it would have taken 30 to 45 minutes. Since no ship was coming, we were spared that agony.

When we arrived at Gorgas Hospital and told the nurse what was going on, she said, “Come on back to the maternity ward, and we will get her ready for the baby to come.” I followed her back to the ward, where Peggy got ready for our first child to come into the world.

I waited beside her bed throughout the rest of that night, as well as the next morning, until 2 in the afternoon. I had already gotten someone to fill the pulpit for me, so I could stay with her.

About 1 PM nurses took Peggy into the delivery room. The head nurse said to me, “You need to go to the waiting room; we’ll call you when the baby comes.”

Around 2 PM on Monday, 27 October 1962, Wanda came into this world.

In the delivery room, she was given an epidural, and this relieved the pain throughout the rest of the birth process. Thank God, this was before the day when some women said, “I want to have a ‘natural’ birth and endure the pain.”

The hour spent in the waiting room seemed like forever. I worried about what might be happening to her and the baby. I couldn’t forget what the doctor had told her, “You’re going to have a hard time giving birth.” She had already

had many hours in labor. Finally, they did call and say, “You can come back into the ward.”

There she was, smiling weakly and holding our daughter, who already had black hair. What a relief and joy to know that God had given us a daughter to love, raise, and adore! I quoted Psalm 127:3 (KJV) to her, “Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is His reward.”

Peggy had to stay in the hospital until Halloween on October 31, along with several other ladies who had given birth about the same time. She and the others watched from their upstairs window the trick-or-treaters working the people coming and going into the hospital. The next day we were glad to move back into our new little house with our view of the road and apartment houses down the hill and the jungle behind us. With our precious child there, a unique style of family life would begin.

—Top Right: Photos of Wanda at 6 Weeks Old, Top Left: New Suspension Bridge Over Canal, Opened the Month After Her Birth, Bottom Left: Us with Wanda Overlooking Our House

GOD’S PEOPLE CONTINUE TO WORK IN HIS KINGDOM, AT COCOLI AND ITS MISSIONS The only debt on the new pastor’s home was a thousand-dollar loan from the Home Mission Board, which would soon be repaid. This was a good stabilizing factor for the work in the canal zone, where housing is almost impossible to obtain.

Brother Everardo Caberello was the pastor of our David and La Conception Missions in the distant Chiriquí Province bordering on Costa Rico. With Brother Stallworth’s encouragement, he reached out and began services at Algarrobas and Rivera. “Several received Christ,” he gladly announced to our church; when he was visiting us, “we now have two more new mission churches.” We rejoiced with him and agreed to help them as much as we could.

Mrs. McGowan, the wife of a Pan Canal employee, was playing the piano when we arrived there. Eventually, she said to Peggy, “I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’m happy to turn the responsibility over to you.” This allowed her and Eva Hurt, our organist, who was also a missionary at the seminary, to lead in the worship times each Sunday.

Some of the activities I enjoyed during our first year were: lunch with Dr. Word and all the missionaries at the officers’ club at Fort Amador most Mondays. Since he was a Reserve Army Chaplain, he was eligible to take us to this restaurant.

Some of our work in the missions showed why it was difficult and sometimes heartbreaking. Several of our men traveled into the interior, past the seminary, to a rural area, where a student was beginning a new church. There they helped them erect a good-sized tent which would hold up to 100 people. The student started a week of evangelistic services, hoping to start a church.

After two or three nights, the tent was almost filled with people, and some even receive Christ. The pastor and the people were excited.

However, in the middle of the night, a bunch of ruffians took their machetes and demolished the tent into small pieces. We were greatly disappointed to hear of this action. Even more disappointing was that one of the mission new members said the Catholic priest had told his church “you are not allowed to go to that tent meeting.” Others reported that he had paid these men to destroy the tent. I trust this was not true. However, we eventually helped this mission church erect a new block building of their own where services and other activities could be held.

I would usually drive into the interior or even to the Atlantic side of the canal (although the train was more comfortable) to see what the country was like.

One day, we drove along the republic perhaps 30 or more miles from the zone to the City of La Chorrera. It was actually a good-sized town unknown to us.

As we were returning and dark had begun, we got to observe a ritual similar to Mardi Gras. Except that we did not understand the language and the parade scared us a little. Many people were marching in the parade, holding flaming torches to light their way. To me, the costumes worn looked like a Halloween celebration. It scared Peggy enough for her to say, “as soon as this parade is over, let’s head back toward home.” “I agree,” I answered; “we’ll get out of here as soon as we can.”

At our annual meeting of the Canal Zone Association in October we reported: 34 baptized; 51 received by letter, 200 resident members and a weekly Sunday school average of 272. Yet 415 at our Vacation Bible School that summer. Every mission church sponsored by our church in the republic also reported people coming to Christ and some baptized.

MINISTRY IN BOCAS DEL TORO: BOCAS ISLAND AND ALMIRANTE Peggy did not go with me the first time I flew to Boca del Toro Baptist Church on Bocas Island where there was a field for small planes. I spent my first night in their ‘mission house’ right on the Atlantic. I could hear the waves gently lapping on the shore.

The loving people were of both Spanish and West Indian heritages. I was trying to learn a little Spanish and would say to someone in Spanish, “Como esta ustedes?”

Most would reply, “I am very well, my friend.” They walked wherever they went. There were 4 or 5 cabs on the island, only used for special occasions. The church was without a pastor and obviously praised God for the preaching of His Word, which I was able to do for a weekend revival.

At daylight on Monday they met me at the dock and ushered me onto the fruit company launch, at no cost to me. It took me to Almirante to preach in, I think, at least a week of revival. The precious West Indian people were so accepting and loving to us North American missionaries—they would help in sharing Christ in every way they could, bringing their friends to the meetings and pressing the claims of Christ with those lost.

This was a very blessed time to spend with Dr. Jack and Jane Roddy and their son, Robin. I got to see Dr. Roddy’s numerous books in various languag-

es, all of which he could read. And he could speak many languages himself.

I remembered him faintly from the New Orleans Seminary, where he was an assistant professor of Biblical languages my first year there.

Traveling to various parts of the province by boat or walking, he enlisted national people to start new churches in the vast area of the banana plantations.

Traveling down the river one Sunday afternoon, he had met the Gyme Indian group, which apparently had not been contacted by Christians. On his first visit with them, he spent several hours getting to know them and learning several words in their dialect. He continued extended visits each Sunday afternoon until he learned their language. At least, he learned enough to share the Gospel and eventually to begin a Sunday afternoon preaching service. Even later, he started a Gyme language radio program once a week to supplement his visit down the river on Sunday.

In all of Almirante, where Jack and his family lived, there were only four or five cars, which were all taxis. The people were all employed by the fruit company which operated vast banana-growing ‘farms’ there. There’s no highway into the city, so, everyone walks or rides bicycles. This suited Jack fine, since he had never learned to drive an auto, but enjoys riding his bike whatever he wants to go in town. His family seems to have adjusted well to living in this remote area. His wife, Jane, and elementary-aged son, Robin, seemed content there.

Their older son was going to college in the states.

They did express how much they missed certain canned foods, as well as coffee. I’m sure some gum and sweets would have been welcomed by their son.

When I returned home, in December, Peggy and I got together a care package with the help of men and women in our church. I think it was mailed to them AFTER CHRISTMAS. In January I got a letter from him, expressing their sincere gratitude for all we had sent. He wrote, “We felt like a bunch of beggars… in spite of all the calories… I enjoyed the peanut butter and apple butter as much as Jane, the coffee, and Robin the sweets.”

When I sent out my Christmas letter to our friends and prayer partners in December 1962, I asked them to pray that we would find a new location and building for the Cocoli Baptist Church. At the end of that year, the drawbridge over the canal, just down the road from Cocoli, was closed. A new bridge, very high over the Canal, was opened. This meant that our church was isolated from the flow of traffic. The majority of our prospects formerly crossed the canal, passed by the church, and waited for the drawbridge at the canal to open for them to cross both ways.

We spent Christmas in 1962 in the canal zone, celebrating Jesus coming with the families of service people far away from home, like ourselves. It was touch-

ing to be reminded that these families were seldom home at Christmas time, yet they continued to serve our country, knowing the sacrifices involved.

We were blessed to have Wanda, our active and smiling two-month-old daughter, to brighten our celebration. Yes; we took lots of pictures, not only for her grandparents but for our own albums.

However, our church continued its ministry as usual in the same location.

Even though few saw the building by passing in front of it, people in the military seemed to get the message out word-of-mouth that the Cocoli Church was there for them. We continued to have opportunities to contact people in nearby Fort Kobbe and even those stationed on the other side of the canal at Fort Clayton and Albrook Air Force Base, although families thought that they had to drive at least 4 miles farther (through Balboa and across the high suspension bridge) to get to the church.

During the two additional years, we were there, God did not choose to answer our prayer for a new building. Instead, He continued to open doors for our mission work as well as ministry to new military families who were contacted by our members. Thank God that the change in traffic flow did not defeat his people from doing what he had called them and us to do.

By October 1962, James and Anis Nelson had left the Canal Zone for the states. But not before he had established a network of new missions on Gatun Lake. He had trained leaders in each village, who cared for the believers and continued the witness to other people. A San Blas Indian in the Seminary went with him and was being discipled and trained to do missionary work during the last year he served in Panama. He continued to work with all these missions.

James also learned to fly a small plane through military trainers available to civilians in the zone at that time. After he had learned to fly, he said to me, “would you like to go up with me for a quick look around? ““NO!” I replied; “I would NOT go up in a small plane with a man who went all over Gatun Lake on a ram-shackled boat he had paid only $25 for!”

1963 IN THE CANAL ZONE AND PANAMA 1963 was our busiest and most productive year of ministry in Panama, especially in the number of people who came to Christ. Before the year began, we had already started to pray for revival at Cocoli, which was to begin revival services 10 February. The men of our church set up weekly cottage prayer meetings in different homes throughout January. They and their wives visited

all their neighbors and distributed flyers to their fellow workers and friends.

While they were doing this, I was working with one of the most beloved pastors in all of Panama. He was the pastor of the largest Baptist Church of Cristóbal on the Atlantic side of the Zone. Brother Scarlet was well known for his proper dress, great preaching, and leadership in his association as well as in the state convention. He was a Man of West Indian heritage, as were the people in his church. I learned a lot about sharing Christ from this gracious and bold witness to the Gospel.

The church building during the revival was usually packed with 300 or more people. He went around early and spoke with many of them. He instructed me, “you preach what God lays on your heart no matter how long it takes to bring your message. We are here to hear from God!” That made it a joy to step into the pulpit with no feeling of rush, but also tempted me to preach even longer than usual. There were so many good things God was doing, and the Spirit of God was so strong in the church, that it was a dream fulfilled to be there.

As we went out to visit people during the week, brother Scarlet was still dressed to a T in his suit, tie, and white shirt. I found his style of encouraging people to come to the revival as well as witnessing to be direct, bold, and even challenging to those with whom he talked. I was accustomed to my own style to simply talk with people, ask how they were, and chat with them for a moment before seeking to confront them with their need of Christ directly. NOT BROTHER SCARLET! For example, Reba was a lady who had not been to the revival, yet was a member. Brother Scarlet said, “you know we have a revival going on, and I have not seen you there.” There was no smile from him. As she began to explain or give an excuse for not being there, he would reply, “You know that God is supposed to be the first place in your life and it doesn’t sound to me like he is! “She bowed her head, sometimes said nothing while looking guilty. Others would say, “I’ll try to do better. “To which brother Scarlet would reply, “Then you’ll be there tonight!?” Everyone I remember said, “Yes.” It was strange to me that the pastor could be so confrontational and talking with members and even prospects yet be so gracious in addressing his fellow ministers. After their revival, I shortly received a letter of thanks from him. I’m including it to give you some idea of his appreciation for his fellow pastors, even though I was from a different country and cultural background from him: Dear Brother Matthews, Through this medium the pastor, Board of Deacons and members of the First Isthmian Baptist Church wish to

express to you our heartfelt gratitude for the effective ministry you exercised among us during our 11 days Revival Campaign.

As Guest Evangelist, you certainly lived up to our expectations. The messages you brought during the Campaign were clear, Bible-centered, challenging, and delivered in the power of the Holy Spirit. As a prayer warrior, as a dynamic preacher and above all, as a man of God, you have left a lasting impression on our minds. We are grateful to God for the results of the campaign—believers have been revived and strengthened in the Lord, and ten persons accepted Christ as their Savior.

We know that it entails a lot of difficulties to tear yourself away from your own sphere of labor at a time when you were most needed on the field. This makes us appreciate the more the service you rendered us. We also appreciate the willingness of the Cocoli Baptist Church in releasing you for this campaign.

Please convey to them our sincere thanks for the fine Christian spirit they have demonstrated in letting you off. And please be assured of our prayers. God’s richest blessing on you and on your work, S. A. Scarlet, Pastor Grace Merchant, Secretary ED WILLIAMS, EVANGELIST, FOR REVIVAL FEB 10–24 AT COCOLI BAPTIST CHURCH Ed was a friend of mine from seminary days when he blessed me by his involvement and personal witnessing to people. Add to that, his love for his ministry as an evangelist. Like my college friend, Bobby Britt, God called him to devote his full-time to preaching revivals and other forms of evangelism.

The church had done an excellent job of publicizing the campaign through members distributing cards wherever they worked or lived. His dynamic and ‘up front’ preaching was dynamic, appealing to military guys and heart touching to most. Attendance continued to be good for the entire two weeks of services.

God blessed our work, and the Spirit drew several to Christ while some Christians lives were transformed. We also saw several families transfer

their memberships to the church to live out their faith for the time they had left in the Canal Zone.

By the end of February, most of our plans were made for our vacation in the states. The church gave their pastor the same annual leave time which the military people received—one full month for a year. We looked forward to taking our six-month-old baby, Wanda, to ‘show off’ to our families and friends. I had also been in contact with friends and churches to let them know I would be there the full month of April.

By the time our vacation began, I had agreed to preach in five revivals during the four weeks. Of course, some of them were weekend or half-a-week revival meetings. Others wanted us to share our mission experiences in Panama in their churches. There was still time for Peggy and me to spend time with our parents. Wanda’s grandparents were even willing to keep Wanda alone for the few times when Peggy went with me to the revivals. Especially for Peggy’s parents, Wanda was their first grandchild. They were glad to have Peggy and Wanda without me. These were excellent experiences as we remembered what God had done in the past and proclaimed the Good News to others who had not yet been saved.

Just as they had helped us get home from Miami, Jim and Mariam Cumbie, my older sister, took us back to Gainesville or perhaps Miami. Jane and Earl were in Gainesville for him to do his residence to be a surgeon.

BACK TO COCOLI IN THE CANAL ZONE When we returned to Cocoli Church in early May, new people had come, and some even become members of the church. What a joy to have leaders and even supply preachers with the kind of commitment to give leadership while we were away for a full month. One of the joys to our congregation and to me was that two men in our church felt God was calling them to preach the gospel. I had even allowed them to speak some while I was on leave. A third man arrived in Panama and joined our church, who had also committed himself to God’s call to preach. All three of these men were a significant help to the church; after their time of enlistment was over, they enrolled in college or seminary to continue to prepare for ministry.

PRAISE GOD FOR A NEW CHURCH EVEN THOUGH IT SPLIT OUR CHURCH?

One thing that surprised and even shocked us when we returned was that our Missions’ Director, Brother Stallworth, had drawn out some families from our church and begun a new church (without letting us know in advance). He had enlisted a church in Mississippi to sponsor them. So, they chose to name themselves, ‘Main Street Baptist Church’ after their sponsor. This upset the Cocoli people and me.

I called a seminary mission professor whom I greatly respect, Dr. Cal Guy of Southwestern, to talk over this situation. Then I shared with him what had happened and my concern that the ‘split’ would hurt our church. I expressed my feeling that it was unfair for him to enlist sponsors from stateside churches who might not know the circumstances. After Dr. Guy had heard my side of this story, he surprised me by NOT ‘taking my side’ in this conflict.

Instead, he challenged me with, “Brother Matthews, it seems that you have a wrong attitude toward a brother who must think God has led him to start another church!” I was speechless and still cannot remember my exact reply. It must have been something like a feeble, “I’ll pray about that.” Then, I thanked him and hung up.

I CLOSED THE DOOR TO MY OFFICE AND HAD A SERIOUS TALK WITH GOD “Lord, I want to obey YOU,” I acknowledged; “show me what my attitude should be toward ‘Stoney.’ Waiting for God to speak, it seemed His Spirit asked me, “are YOU serving WHERE I’ve called YOU to serve?” “Yes, Lord,” I answered. “Are you doing what I’ve called YOU to do?” He asked me. “Yes, Lord,” I replied.

The Spirit’s last question pierced my heart, “THEN WHY ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT WHAT YOUR BROTHER PREACHER DOES?” After thinking through WHY I was worried and His question, I had to confess, “Lord, forgive me; I’ve looked through human eyes and tried to do YOUR WORK. Forgive me for failing to keep my concern on the important Kingdom work you’ve called ME TO DO!” After being ‘taken to the woodshed’ by the Lord Himself, the loss of members and actions of my brother preacher no longer bothered me. Instead, I went to work—sharing Christ, preaching His Word, and caring for people.

PHYSICAL WORK TO ENHANCE OUR SPIRITUAL MINISTRY

Since God had not opened the door for us to relocate, our church leaders decided to remodel our old building in spite of our slim budget resources. The first thing to do was to fix a leaky roof. It was a metal roof that had much need of painting, as well as some tar for covering the holes causing the leaks.

Not enough men were available to do it on Saturdays, so they worked at night. Showing their usual military ingenuity, Sgt. Bill Smith led them to string light cords mounted on makeshift poles to enable them to work on the high gabled metal roof. It looked scary to me for them to be up there in the dark even though it was lit up. I did go out on the roof a time or two but did not help with the work.

LARGEST CIVIL RIGHTS MARCH WITH “I’VE GOT A DREAM” FROM M. L. KING: 8/19/63 Two-hundred-fifty thousand people came to Washington to hear Dr. King’s message at the Lincoln Memorial. We were so busy that we did not notice it was happening, but read about it later. We praised God for the number who came without violence, believing they were led by a Christian man.

JAMES NELSON RETURNS FOR REVIVAL AT COCOLI CHURCH He had returned to the states in mid-1963, after starting the Gamboa Baptist Church to minister to U.S. Pan Canal families about midway between the Atlantic and the Pacific shores. Then with the help of a seminary student, he started several Panamanian missions on Gatun Lake.

In the states, he began new churches on Indian reservations in New Mexico and had begun to training local Christian Indians to lead these new fellowships of believers. His trip back to the Zone was to preach in our fall revival, but it also allowed him to visit the mission points which he had started when he was at Gamboa. James Davis, another friend from the states, came to direct the music.

God blessed our hearts through the ministry of these men, especially the men of our church who became deeply burdened about sharing Christ with the fellow military workers and neighbors. Bill Smith and his wife, Ruby, and their six children lived just across the road from us in the Cocoli housing area. He was a high-ranking sergeant and knew many people where he worked at Fort Clayton. As Bill had led in the work on the building, he also led in sharing the Gospel with others. He lay awake at night burdened for the fellow sergeant whose family was being ruined by alcohol and their lack of knowing Jesus.

When he could not sleep, Bill got up in the middle of the night, knowing the sergeant was working the night shift and he intended to drive the twelve miles to Fort Clayton.

However, that night his car would not start. So, he walked across the drawbridge over to Fort Clayton and said to the sergeant, “God has sent me to tell you that Jesus loves you so much that He died for your sins. If you’ll open your heart to Him, HE will give you power over drinking and salvage your family.”

The man broke down in tears, asking Jesus, “Lord, forgive my sins; I’ve hurt myself and my family; come into my life and deliver me from drinking.” Later the next day, he invited Bill to come by and share with his family. They agreed, “we want Christ in our lives and to follow Him as a family.” The next Sunday they all came as a group to make their professions of faith and request baptism as believers.

Although they still had some struggles, several people of the church helped them to begin living with His power. No wonder God blessed Cocoli Church with numerical growth! The news got around and other seekers came. By the end of 1963 our Sunday school attendance recovered from our loss of 30 to 40 families during the summer. The tours of many military families had required them to go to their next assignment.

ALL OF US IN THE ZONE WERE SHOCKED BY PRESIDENT KENNEDY’S ASSASSINATION On November 22, 1963, Peggy was home outside with Wanda when someone from the church drove up and yelled to her through an open car window, “If you have not heard about the president being shot, you’d better go inside and turn on the radio.” She yelled back, “Thanks,” and rushed inside. I was visiting people in the community that afternoon when a lady I stopped to see asked, “Have you heard the news?” “What news?” I asked. “That President Kennedy has been shot,” she replied. I rushed home to join Peggy in listening to what had happened in Dallas. In an hour or so another update came in, “The President is dead and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson has been sworn in.” Our military guys were especially upset because they had admired President Kennedy for his Cuban Blockade just the year before.

As we approached Christmas, we had invited Peggy’s parents to fly down to celebrate it with their only grandchild. Peggy promised them, “We’ll include a day swimming in the Pacific Ocean during your Christmas visit.” They could not believe it, but Peggy kept saying to them “Bring your swimsuits. We are

going to have fun this Christmas at the beach with Wanda, who loves to play in the sand and the waves!”

Even though they were unnerved by their Panama Airways plane ride, they looked with wide-open eyes at the difference in the countryside. Chinese gardens, the canal itself, as well as beautiful flowers and fruit in this strange environment amazed them. YES! WE DID SPEND A DAY AT THE BEACH! They were all smiles after a full week of enjoying many things that were different from ANYTHING they knew about in south Alabama.

In mid-December, 1963, I received an invitation from the Bocas Baptist Assn. They invited me to come up to be their guest speaker for the Annual Meeting of the Bocos del Torro Baptist Association. It was to be held at Almirante’s First Baptist Church. They were inviting me a year ahead of time.

I replied on December 21, “I will be glad to come and trust that God will inspire us all to greater heights of service for him. It will be a privilege to have this opportunity to fellowship with you.” We did not know all that the next year would bring, but made our plans, trusting the Lord to help us (Ps 37). Looking back, I’M GLAD WE DID NOT KNOW all the unexpected events that would take place within just a few days. Events that would change our lives, not only during 1964, but for as long as we lived.

Here is a quote from our Christmas letter to prayer partners, family, and friends at Christmas 1963: “More than ever before in our lives we recognize that all of these blessings have come from God alone; we DO NOT deserve his marvelous goodness. How amazing that he has let us share and spread the good news of Jesus our Lord…as we look forward to another year the doors are wide open here to spread the gospel...Pray for us during 1964.”

MISTAKES I MADE BEFORE VISITING NEW MILITARY FAMILIES IN PANAMA IN JANUARY 1964 Many new military families had moved to Panama during the Christmas break. Those not officers were living temporarily in Panama City instead of in the Zone until housing on base or post was available. Consequently, early in 1964, I began to visit these new families. I wanted to be sure they would feel welcome, had some exact information about Cocoli Church, the military people who attended it and directions to the church.

I relied on those who knew these newcomers were moving into Panama City. They would tell me how to get there through various landmarks in the City. Then I would visit the family, and they always knew somebody else who

had also moved nearby. This opened the doors to other families I could see.

Following this strategy, the afternoon of January 9th, it took me a while to find the people I was hoping to see in Panama City. So, by late afternoon I had found all I could and started my return to the Canal Zone.

MISTAKE NUMBER ONE Admittedly, after two years in the Canal Zone, I had not learned to speak or understand very much Spanish. When I first arrived, I intended to learn Spanish, and Hubert Hurt offered to teach me. After two lessons, the pressures of needs and opportunities in the military communities took precedent, and I dropped language as a priority.

MISTAKE NUMBER TWO Neither did I have a good way of keeping up with what was happening or being reported in the news. Not understanding Spanish and getting all my news from the Armed Services Network, I knew very little that was going on in the Republic. The Armed Forces Network never put on the public news what the U.S. government was doing in their relationships with Panama nor any incidents that might add to the turmoil by their reporting them.

Unfortunately, I had not made it a habit to turn on the radio when I was in the automobile. I never thought about it because the people in our church kept us informed of important things that were happening. If there were things happening that might endanger us United States citizens, although there were few during our two years, an Army intelligence officer in our church would warn me. Then I would stop travelling in the republic until he advised me that travel there was okay.

MISTAKE NUMBER THREE I had not KEPT UP WITH THE CONFLICT between the students in the Canal Zone High School and those from a Panama City school. It had been going on for two or three days, and perhaps someone had told us, but we were so unrelated to school life that we barely heard them. Even if we had, I doubt that I would have thought it was serious.

I will not try to reconstruct the causes of the riot. I learned later that the conflict between the two groups of students grew in three days until the under-

manned Canal Zone Police had to forcibly evict the students from the Zone.

Hearing various rumors of their flag being torn and their students being beaten

by Canal Zone policemen, angry crowds of Panamanians rushed toward the street dividing Panama City from Balboa. This happened so quickly that the mobs filled the two or three miles of the Fourth of July Avenue up to the entrance to the bridge over the Canal. This was the angry mob I drove out into when I entered the street.

If I had known or had any inkling that they were violent, I could’ve taken another longer way out of Panama City and eventually made it back home. The first idea I had of the turmoil was when rocks, bottles, and other missiles began flying through the car windows, injuring me and letting me know that there was real anger against Americans in the city. It was too late then to escape the rage of those mad at the U.S. for holding the canal for many years, when they believed it rightly belonged to them. In two years there, I was unaware that such anger existed.

I had attended several Spanish-speaking meetings, including the annual meeting of the Panama Baptist Convention at First Baptist Church in Panama City. They were conducted in Spanish without a translation into English. I endured them, but did not get to know any Spanish-speaking convention leaders very well, primarily because of the language barrier.

But they, as well as other Panamanians from all over the republic, were friendly to me and to all US missionaries. IN TWO YEARS, I HAD NOT FELT ANY ANIMOSITY TOWARD U.S. CITIZENS FROM ANYONE. All these facts had prevented my being prepared for this emergency.

HERE IS WHY I BELIEVE GOD,

BY HIS PROVIDENCE AND MERCY, PROTECTED ME: • • • •

•

I could have EASILY been killed, but I did not sustain any life-threatening injuries.

I drove into the rioters blindly because I had no knowledge of any danger.

If I had been driving a car with a high roofline, the story probably would be different.

There was NO ONE, CIVILIAN OR MILITARY, ANYWHERE NEAR TO PROTECT ME! GLORY TO GOD; HE WAS MY PROTECTOR! After driving a long way through the rioters, I turned off the

Fourth of July Avenue into a street that I was not sure went into the Canal Zone, yet it was the only way through that would allow me to escape.

IN SUMMARY, ONLY GOD HIMSELF COULD HAVE KEPT ME ALIVE! This reminds me of David Livingstone’s conviction, as the first missionary to Africa, who spent most of his life braving the dangers of an unexplored continent. He went to numerous places where he had never been and shared Christ with people strange to him. Speaking to university students, to whom he showed his maimed arm from a lion’s attack, he encouraged them to serve in the ‘dark continent’. I share, more than ever before, his philosophy of life and missions: “We are invincible as long as we are in the will of God until our work on earth is done!”

THE DRASTIC CHANGES IN PANAMA AND THE CANAL ZONE PANAMA MEDIA REPEATING OF ‘PROPAGANDA FOR MONTHS’ The riots and events following them turned our lives in the Canal Zone upside down. As an example, I am including a document compiled by Dr. L. D. Wood. It is a brief report on North American missionary personnel serving in Panama and the Canal Zone, issued January 27, 1964. Notice his measured tone. This was, I’m convinced, to keep people from getting more alarmed, although those of us serving there knew it was a dangerous and a scary time for us missionaries who were U.S. citizens.

Front/Back of Baptist Report regarding Personnel in Panama (next pages) — RESULTS OF JANUARY 9, 1964 RIOTS IN PANAMA The Sunday immediately after the riots, I missed preaching because my face was still black and blue. Hubert Hurt filled the pulpit for me on that Sunday. He was available because he had been advised to not return that soon to the Panamanian church where he was serving.

The next Sunday, I did return to preach although my face still showed some of the results of the injuries. Also, it was a day to endure a lot kidding from

our military guys, who said, “We’ll have to teach you how to operate a radio.”

However, I knew their smiles hid their own anxiety, for their uncertainty about the future for themselves and their families.

Soon after the Baptist state papers reported what had happened in the riots and how it affected our personnel serving in Panama, I began to get mail from people in the states. Ken Lawson, a fellow New Orleans Seminary friend, wrote expressing his concern and prayers. He also said he just heated water in the pot which several of us guys used at seminary to heat soup in our dormitory. This brought refreshing memories of those good and difficult times.

I also heard from my dear friend and mentor in my college years: Miss Francis Sullivant. She wrote from Tennessee, saying, “I flipped through the pictures to one of Bethlehem Church and a teenager standing with you at the front. This took me back to that mission and how you worked and preached and then became pastor of the church.” It surprised me that she had already served six years as the Statewide YWA leader for the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

Then she continued, “Now that picture sits on my desk and I use it as an illustration to leaders of young people, encouraging them to provide opportunities for young people to serve.”

PANAMA’S NATIONAL REVIVALS WERE HELD IN 1964 We generally continued ministry as much as possible after the riots, but at a slower and more limited level, being constantly reminded of the need for caution to protect ourselves, especially in the Republic. The Panama Baptist Convention had planned for a long time to have a simultaneous Panama for Christ Crusade in February.

HMB in the U.S. had worked to find pastors and evangelists in the states to conduct revivals in every Baptist Church in Panama and the Canal Zone, which came to at least forty in total. Spanish-speaking pastors would be going to the Panamanian churches which spoke Spanish. English-speaking stateside pastors would be going to those who spoke English throughout the nation.

After the riots, plans had to be changed, but the crusades continued.

Preachers from the Republic went to those churches which spoke Spanish. It was too dangerous for Americans to work in those areas in February, so soon after the January turmoil.

All the churches in the Canal Zone, who worked primarily with U.S. citizens, continued their plans for the crusades and used the evangelists they had agreed to have earlier. Our own revival plans proceeded although some of our

military guys could not participate because they were on duty or were required to stay home ‘on alert’.

I had not met Joe Bamberg, pastor of First Baptist Church of Milton, Florida, before the Crusade. He came to preach for us at his church’s expense. We were greatly blessed by Joe’s biblical preaching and humorous stories. He had the ability to make everyone think in positive terms no matter how gloomy their circumstances were at that time.

We were still able to visit families in the Zone but had to go through more security checks to get on military installations at each base or post. All the new families living in Panama City were immediately evacuated back to the states by U.S. military authorities. This left their husbands behind to complete their term in the country. As you can imagine, this caused a lot of stress, but the downtown families were able to slip out of the country safely, God answering our prayers.

The absence of their families also reduced our attendance in the revival.

I believe God used the tough times to touch people’s hearts during our revivals in 1964. Some families came to Christ and others rededicated their lives or moved their memberships to the church. God indeed tested our hearts and prepared us for the days ahead. We lost several families during that time. Bill and Ruby Smith’s family were one; they were some of our most faithful church workers, but they were moved to their next assignment after three years in the Canal Zone.

OUR ORIENTATION AND APPOINTMENT AS HOME MISSIONARIES On April 10, we flew back to the states for our orientation and appointment as official missionaries of the Home Mission Board. Going early gave us a couple of days with our families before traveling to Atlanta for our orientation April 13–20. We enjoyed the full week of learning more about home mission work done by missionaries throughout the United States and its territories.

David Bunch, for example, was a missionary in South Dakota. We later received information from him about how they had found more people through a telephone survey. Since the people we wanted to find were living primarily on military posts or bases, it was not feasible for us to use phone surveys there.

So, I made a mental note to try that method when we started planting churches in the states.

One thing I said to him in a letter following the orientation was, “Since I have always been interested in working in pioneer areas and still hope to serve

in one of those areas someday, I enjoyed getting to know some of you who serve there now.” This indicated my and Peggy’s continuing discussions that God had called us to plant churches in areas of the United States unreached by the Gospel that we had experienced. I had not forgotten and was confident that God would lead us in the right direction eventually. What I did not know at that time was that it would be at the beginning of the next year.

Our week of orientation ended with a formal appointment service in an Atlanta church. Afterwards we went back to our families for a day or two, then headed back to Panama.

From March until October we continued to work hard with families leaving the church and some new people from those moving to the area. It was also a time when we were praying intensely for God’s leadership in whether to relocate. I was hoping there might be a place in Panama where God would want us to serve, except that ever since the riots, Peggy was very anxious about continuing to live there.

I began to feel that God wanted us to consider fulfilling the long-term call to plant a church in an area where Southern Baptists had few churches and little witness. Consequently, we wrote to people at HMB about our interest. Their reply was this: “We have no ‘missionary’ slots in pioneer areas for people with your experience, but there are plenty of places where you could go and plant a church.” After praying about that, we made a quick request, “Please send us a list of the neediest places.”

They sent a long list of places throughout the Northeast and Midwest and a few in the extreme West. We began to ask God where He wanted us. Since more lost people lived in the Northeast, we asked for more information on places there which seemed most in need of a new church.

MEANWHILE, WE HEARD ABOUT PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S “WAR ON POVERTY” AND CIVIL RIGHTS BILLS With squatters’ mountain and malnourished children and little to no medical care for children in the rural areas here, it was hard to get excited about his War on Poverty.

BUT IN AUGUST, 1964, VIETNAMESE TORPEDO BOATS ATTACKED A U. S. DESTROYER IN THE GULF OF TONKIN OFF THE COAST OF NORTH VIETNAM.1

I had barely even been aware of the fighting between Communist North Vietnam and France and its allies in South Vietnam. It had smoldered since 1950 without much involvement by the United States. However, with urging by his staff, President Johnson took it to Congress. Congress authorized him almost unlimited power to use military force in Vietnam without a declaration of war.

From then on, the war consumed most of his attention. The nation learned later that he believed that if we failed to fight Communism in Southeast Asia, there would be a domino effect and other nations would also fall to Communism.

AN UNFORGETABLE TRIP BY PLANE, BOAT AND FRUIT COMPANY TRAIN Our search for where God wanted us next was interrupted by a promise we had made to preach at the annual meetings of the Bocas Baptist Association in the extreme northern part of the country. It is on the Atlantic Ocean not far from the Costa Rica. The entire region of the country is composed of a giant banana plantation owned by a fruit company. There was a strong church at Almirante, which sponsored many new mission churches. Dr. Jack Roddy and his family were the HMB’s resident missionary. They lived in Almirante, where he served as pastor of the First Baptist Church.

There he ministered to people in both the English and Spanish languages.

Travelling to various parts of the province by boat or walking, he enlisted national leaders to start new churches in the vast area of the banana plantations.

This part of the country is one where Americans were warmly welcomed, even after the riots, by the majority population of West Indian people.

Peggy, our two-year-old daughter, Wanda, and I spent four days on this memorable and enjoyable journey. We flew from Balboa in a small plane to the island of Bocas, which had a landing strip. Peggy, Wanda and I made this trip safely. There we boarded a launch, which took us over to the mainland and to Almirante. It was especially meaningful for us to spend two or three nights with the delightful Roddy family. West Indian churches make a big thing of their associational meetings. They met at the Almirante First Baptist, not only their strongest, but also only church facility large enough to seat the crowds which attended.

The Annual Meetings lasted two full days—October 12 and 13. They carried on their business with plenty of discussion and by following their exact rules of order. Both days, I preached God’s Word, unrestricted by time constraints and with the Spirit’s freedom. These people enjoyed hearing The Word expounded

and showed their agreement with enthusiastic “Amen!” and “Praise the Lord!” exclamations. What a blessing they were to me and my family!

The day afterwards, we hitched a ride on the fruit company small gauge railroad and travelled to the small airfield a few miles from the church. In four days, we had traveled by air, boat, fruit company railroad and even some walking.

In late October, only three weeks after our trip there, a letter arrived from the First Baptist Church of Almirante. They invited us to move as a family and for me to serve as pastor of their church. These gracious people would have been a joy to serve, but God had laid a new area of ministry in the states on our hearts. So, we replied, expressing our deep appreciation for them as well as their invitation and confidence in us. We thanked them for their generous help and support while we were there.

F. D. Brent, one of our Cocoli leaders, was an Air Force commissary manager. HIs wife, Meta, complained constantly about the HOT, MUGGY WEATHER in Panama. When they got their new assignment and prepared to move, they showed me on a big map that they were moving to Rome, New York, which had 50 inches of snow each year. It looked like going to the North Pole. I laughed at them as I said, “You won’t have to worry about hot weather!”

We also began packing and getting ready for our month leave, to begin December 1st, in the states. Believing God had a place for us to plant a church there, we took all we could carry with us. Peggy and Wanda said their goodbyes to many who had been our family, leaving Panama for the last time. Arriving in the states, we enjoyed some much-needed time with our families, while I continued talking with HMB leaders about places to plant a church.

Then I called several directors of missions in various places to see how they felt about our serving in their areas. This included John Tollison, Director of Missions in Central New York Baptist Association.

Early on the Sunday morning we were preparing to leave to visit some possible places to plant a church, I got a call from Tollison. With a sense of urgency in his voice, he pleaded, “PLEASE DON’T AGREE TO GO ANYWHERE UNTIL YOU HAVE VISITED CENTRAL NEW YORK!” God’s Spirit touched me by his concern. I agreed for us to visit Syracuse and Utica two days later.

That enabled us to narrow down our interest to three places in two areas of the Northeast: Syracuse and Utica in Central New York and Bangor, Maine, bordering on the Canadian line. It was about a week before Christmas when we drove to those areas to talk with the members of new missions and their possible sponsoring churches.

Most of our time was spent in upstate New York, traveling with John Tollison, the Director of Missions for the Central Baptist Association. He seemed to feel that the greatest need was in the Utica area. But we met him in Syracuse; so, he showed us the meeting place for the Syracuse Church and described the several-years-old-church. They were in search of a pastor.

He led us on to New Hartford, a suburb of Utica, 50 miles East of Syracuse.

He had arranged for us to meet the four families of the mission and to participate in a worship time downstairs in the big old farm house. Charles Barron, who had been their preacher for five years, led the music. I preached and Peggy played the piano. It seemed God was preparing our hearts to serve there.

But we drove on to Bangor, Maine, anyway. This was a difficult trip, since we had never driven on snow-filled roads before. It was made more difficult when an ice storm came into Bangor. There were several scares trying to manipulate going North. But the DOM welcomed us into his home, where we spent one night. We got to know him and found out that the greatest needs there were to restart Southern Baptists Churches which had closed when a U.S. Airforce base was shut down.

By then we felt God was calling us to the New Hartford Mission in Utica in Central New York. So, in route home we stopped back by Utica to drive around the city. Then we talked more with J. T. Davis, pastor of the sponsoring church.

He told us about the need, saying, “Utica used to be a city of over 100,000 people, but 4 of 5 GE plants closed, moving their manufacturing overseas. Now there are only these 4 Southern Baptist families and 3 of them are Southerners.

But there are thousands of lost families in New Hartford, Utica, and several towns down the Mohawk Valley who need Jesus. So, we need a new church to proclaim Christ.”

Before we left for home, he said, “The mission wants you as their pastor; if you feel led to come, I’m sure our church would approve that and help as we can.” I replied, “We feel God is leading us to serve here.” “Great,” he replied.

“I’ll let the mission and our church know. They’ll thank God for laying this area on your hearts.”

Finally, feeling God was calling us to that region, I made plans to return to the Canal Zone to resign our church and pack what belongings we had not gotten home yet. After travelling there, I said to the church, “God has called us to a place where there’s probably a smaller percentage of real Christians than in Panama.” The people of Cocoli Church and I agreed to pray for each other.

Then we all laid out our lives before God, committing ourselves to the One who saved us and walks with each day.

It was difficult to leave behind dear Christian brothers and sisters and a country with so many spiritual and physical needs. However, God had called us to a new field. We brought with us so many amazing memories, which will stick with us the rest of our lives. Examples: An Army intelligence officer who took a speeding ticket given to me wrongfully and later told me, “It was all a mistake.”

An Air Force pilot who returned to the zone and presented us with a painting done in Ecuador by a street-selling artist. It is unique because it was drawn on horses’ hair and has lasted beautifully all these years.

We also continued friendships with Bill and Ruby Smith, who moved back many years later upon retirement to his home in Andalusia, Alabama. There he became a radio announcer and eventually mayor of the city. We visited them several times in the years we were both retired. Later, I conducted his funeral when he went to be with the Lord.

Other dear friends from Panama continue to send us their Christmas letters, and we send ours to them. As the years have passed by, the number still left on this earth has declined, but we thank God for every remembrance of these precious committed believers and Christian who meant so much to us in a time of intense trials, which He used to draw us all closer into our Lord’s family. ALL PRAISE AND GLORY TO HIM!

◆◆◆ ________________________________ 1. American History, Vietnamese attack on US ship in Gulf of Tonkin, page 580

13 WHERE GOD WANTS US TO PLANT CHURCHES AND OUR LIVES UTICA/NEW HARTFORD, NEW YORK: CLINTON ROAD

W

hile in Utica, we had learned that 4 or 5 Southern Baptist families had met as a Mission church since 1960. During that time, they had moved their meeting place for services three times. Finally, the four families had stepped out on faith and purchased the 4 acres and big farmhouse in New Hartford. During those five years, Charles Barron from Texas, a GE employee, had served as their pastor.

Most of the group, if not all, were employees of General Electric. However, GE had closed four of their five plants and other ‘Southern’ families were not expected. During their five-year tenure, no local person had been led to Christ or baptized by the church. When we had met with the church to be considered their church planter and pastor, I had told them, “My vision would be to reach people who live in the community.”

We quickly learned that none of the families lived in the immediate community but rather in various suburbs. I also knew that only one family were natives of that area. The church called me as pastor with the understanding that we would focus on reaching local people. Whatever the difficulties, we were happy to have found where God wanted us to serve.

Interestingly, F. D. and Metta Brent, whom I had told in Panama they were “moving to the North pole,” were at Grifiss Air Force Base in Rome. They were also members of Grace, our sponsoring church. When they saw us, I’m sure F.

D. reminded me, “So, YOU’RE MOVING TO THE NORTH POLE TOO?” God has a good sense of humor and must have been smiling.

On our earlier trip on the road back toward home to our parents, Peggy asked me, “Did they tell you what the salary would be?” I replied, “No, I never thought to ask.” Peggy, Wanda, and I moved to New Hartford the second week of January. We took our clothes and the few possessions we had been able to bring with us from the Canal Zone. We would have to wait another month to get the big box of other things I had packed in a 4’ x 4’ crate coming to the U.S. by ship.

Having a very active three-year-old and another baby due in July, made it a challenge for us living upstairs with no door separating us from the church people below. Those who came early sometimes came up the stairs just to see us, while our family was still getting ready for church or getting dressed.

I began visiting door-to-door to meet people and tell them about the new church. Sometimes I would close by asking them, “Are you a Christian?” Almost everybody said, “Yes,” and many answered my question with, “I’m a member of Saint Thomas.” For most who said that, it closed the door to further religious conversation.

After a few days of few open doors to share about Christ, I HAD to try something different.

So, I started showing them what the Bible taught about salvation, using the four spiritual laws booklet. They listened and even agreed to pray the prayer at the end of the booklet. I later learned that Catholics would pray with almost anyone if they were told what to say. They were used to reading prayers. None that I remember visited our church at that time.

After J. T. Davis, pastor of our sponsoring church, heard me tell about these disappointing experiences, he and his wife, Bertie Mae, invited Peggy, Wanda, and me to come over early on Mondays for coffee and juice. Of course, Bertie Mae always had more than coffee.

As we shared our hard work with NO RESPONSE, they listened. They also told of their own disappointments in their early years in New York, yet finally seeing God bring people to Himself and to the church. This gave God-given hope to us. From then on in our early years in New York, we made our weekly 45-mile round trip journey to their home whether it was snowing or not. Without it, we might have given up.

Wanda made friends with the children who brought their sleds or toboggans to the top of the hill by our house and then slid down on them. On some days, we would fix hot chocolate for them. They would come into the chapel to enjoy

the warm area while drinking a cup of hot chocolate. This allowed Peggy or me to talk or joke with the children as they got to know us better.

After two or three months of calling on people door-to-door, I felt there was something missing because I could seldom get into a conversation about spiritual matters. In the Baptist Bookstore catalog, I found a magazine-size booklet with pictures which shared some general things about Baptist churches. Near the end was a picture of Jesus on the cross. I started asking the children with their parents listening, “What does the picture describe?” Replies might include: “It’s a man dying” or occasionally, “It’s Jesus.”

Then I asked, “Have you ever heard of John 3:16?”

Asking this to dozens of families, I found only one person who had ever heard of this most well-known verse from the Bible. Imagine my joy to share my own experience, saying, “When I realized Jesus loved me enough to suffer the punishment for my sins on the cross, I trusted Him as MY Savior.” Almost no one seemed moved by my experience, but at least I was planting seeds.

In late March, I wrote my closest friend since childhood and a pastor in Alabama. We had come to know Christ and both felt called to ministry in the same new mission church in Troy. I pleaded with him to pray for me and for the many people in Utica, New York, who did not know Christ.

In his April reply, he shared that he would be preaching in view of a call in a church in West Virginia, although he felt no sense of God’s leading him to serve there. He also assured me that he would be praying that, “God will touch the hearts of people there in New Hartford.” I later learned that he did not move to West Virginia, but he did move to be pastor of the First Baptist Church of Sampson, Alabama.

Thinking people might come to special services introducing the new pastor of the mission church, I scheduled them like a revival. With the help of two or three of the members, we personally distributed 800 cards as an invitation with my picture on them. Three of our mission families came to some of the services.

During the week of services, only three people came to one service. When I talked with them, none intended to come back to worship at the church.

The mission members DID AGREE to two actions which I had seen were needed. First, we changed our name from Faith Baptist Chapel to Clinton Road Baptist Chapel. I had found people confused by the fact that there was a group of churches in the state called Faith Baptist Fellowship, of which we were not a part. Second, we had a nice brochure printed with a picture of our meeting place/home on the front.

I HAD PRAYED, “LORD SEND ME TO A PLACE SO HARD THAT I WILL KNOW IF ANYONE COMES TO CHRIST THAT YOU DID IT!” After almost 6 months of talking with people, I had not found one person who had shown a serious interest in the church. Early one evening I went outside and began to slowly walk and talk to the Lord under the big maple tree at the top of the hill on which our Chapel was located. Looking at the Valley below, lights blinked in the homes of many people with whom I had talked. I thought about the lack of results from all our work. In Alabama and Panama, we had seen rather quick responses to our witness, even from many who did not profess to be followers of Christ.

I went into the worship area of our building, got down on my knees, and said, “Lord, why am I here?” After waiting on my knees for a while, it seemed the Lord said to me, “Whose work is this?” “Lord, I sure hope it’s YOURS, because it seems I’m getting nowhere.”

As I waited, again God’s spirit said, “Then why don’t you trust ME to bring the results?” A little chorus we had taught our children in VBS came to my mind, “God can do anything, anything but fail!” I remembered Psalm 37:5, “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass.”

Of course, I also remembered the prayer I had prayed before coming to Utica.

Realizing I had worked hard but not trusted HIM completely to do HIS WORK, I prayed, “Lord, only YOU can change hearts. I trust it all to YOU. Show me how to follow YOU and your leadership.” Getting up from my knees, I felt a big relief and peace about the work God had called us to do.

TWO VACATION BIBLE SCHOOLS WITH ALMOST 100 CHILDREN—TEN CONFESSING CHRIST When summer came, we had a new kind of opportunity – two vacation Bible schools. HMB sent two college student Summer Missionaries for Central New York, who came to help us during our two weeks of VBS. They stayed with us the first week and with our church Salvato family the second. We wanted to finish the Vacation Bible Schools before our baby was to be born in late July or early August.

God blessed us during the Vacation Bible Schools. The first one was held in our house worship center. The local fire department agreed to bring their truck out to our community to publicize the VBS. Some of us hung onto the sides of

the fire truck as it slowly drove, stopping at most houses and blaring its horn. As children ran out to see, we YELLED, “Come to Vacation Bible School; Clinton Road Baptist Church!”

More than 50 children attended, filling our downstairs chapel rooms, spilling over into our apartment upstairs. Many of the children had never attended a vacation Bible school before in their entire lives. As we approached the end of the week, I held a commitment service, and invited the older children to come forward to confess committing their lives to Christ. This allowed us to show them what the Bible taught about knowing they were saved and their need to follow Christ, including being baptized as believers. It was obvious that this was something strange to them, probably because they had never heard of this kind of baptism before.

I will never forget the parents’ night at the end of the VBS. We sent out invitations to all the parents and most of them attended. Each class came forward to sing a song, quote a scripture, or show what handcraft they had made.

As we approached the end of the service, it dawned on me, “This is my first opportunity since I have been in New Hartford to share the gospel of Christ with love and enthusiasm.” Looking to God’s Spirit for his leadership, I took my Bible and brought a brief message detailing why Christ died on the cross— because he loved us and was willing to lay down his life to pay for our sins.

And how one can repent, turn from his sins, and trust Jesus to forgive him and make him God’s child.

After this message I felt a deep sense of satisfaction that God was going to use our many new relationships with parents to begin the work of revealing the truth of the Gospel to those who had not followed Christ.

After the program, Ann Sierson, who had brought her 10-year-old son, Peter, to every day of the VBS, said to me, “I’m so glad I found this church!”

Later she told me how she became very depressed after her husband deserted her while their son Peter was very small. One night she turned on Billy Graham and heard him preaching at a Crusade. At the invitation time, he invited people watching to get down on their knees, confess their sins, and invite Jesus to come into their hearts to forgive them and save them. After she had done this, a great deal of peace and relief came to her. The next Sunday she excitedly told her pastor, “I prayed to receive Christ into my heart after hearing Billy Graham this week!”

He replied, “There’s nothing to this; I don’t believe it’s going to help you at all!” She stood there shattered by his lack of appreciation for what God had done in her life. Then I understood why she was so glad to find the church.

Al and Pat Salvato, our church family who lived in Marcy, a rural community eight or ten miles from New Hartford, opened the door for having a VBS in the Marcy Community Grange Hall. This VBS also drew many children from the community, as well as parents to the parents’ night at the end. In the children’s decision Service several of them confessed their newfound faith in Jesus Christ as their savior. Between the two VBSs, 10 older children had confessed their new-found faith in Christ. We prayed for their parents also to commit themselves to Christ as we talked with them in their homes.

BIRTH OF OUR SON, PAUL, AT ST. LUKES HOSPITAL

On the last day of the VBS at Marcy I took a picture of Peggy with Wanda standing on a stump with her obvious signs of our baby’s soon due date. The next day, Saturday, July 24th, also my birthday, I took another picture of her seated in the upstairs small porch when she was already experiencing birth pains.

I took her to St. Luke’s Hospital in Utica. The nurse said as she pointed, “You go to the Fathers’ waiting room,” as was a requirement in that day. It was a long wait.

After midnight with intense labor pains, Paul finally entered the world at 12:50 a.m. The nurses immediately gave Peggy a sedative to relieve her suffering as they brought Paul out to the waiting room for me to see him. I asked the nurse, “Can I see my wife now?” Her reply, “No, she’s asleep and needs to rest.” So, I went on home to get some rest and be ready to preach the next day.

When she did wake up, she remembers asking the nurse, “Can I see my husband now?” “He has already gone home,” was the answer she received.

The next day the hospital asked us, “What will be your son’s name?” As we talked about it, Peggy said, “Why don’t we name him Phillip?” “I like Paul,” I replied. “OK,” she agreed.

“Then we can give him your name, Clifford, for his middle name,” she added. “OK, “I agreed.

After three more days at the hospital I brought her and Paul home. One of my favorite pictures of Peggy and our children was taken, I think, soon after Paul’s birth. It’s under my lamp in the center of my desk, and Peggy and Wanda are dressed up. Peggy is seated on the sofa in our upstairs living room. She is holding our baby, Paul, as he obviously sobbed, while Wanda, seated beside her, smiled contentedly.

BEFORE JULY ENDED, PRESIDENT JOHNSON SENT 100,000 TROOPS TO VIETNAM 1 I don’t remember this being in the news. There’s a reason why—it probably WAS NOT. Historians think the President was so afraid citizens would think he was escalating the war that he somewhat hid what he was doing by dividing the assignment into 50,000 troops two different months. He also did NOT make public announcements, but shared only with small numbers of newsmen being briefed.

RELEASED TIME CHRISTIAN EDUCATION CLASSES FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN OPENED DOORS Before school began in the Fall, I learned about the Released Time Christian Education Classes that New York state let churches conduct. I simply prepared a letter and registration card which the teachers gave to all children. This allowed interested parents to return the cards, giving permission for their children in fourth to sixth grades to attend a class at our church.

We had 10 or more children to attend for both 5th and 6th grade. Each week I met the students at the Clinton Road School, and we walked by the back road to our church. The fifth graders studied what the Bible says about the life of Christ; the sixth graders studied 51 scriptures from the Old and New Testaments. They were some of the most important scriptures to become familiar with the teachings of the Bible.

SPEAKING IN REVIVALS AND SCHOOLS OF MISSIONS IN 1965

A seminary classmate of mine, Wayne Upton, asked me to preach in their revival October 17–24 in his church in Athens, Ohio. This was a meaningful and inspiring time to learn how God was working in new churches in the state of Ohio.

Not only did some people come to Christ, but I shared slides about our mission work in Panama after some of the services. Almost everyone stayed to see them.

From Athens I drove to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for my first school of missions since beginning work in New York State. The week was spent with eight or ten missionaries serving in various countries and parts of the USA. Most of us spoke in all twelve churches in the Pittsburgh Association, sharing the needs in our areas. I asked them to pray that AT LEAST ONE FAMILY WOULD COME TO CHRIST in our Revival in November.

I got back to New Hartford in time to complete preparation for our revival November 6–13. The churches in the Central Association of Southern Baptist in New York had planned this as a simultaneous revival, with pastors coming from the Maryland area to assist all the churches in the association.

The preacher for our revival was Clarence Smith, sent by his church in a Baltimore suburb. In an earlier letter to him I shared the great needs in our area: “After being without a full-time pastor for so long, our people seem to have gotten into a rut of very little activity for the Lord. We need a real revival. We also need to make a strong evangelistic effort to bring people in our community to Christ...we have been encouraged in the last few weeks because of greater opportunity to work with people who are prospects for Christ and the chapel. Almost none of them are southern Baptist in background. And in addition to our recent Vacation Bible School, we added another mission Bible school conducted by our chapel members and summer missionaries. We made contact and got to know several families whom we hope to reach out to during the revival.”

In my last letter to him before the meetings, I added, “Bring your winter clothes.”

When he arrived, I shared with him the visits I had made during the two months since our vacation Bible schools. We visited many of the families whose children had attended. Most welcomed us and even talked with us, but seems to not be interested in considering seriously the Gospel. Some said, “I’m Catholic,” or “I have my own church.”

Art and Margaret Wilson were the exception—they were more responsive.

When I asked him, “Do you have a Bible?” he replied, “I’ve got a Bible which my mother left for me years ago before she died.” He searched a storage room until he found a box filled with various mementos and a folder of letters and documents from his childhood years.

There was his big family Bible! It did not look like it had been used in years, if ever. Using his own Bible, I shared the gospel with him and Margaret. We read and discussed the meaning of Romans 3:23, 6:23, 5:8, and closed with Romans 10:9–10. Then I asked each of them, “Would you like to ask Jesus to forgive your sins, come into your heart, and make you a new person as God’s child?” When he said, “Yes,” I read Jesus’ promise in Revelation 3:20, “Behold I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me.” They both, with my assistance, asked Christ to come into their hearts. When they opened their eyes, their wide smiles of joy filled the room.

Then I turned in their Bible to Acts 2:41–42 and shared the meaning of believers’ baptism by immersion. They asked questions, but seemed satisfied with taking that step. I also explained to them that we would have to drive the 20 miles to Grace Church in Rome to baptize them. They said they would come forward at church to confess their faith in Christ.

The Wilson family did come to several of the revival services, but they did not confess their faith in Christ during that time. I was just disappointed that our preacher, Brother Clarence Smith, had to return home in Baltimore with none having made public commitments to Christ.

However, two days later on Sunday, they walked forward during the invitational hymn and confessed their faith in Christ and willingness to be baptized.

Our handful of people were very excited. This was the first family of native New Yorkers to profess Christ and became members of Clinton Road.

They were baptized a couple of Sundays later, bringing joy for themselves as well as well as to people of Clinton Road and those of our sponsoring church at Rome.

So, we ended the year of hard work and many activities proclaiming the Gospel with God answering prayer. Two people had come to Christ and the church. We rejoiced in each one and thanked God for his work through us.

GOD HAD HONORED HIS CALL FOR PEGGY AND ME TO BE CHURCH PLANTERS IN A PIONEER AREA! We had been blessed to be able to sow much seed on hard ground, but GOD HAD GIVEN THE INCREASE. We believed He would do much more in the future.

As we arrived in Alabama after our first trip back home for Christmas, we joked about the cold and told our families there was 6 inches of snow on the ground in Utica.

It was a joy to reunite with my mother and daddy and my four sisters and their husbands—Ernestine and Edward, Myriam and Jim, Jane and Earl, and Patsy and Billy. Wanda liked to try out all the toys her nephews and nieces had received.

Five-month-old Paul, was the center of attention with both Peggy’s family and mine. Her dad was good at making him smile; her brother, Billy, and sister-in law, Annette, held him and talked with him some, but seemed uncertain what to do with him. Her mother would have kept him our entire time there, savoring the days she had looked forward to for years.

I also shared with my home church, Northside of Troy, how God was working after our being there for a year. They were excited that the 18-year-old boy they had sent out to preach the gospel was now a missionary, planting churches where few have experienced a life-changing personal faith in Christ.

It was also good to see again the members of my dad’s church, Good Hope, west of Troy. I had preached a revival before for him and had become close friends with these loving people. They also promised to pray for us as we shared with them the great needs for the gospel in upstate New York.

It was very gratifying to report to these churches that 10 older children had accepted Christ at our Vacation Bible Schools. And that this had opened many doors for us to cultivate and witness to their families. Even more exciting was describing the responses of Art Wilson and his entire family.

Our entire family glorified God, thanking him for honoring his call to us to be church planters in a needy area of the U.S. God had done the work, but Peggy and I had been blessed to sow the seeds of his Word. After a few days, we were ready to return from sunny south Alabama to the north country where God was allowing us to serve.

In January 1966 we were amazed that several new families had moved to Utica who were committed Baptists and found our mission church. Don and Sharon Jordan, he a Sears store manager, became hard workers there and friends ever since. Tom and Nancy Dubois moved up from Maryland and became very faithful workers for the Lord. John and Alice Royes and their family of four also were great assets to the ministry.

Other Independent Baptist Church people from the area, who had visited the Church, seen what we were doing, and talked with us, also came forward and requested membership at Clinton Road. Bill and Gloria Knapp, who lived only a couple of hundred yards directly behind the church, proved to be faithful to Christ and the church for many years. We kept them as prayer partners and exchanged Christmas greetings with them for many years (until Gloria’s death).

There were others whose names allude me.

OTHER MOSTLY UNNOTICED MONTHLY PRESIDENTIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS OF TROOPS GOING TO VIETNAM Again, I did not remember 120,000 more troops being sent in January, even though they were. Presidential briefings only shared that 10,000 troops were sent each month for 12 months.2 Consequently, when troops from the Soviets and other Communist countries poured into Vietnam, the fighting intensified and large numbers of Americans were killed or wounded. Then strong opposition to the war arose nationwide. As a history major myself, I can’t help but wonder: “If the plan to send 220,00 troops had been run through the Congress and the public forums BEFORE SENDING THEM, how many of the 58,220 fatal casualties could have been avoided?”

THE “WORST BLIZZARD OF THE CENTURY” It began the last Sunday evening of January 1966. Everyone else had heard the weather report and did not come to church that Sunday night, but Tom DuBois showed up in his overcoat. I said, “You need to go home before you get snowed in with us for several days.” He replied, “I thought we would have church anyway,” as I ushered him into his car. I was glad to see his zeal, but knew his wife, Nancy, needed him then.

The snow fell for three days piling up 52 inches on our hilltop. Everything stopped in our Utica area. On the first day that I heard equipment opening up the road down the hill from our house, I needed to find a store. We were without milk for our 7-month-old son, so I waded through the snow, having to dig my way until I got down to the road. People were walking on the road but no cars were around. Looking down toward the grocery store, it appeared to be a 12-foot-wide tunnel with the snow piled 15 or 20 feet high on each side It was a good opportunity to speak to neighbors and meet new ones I’d never seen before. We were all looking for some kind of food and I’m sure the small store had their shelves cleaned out quickly. We also had to put off our January Bible Study of the Gospel of John. We had looked forward to using this as an evangelistic witnessing opportunity. It was not to be at that time.

OPEN DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY

That February I told about our mission in a School of Missions in the Havelock, New Bern area of North Carolina. The people there showed interest in bringing mission teams to help us with vacation Bible school.

Peggy had begun a meaningful activity for girls and their mothers in the Clinton Road area. It was GAs, a girls’ auxiliary mission organization. In February she had a presentation service for four girls who had passed their first step in GAs. Three other GAs participated as candle lighters. Some parents, especially mothers, came to this service. Women Mission leaders from various places in the state came to participate. Meta Brent, whom we had known in the Canal Zone, was the WMU director at our sponsor Church, Grace Baptist of Rome. Mary Knapton, the state leader of WMU and pastor’s wife from the Binghamton area, also participated.

The last two weeks of March, I fulfilled commitments to preach in revivals in two churches in Alabama. My friend, Burney, had been talking with me about coming to his church for over a year. He had made detailed preparation and the members had been praying for a month that God would work. This was the second time I had preached in a revival at the Sampson, Alabama church.

God worked in many hearts and several came to Christ again.

The revival at my dad’s Church, Good Hope near Troy, was also one where I had preached a revival before. It was a great joy to see many friends and family and have opportunities to boldly proclaim the gospel and to challenge believers in Troy to give and go help in the mission work.

April 10–17 we had our own revival, which we called a New Life Crusade, setting it to climax on Easter Sunday. Evangelist Ed Williams, whom you will recognize as a long-term friend of mine from seminary days, came from Louisiana to preach. We shared the gospel personally with many during the revival.

We also enlisted men from Grace Church of Rome to help us visit people prior to the crusade.

Despite these efforts, we did not fill the small worship area of our church/house with people. But several Christians did transfer their membership to the church.

Bible School the second year was again well attended, even though we were not able to have it at Marcy. There were 74 enrolled in VBS, down slightly from the year before. One of our members told me, “The priest at Saint Thomas down the road issued a pronouncement to his people: ‘if your family is in St. Thomas Parish, you are not allowed to attend or to send your children to the VBS of the church down the road’.”

We were very involved in the work of the CENTRAL BAPTIST ASSOCIATION, which had only 6 churches who sponsored 9 chapels (mission churches).

I also began serving as the association’s Superintendent of Sunday School. This allowed me to help new and older churches train their leaders, develop outreach plans and start new mission Sunday Schools. My family enjoyed the week at Ridgecrest, although our little ones had no interest in being in the picture below.

—1966 Sunday School Conference at Ridgecrest In the fall our church weekday classes from the school expanded to include fourth-grade students studying many of the outstanding men and women of faith whom they learned about in the Old and New Testaments.

Brother Tollison came to our new life crusade in April and stayed afterwards to talk. He had seen the people walking up and down the stairs to our apartment above the church. They just came up to talk, but interfered with Peggy getting basic things like food prepared and the children ready for bed.

After talking with us about the stress this caused the family, he said, “We’ve got to get you out of the church and into a house.” He did this by getting a little financial help from those he knew were interested in new churches being started in upstate New York; but mainly he walked with us through the process of finding, buying a house and getting a mortgage to pay for it. We had never done this before.

We found a small house in the development back of the church. Like many homes in that area, I think it had 936 square feet built on a concrete floor.

This was similar to many homes thrown up quickly after World War II. It was a frame building with siding outside and cardboard walls inside. Yes, honestly, compressed cardboard was the paneling. The cost: $10,500.

We liked the fact that there was a central heating system with ducts in the concrete floor. This meant our feet did not freeze as they often did when we visited people in homes with concrete floors.

Another positive—the Clinton Road Elementary School was about a half mile away. The children could walk there one day when they enrolled in school.

Our contacts there helped us make many friends and open the doors for a witness to parents.

NORTH CAROLINA MEN: THEIR FIRST WITNESSING CRUSADE IN NEW HARDFORD—1966 Through participation in a world missions conference early in the year in North Carolina, I met Frank Ingram, an associational director of missions. He told me about a group of men who had formed visitation and witnessing teams to go to different parts of the country and help mission churches share the Gospel.

Frank had a great sense of humor, which was contagious. He was also willing to try anything that he thought would help reach people. August 1–6, he brought nine men to work in our area. They were excellent at making friends with people of all kinds. Being so full of joy and joking with each other made them easy for people to talk with.

These men stayed at our church house, from which we had recently moved.

They prepared their own meals except those the church fixed for them. They paid all their own expenses and spent most of their time in the community. Two nights during the week, services were held at the church. Each of those nights two men shared how Christ had changed them and a pastor with them preached.

‘WITNESSING CRUSADE ECHOES’ FROM CHURCH NEWSLETTER, DECEMBER—1966 Miss Ruth Pope confessed Christ in a Crusade service and was eventually baptized. Mr. and Mrs. Dick Perry made their public professions of faith after the Crusade on November 20, but said the witness and vital Christian lives of these men played a big part in their conversions to Christ.

Both churches in North Carolina who had sent their pastors (Gordon Pope and George White) held a service when they returned to report how well they were received and how God had touched hearts. They also committed to continue helping in this mission work by sending Bibles and their pastors the next year.

This Crusade was just the beginning of many years of their partnership with Clinton Road and other upstate New York churches.

North Carolina men will not obey my rule of “no smoking inside the building.”

I met some of these men in the Fall at a restaurant off 85 near Lexington North Carolina since I had gotten to know them during the Crusade. I also had a list of suggestions for those planning to come in 1967. Although it was not on my list, I had also said to them then, “No smoking in the church/house.” Soon after I had sent this list to Frank, he had replied in a scathing letter to Crusade members and to me, saying, “Any of our group who would be foolish enough to obey your rule of no smoking inside the building does not have enough sense to come in out of the cold.” Of course, this just gave all of us a good laugh.

OUR PROGRESS IN 1966 The annual minutes of the Central Baptist Association for 1966 showed the Clinton Road Baptist Chapel was still sponsored by our Grace Baptist Church in Rome. The mission had grown to 38 members, of whom 12 were received by baptism that year. These results seemed meager to me, but for those working there for years, they showed a very good start for a new church. We praised God and continued to trust Him to convict people as we shared Christ with everyone willing to hear.

FROM 1967 THROUGH 1971 AT CLINTON ROAD From this point we will not repeat the annual events which continued each year. God continued to use the church to reach more people and grow the church and its ministry. We will simply tell about unusual ways God worked and people who became leaders in spreading the gospel in various ministries.

OUR GREATEST RESPONSE TO THE GOSPEL IN 1967: WITNESSING CRUSADE

Before our meeting in 1967, Larry Love had become the new director of the Witnessing Crusade group. He was the Chevrolet dealer in Graham, North Carolina. As an outspoken layman with a zeal to share his faith, especially in the neediest mission fields, he was an ideal leader. He invested much of his time and money in leading this group.

This was conducted September 8–15 by the North Carolina men who helped us the previous year. Our church was in touch with Frank Ingram and Larry Love throughout the year, including two stops to meet with them while enroute to or from Alabama. To show how much fun these men had as they served in areas of little or no response to their witness, here is part of a letter their new director, Larry Love, sent to all team members and me before our meeting in early August: Letter from Larry Love— RESULTS OF THE 1967 WITNESSING CRUSADE Sixteen men came to New Hartford, and two went to help mission churches at Wellsburg; two more went to Windsor, leaving us twelve to lead our witnessing at Clinton Road. Services were held Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday with Gordon Pope as preacher. Two different men gave their testimonies each service while others continued their visitation during the services.

For the first time at any evangelistic event during the almost three years I had been starting the church, there was a good attendance. The twelve North Carolina men with at least half having Clinton Road men as partners, finished the week with these results: 300 houses called upon; 150 people at home; 93 Catholic families; 7 Baptist families; 58 invitations to the Gospel; 16 prospective families; 4 professions of faith in homes; 5 professions of faith in services.

Two ‘firsts’ since the Clinton Road Church had been started: • •

The first time more than one person had professed Christ in any evangelistic meetings.

The first radio program by a Southern Baptist Church to ever be broadcast on a Utica station. Three 5-minute programs were aired at 6:30 each evening on WBVM, Utica.

To show the close relationship the North Carolina men had built with our men, read this letter from Gordon Pope sent to our men and church after he returned home: Letter from Gordon Pope on next page— Before the Crusade began, I had suggested to men: “Be yourself and carry on your fun. Probably the fun you have joking and fellowshipping with people here will do as much good as your witnessing. People will see that knowing

Christ fills a person’s life with joy.� This proved to be true; in addition to leading several to Christ, these fellows made many friends for the church.

The Crusades of the Americas was developed by the home and foreign mission boards of the SBC to plant more churches to evangelize more people in places where few people professed personal faith in Christ. This emphasis provided funds which enabled us to have two Summer Missionaries, who surveyed different areas of the city and its suburbs.

They looked for areas with large numbers of people interested in bible study, VBS and having a relationship with Christ. They discovered many responsive people in the project housing in East Utica. That summer backyard Bible clubs were conducted in the Posch family’s backyard with a good response from children and their parents.

REVIVALS IN FIRST TWO CHURCHES WE STARTED I received a letter, inviting me to preach in revivals in the two churches which Peggy and I had started soon after we were married in 1958. This was very gratifying to Peggy and me since we had not been back to the two churches since 1963. Both are located in the East Brewton, Alabama area, about 100 miles from our homes.

David Shoffner had become pastor at Cedar Hill in East Brewton three years earlier. The church had thrived under his leadership. God used him to bring many to Christ, and he went on to lead them to build a worship center for the church. It would seat up to 250 people.

I spent a week at Cedar Hill, rejoicing with those who had been saved when we were there and in the recent growth of the church. We also witnessed to many people, and several came to know Jesus. Others who had strayed were revived.

Peggy stayed with our parents part of the time, but came on Friday with our two little ones, allowing them to attend services Friday and Saturday at Cedar Hill. We saw many dear friends from the past, with the center of attention being Wanda, age 5, and Paul, 2.

They stayed on Sunday and Monday after the crusade began at Riverview.

George Nall, a man who had helped us start the church when he was a layman, had become the pastor at Riverview. They were a growing rural church. We were really blessed by the week we spent preaching and visiting some people we knew and others whom we did not. Some recommitted themselves to Christ, while others came to trust Jesus as Savior.

It was very satisfying to see people’s lives changed for good through our 3 years there planting these churches.

THIS ALSO AFFIRMED OUR CALL TO PLANT CHURCHES. FINISHING 1967 AT CLINTON ROAD IN NEW HARTFORD We ended the year with 50 members, of whom 13 were baptized; 84 enrolled in Sunday School and 73 in Vacation Bible School.

1968 ACTIVITIES AT CLINTON ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH As the year began, the United States was fully involved in the Vietnam War. On January 22 the Associated Press reported on the difficult conditions and great losses to Americans in Vietnam. Headline: “US Bombers Pound North Vietnam”3 This newspaper report is reproduced here so you may know some of the things going on in the Vietnam War as 1968 began.

—NC Burlington Times Union

MEN’S GROUP REORGANIZED AS LARRY S. LOVE WITNESSING MISSION The same newspaper reported the death of Larry Love, director of the witnessing mission in North Carolina, which had served so effectively with us in upstate New York. It reported their reorganization as the Larry S. Love Memorial Witnessing Mission. The story that reports the death of Larry Love, reorganizing in his name and the plaque presentation to his wife is included.4

—Witnessing Mission Organized

Frank Ingram, Superintendent of Missions for the Mt. Zion Baptist Association, also wrote an article about Larry Love’s homegoing. Please take note of the last two paragraphs, which are such a challenge to us all who are followers of Jesus: “Only twenty-eight years of age when he was called home, but his accomplishments in the name of our Savior, and for His glory were of great magnitude.

To those of us who walked with him daily, will henceforth walk more boldly and intimately with our Master because of this young man’s zeal, dedication to God, and his powerful influence on our lives for good.”

IN THE GRIP OF A BITTER WINTER, CLINTON ROAD CONTINUED ITS WITNESS We conducted a Bible study, usually done in January, in February because Byron Nelson, a director of missions in Georgia, could come to lead it then. We had found that a very effective way of getting churches and Christian people in the South involved in our mission work in upstate New York was to have their leaders come help us share the gospel.

So, we had a week of Bible study in the evenings. Brother Nelson and I visited families who had been discovered in our various forms of outreach. Several were located in the East Utica area where we had held VBS in the backyard of the Posch family.

We visited the children in the homes of that area and offered them a ride out to New Hartford for our Bible study. One of those who came was a young teenager, Carol Posch. As the Bible was taught and an invitation extended, she confessed Christ as her Lord.

CARMELLA POSCH FAMILY COMES TO CHRIST AND CLINTON ROAD The next day Brother Nelson and I visited her and her mother again at their East Utica Project Duplex. Since she probably had not heard what it meant to confess one’s faith in Christ, I told her, “I wanted you to hear what we shared with Carol at church.” We read the Scriptures from the Bible, which cover topics such as “all have sinned,” sin condemns us to death, but Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead to give us life.

“Any person,” I said, “who will repent or turn from his sins and ask Jesus to forgive him and come into his life as his Savior and Lord will be saved.”

That is what Carol did. We looked at a specific scripture in each of these areas.

As I finished presenting the Gospel in this way and looked up, big tears were running down Carmella Posch’s face.

“Would you like to invite Jesus into your heart?” I asked her.

“Oh yes, I would,” she replied. “Just a minute,” I answered. “I want to go over the Scriptures with you again and let you apply them to yourself.” So, she had to wait to pray and to trust Christ until I read the Scriptures again and then asked her, “Hearing what God says, are you sure that you’re ready to turn from what you know is wrong in your life and trust Jesus to save you from your sins?”

“Oh yes, I’m ready!” she cried out over her sobs.

I then led her in a prayer to invite Jesus to forgive her and to come into her heart and make her God’s child. She finished the prayer, laughing and weeping at the same time. In her excitement, she stood and hugged all of us. From that moment Carmella and her family came to every church event for which they could get transportation.

Byron Nelson told my family at church, “Carmella was ready to accept Christ, but Cliff said, ‘Wait; let me go over the Scriptures with you again’.”

They all said to me, “YOU MADE HER WAIT WHEN SHE WAS READY!” I had to endure a lot of kidding after that incident.

The Posch family became lifelong friends to Peggy and our family. Wherever we moved, they would find us and come visit with us for a day. They would invite us to go out to eat or else bring something themselves. She would say, “You will always be my pastor.” All of this happened because we chose to use one of the coldest months of the year in Utica, New York to go out and share the Gospel with people who desperately needed Christ.

I can’t remember whether that was our only response for an entire week of work, but a Christian leader in Georgia saw the results of going out and proclaiming Christ in a difficult mission field. Consequently, he brought other pastors and leaders to help us in our work at Clinton Road Baptist Chapel in New Hartford.

CONSTITUTED AS THE CLINTON ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH We worked with Grace Baptist Church, our sponsor in becoming an independent cooperating Southern Baptist church. J. T. Davis, the pastor at Grace had been very helpful to us through the years, as he was in constituting as a church.

I involved director of missions John Tollison and other leaders from our Central Baptist Association in drawing up an organizational structure for our new church. Then we scheduled a public constitution service in which we invited pastors and members of other Southern Baptist churches in Central New York to meet with us as we organized into a new church. Our prayer was that we would continue to have partnerships with our sister churches and inspire them to continue starting new churches throughout the upstate area.

We drew up a formal, public Constitution Service on Saturday, March 30, 1968. In it all people who wanted to be members signed a charter member list and adopted articles of faith and rules of order. Then we voted to request membership in the Central Baptist Association, Baptist Convention of New York and the SBC. As moderator of the new church, I presided in a vote to give regularly to our world mission efforts through the Cooperative Program and Associational Missions.

This Constitution Service was not only a step forward for our church, but it also provided a great way to publicize in the secular press the fact that we were no longer a mission outreach but a church on our own in a key community of the Utica area. We also included the news that our church would be reaching out, ministering and witnessing to people in other areas of Utica.

FIRST CROWDED REVIVAL WITH MANY COMMITMENTS TO CHRIST The day after our constitution on Saturday, March 30th, we began a simultaneous revival with Francis White, pastor of a church in Del City Oklahoma.

Brother White was one of the most effective preachers and personal witnesses of anyone we ever had come to Clinton Road. We had stories in the newspapers and on radio of the new church having a week of meetings with the pastor of a large church in Oklahoma preaching for an entire week.

Our own people also made their lists of people they were praying for and would invite to the meetings. God answered our prayers: our downstairs worship area in the house was overflowing during the meetings.

By then, we had more members of the church who were natives to the Utica area than we did those from other parts of the country but employed by companies in Utica. The local people especially realized the great value of the church because of what God had recently done in their lives through it. Many brought their families and friends to these meetings. Some of them were led to attend the church for good.

After the week of the gospel being preached and shared personally with so many people, 13 folks confessed Christ as their Savior and requested baptism and membership in the church. Others transferred their membership to Clinton Road Church.

God did such a great work in our hearts and in people’s lives that for two months following the revival someone came forward each Sunday to make some kind of commitment to the Savior. I sent letters to the leaders of his church, thanking them for sending us such a faithful preacher of the gospel to work with us for a week and paying for all his expenses. What a blessing to be a part of a group of cooperating Christians joining together from all parts of our great land to help each other!

I GOT A ‘BAD NEWS’ CALL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT ON AUGUST 1, 1968, ABOUT MYRIAM AND JIM CUMBIE, MY SISTER AND BROTHER-IN-LAW They had been driving home from a week of study and relaxation at Ridgecrest Assembly near Asheville, North Carolina. In a heavy rainstorm, their car slid across the median into the path of a big truck, crushing and killing them immediately. I flew home and met with our family at their home in Lake City, Florida. Their remains were buried in the church where my brother-in-law was pastor, Hopeful Baptist Church near Lake City.

WE COULD NOT IGNORE TWO SHOCKING NATIONAL DEATHS: THE SAME YEAR DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING WAS SHOT BY JAMES EARL RAY ON APRIL 4, 1968.

He was helping organize a garbage collector’s strike. It was surprising to many of us that the man who had led the largest Civil Rights rally ever in Washington without violence would be killed by an assassin’s bullet.

JUST TWO MONTHS LATER ROBERT F. KENNEDY WAS SHOT AFTER HIS GREAT WIN. He had just won a huge victory in the California Democratic Presidential Primary. Sirhan Sirhan, a Jordanian immigrant angry at his support for Israel, shot and killed him.

GROUND-BREAKING FOR CHURCH BUILDING: JUNE, 1968; CONSTRUCTION BEGINS Clinton Road Baptist Church members and even attendees became excited when a June 1968, ground-breaking was held for a new building. People inside and outside our church had often asked me, “Well, when are we going to build a church?”

My reply typically was, “We already have a church made up of God’s people; we will erect a larger building when we have too many people to fit into our present building.”

However, almost a year earlier, we had elected a building committee and begun the process of planning our own church facility. They chose a spot down the hill in front of where the house was facing Highway 12-B on Clinton Road.

A plan was developed with the help of the architecture department of the SBC and adopted by the congregation. We chose to erect a two-story structure about 45 x 90, containing a little over 4000 square feet on each floor. This provided room for us to have a spacious auditorium and worship area upstairs or on the main level, as well as space for classes and dining area downstairs. We even had showers for mission teams!

The time had come: we needed more room. So, our people excitedly adopted our building committee’s recommendations. We began to encourage people to give extra for the building fund and informed our friends who had come to our area to help in mission work about the need for the building.

By the fall of that year, we had found a contractor to pour the foundation footing and floor of the building. He did this work before the extremely cold weather set in. After the foundation and floor were done, volunteers began construction, almost all of which was done by volunteers. These came mostly from our own church and community, although some came from other areas, especially upstate New York.

During the previous two years, we had gone on several Saturdays to help new churches in Alexandria Bay and other places construct their church buildings. They and other churches in the association returned the favor. One of the joys of being involved in what we called ‘pioneer missions’ was that of actually knowing and helping each other across an association spanning 200 miles.

Most important was the fellowship of believers, caring for and supporting each other in the spread of the good news of Jesus Christ our Lord.

In spite of the limitations of space, we were able to involve 103 people in VBS in June and July of 1968. In addition, mission VBSs were held in various

places in the Utica area. We enrolled 83 children with largest number by far in East Utica in the Posch family backyard.

REVIVALS IN GREENVILLE AND EAST CHAPMAN RENEWED RELATIONSHIPS One of my earliest mentors and fellow workers in sharing the gospel was Swinson Kimbrough. We were both saved and called to preach in Northside Church, Troy, fifteen years earlier. After serving churches in the Troy area several years, he and his family had moved to pastor the East Chapman Baptist Church. It had been several years since I had had any significant amount of time with him. We talked about our days at Northside and thanked God for the great things he had done in our lives.

We visited and shared the Gospel with lost people, as we had done years before. He had already witnessed to most of them before, but a few did come to Christ. It was fun to proclaim God’s Word to receptive people when many were my own relatives. I had begun to discover that it was perhaps harder to win the lost in Alabama, with people familiar with the Bible, than in Utica, New York, where most had NOT heard the message before.

The Butler County church was only five miles from where my Grandpa Clifford and Grandma Ada Shell had lived, with my Uncle Cecil still living there.

Many of my mother’s family still lived in the area. I’m sure some of them came to the revival, but don’t remember whom.

Swinson had also talked with the pastor of the East Greenville Baptist Church where my Uncle Leon Matthews was a deacon. His pastor, Brother Mertan Griffin, had agreed to schedule a revival the week before at East Chapman, so I could come and work with each church for a week. It was a joy to work with Brother Griffin and feel his heart for people, especially those who were lost.

I stayed with my Uncle Leon, Aunt Annette, and their young son and daughter, who lived right across the road from the church. He was a strong, robust man who operated a sheet metal shop. This gave us time to reminisce about our families in the past and how Christ had transformed and grown us to be committed and happy followers of Jesus.

It was a joy to preach to these receptive people each morning and evening for a week. They brought their Bibles and their friends and God’s Spirit worked in their hearts. I don’t remember how many came to Christ, but some did.

This trip was a refreshing time for me, reminding me of my roots, both human and spiritual.

LARRY LOVE MEMORIAL WITNESSING MISSION: OCTOBER 29-NOVEMBER 3, 1968 I worked with Gordon Pope, new director of the men’s group to arrange our plans for them to serve in New York. We agreed that they would work this time in four places instead of just one.

Two in Utica area—New Hartford and East Utica; two teams in Rome and Floyd, their new mission; and one in Syracuse with Central Baptist Church.

Each team had four or five men, one of whom was to preach in the services.

This allowed us to extend the ministry of the eighteen man who came to serve in our area. It also lessened our burden to have so many for us to take care of and find places they could serve in meaningful ministries.

We called our witnessing crusade that year “Mission Go Tell.” We distributed hundreds of brochures, which said on the front, “LET ME TELL YOU…” then inside, “WHAT HE MEANS TO ME.” I had written in the first person: I’m just an average American like you. I work five days a week to earn a living. I’m concerned about the war, the riots and the uncertainties of modern life, too…and sometimes things get tough.

But let me tell you who has made a big difference in my life.

His name is Jesus Christ.

I went on to tell HOW Jesus had made my life so much better.

The bottom line asked: “WHAT DOES HE MEAN TO YOU?” The second inside page listed the activities with times and the services along with people involved.

The back page indicated it was sponsored by Clinton Road and the Larry Love Memorial Witnessing Mission; Jesus’s words were stated from Mark 5:19, “Go…tell…How great things the Lord hath done for thee.”

A report from all the participating churches showed the following: 357 visits had been made, 82 presentations of the gospel, 11 professions of faith, and two transfers of membership in the churches.

This was a great time of God working through his people and in partnership with a wonderful group of hard-working Christian men, fully committed to sharing Christ with all who do not know Him.

WE ENDED 1968 AT CLINTON ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH WITH: Progress continuing in constructing the first building of Clinton Road. In four months, numerous volunteers had it “dried in,� allowing us to now work inside as the weather began to get colder.

In 1968, ten were baptized; 23 were received as new members by transfer, which led to 65 resident members; 141 enrolled in Sunday School and an average of 56 attended weekly; 103 involved in church VBS and 83 in missions VBS.

PRAISE GOD FOR HIS MIGHTY WORKS IN A CHALLENGING MISSION FIELD! 1969: PLANNING FOR OUR CRUSADE OF THE AMERICAS: CHRIST THE ONLY HOPE As home missionaries we were glad to hear of such an emphasis because we knew this would mean more funding and personnel to help us proclaim the Gospel in the most difficult areas of the country. The biggest benefits to us in New Hartford did not come until later in the year.

EARLY IN 1969: STARTED MEETING IN NEW BUILDING; BEGAN BUS MINISTRY It would be several months before we ‘completed’ our building, but we started meeting in it by late in 1968 or early in 1969. We had all the classrooms upstairs and downstairs where we could use them. The worship area upstairs was finished enough to use it; however, we were still using folding chairs and were without carpet.

By February or early March, we were beginning our bus ministry. Earlier I had shared the large numbers of unchurched children and their families being reached by some churches through their BUS MINISTRIES. This excited several of our new Christians, who agreed to go to a two-day Bus Ministry Conference in Maryland.

At the conference, we heard many testify of doubling their Sunday School attendance in a few weeks or months. When I asked, “Should we start with one bus and gradually get more?”

“No,” responded a conference leader, “IF YOU DON’T HAVE ENOUGH ZEAL TO GET AT LEAST TWO, DON’T EVEN START IT!” That set us on fire, especially when he said, “You can get used buses from school systems for nominal costs and involve a lot of your people who won’t teach or lead to do the repairs, fix food, and raise money from businesses and friends.” They also told us HOW we could do all those things.

The church accepted our group’s recommendation and went to work—finding, painting and repairing two used buses, and training bus captains and workers. When we started the Bus Ministry, it took every Saturday and getting up early every Sunday to call every child and stop for them a little later. The bus that went to the poverty-stricken areas came back packed with children. The

one that went to the middle-class residents only found a few receptive children.

But we were excited as our Sunday School attendance grew from 62 to 158 in just six weeks! That is, until our teachers and workers began feeling completely overwhelmed! Almost every Sunday an exasperated teacher would come up to my office and threaten, “I’m quitting! These unruly kids are IMPOSSIBLE TO TEACH!” My reply: “We’ll try to get you some help; please don’t give up; these children need Jesus!” Then I would pray for them and the children, and our Sunday School director would go to an adult class and find her a helper for the day.

We DID have some good results—gathering a more diverse group of people, using and developing all our people’s gifts and growing us Christians spiritually.

However, for a church our size already busy in mission work, we took on too much, scared off some of our prospects, and wore out our most committed people.

PRAYING AND LOOKING FOR WORKERS FOR THE FIELD In March, I was speaking at churches in the Alabama area about the home missions needs in New York in relationship to the Annie Armstrong offering and week of prayer for Home Missions. Of course, I included the need for help in constructing our building. As part of that visit, I spoke at the Baptist Student Union (BSU) at Troy State College, now, Troy University. At their noonday luncheon, I told about our mission work in upstate New York. Most of the students were so busy eating and getting ready to go back to class that they took little time to listen.

One young lady though, Charlotte Rawls from the Andalusia, Alabama area, seemed to be especially interested in helping with the mission’s Vacation Bible Schools during the summer. After the luncheon, she asked, “Would that allow us to share the gospel with these students’ families?”

“Yes,” I replied; “then we could arrange transportation for them to come to our church or do Backyard Bible Clubs in their area.”

Charlotte informed me, “I’ll be graduating in May and have been talking with a school principal about taking a teaching job. However, this mission work is appealing. Can you tell me a little more about the need and what I would do if I came to your area?”

“You would work with the people in our mission church,” I answered, “to go to the areas of Utica, which has over 100,000 people in the region and find places where mission VBSs could be held. OUR MISSION IS THE ONLY SBC WORK IN THE AREA. You would have the help of two summer missionaries and some of the people in our mission as volunteers. We’ll come up with enough funding that you can make it OK for the summer.”

Charlotte thought ahead, “What if God led me to stay and help with the mission work for a longer time?”

I answered, “We will pray for God to provide for your support through churches, friends, and perhaps some from the Home Mission Board to help support you for at least a year or two.”

Charlotte said, “I’m definitely interested in considering that. Please send me any other information you can, and I’ll be praying about it and will make a decision in the next few weeks.” She gave me her address and a telephone number where her family could reach her. I prayed with her before she went back to her classes.

When I got back to our mission church on Sunday, I told the people, “There’s a possibility of a young lady graduating from college in Alabama, Charlotte Rawles, coming to help with our outreach this Summer.” Then I requested, “Please begin praying for God to reveal this to her and funds for her support, if it’s His will.” The members expressed their enthusiasm at that possibility.

I also gathered information from local sources about Utica, New York and its suburbs. We had printed information telling more about Clinton Road Church.

All this was mailed to her three or four days after I returned to New Hartford.

I’ll continue with what happened with Charlotte a little later in this chapter.

ANOTHER ALABAMIAN BRINGS GOOD NEWS TO THE YANKEES May 4–9, 1969, we had our own Crusade of the Americas at Clinton Road.

Our preacher, Jasper Jones from New Market, Alabama, was enlisted and sent to us by the Home Mission Board. He was a man who had a deep compassion for people, who was effective in preaching the gospel and in witnessing to people. I don’t remember how many people came to Christ, but we had a much larger congregation and attendance THAN WE EVER HAD IN THE HOUSE. In May we were having our meetings in the new building, although it was still not finished. As the gospel was preached night by night, our new members brought their families and friends. Some trusted Jesus to save them and we all became more excited about God’s answers to our prayers. It was a good week which prepared us for a Summer of mission outreach.

A BAPTISTRY INSTALLER GETS BAPTIZED We kept working on the completion of our church building. One of the important things we did was to build a platform and install a baptistry at the front

of our church auditorium. One of the volunteers to help do this structure was Carmella Posch’s husband, Earnie.

When we finished working one night, I asked him, “Have you ever really turned from your sins and trusted Jesus to save you?”

He said, “I’ve always believed that Jesus was the son of God.” I asked him, “Do you realize that you have sinned and that you need forgiveness for your sins?” “Oh, I know I’ve sinned a lot,” he admitted; “one of my big problems is alcohol.”

“Jesus died for all your sins,” I replied, “and he invites you, ‘come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’.”

I continued sharing with him God’s plan for his sins to be forgiven and what it could mean to him to trust Jesus to save him. I finished by asking, “Would you like to ask God to forgive, save and give you the power over your habit of drinking?”

“Yes,” he answered. I led him in a prayer, asking Jesus to come into his heart, to forgive his sins, to save him and help him overcome his drinking habit.

Then we looked in the Bible at the meaning of baptism in Acts 2:41 (KJV): “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” Then I explained, “This is the reason we had been installing the baptismal pool.” As a lifelong Catholic he had wondered why his wife and children were actually dipped under the water in baptism. After I had read the Scriptures and explained what Jesus did, he seemed to understand.

I said, “We’re going to have a baptism tomorrow; so, if you want to be baptized as a follower of Christ, bring a separate change of clothes and get here 30 minutes early.”

I explained further, “I’ll meet with the ones being baptized in the morning worship service.” He brought his clothes and came forward when I gave an invitation for new Christians to confess Christ as their Savior.

He and three other people were baptized in our new baptistry. Our people were so elated that they clapped their hands when he came up out of the water.

I reminded these new converts to Christ, “This is just the beginning of your following Christ!”

Then we looked at the other disciplines practiced by the early Christians, as described in Acts 2:42–47.

GOD CALLS A MISSION OUTREACH LEADER FOR THE SUMMER

God provided a grant from the Home Mission Board and the decision of our church to help support Charlotte Rawles for the summer. Most important, He led her after graduation in May to move to our area to lead our summer outreach.

She got there in time to learn a little about the area before the Summer Missionaries arrived. She helped them find the homes where they would be staying for the summer, provided information about the area, and offered visits to the places we were praying God would open doors for us to do visitation and VBSs. ONE OF MANY DISAPPOINTMENTS RELATED TO CLINTON ROAD Our adult men’s Sunday School teacher sent a letter to our church clerk, Gloria Knapp, with a copy to me. Here are some quotes from it: I have decided to request that my name be dropped from the church membership roll, effective immediately. Please do not take this as criticism of the church. It is filling a great need in this area. However, I just do not feel that I will ever make a good Southern Baptist or that I’ll be able to be at home with this type of organizational structure. I have tried to work within the church framework and find that I cannot…

I do love each of you even though I may not have always shown it.

May God richly bless all of you and the Clinton Road Baptist Church.

This came as a shock to all of us, but Peggy and I remembered that this couple had come from an independent church background and was not accustomed to the many activities and outreaches that our church did regularly. Whenever two other members and I visited with the couple we expressed our great disappointment and how much we would miss them. He gave no indication of any change of mind. So, we prayed with them, and committed them to God. My greatest concern was that this experience NOT hinder us from DOING WHAT GOD HAD CALLED US TO DO. Looking back, it seemed to have been only a temporary interruption. When the letter was read to the church and I explained what we had done, our members seemed to feel like this just happens sometimes.

ON THE FRONT LINES OF MISSION WORK

Charlotte led the church that summer to reach out to several areas of the Utica region. We did Vacation Bible Schools and Backyard Bible Clubs, with all the activities and witness opportunities these gave us. When the summer ended, we had enrolled over 300 children in Vacation Bible Schools, 110 at Clinton Road Church, and 197 in Mission Vacation Bible Schools, with 34 children professing faith in Christ.

She and two summer missionaries obtained permission from churches or parks for each of these Bible Schools. A VBS was held in an African American Baptist Church in East Utica, the Seventh Day Adventist Church in North Utica, a town park in Herkimer, and a backyard in Adrian Terrace project housing.

WE WERE EXCITED WHEN NEIL ARMSTRONG AND EDWIN (BUZZ) ALDRIN LANDED ON THE MOON ON JULY 20, 1969 They were accompanied by Michael Collins, who continued to orbit the moon to do experiments and to take pictures. Armstrong and Aldrin spent three hours walking on the moon. President John F. Kennedy had proposed that the U.S. send men to the moon in 1961. After many space flights and some in the vicinity of the moon, NASA was finally ready for this big one. Perhaps most important, they returned safely to earth.

A SOUTHERN GIRL SOLO MISSIONARY IS CONFRONTED BY THE ‘LAW’ UP NORTH By the fall of 1969 we had gotten the Home Mission Board’s approval for funds for part of the support for Charlotte to serve with us the next two years.

We added to this our own church’s funds sufficient for her to be able to work full-time in our outreaches in the region.

The first summer Charlotte was there, she got stopped by a policeman near Herkimer, east in the Mohawk River Valley. He said to her, “Do you realize you ran that red light?”

She replied “No sir; I did not see it.”

“Don’t sass me,” he replied.

Being a little perplexed by what the officer said, she answered, “No sir; I did not mean to say anything rude.”

He became angry and warned her, “Don’t you realize I can give you a ticket that requires facing a judge?”

“Oh, yes sir,” Charlotte answered, “I know you can give me a ticket.” By then

HE was perplexed—here was a young lady, obviously from the south, who insulted him, yet did it in the sweetest and humblest tone of anyone he had ever met.

A honking horn made him realize they were holding up traffic. He gave a suspicious look at her gentle smile, shook his head, jumped into his patrol car, and drove away.

She did not understand why the policeman was angry at her until she told her experience to a friend she had made in the area. He laughed at her, and then explained, “To use the word, ‘sir’ in that kind of response to an officer is an insult. It’s like saying with disdain, ‘Who do you think YOU are?’”

Her reactions simply reminded us of her gentle yet firm reactions in confrontations, as well as her willingness to learn the language and culture of her new mission field. This was so different from the customs in the south, where the word sir showed respect and courtesy.

THE BCNY WAS CONSTITUTED AT THE CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH, SYRACUSE, ON SEPTEMBER 25-26, 1969 Southern Baptist Churches in our area (SBC) had been part of five associations: Frontier in western New York, Central New York, Adirondack, Southern Tier Association and the Metropolitan Association, which included churches in NY City, northern New Jersey, and Southwest Connecticut (all composed the Metro New York area). Messengers from these churches constituted the Baptist Convention of New York.

Ministry leaders and missionaries serving in this area felt having our own state convention would enable SBC agencies to relate and focus on the vast New York State needs. We felt this would help spread the gospel and advance God’s kingdom in this important area of our USA. Meeting several times during 1969, a steering committee, made up of the moderators from each association in the state convention area drew up recommendations for a proposed organizational structure, constitution, staff to elect, and financial plan. It included a New York Cooperative Program to begin in December and a Cooperative Agreement with the Home Mission Board. This enhanced support for our mission work throughout New York state and all the areas where we worked.

Messengers from churches throughout the state came together for the constituting session and voted their own sense of God’s direction in deciding what to do. Previously most of us did not know many people outside our own association. Now we would have an annual meeting, where reports would be given

and progress or unmet needs publicized. We would all have a part in the work of proclaiming Christ in the entire New York state region. From that point, many of us made friends with others living in other parts of the state and looked forward to statewide meetings, even though we had to travel long distances is to attend them.

Dr. Paul S. James was elected as Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Baptist Convention of New York. Closing the constituting session, he delivered this message to all us present. [See Appendix] We went from the organization of the Baptist Convention of New York confident that it would provide greater opportunities for the people of our churches, undergird greater expansion, and give us our own agency for advancing the Kingdom of Christ. More than ever before, we had the means to proclaim Christ to the people to whom God had sent us. Hallelujah!

1970: A YEAR OF EVANGELISTIC CRUSADES The Home Mission Board had set aside funds to assist churches in pioneer areas to have the money for media publicity necessary to invite everyone in the area to at tend the crusades. We were required to submit a detailed list of specifically how the funds would be used.

So, we made a request for funds. Assistance was requested for the following: radio, newspaper, and TV advertising, $100; literature for Bibles, personal witnessing tracts, and follow-up study guides, $80; letters and flyers for mail-outs, $24, for a total of $204. This does not sound like much in our day, but it was valuable assistance which was NOT available at Clinton Road before.

EARLY IN 1970 TWO COMMITTED CHRISTIANS MARRIED AT CLINTON ROAD Our outreach leaders were Charlotte Rawls and Jerry Clary, a sergeant at Griffiss Air Force Base. They were both strong followers of Christ. Jerry immediately began helping Charlotte in some of the Bible Clubs when his work-time with the Air Force allowed. You will learn what happened to Jerry later under “1970 Annual Associational Meeting.

Our 1970 Crusade for Christ was scheduled for April 5–12.

Enclosed is the letter I sent to over 600 people with whom we had made personal contacts in our years there. We considered this a mass mailing effort, although that sounds funny by today’s definitions. To let you know how we

appealed to unchurched people, here’s a copy of the letter I sent out a week before the crusade.

Carlos Watson, pastor of a church in Malden, South Carolina was sent by his church to preach for this week in our revival. He and I went out and visited as many of those 600 people whom we could find at home. We personally invited them and asked if we might pray for them. Most agreed and shared their needs, opening the door for us to ask, “Where are you in your spiritual journey?�

Response to our advertising and personal invitations was favorable and several new families came. Some of these were Christians who did not know about

a SBC Church being in the region. During the week, five people CONFESSED CHRIST as Savior and asked to be baptized and become members of Clinton Road. Three others transferred their memberships to serve with us.

On the closing Sunday we had what was called a unified service, which began at 10 AM. We asked our Sunday School teachers to contact all their members and prospects and to bring them to the auditorium for an evangelistic service and lunch following it.

God’s Spirit did His convicting work in hearts during that service, drawing five more people forward to confess Christ as Savior. That night at 6 PM we met with each of the persons who confessed Christ and reviewed with them their Salvation experience. We shared the next step in their church relationship—to attend a new member study each Sunday night for three months led by the pastor. They seemed glad to get their study guides.

That night at seven we had our closing CRUSADE RALLY and baptism of the 10 new believers. For the ones of us who were there when we launched our aggressive church restart in 1965, it was hard to believe that we were able to see ten baptized in one service! We praised God and did all we could to integrate and involve these new believers into being a real part of the church.

This included our guiding them to continued involvement in Bible study and service and the importance of giving to the church. We tried to connect them with members who had enough in common to build relationships with each new member.

CRUSADE FOR CHRIST IN ADRIAN TERRACE AND MOHAWK VALLEY During the same week of our Clinton Road crusade, some of our people were witnessing and even conducting services at the Adrian Terrace housing project in Utica, as well as in the Mohawk Valley in Frankfurt, Ilion, and Herkimer. The preacher and personal evangelist for these mission outreaches was C.E. Clark, pastor of a church in Greenville, South Carolina.

In thanking his church for sending him and describing the work he did in Adrian Terrace and the Mohawk Valley to his church, I stated the following: The place where he served is a new mission of our church with no building, leadership, or adult members in the community. Yet, he accepted this challenge and went out door-to-door to visit, witness, and preach in very unusual places: a park, a community room in a housing project, and a diner. As a result of the foundations he began, we are convinced that the nucleus for one or more churches will come into being.

One great advantage was having Charlotte Rawls to work with him and to take him to the places and people who were open the gospel. Carmela Posch permitted us to use their home for the services. Their son, Ernie, assisted with visitation, inviting people to their home. Services/rallies were set up at whatever places Charlotte found convenient to the most people in the valley.

PAUL PLAVNICK CAME AND LATER STARTED MOHAWK VALLEY CHAPEL As a Southwestern Seminary student, I think he came the week before or perhaps after the revival crusades at Clinton Road and in the Mohawk Valley. This was a program when Southwestern students went to mission areas to help witness and preach where there was an opportunity. His experience in church leadership was limited, and he had no experience whatsoever in church planting. But his testimony gave many evidences that God was working in and through his life.

Paul grew up in a Jewish family in Missouri. He received an engineering degree and began working as an engineer. He must not have been very committed to his Jewish faith, since he met and married Marty, a committed Christian and Baptist. Through her taking him to church and witness, he eventually TRUSTED CHRIST AS HIS SAVIOR AND MESSIAH GOD! Soon he felt God calling him to ministry. Subsequently, he attended and earned a ministry degree at Southwestern Seminary. That’s where we found him during his senior year.

He preached for me one Sunday at Clinton Road. Then Charlotte took him to look over the Mohawk Valley area and to meet some of the families whose children had attended our mission VBS or weekday Bible clubs. He felt that would be a good place to start a church.

Paul graduated in May, and, at our invitation, moved with his wife, Marty, and children, Scott and Laura, to begin a new church. This was his first experience in pioneer missions, except for the brief time he had been with us in April.

Clinton Road Church ordained him to the Gospel Ministry. He began to work diligently, contacting people in Frankfurt and Ilion. In October we obtained a mobile chapel with HMB help. Because of its central location in the Mohawk Valley, it was set up in Ilion, New York. After inviting many people to attend services at the new mission, he began Sunday services.

For several months following the mission chapel opening, a couple from our church went each week for Sunday school and worship. We hoped they would meet the new people and help the pastor reach out to others. Paul and his family worked there for two years.

They then moved to a new work in New England. As a personal note, we have maintained contact with Paul, Marty, and their children, Scott and Laura, primarily through annual Christmas letters from each other. God has continued to use them in various parts of the country. They have been faithful to share Christ in new churches or through pastoring others.

THE ASSOCIATION’S MEETING AT CLINTON ROAD INCLUDED A SAD CLOSE TO 1970 Our church hosted this yearly time to rejoice in His work among us on October 16, 1970. Nine (9) years since its start in 1961, the Association had grown to ten churches and three mission chapels in that year. These congregations received 248 new members, 84 by baptism and 164 by transfer. This brought their total resident membership to 909.

The greatest cause of celebration was reported in the Annual on page 5: —Association’s Meeting “Historical Events” of 1970 The exciting thing to us was that all eight things which the churches reported as important ‘historical events’ were related to starting churches or obtaining mission workers.

THE SAD CLOSE TO 1970 One of the sad things in this meeting were the records related to Charlotte

and Jerry Clary, a couple we still considered newlyweds, since they had only been married a few months. I noticed that Charlotte’s name was listed as Charlotte Clary. He was also listed as one of two people in a box under the heading in oversized print: OUR BELOVED DEAD | SGT. JERRY EDWARD CLARY After only a few months of a happy marriage, Jerry was killed at work while using an electrical system which took his life. In a short while, Charlotte left us and moved to Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, to prepare for a call she now felt to be a foreign missionary. We missed her and Jerry greatly at Clinton Road.

1971: THE GOOD NEWS OVERSHADOWS THE BAD NEWS IN UTICA “AREA STILL HAS HIGHEST JOBLESS RATE...”

Early in the year this headline appeared in a local newspaper. It reported that the unemployment rate in Oneida County, in which the Utica area was located, had risen to 8%. This compared to a 5.6% rate for New York State. I guess the saddest part of this report was that there were NO NEW MANUFACTURING JOBS. At our 1971 NY Evangelism Conference, I heard a challenge to train members to share Christ instead of Pastors doing it all ourselves. When I realized that I had led to Christ most of those baptized, I began a weekly study and on-the-field training for a dozen men and women willing to visit. Afterwards, I led this group in weekly visitation to share the Gospel. We went out and personally shared Christ with people we had had contact with and even had visited before. When we returned to the church, all of us got on our knees in front of a church pew and prayed for the lost we had witnessed to, begging that His Spirit would draw them to Christ. Following this visitation plan, God used more of the Church members, especially men, to share the gospel. At the end of the year I made a list of all those we had baptized. At least half of them had been led to Christ by church members other than myself. It’s also interesting that Bill, Ralph and Ben, with whom I had spent a lot of time earlier, became some of the leaders in sharing their faith. God must have used these experiences to help prepare them to be ministers of the Gospel.

CLINTON ROADS’S REVIVAL AND WITNESSING CRUSADE WAS HELD MARCH 29 TO APRIL 4, 1971, ENDING ON EASTER SUNDAY This crusade was done with only two or three of our North Carolina friends of the Larry Love Memorial Witnessing Crusade. We did follow a similar format, beginning with a Fellowship Supper on Monday and sharing the gospel in homes, then ending each night with a fellowship and prayer time. We had evangelistic services on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 each evening. The climax was the Easter Sunday celebration at 10 AM and 7 PM. Our preacher was Carlos Watson, Rainbow, South Carolina.

This was a very well-attended revival/witnessing crusade. A major percentage of our church members and families helped with the preparation and conducting of this week of sharing the gospel with our friends and neighbors. I have no record of how many came to Christ that week, but the association’s records showed that we baptized 26 that year, the highest number ever.

TWO LETTERS FROM MEMBERS: GOOD FEELINGS OVERCAME ANGRY FEELINGS Here is the first one addressed to me as pastor: Angry Letter from Church Member: 1971 (next page)— He closed his letter ironically with, “In Christ”, and his name (I blotted it out in case someone knows him).

I am reprinting the second letter because of how courteous and Christian it was. Bill Wilson was a Clinton Road member who was a dedicated Christian school TEACHER. Bill Wilson’s Letter, 1971 (subsequent page)— HELPING OTHER CHURCHES IN CENTRAL BAPTIST ASSOCIATION WITH OUTREACH After word got around about our personal witness training and witnessing Crusades, some of the churches in the association called on me to help them conduct the same kind of personal Evangelism efforts. Andy Anderson of

Bethel Chapel was one who requested me to show him how I had trained our people and led them in our witnessing effort.

August 7–11, I helped them actually do witnessing per se. I don’t remember what the results were but do remember that they had only a few members, yet they seemed hungry to learn and to be more effective in sharing their faith in Christ with others.

OCTOBER 4–11, 1971: SIMULTANEOUS CRUSADE AT CLINTON ROAD WITH MARION POWELL OF WILMINGTON, N.C. AS EVANGELIST Several churches in Central Association conducted a week of evangelistic meetings on this date. I think the HMB evangelism leader enlisted pastors and their churches to provide all their costs. As usual, these pastors were excellent preachers and personal evangelists.

Marion Powell, pastor Pine Valley Church in Wilmington, North Carolina, was our evangelist. In his letter to me before the Crusade, he asked that the church and I DO FOUR THINGS: 1. Make the necessary preparations, especially prayer, including prayer for him.

2. A good list of prospects…

3. ...that we might be able to visit them in their homes.

4. As opportunities present themselves, visit in high schools, civic clubs or luncheons.

I don’t remember what the visible results were, but we did report the highest number of baptisms in 1971 of any year since Clinton Road was started. What a joy for the church to praise God for the many changed lives.

1971 CENTRAL BAPTIST ASSOCIATION’S ANNUAL MEETING OCTOBER 15-16 AT FLOYD CHURCH Our Church reported the beginning of the Mohawk Valley Baptist Chapel and Paul Plavnick coming as the church planter/pastor. The chapel reported 10 adults and 13 children enrolled in Sunday school and 39 in vacation Bible school.

Clinton Road’s annual report showed 26 baptisms, 143 resident members, 48 in weekday Bible studies and 156 in church VBS with 350 in mission VBSs,

totaling 506 in summer vacation Bible schools. Total numbers reported by the 10 churches and two missions of the Central Baptist Association: Resident members 1012; Baptisms 134 Total Sunday school enrollment 1112 Total vacation Bible school enrollment 2614 GOOD NEWS IN OUR MISSION WORK Near the end of 1971, Bill Broughton came as a US-2 missionary for two years. Being interested in learning more about the area, he took a sociology course at nearby Kirkland College. As a part of the course, he completed a lengthy survey in a paper called, American Church Life Questionnaire.

He sent copies of the Questionnaire to the adult members of Clinton Road and 75% (28) returned it to him.

Q 1: How long have you been a member of your present church?

FILL IN ALL: Always been a member—0%; Less than one year—33.1%; Two years—26%; Three to five years—26% Q 2: How often do you attend Sunday worship services?

Every week—74%; No other answers above—10% Q 3: How important would you say your church membership is to you?

Extremely important—70%; Fairly or quite important—30% Q 4: Have you ever held an office in the organization of your church?

Yes— 56%; No— 22% Q 5: Do you fit in with the people who make up your church?

I really don’t—0%; I fit in but not too well—22%; I fit in quite well—37%; I fit in very well— 41%

Q 6: How often do you read the Bible at home?

I read it regularly, once a day or more—44%; I never read it or so rarely that it probably shouldn’t count—4%; I read it several times a week—15%; I read it once in a while—15% Q 7: How often do you pray privately?

I never pray except at the church services—0%; I pray quite often but not at regular times—52%; I pray once in a while but not at regular times—33%.

I was especially encouraged by the answers given to the BELIEF QUESTIONS such as: Which of the following statements comes closest expressing what you believe about Jesus?

Jesus is the divine son of God and I have no doubt about it—96%; I have some doubts, that Jesus is divine—4%.

Which of the following statements comes closest to what you believe about biblical miracles?

I am not sure whether these miracles really happened or not—0%; I believe miracles actually happened just as the Bible says they did— 100%.

Overall, I was greatly encouraged in the answers members gave to these questions. It showed that most of our members had a very life-changing experience of faith in Jesus Christ and that most of them were committed or deeply committed to follow him and serve in the church. Personally, I think this level of commitment was probably better than the average church, even among Southern Baptist Churches.

CHALLENGES: SHOULD WE CHANGE THE BIBLICAL LEADERS AND STRUCTURE OF OUR CHURCH? HOW DO WE EVANGELIZE? Bill Broughton became close friends with Ralph Ceiling and Ben Walker, who had joined our church from other evangelical, non-Baptist churches. They were deeply interested in studying biblical teachings about church leaders. So, we spent an evening examining scriptures on pastors, bishops, elders and dea-

cons in the New Testament. Then we set a church-wide night to discuss these Scriptures to see if our church measured up to these biblical teachings. Not many came, which indicated to me that most of our leaders felt we ALREADY WERE BIBLICAL in our structure.

So, we did not make significant changes to our structure. However, later we did begin the UNDERSHEPHERD PROGRAM. This meant electing seven of our most faithful men to nurture a group of church families in ways one pastor cannot do. I also spent a good bit of time with Bill, Ralph, and Ben, studying scriptures on various subjects. Years later, I heard that all three eventually became pastors, some in different evangelical churches.

J. T. DAVIS INTRODUCED DON PRESTON TO CENTRAL ASSOCIATION, WHO BECAME A PARTNER AND SUPPORTER IN OUR MISSION WORK As a lay leader in Laurel Baptist Church in Greenville, SC, Don Preston made many of our families like his own. Since he lived on our route to Alabama, we began stopping overnight at the Preston’s any time we went home to Alabama. They welcomed Wanda and Paul to enjoy their in-ground swimming pool, something our children had never experienced before.

Don brought mission teams to help us in Upstate New York. BUT HE DID MORE—as God blessed his wholesale meat company, he devoted a large part of the profit to our mission churches. His monthly financial assistance made it possible for many church planters to stay on the field. His sharing also helped many of us grow spiritually. God had used a little book, The Saving Life of Christ, by Major Ian Thomas, to transformed his Christian walk to a life of faith. Consequently, he no longer saw ANYTHING AS IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM, SINCE CHRIST IN HIM COULD AND WOULD DO ALL HE TRUSTED HIM TO DO. He gave all us mission workers in New York copies for us to read and to share with other Christians.

Galatians 2:20 (KJV) became our password for letting Christ live in and through us to do His work: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

What an exciting and abundant life we experienced through trusting Christ to do His work through us. Thank you, Don Preston!

In our 1971 Association’s meeting, we continued to praise God for the many doors God had opened!

LARRY WALKER, METRO NEW YORK ASSOCIATION’S MINISTER-AT- LARGE, WAS OUR YOUTH EVANGELIST DECEMBER 5–8 He was a very excellent communicator and inspirational speaker. He also had a gift of relating to young people. He had unusual credentials, included three years as host of Youth Panel show on NBC and host of “Protestant Profile” on ABC. His travels to 65 countries and all 50 states were to preach the Gospel.

He had been the commentator on the SBC Radio and TV Commission’s programs “Master Control,” “The Scope,” and “Powerline.” He was also a writer who frequently had articles in SBC periodicals, as well as speaker at Ridgecrest and Glorietta Assemblies.

I do not remember much about the results of our three or four days with Larry, but I do remember his being a good mentor and friend to our youth. I know that they were excited and blessed by his being with us. We had a total of 36 youth, and I believe it was 18 young adults who deeply enjoyed and were blessed by his ministry with us.

1972 CLINTON ROAD CHURCH PLANTER: THE HIGHS AND THE LOWS—GOD’S PROVIDENCE PREPARED THE CHURCH AND US TO FOLLOW HIS CALL TO THE CAPITOL DISTRICT OF NEW YORK FOR WHAT? We made this decision in order to move to the next places he wanted us to plant churches. We did not intentionally do these things to prepare to move (we did not know we were going to.) Rather, they were ways to evangelize or build up the church, and God led us to do them.

By mid-year, we were beginning to pray for God to show us where He wanted us to plant churches next. When I talked with John Tollison and J. T. Davis, I became burdened for the need to share Christ and plant churches in the Schenectady, Albany, and Troy metro area. This meant working with Trinity church under J. T. Davis’s leadership.

It was very difficult to leave the people of Clinton Road. We had led many to Christ and grown to love them dearly through our struggles to help them grow into a strong body of believers. I would NOT be a pastor, since I would be leading Trinity Church in planting other churches. That meant giving up being a pastor for the first time since God called me to preach in 1951.

HOW DID HE PREPARE THE CHURCH AND US? FIRST, seven under-shepherds had accepted the responsibility to shepherd (pastor) about 10 to 15 people (7 or 8 families) each. These were deeply committed Christian men who had been at Clinton Road long enough for us to know that they were faithful. They knew a lot of the people in the church and especially related well to those in their group. It was my hope that this would help prevent loss of so many people, members, and prospects, when a new pastor came to lead the church.

As the church membership had grown from a handful to 100 or more in worship, there were so many people who did not know each other very well that I felt this plan would help them grow not only in fellowship but also in friendship with all the people. Each under-shepherd was responsible for visiting in the home of each one. Then, quarterly meetings of his group would be held in his home or in an older member’s home in his group. The times together were to be very informal—just to give people the opportunity to know each other in their group.

At the first meeting the under-shepherd was encouraged to begin by telling some things about himself and then ask each person to do the same or to play one of the games that help people get acquainted. We included men with various kinds of experiences, but all were very faithful to the church. All the members in each group attempted to bring new Christians or prospective members to the group meetings.

SECOND, by mid-July we were able to involve a big percentage of our members in preparation for the “Show Me” musical and dramatic presentation. This group called themselves “The Ambassadors” and was made up of 39 young people from the Chester Baptist Church in Chester, Virginia. They were a true mission group, putting on their presentation in public places malls, shopping centers, and parks. They were also sharing their faith and recording information about people who trusted Christ. This allowed us to follow up with those interested in learning more about what it means to know and follow Christ.

A great deal of preparation was needed for their coming, so we had 8 teams elected a month ahead of time. They included preparation for prayer meeting places, setting up places/people for VBSs, counseling and follow up, housing and hospitality, visitation/personal witnessing, and transportation. We became excited about this group’s coming and were willing to work together to prepare for them. We prayed they would make a significant impact on our community.

These 39 young people were prepared to do 10 Backyard Bible Clubs and Vacation Bible Schools in various locations throughout the city. Adding these to the additional numbers of VBSs we did at other times, gave us a record VBS enrollment of 565 in the church and mission VBSs. THIRD, our US-2 missionary, Bill Broughton, had been there long enough to direct the outreach ministries of the church without my daily supervision. He had worked with Charlotte Clary long enough to know the places and many of the methods for continuing her ministry. This meant follow-up to children in VBSs and continuing home Bible fellowship groups throughout the year.

FOURTH, our church officers and teachers for the 1972–73 year had been elected in September and had begun serving October 1. This meant we had people in place through October of 1973, who would teach the Bible as well as the lead the church during a time when the church would be searching for a pastor.

FIFTH, we had scheduled a deeper spiritual life week of preaching for October 22–27, 1972. Cecil McGee was a Florida pastor who had been active and very effective at helping people grow spiritually and dealing with the struggles which held them back. I had been blessed by attending conferences in Florida where Cecil led pastors to assess and trust God to grow in their relationship with Him. They could then enable their people and church to grow.

SIXTH, through our bus ministry, 21 of our 60 church families lived in the city limits of Utica. This gave us a sprinkling of people from various cultures and backgrounds. Included were Italian, Russian, Hispanic, and African-American people. Some of these people had become leaders in the church and deeply appreciated its ministry.

We had also trimmed the bus ministry to one bus, making it more manageable. Our purple bus continued to go mostly to the downtown areas to bring people out to Clinton Road. Most did not have transportation of their own.

Feeling we had prepared the church adequately for our moving on to start new churches where God wanted us, I presented my resignation November 19, 1972.

This was truly a bittersweet experience—we deeply loved the people of Clinton Road Church and in our neighborhood, yet we felt compelled to follow God’s call to plant churches in other places in New York State.

In my resignation letter, I praised God for the people He had saved and transformed in the Utica area, especially through the Clinton Road Baptist Church.

I thanked Him and them for their response to the gospel and how He was going to continue using them. I shared that God had called us (me) to be Director of Church Extension for the Trinity Baptist Church to extend and develop new churches throughout the Albany, Schenectady, and Troy areas.

Here is my last paragraph in this letter which was very difficult to write: Now I trust you to the care of Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of the sheep who poured out his blood for our sins, and lives in triumphant power in every life where He is allowed control. I am confident that He will continue his life and work through yours. It is my prayer that everyone of you will grow daily into His likeness, through increasing love for Him and each other and through obedience to His will. This will make Him known, glorified and praised throughout this area.

PAUL AND WANDA CONTINUED TO GROW UP These pictures show two kinds of activities that Paul and Wanda did regularly when they were different ages: the one with Paul and her ‘dressed up’ to go to church; both of them enjoyed swinging in New York’s great state parks when they were about 8 and 11.

◆◆◆ ________________________________ 1. American History, In July President Johnson sent 100,000 troops to Vietnam, Page 580 2. “To the Best of My Ability”, McPherson, New York, Revised Edition, 2,004. President Johnson: 120,000 more troops to Vietnam in 1966, page 264 3. Burlington Times (NC), January 22, 1968 US forces bombed North Vietnam 4. Ibid, Burlington Times Union, January 22, 1968. Men’s group reorganized as Larry Love Witnessing Mission

14 LEADING IN PLANTING CHURCHES IN NEW YORK’S CAPITAL: ALBANY, SCHENECTADY AND TROY 1973–1977 | My Ages: 39–44

ACCEPTED THE CALL OF TRINITY CHURCH TO BE THEIR CHURCH PLANTING LEADER

W

hen we moved to Schenectady, the Lord gave us a very comfortable house just six blocks from the church. Wanda walked only one or two blocks North to the middle school and Paul walked one or two blocks west to the elementary school. They came to appreciate the schools and had very good experiences there.

Schenectady was different from the Utica area because there were more evangelical churches. There were still many Catholic Churches, but several well-established evangelical Presbyterian Churches. However, we found that over half the people were simply unchurched and most of those lost.

Trinity church was the only Southern Baptist Church in the Capital District.

It had been established in 1960 as the Mohawk Valley Baptist Chapel by a group of Christians who had moved to the capital and wanted a Southern Baptist church through which they could serve. They had met in several different places through the years and finally bought a church building in downtown Schenectady on Swan Street.

The first pastor, Ben Cowell, served the mission church from its beginning in 1960 until they called Donald Knapp in 1965. The church constituted as The Trinity Baptist Church in 1968.

When Brother Knapp moved in1969, J. T. Davis became pastor. In1972 the HMB felt there should be a Pastor-Director for the three cities. They asked

him to pastor the Trinity Baptist Church, but also give direction to starting new churches and other ministries in the greater Albany area. J. T. Davis and his wife, Bertie May, had agreed to accept this call the year before I moved there to assist them. We had known them since our early move to serve in New York State over eight years earlier. Then I was a church planter sponsored by grace Baptist church in Rome where he was pastor.

Tom and Mildred Hipps had moved to Schenectady and become active Trinity members several years before I arrived. He was vice president of the Price Chopper Supermarket Chain, perhaps the largest supermarket network in that part of New York State. In his position, he was a bold witness and had no hesitation in using his time and money in God’s work.

When I arrived, they invited me to their home for lunch, along with the pastor and his family who lived near them. They were delightful people and had children from elementary through young adults ages. All of them were very committed to Christ, the church and missions. He shared with me that he had done some lay preaching and that he could help us in any of the mission work we started. Since we started with the bus ministry, he and Mildred helped us with it.

As we worked on our strategy for the area, J. T. wanted me to feel welcome to share in any ministry he was leading in the area. But I felt that most of my time should be used to start churches and lead in outreach; of course, that meant working with him to do those ministries.

Since Trinity had a bus and was already planning to begin a bus ministry, we began enlisting volunteers to visit the people in downtown Schenectady each Saturday. Many of them lived in crowded housing or were single parents who had several children. So, we enlisted them to ride the bus to Sunday School and church services. Then we called the children early Sunday morning. Bus captains led them in singing or Bible quizzes on their way to Sunday School.

Many children and a few adults came to Sunday School and church on the bus.

I’ll never forget one lady and her teenage daughter whom we had met. I think she did not believe she would be welcome at the church and tested us on the first Sunday they came. She and her teenage daughter dressed in bright pink hot pants hemmed up short. They marched up to the front pew and sat there.

I was proud of our people—they welcomed them and reached out to them.

Eventually, she came to Christ and got involved fully with the church. Over the years, she kept following him and stayed faithful to the church.

We made a trip to Schenectady in January 27, 2008 to speak at the 40th Anniversary Celebration of the church. Janice Lowell was still there and said to me, “everyone in my immediate family and extended family has come to

Christ. My children are fully following Him!� What a blessing to see her cry as she recounted her own fruitless search for meaning in life until she realized Jesus loved EVEN HER! TWO CONVERTS WHO BECAME LEADERS AND KEPT THE BUS MINISTRY GOING David Buddenhagen had been a drug and alcohol addict and in jail when someone told Rex Bailey, our bus driver about him. He went and shared with him how Christ had delivered him from the power of alcohol. David accepted Christ. Then he started riding the bus that Rex was driving to church. After I talked with him, he understood what it meant to be a church member but he had also had a tough time overcoming the alcohol addiction. We prayed with him and brought him into a close relationship with several men in our church. What a joy when this big husky plumber was baptized! In our old church building he could fix anything and would invite people to Trinity whom nobody else knew.

Soon after his conversion and joining the church he became accessed with having another drink, but he told us about it. So, each Saturday a couple of us men would go to his house and help him split wood, the fuel for their fireplace and only source of heat. Those men helped David overcome his addiction. He also became our contact evangelist. Wherever he went as a plumber, he left copies of a gospel tracts. Many people read these, and the Gospel seeds were planted.

But the Home Mission board had asked J. T. to prepare a mission strategy plan for the church. We began working on that immediately, alongside beginning the Bus Ministry. His approach was to share with me all that he had learned about places which needed churches in the capital area.

Then we would get in his vehicle and ride to those places and spend much time looking at them and deciding what was needed there and praying for God to show us where we should begin something new. One obvious approach was to find places where Trinity Church had members who could help in starting a new church.

By midyear we had developed a mission strategy, and I had written it into a document to propose certain plans and actions to enlarge our mission work in the capital area. The church adopted this plan and we sent the document to HMB. The leaders in the Church Extension Department became excited about the opportunities and actions we proposed. They agreed these would be mission projects they would help with personnel and financially. Although they were just some of the things that needed to be done.

The first new church plant where we began working was Ballston Lake, a suburb of Schenectady. Several families in our church lived there and three of them were especially interested in helping start a new church in their community. I began meeting with them in their homes, with Larry Wills and his wife, Elizabeth, leading, to pray for God’s leadership to develop a vision for the kind of church He wanted in that area. By that summer we were praying for a place for the church to meet while continuing to hold home fellowship meetings.

We had received additional help by the coming of US-2 missionary, Jim Langford. He was a very personable recent college graduate who worked well with youth and children, as well as getting along with adults. We continued to pray that God would provide a place for us to meet for regular Sunday worship.

One member shared news that our Lady of Grace Roman Catholic Church was building a new facility and might rent their old one to us. Even before they moved, they agreed to let us worship there on Sunday evenings. This notice appeared in their church bulletin in October, 1973: “TRINITY BAPTIST (Southern Baptist Convention) members living in this area will meet in our church on Edward St. on Sunday evenings, and will conduct other programs in that building from time to time. We will continue to use it for weekday Mass, Baptism, etc.

The programs we have arranged in the church hall—scouts, sewing, C. Y. O. will also continue.”

In a few months when the church completed the relocation, we were able to buy their entire property for the mission church. This included a church worship facility seating 200 or more and an educational building. Of course, when our members asked what we were going to do with the small box-like enclosure with a locked door, I said something like, “If any of you starts misbehaving during the week, someone is going to tell me. Then you’ll have to meet me right down here on the left at the confessional booth. And I don’t forgive as easily as God does.” We all got a good laugh out of that as a joke, although some Catholic friends may have thought it was out of order.

From that point on the Ballston Lake Mission, we felt, was beginning to fulfill God’s plan to make disciples. We had enough people to have teachers and leaders for Sunday School with Bible study for all ages. I preached a couple times a month and two laymen preached when I could not be there. That left me time to work more on starting a new church in Albany itself, the capital city.

FINDING A PASTOR FOR THE BALLSTON LAKE MISSION Not only did we need a pastor to give his full attention to developing the Ballston Lake Mission, but I could no longer preach there every other Sunday.

After I became pastor of the growing Trinity Baptist Church, in Schenectady I could not afford to be gone that much on Sundays.

So, I began looking over the resumes for Church Planting pastor candidates sent to me from HMB and BCNY. One man’s resume seemed to stand out above others. He had started a church in Texas and was recommended by his director of missions and others. After calling several references, with none seeming negative, we invited him and his family to come for a visit. He had a graceful wife and two well-behaved children. The mission called him to be their pastor and our church approved their action, understanding that we would receive help from the Home Mission Board.

More about Ballston Lake later.

I must tell you about a couple of personal things that happened to our family in 1973.

By midyear the man who pastured our cows in Alabama said he could no longer do so. This left us with about 20 cows, including heifers and steers, 1300 miles away. We had committed them to the Lord, agreeing that they would never interfere with the mission work to which He had called us. So, we sold the cows since no one in our family living there could look after them for us.

Peggy and I agreed to divide the money between the girls (she and Wanda) and the boys (Paul and me). This gave us funds which we normally did not have for some things our family would enjoy.

Peggy and Wanda chose very wisely—purchasing a new Hardman piano at a cost of $1300. The good news was that her parents, who had promised to help buy it years earlier, paid $300 toward the Hardman Peck Company Piano. That piano still has a melodious tune when Peggy practices hymns to play in church.

Of course, Wanda gave up learning to be a musician to pursue the more scientific college major of medical technology.

Since we lived only a mile or so from the Mohawk River, I started looking for a boat large enough to navigate the river. We found one for the money we had, but unfortunately, I convinced both of us that the motor would start and propel it and the boat float without leaking much. We overlooked how OLD they were and how HEAVY the big wooden boat was! There was also a trailer by which the boat could be moved from one body of water to the next. Howev-

er, we just put it into the river a mile or two from our house and fished there. I think we loaded the boat and motor on the trailer one time to take it to fish in a nearby lake. It was so heavy the two of us could not load it, although unloading it was pretty easy.

When we moved from the Schenectady area three years later, we sold the old heavy boat and now non-functional motor at a handyman’s special price. We only took the trailer to our next location in Buffalo. So, most of our ‘pleasure boating’ lasted only a few years.

FREE WOOD FOR THE FIREPLACE Our Cape Cod home in Schenectady had one big room upstairs under the roof, which made it comfortable in spring and fall, but hot in the middle of summer and cold in the winter. Our son, Paul, liked that room because he thought of it as his own domain. On the main floor (family and dining room), our house had the best small fireplace I’ve ever seen. In fact, I’ve not seen another like it, although there must have been others in Upstate New York. The small firebox was flat in the wall. On each side of it were vents near the floor to let cold air in and allowing it to circulate by the firebox and let hot air out above it, all done without any electrical circulation system.

There was only one thing lacking—fuel. I grew up where no farmer cared if anyone came and cut a small tree on his property for wood—before the days of much scientific ‘tree farming.’ I entertained the thought, but dared not to try that in New York state. Then I learned that the state smiled on its industrious citizens by making free firewood available to those who would call and set a date to cut it.

A forester would meet you at a set place and date to mark the trees you could cut. The rest was up to you. It would have helped if we had owned a truck, but we didn’t. We did, however, have the next best vehicle—an old Ford station wagon, whose back seats would fold down, making an 8-foot flatbed long enough for 2, 3, or more small logs.

As wintertime approached, we would schedule some of our days off to cut FREE FIREWOOD. I had the fun—cutting down the trees and cutting them into short lengths to fit into our wagon. Then THE WORK BEGAN— toting (in south Alabama lingo) the logs to the vehicle. It was a dirty, sweaty job, even in cool weather. Did my children and wife complain of having to do such dirty, backbreaking work? I don’t remember it if they did. Of course, THEY MAY TELL YOU A DIFFERENT STORY. But I did try to

encourage them by reminding them of how good and warm that fireplace would feel when the snowstorms came.

Albany: Betty Burgess: PROGRESS IN STARTING THE ALBANY MISSION Betty Burgess had applied to work two years as a Journeyman Missionary overseas or take a job as a social worker in Albany because there was no Southern Baptist church there. As she prayed God showed her that she should put out a fleece—whichever place calls me first is where I will go. The call came first from the hospital in Albany who want to employ her. She agreed to accept the job and started making plans to move. Then she got a notice from the Foreign Mission Board that they were calling her. She turned it down. When she arrived in Albany and began to look for a place to live economically. Betty found a high-rise full of single people renting one-bedroom apartments.

She settled there and found the directions to the only Southern Baptist Church in the capital District to help with their ministry. Peggy and I visited her, as church planting director, in her fourth-floor tiny apartment. She just had room for 8 or 10 people to sit on the floor in the small vestibule. She decided that would be enough to invite the people in her building for a Bible study.

That week she called Susan Davis, the younger daughter of the pastor.

They began going throughout the entire building inviting people to her place for a Bible study. Can you imagine too young single good-looking women coming to the door of a young single man and asking him to come to her apartment for a Bible study?

So, the night we began the Bible study several young men came to her apartment and we all sat on the floor as we discussed our relationships with God. It was obvious that none of them understood what we were talking about. We had a brief Bible study discussion.

That was the beginning of Betty Burgess’s leadership in starting a church in Albany. She and Anne were walking around downtown in Albany near the state capital, asking God to give them a meeting place for a church. They saw a building in which the front yard had grown such tall weeds that you could hardly see it. Eventually the sign became visible which said “First Baptist Church of Albany.” They pushed through the weeds and found the building still seemed to be usable. Then they called me.

After that, I called the American Baptist office for the state and asked about renting the building. They replied, “It needs some repairs.”

I answered, “We can probably find men in our church who can repair it.”

So, they let me take the key for us to look at it. When we looked, it was still very usable and would not cost too much to repair. So, finding our pastor very agreeable with the idea or starting a Bible study and then services in this building, we presented it to the church and asked who would be willing to go there and teach Sunday school and worship for a while rather than continuing at Trinity. They could still be free to come to Trinity for all the all the night services and other meetings. As I remember, Lewis Cahn’s young family, Tom and Mildred Hipps, Betty Burgess, Anne Davis, and perhaps others volunteered.

We set a date to begin services and began to enlist people to teach in each Sunday school class and to preach once a month. Both Tom and Lewis agreed to preach once a month. So, if their families went with them, Betty and perhaps others, that would be enough for Sunday school. We set the date to begin worship services and set up the organization. We met early for worship first, so our pastor (me in a year or two) could be there twice a month and get back to Trinity in time to preach, sometimes in the middle of the service.

Imagine the joy when we had our first service! The church celebrated that it was helping do this mission work. The week before the services they all went out and visited the people in the neighborhood with the help of the rest of us from Trinity. They also talked with friends at work and wherever they could find someone whom they might invite.

The first Sunday there were about 25 people who gathered in the building and enjoyed a great celebration of God’s goodness for a NEW CHURCH—the Albany Baptist Chapel.

Lewis and Anita Cahn had moved to Schenectady after he had finished his graduate degree in a southern university. He and his wife were deeply committed to the church and helped in any way needed. They were excited to join the team for starting the Albany church. They taught Sunday—his wife, a small children’s class; and he, an adults’ class. He also preached in Albany once a month and filled in for missions that were started in the early years I was there.

Even after I moved to Buffalo, Lewis was still the treasurer and a deacon at the Albany Baptist Chapel. A year and a half later he invited me to the church to speak at their anniversary service. This was a real joy to see the church continuing. They have been through the agony of calling a young pastor, but after a little over a year at the church, he became very sick and died. How sad it was for them to lose a great leader. But they did not give up. He, Tom Hipps, and other laymen did the preaching while the church continued looking for another pastor.

GOD’S WORK IN THE CAPITAL CITIES WAS BLESSED BY TWO-WEEK VOLUNTEERS, FRITZ AND JOHNNIE, FROM SOUTH CAROLINA Johnnie and her husband, Fritz, each brought their special skills and gave a boost to all our mission work. Fritz, a builder, looked over the three old church buildings. He was surprised that we had been able to use them at all with their many serious defects. He took a handyman from each church along, who was able to make some of the repairs on the spot. He made notes on which other major repairs were needed and suggestions on how to do them.

Both Trinity and Albany had very old buildings with what Fritz called “worn out oil furnaces.” Since the cost barred us from buying new ones, he helped make adjustments in each, which caused them to burn more cleanly and economically. He also helped with minor repairs, adding insulation, sealing leaky roofs, and ceilings.

Johnnie came when two of our VBSs were being held. She brought her puppets with accompanying recorded music to bring the Bible stories to life and delight the children. Our Paul, a 10 or 11-year-old, was intrigued with the puppet shows. Noting his questions about HOW she did it, she told him, “You can put on your own puppet shows.” He said, “That would be fun.”

She gave patterns to Peggy, so she could make some of his puppets. She also gave Paul one puppet and a cassette tape with scripts on it for her favorite Bible stories. After getting his puppets and a battery-powered tape player, I gave him an extra briefcase for carrying them. For the rest of the Summer and the next, when Backyard Bible Clubs were coming up, the leaders would ask him, “Paul, can you put on your puppet show for our children?” He usually gladly helped them out. I noticed that he made the Bible so interesting that many of the adults also liked to watch and listen.

CHARLES AND DIANE WELLS After Trinity started the Ballston Lake and the Albany missions, we prayed that God would open the door for us to do some mission work in Troy, a rundown old city where there was an important engineering university.

So, we searched everywhere we could for an open door. That’s when Charles and Diane Wells showed up at our church and told us they were from Troy, but said, “It takes a long time to travel from Troy here. We really need to start services in Troy.” That got the attention of lay mission leaders and myself. As

we visited with them, we discovered that Charles was getting his Ph.D. from the University and Diane was taking care of the family. They lived in a small apartment on the university campus. As we discussed with him what we should do, Diane offered, “We can start meeting for Bible study in our home and will invite those we know as well as our friends and fellow workers at the University.” That’s what they did.

It was a little depressing to go to Troy because it was such a rundown city, and Peggy and I usually went there late in the afternoon. By the time we got there, we could not tell for sure what it looked like. For at least a couple of years, they lived there, shared God’s Word, and prayed. Each year we helped them distribute copies of God’s Word in the form of “Good News for Modern Man”. We conducted as they hosted a backyard Bible club to which some children from the area came.

We went over every week and sometimes other mission leaders helped or filled in for us to lead the study. They became discouraged because nobody made a firm commitment to Christ and they had witnessed to many. We begged the church, “Join us in praying for this young couple who is willing to endure all involved in trying to get people from a pagan environment to come to Bible study.” By the time they had to move to a job I think at Vanderbilt University, they still had no nucleus for a new church. We assured them that God promises that His Word will not return void paid.

Charles and Diane are friends, and we have kept in touch with them. A few years ago, when we made a trip to visit friends who now live back in Texas, we enjoyed fellowship with them. It was a joy to have a meal with them and to visit the great first Baptist Church of Houston. Their pastor had been someone whom we deeply respected, and whom we had admired in starting new house churches and re-starting churches. We rejoiced with them in the fact that First Baptist Church was sending out so many missions teams to places all over the world to share the gospel. My only regret was that we could not be there to hear their pastor proclaim God’s Word. They have continued to be lifelong friends.

WE WERE TROUBLED ON JANUARY 22, 1973 WHEN THE SUPREME COURT IN ROE V. WADE LEGALIZED ABORTION IN THE FIRST TRIMESTER Many of us Christians were troubled that the Supreme Court had become so liberal and lacking in Christian members. It motivated me to watch and get to know the convictions of everyone running for office.

More political turmoil continued for President Nixon when Vice-President Spiro Agnew resigned in 1973 after being accused of corruption and tax evasion; Nixon quickly nominated Gerald R. Ford, the Assistant Minority House Leader.

He had served 8 terms in the House and was respected by both parties, so he was quickly elected as the vice-president.

POLITICAL TURMOIL CONTINUED: 5/17/73 THE SENATE BEGAN TELEVISED HEARING TO INVESTIGATE THE WATERGATE COVER-UP A special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, did not give up his fight to get the White House tapes. Nixon ordered two Attorney Generals to fire Cox, but each resigned instead. Finally, his Solicitor General dismissed Cox. 1974: A YEAR OF CHANGES A few months into the new year, we had to deal with OUR FIRST MAJOR PERSONAL AND MINISTRY CRISIS in Schenectady.

It was precipitated by the Central Association calling J.T. Davis to be their new director of missions (DOM). Their entire family of six and our family of four were happy living and working together. But they had lived much longer in the central part of the state than in the capital area. His wife, children and himself all said, “our closest friends live in that part of the state. As we prayed and realized this would be perhaps our last move in New York, we felt God wanted us to accept this call.” So, they soon moved to Utica, not far from where we used to live.

Trinity church immediately wanted to know, “Will you become our pastor?”

Several deacons and all the leaders talked with me. My reply was, “That’s a Home Mission Board-funded position and they provide a full salary package.”

I guess we all assumed that HMB leaders would provide those same funds for me and the church to keep this kind of ministry going.

When leaders of the Trinity Church talked with HMB leaders, they discovered that there were no longer funds for a Pastor-Director in the capital city of New York. This made them MAD! They reacted by recommending that the church pay the full-time salary themselves out of their own funds. This would require a few men in the church who received big salaries to give much more and everybody else to give some more sacrificially.

Then they approached me and asked, “Will you serve as our pastor and also direct the mission work?”

My reply was a question to them: “Do YOU think I can do both jobs?” With no hesitation, they answered, “WE KNOW you can do both jobs because you’re already doing MUCH of it anyway!”

Although I had felt the pain of rejection by HMB for the Pastor Director position, almost everyone in the church expressed to me their support. This gave us the confidence that God was calling us to this pastoral/mission ministry.

Here are two quotes from our family’s Christmas letter at the end of my first year in that dual role: “This year has been a very important one for us. Your insistence that I become pastor was gratifying. To be Christ’s overseer of a local body of believers is the most satisfying type of ministry. We have all enjoyed it. The greatest joy has been that of getting to know you better and seeing you grow in your love for Christ and each other.

A new year lies ahead. Opportunities to learn more of Christ’s way, to help each other, share the Good News of Jesus with others and to glorify God will be ours. We are expecting God to use us all in a great outreach, sharing the Gospel in the entire capital area. Our prayer is that we will live out in practical ways the life of Christ that is within us as His body.”

“It had been a good year for Trinity Church in our church ministry and in our mission outreaches. According to records in the Annual Report of the churches to the Central Baptist Association, we had made steady gains in most areas from our record year in 1973.

Historical events reported by Trinity in 1974 are as follows: Starting missions at Ballston Lake, N. Y. and Pittsfield, Mass.; Buying Property at Ballston Lake and the coming of Reva Burnett as director of ministries. God was doing so many good things through his people that I did not feel any exhaustion myself. Instead, there was much thanking God by many of us!”

I CONTINUED TO SERVE TRINITY AND THE CAPITAL AREA THROUGH 1977

These continued to be very enjoyable years for our family. Wanda’s and Paul’s growth reminded of what was said of Jesus in His growing up years, that He “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Not that I’m comparing them with Him, but shouldn’t this be the normal progress for children in a Christian home?

Peggy and I enjoyed close fellowship with most of the people and families in our church. It was also a relief to serve with what seemed like an army of volunteers. For example, instead of her being responsible for most of the office and secretarial work, she was one of five women who served as volunteer secretaries one day each week. For me it took some time to learn to do the balancing act of working with church leaders regularly and with several mission leaders throughout the capital area.

Most of my experiences were a blessing, although some stressful or even heart-breaking things came our way. From this point, I will only report specific things which God allowed us to work with Him in doing. Those which seemed significant in Kingdom work or important to our family.

In another response by HMB to our Mission Strategy, they sent us a 2-year Christian Ministries worker.

Reva Burnett’s coming helped us do some ministry-type projects, which added to the effectiveness of all we were doing. She was also good at working with children in the outreach home fellowship bible studies and the VBSs, at Trinity and especially in the mission churches.

By this time our Trinity members were beginning to feel the stress of helping spread the gospel in so many places. Each one required sacrifice not only by the leaders, but by their families. Each outreach done took the person away from serving in his home church. However, God brought enough new people to Trinity for it to keep growing. AMAZING—just another example of HIS BLESSINGS on a church which obeys His mission mandate!

ON AUGUST 9, 1974, RICHARD NIXON RESIGNED AFTER HIS JUNE 23 TAPE WAS MADE PUBLIC. IT SHOWED THAT HE WAS COMPLICIT IN WATERGATE His only choices: Be impeached or resign.

VICE PRESIDENT FORD AND HIS WIFE, PAT, ESCORTED THE NIXONS TO THEIR HELICOPTER.

FORD WALKED BACK INTO THE WHITE HOUSE, TOOK THE OATH OF OFFICE, AND MADE HIS ACCEPTANCE SPEECH: “MY FELLOW AMERICANS,” HE SAID, “OUR LONG NATIONAL NIGHTMARE IS OVER.” BALLSTON LAKE MISSION FIASCO About mid-1975 their pastor, who had been there no more than a year, turned into a bad apple. He had led the mission to grow to ninety-five members and baptized six. This included a young good-looking married woman from the community. However, a few months later, he left his wife and family and departed for who knows where, taking the young woman whom he had baptized with him. Not only were both families embarrassed, but they were completely devastated, not knowing what to do to rebuild their lives. I called the DOM who had recommended him and asked, “Did you have any inkling that he might do this?”

His reply was, “Well, yes, he did the same thing at the other church he started.”

Somewhat angrily, I demanded, “Then WHY IN THE WORLD DIDN’T YOU TELL ME!” His answer: “I thought he deserved another chance.” Exasperated, I pleaded, “At least you could have told me!”

The rest of that year was hectic because I was already preaching at the Albany mission and at Trinity Baptist Church and could not help them much on Sundays. However, several lay preachers from Trinity and our missions stepped up to the plate. Among them were Ben Walker, Larry Wills, Louis Cohn, and even our young US-2 missionary, Jim Langford, when needed.

The mission recovered from this drastic loss over time. By the end of 1976, we had helped them find another pastor, a young man named George McDormand. He was a stable Christian leader and stayed with the mission until it grew enough to be constituted into a church and beyond.

“SHOW ME” MUSICAL DRAMA DREW MANY YOUTH TO CONFESS CHRIST This inspiring musical drama, put on by a youth mission team from Virginia a dramatic presentation backed up their contemporary Christian music. They worked with us for at least a week, including one Sunday. They presented their “SHOW ME” drama in several public places, beginning with the Ballston Lake community center, an outdoor venue. The youth visited before the drama and then counselled with those who came forward at the invitation time later. Their musical included a very strong and bold presentation of the gospel of Christ.

At the community center they presented their program two different times, one on the weekend. Many youth and a few other people crowded around as they sang and acted, and then I gave an invitation. I invited those who wanted to talk with one of the youth about the changed life Christ had given him or her to come forward. It was amazing that many did come forward and to receive counseling. Several of them accepted Christ and confessed to him before others.

They also put on a performance at some malls and shopping centers in Albany and Schenectady. There it was not as easy for people to come forward.

However, even there some came and talked with the visiting youth. Because of this great response and the fact that the performers had filled out a card with each name and address for each person who had made a commitment, I decided to attempt the next week to visit every family and talk with them about any questions about their experience with Christ.

So, I sent my family back to Alabama for a long-awaited vacation. I stayed behind for nine days to follow up on the people who have made decisions.

As I went to visit each family, I took a Good News New Testament for each person. The response went like this most places: a young person for whom I was looking came to the door. I then offered them the New Testament and asked, “You made a profession of faith in Christ; do you believe that Christ forgave you and came into your life?” Most said, “Yes.” If not, I attempted to share the gospel with them briefly, when there was an opportunity. However, I usually did not get through this presentation before a parent came to see what I was talking with them about. Most were unhappy that I had talked with their children and given them religious literature.

Many said, “I’ll let our church teach the Bible to our children!”

As the week days went slowly by, I was able to talk with very few youth, and parents mostly stopped me when they realized why I had come. Seldom did I get to the point where I could ask, “Would you like to attend a Bible study one night a week at someone’s home nearby?”

Of course, they had to ask their parents and almost all said, “No; we have our own religion.”

I learned that it’s always best to talk with parents of children interested in following Christ. Better yet, attempt to lead the parents to Christ and see if they would like to have a Bible study in their home.

I finished visiting all those I could find who had made decisions before the week was over. That allowed me to get someone else to conduct the services for me on Sunday. So, I drove to my family in Alabama for a little relaxation.

There I reported to my family, to Northside and Good Hope churches, our need of prayer for the work God had called us to do. In spite of my zeal, Satan had hindered us. I thought, “God’s Word still promises, ‘He that is in you is greater than he that is in the world!’ Thank you, Lord; YOU will still open doors for us to proclaim Christ and plant more churches!”

BY LATE IN 1976 THE ALBANY MISSION CALLED DEAN ALLEN, A YOUTH MINISTER FROM A LARGE CHURCH IN TEXAS, TO BE THEIR PASTOR Dean and his young wife were a delight to the struggling mission. We got to fellowship with them for just a little over a year before moving to Buffalo. After he had served the mission for only two years, we heard he had died of cancer and his wife had subsequently moved back to Texas where her family lived.

I did not learn the details of his sickness and death, but we all know our days on earth are numbered and we trust Him for the strength each day to do what He put us here to do. So, I said to Our Dear Heavenly Father, “O God, YOU are faithful and loving to us every day! Help us to love and follow Jesus every day, regardless of what happens in our lives.”

God wonderfully blessed our lives and missionary work in the capital area during our five years there.

He grew us closer to each other in our family as well as to the leaders in the church and blessed our work beyond anything we could have imagined.

SEARCHING FOR HOW TO FULFILL MY CHURCH-PLANTING CALLING By early in 1977, I was still hard at work in ministry, but mostly at Trinity.

That left me feeling that we should look for where God wanted us to start the next mission. So, I began to ask some of our church leaders, “WHERE do you think we should start our next mission?”

Some of their responses: “I think we need to focus on our own church’s needs. We’ve already sent almost half our best workers to start the churches in Ballston Lake and Albany.”

“I don’t know.” There seemed to be little appetite much less enthusiasm for planting another church. In previous years, I simply challenged them with what God had shown ME about the needs and they had joined me to obey God by helping to put on activities necessary to prepare for starting a church. But

in 1977 they seemed ‘burned out’ with making the sacrifices required to plant new churches.

I started praying, “LORD, I know you’ve called me to start churches; Show me what to do next.”

Records in the 1976 Central Association’s Annual show the combined total records of our progress.

I’ve combined the totals from the Albany and Ballston Lake Missions with those of Trinity Baptist Church.

1976 records are for the year before we moved away only because I could not find the 1977 Annual.

Statistics of Metro Capital District: Total Baptisms: 36 Resident Members: 437 Total Sunday School Enrollment in Bible study: 324 Average Weekly Sunday School Attendance: 230 Bible Study Outreach groups: 5 Number involved: 48 Total Vacation Bible School Enrollment: 520 TO GOD BE THE GLORY – GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE!

◆◆◆

15 LEADING CHURCH PLANTING IN BUFFALO AND WESTERN NEW YORK (FRONTIER BAPTIST ASSOCIATION) 1978–1983 | My Ages: 44–49

IS GOD REALLY CALLING US TO BUFFALO?

E

arly in 1977, while I was still serving in Schenectady, I began reading a book directed toward ministers on how to seek God’s will in leading a church. The writer said, “If you know what God has called YOU to do, you must lead your church to get the same vision. You can’t lead THEM to do what He hasn’t called YOU to do. At least, try to help them catch the spirit of your call.”

Looking back, I realized I had done that in past years. However, members and leaders now seemed ‘burned out’ on starting more new churches. So, I said to the Lord, “Show me what to do next.”

Soon after I prayed that prayer, without anyone knowing the struggle I was having except my wife, I got an important call. It was from Dale Meredith, the chairman of the Frontier Association’s search committee in Buffalo. He asked, “Would you consider moving to Frontier Association as our DOM to lead us in starting new churches?” “Possibly,” I answered with some hesitation. Then I asked him, “tell me more about your association.”

After listening for a few more minutes, I said to him, “I’ll pray about this possible move with my wife and children.”

“Good, “he said. “Will you call me back in a week or so for us to set a date when you can come meet with our search committee?”

“Yes,” I answered, “I’ll call you when we feel it’s right for us to move ahead with your committee.”

Soon after that call, perhaps the same day, a call came from the Rochester Association, asking “Will you consider becoming our DOM primarily to help us start churches?” After he had shared a little about the association’s needs, I told him, “I’m already praying about the same invitation from the Frontier Association. I’ll also pray about your offer.”

He replied, “After you have prayed, can you call us back within a week or two?”

“I’ll call you back as soon as God shows us what to do next,” I answered him.

After these calls, I shared with Peggy, Wanda, and Paul, “It looks like God is calling us to move to Buffalo or Rochester to help them start churches as their director of missions.”

I also shared with Wanda and Paul my concern about Trinity and the lack of interest our church leaders had in starting more churches. Previously, I had only talked to Peggy about this concern.

It did NOT excite my family that we might move, to say the least, especially to Buffalo. It had a bad reputation, even in New York State. The huge amount of snow received each year, over 100 inches some years was one reason, while Schenectady received one of the lowest amounts of snowfall in the state.

But there were other issues which Peggy and I knew, which made it the least desirable place to live and work, out of all the major cities of New York State.

They included the following: • • •

More people moving away and fewer people moving to Buffalo; More, older, closed factories and less manufacturing; More people of older ages and fewer young families except for the working class.

Hearing from other friends there, we knew how resistant to change the majority Catholic population of that area were, I could feel my family members were THINKING, “Do you really expect us to move to BUFFALO?!”

All these negatives caused even New Yorkers to ignore the beauty of Niagara Falls, their sparkling fresh streams, rolling hills, and excellent grapes and wine produced in vineyards near the waterways. Buffalo would be the last choice for most as a place to live.

Nevertheless, my dedicated wife, at least, had learned that we would come out better going where God calls us to go. Even our 14-year-old daughter, who

had received Christ just four years earlier and Paul before that time, felt we should see if this was God opening doors for our next mission adventure.

So, in mid-1977, our entire family was on our way to Buffalo to meet with the search committee for Frontier Baptist Association. Arriving there, we stayed with Dale and Jean Meredith. He was the chairman of the search committee and a professor at the University of New York, Buffalo. She was a teacher and very concerned about children. Staying with the Merediths was good for our family.

Their 2 daughters were a few years younger than our children. Sarah appeared to be 2 or 3 years younger than our 12-year-old Paul. Laura looked like she was in second grade. They had lived there for several years, and their children, along with them, all loved it.

Our meeting with the committee was exciting to ME and at least informative to Peggy. I was happy that they had several pastors wanting to start new churches but needing help. I shared, “I enlisted members at Trinity, as well as volunteers from churches in the South and outside financial supporters to help us reach out to new areas.”

We discussed most of the issues which I thought were important in starting churches. Their needs and my experiences seemed to be a good match.

Peggy asked, “Does the association have a secretary?”

“No,” they answered, “the DOM’s wife or other volunteers have done what they could.”

She replied, “I volunteered one day a week at Trinity, along with four other members, to do the secretarial work.” She told them, “I expect I’ll need to work part time to help support our family.”

I chimed in, “There’s a lot of paperwork required by the Home Mission Board to get financial assistance; do you think it’s wise for your DOM to spend a lot of his time doing it instead of working with people on the field?”

The committee agreed this was not a good use of the DOM’s time. The chairman promised, “We’ll come up with some way to provide at least a part time secretary for you.”

On our way home, we discussed the pros and cons of moving to Buffalo. My family was still not very happy with the idea. But at least our children were reconciled to that possibility. As a family, we began to ask God to show us his will.

We prayed about these specific issues: Would the HMB appoint me and pay most of the salary at a living wage? Because most of their churches were very small and struggling

to survive, the association itself could not pay much of the salary.

Could the association pay Peggy or someone else to be a part-time secretary?

Would the association enlarge their mission’s committee to include people from all areas of ministry? It should have more members: a budget member, a Sunday school leader, and more lay leaders, men and women.

After a day or two, I called Dale to ask him to share our questions with the association. To my surprise, he said, “Our committee agreed to ask the association to call a special meeting next week to call you as DOM, to employ Peggy 20 hours a week as secretary and to add more leaders to our Missions Committee.” I responded, “That really sounds good!” He added, “I’ll call the HMB leader of Pioneer Missions and discuss our proposed call, whether he thinks they will appoint you and what the Home Mission Board will pay toward the salary.” That also sounded good to us.

He called back in a few days to let us know that the Frontier Association had called me to be their DOM and to lead them in starting churches. The Association had also adopted all the recommendations of their Search Committee, giving a positive answer to our most pressing questions. There was only ONE HITCH: Although the HMB Church Extension Director was in favor of appointing me and their providing most of the funds, the approval process of the HMB would take time. I would have to go through a process taking two or three months in order to be appointed.

As I thought and prayed about whether to stay or leave Trinity, it dawned on me that IT WAS NOT MY DECISION. Then I asked the Lord, “Are you really calling me to be the director of missions in western New York?”

My feeling of wanting to get to Buffalo and go to work convinced me that He was indeed calling me to serve there. Consequently, I told my family, “I’m sure God is calling us to Buffalo and am going to let Frontier Association know.

Then, we’ll tell our church and begin the HMB process.”

Wanda and Paul were okay with that action even though they did not hide some feelings of regret. But Peggy said, “Are you absolutely sure so quickly that’s what God wants us to do?” Wanda pleaded, “Mom, how many more things does God have to work out for you to be sure we should move to Buffalo?” After she regained her composure, Peggy replied, “Okay, I wouldn’t go

against dad’s feeling anyway—that God is calling us there. Go ahead and tell Dale and the church that God is calling us to Buffalo.”

When I called Dale in Buffalo, he responded, “I had also thought God was working all this out.”

The next Sunday I was ready to tell Trinity that I would probably be moving to Buffalo in three months. That was obviously a risky thing to do. It was natural to ask myself, “What if HMB does not approve me? Will Trinity still want me?” But God seemed to whisper to my heart, “If you feel I’m calling you there, what are you concerned about?”

So, after telling my family, I went ahead and announced to the church, “The Frontier Association in Western New York has called me to be their DOM and we feel God leading us to accept this call. However, we won’t know for sure until HMB completes their processing, which takes 3 months. When some of you get reference calls or questionnaires, please answer them promptly. I regret to leave you, for you have been a wonderful group of committed Christians. But we must obey God; I just regret it will be so long before we can tell you that we are definitely leaving.”

After telling this to the church, I felt much better and most of the members seemed to understand. Some of the leaders had worked with HMB before and knew how slowly their administrative wheels turn.

Even though the HMB processing stretched out nearly 3 months because of a paperwork struggle, that gave us time to thank and fellowship with a wonderful group of faithful followers of Christ. It was a relief when the Board of our HMB finally appointed me as a missionary again and agreed to provide enough support for us to pour our energies into proclaiming Christ and starting churches in Western New York.

DISCOVERING THE BENEFITS OF BUFFALO’S NEGATIVES One we had already found out – It had THE BEST HOUSING VALUES OF ANY CITY IN THE NATION. We expected it would be difficult to find a house with extra space for an office and, one which we could afford. A national study of the best housing values in the major cities of the US reported that, “Buffalo has the best housing values of any city in the nation.” We were glad to learn this good news as we searched for a fairly large home with room for our family of four plus office and meeting room space.

We settled on a home in Cheektowaga, a hundred thousand population suburb adjacent to the city limits of Buffalo. It was easily accessible from the New

York Turnpike, as well as other points of interest throughout the western frontier of NY State as well as the USA with Canada.

A WINTER MOVE IN A U-HAUL TRUCK We knew the HMB could only pay to rent a U-Haul for our move from Schenectady to Buffalo. Plus—the Association had NO MONEY LEFT ABOVE HELPING A LITTLE ON MY SALARY. So, we did the work of packing and loading. It’s good that there were many friends who gladly came to help us with the ‘heavy lifting’. As I drove toward the Western Frontier, the snow began falling, making driving risky. It made our unloading slippery, but our new friends were familiar with it and showed up to help us.

FRENCH ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH IN CHEEKTOWAGA BECAME OUR HOME CHURCH Curtis and Jackie Monday served this new church in Cheektowaga, the French Road Baptist Church. They lived only about a mile from our house.

Their son, Mike, was about the same age as our 12 and 1/2-year-old, Paul. They were outgoing people, hard workers and willing to help us get everything into our new house. Of course, Jackie had prepared some things for us to eat, adding food brought by their members. We felt very much at home with them.

Of course, we sometimes found them to have different views than ours. Paul came to me soon after we arrived to ask, I thought, a strange question. He ‘puckered up’ as he asked while almost crying, “Dad, do I have to sing in the church choir?”

“Not unless you WANT TO,” I replied. We learned that Mike’s dad was requiring him to sing in the small church choir. Fearing I might want him to ‘follow suit’, he asked what I would have thought to be an unnecessary question.

French Road became our home church, although I would spend my time checking out the needs of existing churches and those places needing new ones throughout the entire 8 counties of Western New York. My family would stay busy at home or get involved in activities with our friends in Cheektowaga.

OUR FAMILY’S ADAPTATIONS IN A DIFFERENT CULTURE It took us a while to even realize that the people, circumstances and approaches needed were different from what we had done before. Most people

were hard-working blue-collar people, with many of Polish background. This made starting churches slower. Learning how they thought and felt about things over time enabled us to be good listeners as we built relationships with them until God opened a door for our witness. After all, they were people just like everybody else in the world, simply having a different national origin.

It was difficult to begin with for Wanda and Paul, even in school, to make friends. Paul described his feelings later as, “It was a rough group of people.”

Some students just looked at them, without speaking, like they were from another planet. At times I’m sure they felt that way, since being from a different culture and church was quite unusual in Cheektowaga. Other students might even ask, “What’s the name of that church you go to?”

With all the new challenges for them, they sometimes came home at night frustrated with the people and their attitudes toward “those new students.” Perhaps we were over sensitive parents, forgetting that moving to a new area requires a long time of adjusting. Whatever the reason, we were concerned about them.

So, we developed a habit, on the nights I was home, of going to each child’s room and asking him or her, “What all happened with YOU today?” Sometimes it was good news, but too often, they were feeling a sense of rejection because of the attitudes of some students toward them. Then we prayed with them and for them. Sometimes I tried to challenge them with something like, “Why don’t you ask God to show you how He wants to live through you at school, even with those strange students?”

Our ‘adventures’ with Wanda behind the wheel: She got her driver’s permit right after her October birthday the year we moved. I went with her driving, to a large parking lot to practice changing gears, starting and stopping and other basics of operating a car. Things I had done driving for 25 years and expected her to catch on to quickly, did not seem understandable to her. Finally, I gave up, with my excuse, “Peggy will be able to guide you better.”

Peggy went with her to the same lot. With amazing patience, at least in my mind, she helped her learn to drive. Peggy did describe some of what happened.

Wanda would let the clutch out so fast that the car would choke down. Peggy instructed, “Let it out gradually and slowly.”

“Why?” she wanted to know. “I don’t know why,” she replied, “but that’s the only way to keep it going!” After a few tries, she learned the maneuver. So, Peggy ‘practiced’ with her for several weeks. Wanda DID BECOME an excellent driver.

One day, after practicing parallel parking, Wanda drove home to park in front of our house. Backing up, she knocked the neighbor’s mailbox down. Her

mother told her, “Dad can probably put it back up, but, YOU’VE got to go and apologize to our neighbor”. Slowly, she walked to the family’s house. When the man came to the door, she said sheepishly, “I just knocked down your mailbox trying to park; I’m sure my dad can put it back up.” He may have answered with typical New York shortness, “Just make sure HE DOES!” …or simply, “okay.”

PLENTY OF TIME FOR FUN: SPORTS COMPETITION, ESPECIALLY BIG CATCHES AT FISH ‘CRICK’ We were glad to see them continuing to participate in their favorite sports competitions. Wanda continued her long distance running and earned several trophies in her 3 years at Depew High School before graduating and going away for college. Paul continued to participate in baseball as a catcher in Babe Ruth Baseball (similar to Little League) in Depew.

In April someone asked me, “Have you been to Fish ‘Crick’ yet? When I asked, “What kind of fishing do you do there?” they replied, “You can catch a stringer full of pike with a simple jig this time of year.” When I told Paul about this ‘fisherman’s dream’, he was ready to go. We promptly went out and got some jigs.

When we got to Fish Creek at daylight the next Saturday, we were surprised to find the banks lined shoulder to shoulder with happy fishermen. But, they let us squeeze in. On his second cast, Paul cried out, “Look! I’ve got a good one.” He landed a 1.5 to 2-pound glistening, wiggling white fish. In an hour our stringer was full, as well as heavy.

After we had dressed the fish, Peggy treated us to a delicious dinner of the mild-tasting game. Of course, the next Saturday we went again, but ‘the run’ (migration upstream) was about over. Every Spring we looked forward to the great fun of catching so many fish so quickly, plus the delicious meals.

PEGGY ‘KEPT THE WHEELS TURNING’ Peggy worked as the Association’s secretary most mornings. Later she got a job as a part-time secretary in the afternoons at the University of Buffalo. She worked out an arrangement with Paul to be sure each evening meal, our main one, was prepared. She paid him a little and simply told him what to prepare and how to prepare it. He did this very well (to my surprise) and our meals were good. When Peggy got home, she would put the finishing touches on the meal.

I was often NOT there, but in a church or meeting with someone who needed

counsel. Our first few months in Buffalo were especially difficult because of all these fresh challenges we had not faced before, yet we felt the very presence of God giving us strength.

WHEN THE ASSOCIATION’S LEADERS CAN’T AGREE, WHAT NEXT? Shortly after we got settled in, Dale Meredith called for a meeting of Frontier’s Missions Committee. It included several pastors and committed lay leaders interested in starting new churches. As the meeting progressed, I asked, “What are the places you have identified as most in need of new churches?”

That brought on a long discussion of the needs and difficulties of each place.

No pastor offered to lead his church to take on more. Discussion continued, but there was little agreement on any of these essential questions.

A more challenging question surfaced, “Which church will be responsible for starting each new church?” I answered in faith, “God will lay it on your hearts.”

After a rather late hour, Dale called for adjournment. I said, “Brothers, I’ll start exploring some of those places you named and see if God is opening a door somewhere.”

“But”, I pleaded, “let’s be thinking about, studying and asking God to show us the top needs in our area, as well as what each of us can do to obey HIM.” Dale tarried until all were gone but me. Seeing my disappointment with the meeting, he said, “I told you earlier that we needed help; you saw what I meant at the meeting tonight.” He added, “I never said it would be easy.” To console myself and probably him, I replied, “This is God’s work, and He will guide us as I study each need and visit with the pastors.”

LONG AWAITED NY EVANGELISM CONFERENCE BROUGHT BLIZZARD AND SNOW BUT FIRE IN OUR SOULS Pastors and us DOMs in the BCNY always looked forward to the State Evangelism Conference because of the spiritual refreshment it often brought to us working in difficult places. I was not disappointed in the early February state evangelism conference held in Rutherford, New Jersey.

Dale Meredith was on the state executive committee and the administrative committee; fortunately for us who rode with him, he went for an early lunch before the executive committee meeting on February 6. The committees met at 2:30 but because of “the third worst snowstorm of the century” beginning to

blanket the area, they had to close their meeting early and leave so people could get on their way home before 4:30, when the road would close.

The Evangelism conference began the next day, but we were already there with Dale, along with two or three pastors, early on Monday. The snowstorm kept many others away.

The 50 of us present for the evangelism conference were allowed to get to know Fred Wolf, the church planter of the Church on Brady in Los Angeles.

He was one of the few speakers who arrived early enough to avoid the closed airports in New York. He was a real blessing because we got to talk with him personally a lot. His experience with OIKOS evangelism helped us see how one household could reach out to another household to spread the gospel.

Another speaker who arrived early enough to share was a missionary, Bobby Jones, serving in Indonesia. His messages were uplifting as we heard how Christ had changed lives, even those who had never heard of Him before. Since the conference began at 6:30 P.M. Monday at the Living Gospel Baptist Church in Rutherford, New Jersey, we were able to enjoy the Monday evening conferences and then all day on Tuesday, leaving in the afternoon for Buffalo, when the roads had been cleared of snow.

WORLD MISSIONS CONFERENCE IN AMERICUS, GEORGIA, THE PRESIDENT’S HOMETOWN AND CHURCH

Ten days after the evangelism conference, I headed to Georgia, a bastion of Baptists. I looked forward to sharing about our mission work in Frontier, where there were few evangelical Christians. James Nelson had recommended I look for volunteers and financial support at World Mission Conferences. I also knew that President Jimmy Carter lived in nearby Plains, Georgia and even taught Sunday School at the Maranatha Baptist Church there. It was relaxing to visit in the churches where I spoke and to enjoy some good meals. The pastors and members of the churches there seemed to believe me about the need the Gospel in Buffalo, but they DID NOT CARE ENOUGH to take me up on MY PLEA for help with volunteers and financial support for new churches. I had described the struggles new churches had in paying their pastors and finding enough workers, just to teach the Bible to all ages in Sunday School. No one seemed to care enough to get involved personally.

We visiting missionaries did get to go by where President Carter lived and his church in Plains. Since there seemed to be little response to the mission needs we represented, we must have discussed the question Christians in that day were asking. It was: “Has having an outspoken Christian President who is a Southern Baptist helped people to trust Christians who stand for Christ, including us in struggling Baptist churches in upstate New York?”

Christianity Today’s November 3, 1978 issue looked for answers to that question. Looking back may help us see whether a strong Christian person in a public office may help encourage others to consider Christ as their life guide.

Wesley G. Pippert, White House reporter for UPI, indicated that “During the 1976 campaign… reporters, by nature a cynical lot—treated Carter’s faith as somewhat suspect, perhaps a device for winning votes…” However, two years later, he stated, “That has changed. Nearly every reporter I know accepts the genuineness of Carter’s Christian experience, just as I do.”1 If you have an interest in pursuing that issue, go to the Christianity Today website. There are several articles, beginning on page 15 in the November 3, 1978 issue, under the heading, “Does Carter’s Christianity Count?”2 We in the WMC there were disappointed that there seemed to be little concern for obeying personally Christ’s Great Commission to all Christians (Matthew 28:18-20).

TALKING/WORSHIPING WITH FRONTIER’S STRUGGLING PASTORS AND CHURCHES When I visited with pastors I found that most were burdened to bring people to Christ. But, worshiping with them was not exactly uplifting. I don’t think

Jesus had this in mind when he said, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in their midst.”

No doubt, he included them, but often the church was only the pastor’s family or maybe one other friend or two. Many were meeting in the pastor’s home; some in an old church building with a handful on the first row or two.

Untrained musicians led their worship. Many pastors were poorly prepared to preach God’s Word. Several had already taught Sunday School for adults and sometimes for everyone present.

Yet when I asked pastors, “How can I help you?” They had a ready answer.

“Get some churches to help us financially on a regular basis” or, “we need volunteer workers.” It sounded like they were in a ‘survival mode’ rather than a growth and outreach mindset.

It was a lot different when I visited the Amherst Church led by Pastor Curtis Porter. One hundred-fifty people gathered for worship under the leadership of an excited trained musician. The pastor brought a biblical inspiring message.

OUR ‘ANGEL OF MISSIONS’ VISITED US IN BUFFALO A visit from an old friend and my mentor at our first church start, James Nelson, was encouraging. He called and said he was coming to visit us. He was now director of the Urban/Rural Missions Department for the Home Mission Board.

After a few minutes ‘catching up’ with each other, his first request was, “Tell me what’s happening since you came to Buffalo.” That was a bothersome request to answer. and I probably replied, “NOTHING MUCH WORTHWHILE! The Association’s Missions Committee can’t agree on priority places for planting churches; the pastors are all too busy to do anything else and I DON’T KNOW WHAT to do next!”

James, in his characteristic open and honest self, asked me, “Did God call you to serve here?”

“Yes, I know he called me here, but I’m still trying to find out why,” I answered.

“Since HE called you here, don’t you think He will open the doors and lead you to do what will make a difference?”

“Yes,” I answered; “it’s just been tough not seeing some results.”

“Maybe,” he thoughtfully responded, “that’s what makes you a church planter.” “I hadn’t thought about that,” I admitted.

“Let’s pray,” he said, without asking for my permission, “Lord, help Cliff to keep his eyes on Jesus and to trust your Spirit to guide him each day. Help him

to keep seeing the vast numbers of people in the Buffalo area who need to know Jesus in a life-changing way. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Not one word of pity or about what a hard place where I was serving. I added my request for God’s forgiveness for not believing HE WAS AT WORK and would use ME in His own time and way.

Then he shared with me about some of the resources the Home Mission Board provides for DOMs in pioneer areas: A World Missions Conference list where you can go to churches in different parts of the country to tell about your work. There you can inspire other pastors and their people to come as volunteers or to help financially. You may even find pastors who are drawn by the Spirit to come serve with you.

Various kinds of workers and HMB ministries which can help in starting new churches. US-2 missionaries are college graduates who come to work with you for two years. They may not know much about church planting but you can teach and guide them. You can request them to help plant churches or to lead or help do Christian Social Ministry—like inner city ministries. Church planting teams come in the summer from the seminaries to work for 10 weeks in places where new churches are needed. I had already requested such teams for 1979.

A week of training for NEW DOMs at Ridgecrest Assembly in September.

Volunteers from SBC churches all over the USA. He urged me to speak in churches in Alabama whenever I’m there and urge them to send their people TO COME DO whatever needs to be done in our mission work. I had not thought about the number of people in fellowships of believers, especially in Alabama, who would pay their way to come to Buffalo, not to visit Niagara Falls, but to share the Good News of Jesus.

I had already known about some of these resources, but his additional information was helpful. Immediately after the conversation with James, I called

HMB and got the forms for Frontier to request 2 US-2 Missionary couples.

One was to help with church planting and the other with inner city ministries in Buffalo. Both requests were eventually granted: Chuck and Sue Hartness to help plant churches and Lemuel and Vernetta Cousins assisted Filmore Avenue in inner city missions.

Far more important to me was his fresh reminder to keep my eyes on my Master and the people who need Him! MAPPING YOUR MINISTRY came to me in HMB’s Associational Bulletin for DOMs. It helped me understand ministry cycles of pastors and those in other roles.

DECEMBER 1978—JONESTOWN CULT—OVER 900 DEAD As our first year in Buffalo moved toward its close, the largest mass suicide in the 20th century occurred. The December issue of the New York Baptist reported the event in a Baptist press article: “Jonestown: A window into the demonic.” [See Appendix] Most of us missionaries had been called ‘cult leaders’ when such people did not understand who Southern Baptist were or what we were doing. This article helped Baptist members in NY and even those attending our churches see the difference in our ministry from the ministry this destructive cult.

It brought out Southern Baptists’ loving deeds versus people with no real love. In that sense, we prayed that God would use even this terrible tragedy to wake Christians up to Satan’s activity. We LOOKED TO God to help us tell people the Good News that Jesus saves and urge all to follow our loving Lord!

BCNY NEWS from across the state: Frontier Association/churches the paper printed much local news, especially about the churches. The article below shows that. The one about Spanish pastor Jose Correa, tells about his beginning a Bible study and a church services on Buffalo’s west side and in Dunkirk. Oth-

er church news from Frontier Association is included. You can read about the FIRE at French Road Church. It destroyed the pastor’s home and the temporary meeting place (downstairs part of two-story home), along with everything they owned. We thanked God for the responses of the community and the church.

THE NEW DOM CONFERENCE AT HMB IN ATLANTA In September 1978, I received preparation for setting goals and strategies, with God’s help, to reach our priorities. Many of the things covered in this conference were the kind of things I had already done. Of course, with the expert leaders and variety of DOM ‘s present, there were many opportunities to learn more about the basic ministries of a Director of Missions.

“THE BASICS OF MANAGING YOUR TIME” In it, JC Bradley of HMB gave me help with all the work God had called me to do in WNY. He defined managing your time as “managing your life.” In this, he led us to first examine whether we were accomplishing our priorities or using our time for what we felt MOST IMPORTANT to accomplish what God had called us to do.

Then he led us to set our priorities, goals and activities which would help us reach them. Finally, he challenged us to answer the question: what is my mission and How can I fulfill it?

Another helpful session, “Working with pastors and churches,” was led by Earnest Mosely of the Sunday School Board. This greatly supplemented my experiences in ministry to pastors and with churches.

I felt the week of training at HMB was helpful, but much of it did not address the primary struggle we faced in Western New York. Serving with a few weak churches, yet responsible for evangelizing and planting churches in seven counties, totaling 2.4 million people, required more than human plans or ability.

I realized most had not heard clearly the gospel of Christ. This mission could only be done by the power of the Almighty God. Yet, it dawned on me: THAT WAS THE AWAKENING I NEEDED. AN ORIENTATION TO THE CHURCH EXTENSION NEW WORK SEMINAR Two pastors, two lay leaders, and I went to this training at HMB in Atlanta, October 1978: Each of us represented a Frontier Association church willing to sponsor one of the new missions we expected to start in the Summer of 1979.

Dr. Cal Guy, Missions Professor at Southwestern, was the leader of this training.

He gave us copies of a 2-page leaflet to be distributed to the seminary students when they were to be selected in November. Dr. Guy was a Spirit-filled and excited teacher. We caught a little of his spirit, as well as learned how to prepare our churches to work with 1 of the 4 seminary teams to be used of God in planting a church. It prepared me intellectually and spiritually to lead our local preparation.

INITIAL LOCAL CHURCHES’ PREPARATION FOR THE CHURCH EXTENSION NEW WORK FIELD SEMINAR IN THE SUMMER OF 1979 I sent a letter to all our pastors, church leaders and the FBA missions committee to invite them and their church members to an evening of preparation.

In the letter I stated, “One of the greatest opportunities we will ever have to share Christ and establish new churches will come to us through participation in the New Work Seminar during the summer of 1979. Frontier is the only Association in the state selected this year by BCNY and HMB in which to place seminary interns to begin new work.”

“I trust you will sponsor and your church help or at least pray for these new churches to be started by someone God calls to do so.” This will be an opportu-

nity to inspire, equip and involve the people of your church in personal witness and outreach in a new field as well as in your present church field.”

There were several people present from about half the churches and the pastors for most of the others. When they learned how much God could work through this special opportunity, several pastors agreed this would help their church, and perhaps enable them to help start another church.

We began to see how God could work in a mighty way through our willingness to join hands with Him and trust him to do a great work. Most of the people present seemed to get a new vision or clearer vision of why this was to be one of the most important things our churches could ever do. So, I left the meeting with a list of four pastors willing to explore sponsoring a team of two church planters for the summer of 1979. We also agreed on the places where these church planters would work. They included Jamestown, Lockport, East Buffalo, and Clarence. Other churches, would help with volunteers, money or even become co-sponsors of these new mission churches.

This response made me bow my head to the Lord, “I praise you, Lord, for the great blessings you’ve already given us in western New York! PTL!” Now we could give to all our churches: The New Work Field Seminar info leaflet: Sample New Work Field Seminar info leaflet (next page)—

OUR PRIORITY IN 1979: PLANTING FOUR NEW MISSION CHURCHES Our preparation had begun a year earlier. Soon after I accepted the call of Frontier Association, calls came from the church planting leaders of HMB and the Baptist Convention of New York. Both asked me, “would you like to have 4 teams of seminary students helping Frontier churches start 4 new works next Summer?” “Of course,” I answered; “I’ll just need to get the association’s approval.” “Okay,” the state missions’ director replied, “I’ll send you the forms for the association to fill out to request them.”

The association did approve the offer and took many other steps to prepare for the 1979 effort to start 4 new churches. These actions have already been described in the previous year’s activities to prepare for the NEW WORK FIELD SEMINAR.

When 1979 arrived, most of our activities related to it. After the January Executive meeting of the association, I focused on getting ahead in my ministry to pastors and churches, in order to be at Southwestern Seminary in Texas for a week in March and other preparation required before seminary students arrived.

MARCH 22–25 CHURCH EXTENSION SUMMER SEMINAR ORIENTATION FOR DOM SUPERVISORS Twelve different states were receiving at least eight students each to serve 10 weeks and planting 4 or more new churches in each association.

Day one at Fort Worth was spent in a Supervision Training Update to help us be prepared to supervise our 8 seminary students. This required working in cooperation with their sponsoring churches and their leaders. It was led by the author of The Supervisor of Ministry Volunteers, Bob Dale of Midwestern Baptist Seminary. Dr. Cal Guy, the mission’s professor for our students, assisted him when he wanted to provide more input. Since I had not had this specific training before, it was helpful.

For the next three days, we were given detailed plans for how to work with the students, hopefully to start four churches in one summer. We also heard messages and devotions from the Cal Guy, SWBTS Missions Professor, Jack Redford, director of the Church Extension Department at HMB and several other mission leaders from all over the country.

The first day(evening), we got to see the Planned Parenthood for Churches movie. Then, we met the students who were expected to serve in our area. That evening we started sitting with our prospective students, as well as having our meals with them. We participated in another session about supervisor relationships and then discussed how that would work in Frontier Association. Dr. Cal Guy shared a devotional with the entire group, “Spiritual Resources for Church Planting,” a very Biblical and moving message.

The next morning, Dr. Delos Miles shared a challenge with us, “The Importance of Effective Witness.” We discussed with our teams about “Your most effective way of witnessing for Christ.” Then I shared with them the ways of sharing the Gospel which I have found to be most effective in Upstate New York.

We heard about Mission Fellowships—how they are started and what Bible Study materials which may be used with various types of people. Other opportunities to spend an hour or so with our teams were provided at different times that day.

We set goals for the summer and began to learn more about personal evangelism and witness to Catholics and other groups. The students, as well as us DOMs, heard about the Big A Clubs and Backyard Bible Clubs and again the importance of taking advantage of the witnessing doors these opened.

On the last day of training, Dr. Redford brought a message on, “Biblical Principles for Planting New Churches.” “These Biblical teachings,” he declared, “are especially important for you who are serving in many of the most difficult places in America to share the Gospel.”

We were instructed in many different kinds of SBC volunteers to come and help us continue the work our seminary students would be starting. First, lead each sponsor church to develop its plans for continuing the ministry begun so that each would grow into a strong mission church.

It was to be my responsibility to administer the funds provided by HMB AND OUR OWN BCNY to pay the seminary students a small weekly stipend and assist the association with some of its extra costs. I was to be responsible for distributing these weekly, as well as funds for other projects being financed by the state. The checks for our 8 students had to be ready each Monday, AFTER we helped them set up accounts at our bank, which would then cash them immediately.

These four days were very full for us supervisors. They helped me complete preparation for one of the most important things I had ever done in my ministry.

Through the time together, I became close friends with several students and learned a lot more about planting churches. We prepared for a great summer of fellowship, as well as sharing and witnessing to people who had never heard the Gospel before.

THE NEW WORK SEMINAR BEGAN WITH THE ARRIVAL OF EIGHT SEMINARY STUDENTS BY JUNE 1ST We had teams of two students each to work in four different places. I’ll describe the work of only ONE, the team which led in planting the Clarence Baptist Church in Clarence New York, a suburb east of Buffalo.

David and Gail Kolb were new Christians from the Veterans Park Church, who lived in Clarence and opened their home for the first Bible study of any kind in that entire area.

Jane and her partner, seminary students assigned to that area, were excellent at relating to people. I think both young ladies were second year students. They had a good bit of knowledge about the kind of things that could be done to reach children, like backyard Bible clubs, VBS and recreational activities. They did many of these activities with the help of people from the Clarence Mission and the Veteran Park Church. They made friends with many families and invited all of them to the Bible study at the Kolb’s home.

They also met a lovely very committed Catholic family, who were one of few we met who knew Christ personally and liked to talk about Him. They were also very hungry to understand the Bible. Their church had not provided any Bible study for them. When Jane told her, “We’re leading Bible studies in homes,” she asked, “How much will it cost for you to have a Bible study for us?” She was amazed when they replied, “It’s free; we’re glad to help people who want to study the Bible.” So, they started a study for her immediate and extended family.

Then they learned about the Bible study (Sunday School) for all ages held each Sunday before the Worship time at the Kolb’s home. So, they started coming to the Kolbs for Sunday School, and afterwards going to Mass at their own Catholic Church.

The seminary students became close friends with them and eventually began an ongoing Bible Reading Group at their home. I followed up on this group after they were gone back to seminary, continuing it for probably two years.

Since most of those attending had not read the Bible much if any, it was easier for them to turn to a page number rather than a Bible reference. So, I took a bag of New Testaments in the Good News for Modern Man translation, which we all used to take turns reading a chapter, one paragraph at a time. After each paragraph, I would ask a question about its meaning, allowing discussion by those who wanted to speak up.

Eventually, we read and discussed the entire books of John and Acts. Near the end of that study, the father of the lady who hosted the group died. She came to talk with me about him because of her fear that he had never received Christ.

I admitted to her, “Only God knows whether he was saved and went to heaven.

I could only console her (and MYSELF) with this thought, “Don’t you think that anyone who spent over a year reading and discussing the way of salvation in the Gospel of John and the Acts of the Apostles is more likely to have trusted Christ to save him than not?” “I sure HOPE SO,” she answered.

The Kolbs were faithful to host Sunday School and worship and became the first long-term members of the new church. After the seminary team had been gone for nearly two years, several families had come; they felt welcome and invited their friends. A few were already Christians, but not involved with a local church. Whatever difficulties this group had faced, I met with the most committed families and the young lady’s seminary students/church planters and prayed. Then the fellowship of believers all talked about what God wanted them to do. God supplied all the ladies needed to help get a core group together for this new church start.

For 10 weeks all 8 students came to our home every Monday morning, where we spent at least two hours taking care of all the details as they learned more about how to plant a church. They shared their victories and difficulties. We all prayed for God to do far more than any of us could. He opened impossible doors and even hard hearts. They were an exciting group with which to work.

Then we discussed what would be done the next week. I tried to visit each church planting area at least every couple of weeks to see the progress that was being made. If needed, I met with the sponsor church pastor. Overall, they did a good job of helping each team of students start a new fellowship of believers.

The response was slow at two locations and some workers were not as good as Jane and her partner.

On July 4th, we met the students and all the families helping with each church start at the state park on Grand Island. It was a fun, relaxing time of choose-up softball, outdoor games for the children led by some mission members and delicious cook-out food. For drinks, the seminary students made cold, sweet iced tea, an unknown delicacy for most Buffalonians.

Western New York people reciprocated with piles of Buffalo wings. Seminarians liked them immediately and helped them annihilate every single wing, whether HOT OR MILD. It was a refreshing day with some new believers sharing their newfound lives and all of us excited by all God Himself was doing through His people to spread His Kingdom.

IN 1979 WE GOT TO KNOW BARBARA JOYNER, A VIVACIOUS AND HUMOROUS MISSION LEADER She was a Women’s Missionary leader in WMU in her church in Columbiana Alabama, near Birmingham. I don’t know how she found out about our work in WNY. That summer she brought her youth mission team to work in the inner city of Buffalo.

They stayed at the Peace Bridge Mission house in downtown Buffalo. Byron Lutz, pastor of Fillmore Avenue, the sponsoring church for this ministry, worked with them. He showed them where they could ‘visit’ (daytime only) children and youth to invite them to the VBS they held at the mission house.

Byron warned them to NOT GO ON THE STREETS AT NIGHT because it was a high crime area, including drug peddlers.

Barbara kidded me, “You put us where the rats walk the hallways day and night and where it’s dangerous to walk outside on the sidewalks!” I shot back, “I thought you wanted to teach the youth about REAL MISSION WORK!”

She became a lifelong friend of ours who was always excited and could inspire others to be involved in mission work. Her deep commitment to help missionaries in some very dangerous and remote areas of the US and overseas missions was amazing. She had a unique ability to laugh at herself about the dangerous places missionaries had led her to face. Therefore, her mission messages were interesting and got people excited.

She wrote about our work in Buffalo in various WMU mission magazines.

One year she wrote each day’s devotional about our work for the Annie Armstrong Week of Prayer. This led Southern Baptists nationwide to know about the needs in Western New York. God used that to enable us to get a record number of churches to bring mission teams to help us. Others sent financial support for new mission pastors. I’m sure what Barbara did made it easier for us to get pastors and other workers to come and start churches and serve long term in our area. Peggy and I praise the Lord for bringing her across our paths.

TERRY AND ELIZABETH ROBERTSON BECAME LIFELONG FRIENDS Earlier I had told Terry and Elizabeth Robertson in Alabama about the great opportunities to spread the Gospel for pastors in Buffalo because he was graduating from New Orleans Seminary in May, 1979. After graduation they visited our area and stayed with us for at least 3 or 4 days. He preached at the Grand Island Church, which asked him to become their pastor.

Our whole family really enjoyed them, especially when Terry kidded Wanda by asking, “Are you really going to that ‘cow school’—Auburn?” She would try to answer, “it’s not a cow school; It’s one of the best universities for Med Techs to get training.” Most of us did not hear what she said because we were laughing so loudly.

This young couple promised to pray about coming back to Grand Island before leaving for home. In a few days we got a call from Terry; he said, “We would like to come to that area, but we just don’t feel this is the right time.

We’re talking with a church and think we need to stay here for a while.” When I told my family what he said, we were all really sad.

We went on to bed that night, thinking they would not be coming. But I got a telephone call and had to get up to answer it in the middle of the night. Terry was on the other end. He said, “we’re going to have to come to Buffalo and Grand Island. Ever since I told you we were not coming we have been miserable!” I crawled back into bed as Peggy asked me, “what was that all about?”

When I told her what he said, she laughed. I asked her, “why are you laughing?”

She said, “I’ll tell you in the morning.”

As we ate breakfast the next morning, Peggy said, “you know last night when Terry called before we went to bed and said he was not coming?”

We all said, “yes, though we hated to hear it.” She said, “I was so sure they should come to Buffalo, I prayed, “Lord, make them so miserable that they’ll have to come!”

We all, of course, broke out in laughter and could hardly finish our breakfast.

Terry Robertson has not let me forget a Bible study I took him to, I think before he came as pastor at FBC, Grand Island. If I remember correctly, I had met this family and found out they were not in church. But they agreed to host a Bible study and we set up a date for one. I think Terry was there with me to see what it would be like. No one showed up but the man, his wife and us (thankfully). I introduced Terry as a friend of mine.

As we visited before the study, he was very hospitable, even asking us, “Would you fellows like a beer? I’ve got plenty of cold ones ready.” Recovering as quickly as I could, I think I said, “No, all I want is a glass of water or a Coke if you have one.”

Of course, Terry followed suit. I don’t remember much about the Bible study, but I do remember the offer he made that no one else has ever made to me at a Bible Study. Terry laughs when he tells the story and will not let me forget it. In his role now as the Executive Director of the Baptist Convention of New York, he has introduced me to crowds of people by telling that incident.

When the Summer ended, we were all worn out, but us local workers were scrambling to help each new mission church continue with a viable ministry, as well as follow up to responsive people. One of the biggest challenges was to get a good ‘preacher’, whether layman or pastor, to bring a biblical message each Sunday morning or other time. Some sponsor pastors filled in by staggering the time of their services so they could preach at their church and at their new mission. Faithful laymen help some missions survive.

We still lived in our first home in the area, which was several miles away from the Kolbs home, where the Clarence Mission met. That did not keep us from being involved in many of the activities of the Clarence mission. It was a joy for our family to continue attending there, especially since we all had been involved there from the time that the Kolbs opened their home to us and now seen it grow into 15 to 20 people of all ages.

I felt led to serve as the interim pastor for Clarence until it could grow strong enough financially to call a ‘fulltime’ pastor of their own. Soon the mission

members felt they should rent a meeting place big enough for more people. The only place we could find within our price range was the V. F. W. Hall, (or was it the American Legion?) Either way, you get the idea.

So, our family got there early each Sunday to prepare it for Sunday School and worship. This included sweeping out the beer cans from the night before, arranging small groups of chairs in different areas of the building and making sure whether Peggy, Wanda or Paul was needed to help or actually lead a class.

Paul and Wanda also tried to get their friends to come to a new class for students led by David Kolb in his first teaching experience. Within a year, before Wanda left to attend Auburn University, they grew from 2 youth to 8 or 10 each week.

After a short late August vacation in 1979, our work was laid out for us—all 4 of the new churches we had started were struggling to make it without a regular pastor.

Jim Bullis, pastor of the Veterans Park Church left the church before ‘79 was over. I think he went just across the Canadian border to pastor a mission church he had help start in Ontario, Canada. Mary had had cancer for a number of years. After she died July 19, 1982 in a Buffalo hospital, Jim moved back south near some of his family and friends.

The church was diligent in looking for someone and found Terry New to be their pastor, who helped in their mission work. He was a faithful worker who stayed at least four years, perhaps longer after we moved from the area.

Other new workers included Jerry Jones to pastor the country mission at Ellington, near Camp Iron Bell, and Charles Steger to Orchard Park after Ellis Turner moved.

WITHIN TWO YEARS, 3 OF THE 4 START-UPS HAD CALLED FULL-TIME PASTORS! All of us involved in these new churches looked to partner churches and associations in several states to help us financially for a year or two. I also worked with several of these DOMs to find good mission pastoral candidates.

God answered our prayers in ways and time frames we were not expecting.

James and Susan Rivers came from connections I had with Dr. Grey Allison, president, and professors at Mid-America Seminary. I think he had served earlier on a mission team to our association from the seminary. God used them to bring the mission to the strength to be constituted as a church. He was the first full-time pastor to come to any of the 4 mission churches started that summer.

I understand through friends that a strong local layman, Terry Bowman, eventually felt the call to be a pastor and was called by Clarence when the Riv-

ers moved. Through discipling by James Rivers, God provided this local native to teach the Bible to adults when we had to go to help another new church. He later became their pastor and, through his leadership, a strong church, which eventually bought property and built their own building.

In the fall, we also discovered the delicious grapes which grew along the edges of land on Lake Erie. We would go and ‘pick your own’ when the price was lower. We purchased a juicer, making it much easier to get the juice out of the grapes. Peggy canned numerous jars of delicious grape juice and many jars of tasty grape jelly.

We ate a lot of it in New York and gave much away. It lasted several years past our time in New York. The three mission churches continued their ministries with local leadership for a few years, but two of them continued to grow.

These two also called pastors before we left the area. ‘More about them later.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY! GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE! WANDA AND PAUL CONTINUED TO GROW AND TO KEEP US BUSY IN 1979 AND 1980 Wanda was trying to decide on the kind of work she wanted to do after high school and what kind of education she would need. She had taken an aptitude test at school but was still undecided. Then she was talking with the seniors on a visiting mission team about what careers they were choosing. One guy said, “I’m going to prepare to become A MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIST.” “What’s that?” She asked. “It’s someone who tests the lab samples or examines them under a microscope to let their doctors know how they should treat them,” he answered. “Sounds interesting,” she observed. She checked with her teachers and found out she could sign up to ‘shadow’ a MedTech for a day. That day convinced her that she would like that kind of work.

Her next step was to find universities which offered a curriculum leading to a degree in that field. Some who only had some of the basic courses needed and not the advanced ones. I suggested she check out Samford, my alma mater. She did, and discovered they had a strong nurses’ training program. However, their training for Med Techs did not include laboratory technology courses. Auburn did offer a degree in that field. She found during her internship, she had an advantage over those who had not taken courses in that area because they had to learn them in their internship.

Paul wanted a dog, so we went to a shelter with him to see what they had.

There he found a female husky who was friendly. The dog liked him and he

liked the dog, so we adopted her. He soon named her ‘Sheba’. His next request, “Dad, will you build a tall doghouse for Sheba because she won’t have room in a little one.” He readily helped me build it.

It was a good thing she did not mind snow or cold weather. Even in it, she would sit on top of her dog house. Rain or sleet was another matter; she took shelter then in her house. We discovered our first winter there that when the snow melted in the spring that backyard was like a pond. Sheba would not get in that water—she stayed on top of her house until the water was gone.

It seems like it was a few months later, Paul came to me and said, “Dad, I want a dirt bike, so I can ride like some other guys under the power lines.”

“Son,” I replied, you’ll have to earn part of the money to buy a dirt bike.” So, he started looking for a job.

He found out a friend had an early morning paper route and was giving it up.

The newspaper was glad to hire him. It meant getting up early every morning, whether there was snow, rain or cold to walk to deliver papers to that part of the town. He made good on the paper route, so, after a few months wanted to look for a bike. His preference was a new Kawasaki, but even the smallest ones—the 100—cost more than the money than he had. He said to me, “Dad, can you help me buy that bike?”

I replied, “I’ll check with mom, but we’ll do our best to help you buy it.” So, he got a Kawasaki 100 with a little help from us.

I did not want him to be out by himself on the bike so I looked for a used one for myself. Or, perhaps I just wanted to join him in the fun. I found a 175 Kawasaki dirt bike. Every Saturday when it was possible, we had fun riding under the power lines. It wasn’t long before Paul wanted to trade bikes with me. He liked the more powerful 175 than his new 100. I traded bikes with him, and he was much happier. As long as we were in Western New York we rode our bikes under the power lines, even when we moved to a new part of our area.

Our whole family enjoyed ice-skating on frozen lakes in a park near us. Better yet, we liked to go to Lake Erie. When we saw a jeep driving on the lake to remove the snow from the area for people to skate, we were ready to go—there was no chance the ice would ‘break through’.

But, I MUST CLARIFY: NOT EVERYONE in our family enjoyed the skating all the time. Because Peggy spent most of her time sliding on her posterior.

The rest of us could not help but laugh at her. We would try to tell her how to stay on her feet, but she would hear none of it. In fact, she would get a little mad. That just made it more fun for us.

I was kept busy ‘filling in’ at our new churches and at the established churches. An exchange of letters with a prospective pastor gives an example. After apologizing for taking so long to reply to his letter, I replied: “These are very busy days for me with three churches without pastors and almost no one available to help them…It was great to hear you want to help in the witness here, and even open to serve here if God so directs…There are at least four places that I believe God could use you…Two of these are without pastors. The other two are new work situations where laymen are struggling and having a difficult time bringing others to know the Lord. I will personally talk with the people in these places and let you know where it seems would be the best place for you to come (to be considered for pastor/church starter). All these places need outside financial aid in order to do the work that needs to be done in sharing the Gospel. He did come to serve one of the new churches. More later.”

We looked forward to our 10 days or more vacation in Alabama in 1980, while Wanda looked forward to Auburn. Paul and I altered the old boat trailer, adding a wooden board for each wheel and tying the two dirt bikes securely to take with us to Alabama. Thanks to Peggy’s family’s farm, we found many good places to ride them on hills, across streams, and in the fields.

Wanda had already registered to enter Auburn University in the fall of 1980.

I recently asked her, “WHY did you want to go to a university in the South?” thinking she wanted to be near our families in south Alabama. To my surprise, she answered, “I wanted to go to a school in the South because I knew there were more Christians there!” Then I remembered that through her entire 18 years of life and 12 years of school, she had been required to live in places where ONLY 2% of the people, probably 1% of students, were evangelical Christians. That meant she had very few friends because in most classes there was no one else who was an outspoken follower of Jesus.

We took her down with all her stuff on our vacation to her Granddaddy and Grandma Galloway’s house. She stayed with them until after Labor Day. Then her grandparents drove her to school and helped her unload her stuff into her room.

Her first year’s tuition was paid for through a scholarship from the school, but not the $1000 out-of-state fee. See book III to see how a pecan grove helped her.

Since we could not buy a car for her, she had no transportation from the fall until the next Summer. Then we gave her our Scirocco. We went to Atlanta af-

ter checking vehicles for sale and bought a used Volkswagen diesel. It met our needs as long as we did not forget to plug in the built-in circulating heater every cold winter night.

Wanda really enjoyed the environment at Auburn because there were so many Christian students. There was also a great Baptist Student Union (BSU) program. She caught rides to various churches wherever students were going.

After several weeks, a student offered her a ride to Lakeview. Soon she started going there every Sunday. She grew to really enjoy the people and the ministry.

They also had a steady schedule of activities for the students in which she participated when she could.

She faced a crisis at the end of the first semester—She had failed one of her chemistry courses, seven of which were required to be a med tech. Later she called us about dropping an important course. Peggy talked with her and asked her, “have you already paid for this course?”

“Yes,” she answered. “I just can’t take that much; I’ll got to cut back on the courses I’m taking.”

Peggy continued, “What are you doing every day and night?” As she went over her week, she described 2- or 3-nights activities for students at Lakeview Baptist Church, which were beneficial and fun. Then 1 or 2 nights at BSU activities she liked a lot. Peggy asked her, “WHY are you at Auburn?”

She answered, “To get a med tech degree.”

“Then you’re going to have to stop spending most of your nights at things you enjoy and start studying,” Peggy demanded. “The courses you have to take are hard and you’ve got to buckle down and spend most of your time studying!” she insisted.

Wanda must have changed because she continued with a full course load and there were no more failing grades.

Enjoying New York’s state parks, especially in summer: they had wonderful big swings as well as other forms of entertainment, nice places to grill out and to fish. On most of the holidays, the association or one of the churches sponsored a picnic in a park nearby. This let us see many more of our friends from various churches.

A PARTNERSHIP WHICH BLESSED MANY IN WESTERN NEW YORK As the photo from the New York Baptist shows, the Rehoboth Association agreed to be a sister association with Frontier. This grew out of the Georgia

Baptist Convention urging their associations to become sister associations since the state had adopted New York as its sister state.

This provided many opportunities for the churches of that association to help us. Unlike Americus, the churches in this Georgia County sent numerous mis-

sion volunteer teams. Some even adopted a new church to support with short term workers and regular financial assistance.

A great side benefit came to Frontier Association when Woodrow Rush and his wife agreed to move up and be the interim pastor at the Grossman Avenue Baptist Church in Olean, a City of over 16,000. He was a retired Army officer and a deeply committed volunteer missionary. This is seen by their living in the small church building, using a shower, beds and a small kitchen designed for mission groups there for a week or two. Yet they lived there for over a year while he served as lay pastor of the church.

CARL (CHUCK) AND SUE HARTNESS CAME AS US-2 MISSIONARIES Chuck and Sue Hartness arrived in Buffalo in April, 1980 to serve with us for two years. This young couple worked closely for a few months with the Clarence new mission church. When they soon got a new full-time pastor, he branched out to start a mission in North Cheektowaga. Visiting door to door, he started two home Bible studies that eventually led to the mission services.

He and I also traveled the 70 miles to Wellsville each week for a year. I had heard about a family in this town who were willing to host a home Bible study.

We went down to visit people to invite them to their home for the study.

Eventually the group grew enough to start a mission chapel. Bob Hill became the pastor of this mission congregation, our only SBC work in all of Allegheny county. Bob was still pastor of the mission church when our family moved from the Buffalo area.

EARLY IN 1981: A CALL FROM AL JACKSON OF LAKEVIEW BAPTIST CHURCH After Wanda arrived as a student without a vehicle of her own, she depended on riding to church with various students. She visited three or four church where they went. Lakeview was one of them. Eventually she got a regular ride with another student who went to Lakeview regularly. After she had attended there for several months, she had an occasion to talk a little with the pastor and he found out she was the daughter of a missionary church planter in Buffalo.

Consequently, he called me to ask more about our work as well as, “What are your greatest needs there?” I answered, “Help in starting new churches.”

Then I shared with him how few Evangelical churches were in Buffalo and our

attempts to start new ones. He invited me to tell his church about the mission needs in Buffalo the next time I came south.

I did speak there when I was down that way a few months later. He then asked me to meet with their mission leaders. At that meeting, he asked me to share “What is the most important thing we can do to help in the mission work in Buffalo?”

No one had ever asked me that question since we had come to Upstate New York 17 years earlier. It was the most welcome question I had ever been asked.

I replied with no hesitation, “Your church can take responsibility for starting a new church, providing workers and funds long enough to see a strong church emerge.” They got excited about that as we shared ideas on how this could be done.

He called me back a month later, after he had talked more with his staff, mission team and church, suggesting this plan: First, in the summer of 1982, the church would send a summer mission team. They would conduct Backyard Bible Clubs, door-to-door surveys and witnessing. Second, in the fall of 1982 they would seek to have two young college graduates of the church to come and serve for two years to lead in starting a new church. Third, they would also provide several Summer Missionaries to help in the ministry of starting the church.

I thanked THE LORD AND HIM and agreed to work with them as they came.

MISSIONS IN CONTEXT TRAINING FOR DOMS, SEPTEMBER 1981, AT RIDGECREST This was an intensive four-day study of the biblical basis of missions and the steps for applying these principles in communities with various demographics.

It was presented by some of the SBC leaders—the executive directors of HMB, Brotherhood and WMU, and pacesetting associational directors of missions.

James Nelson led in developing the program for this training for all DOM’s.

Those of us from New York State were there. These men were all pioneer missionaries. Most of us had gone into an area with no SBC church to work, pray and ask God to save some and to lead them to start a church. Once started, we had kept at it until God brought whole associations of churches into being. Of course, this took years to happen where most people had no understanding of the Gospel.

These men (pictured on next page) are heroes of the faith to me. They were so hardened to roadblocks that they kept going, no matter the distractions.

Many have gone to be with their Lord. I look forward to joining them. We’ll

see those who came to Jesus through their witness. What a celebration: Revelation 19:1–10 describes those faithful to the Savior. May it be said of us “they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and loved not their lives to the death.”

This conference gave us practical training on how to obtain and use demographics and research to prepare for Bold Mission Thrust Focus City projects.

We discussed how to bring about teamwork. What we tried to learn in four days was almost overwhelming. I kept all the printed presentations and marked those especially important to us in Frontier Association.

I also asked HMB leaders about the training and funds for this emphasis.

They agreed to provide focus funds and personnel in Buffalo in 1982. The church planting and evangelism leaders agreed to help us plan and fund some major events for the Buffalo area, including THE STARLITE CRUSADE. I went home ready for another year of great opportunities. I was also ready to get our churches, pastors and leaders committed to spreading the gospel through new churches and an evangelistic crusade which we prayed God would use to save many people throughout the Buffalo area.

LAKEVIEW BAPTIST CHURCH OF AUBURN, ALABAMA, BEGAN THEIR PREPARATIONS FOR A NEW CHURCH

We worked with the Lakeview church for them to bring their mission outreach team up soon after school was out. They went door-to-door surveying and witnessing to look for people interested in a home Bible study group.

They also helped other volunteers prepare visits and backyard Bible Clubs held in our own yard and several other locations. At the same time, there were three Summer Missionaries, including Wanda, our daughter, working along with their mission team. When they left, the Summer missionaries continued to do intensive surveys in areas not yet covered, especially in the vicinity of where the Starlight Crusade was to be held.

Lakeview also sent two recent Auburn graduates, who were members of their church, to be the leaders of the new church. Greg Boyd and Ron Burkhalter worked two years to begin the new church, which they named the Assurance Baptist Chapel. When they could not find anyone else to host a Bible study, we opened our home and invited those who had been responsive to their question about studying the Bible. Thank the Lord—a small core group of 8 to 12 people developed over a few months.

I WORKED EARLY IN 1982 WITH CHURCHES STARTING NEW MISSIONS In addition to Clarence Church sponsoring Assurance Chapel, and along with Lakeview from Auburn, I helped: • • •

•

First, Grand Island sponsored an outreach in Youngstown/Lewiston; River of Life Fellowship in Niagara Falls, led by Pastor Mike Robertson; West Main Church in Freedonai with Kenneth Sellers as pastor, sponsored the Spanish Baptist Mission in Dunkirk. Gus Suarez and his wife came to serve that Hispanic church.

Suarez also filled in at the Grossman Avenue Baptist Church in Olean when Woody Rush moved and until Fred Fowler came from Alabama to be their pastor.

Youth Convention article (next page)—

Throughout the first six months of 1982, churches and pastors led their people in regular cottage prayer meetings for the Starlight Crusade. The people of the churches became more burdened about bringing the lost to this great oppor-

tunity to hear the Gospel preached. Many of our churches tried to get everybody in their church committed to go to the Crusade and to help in some way.

Frontier Church leaders trained their people to be ushers, decision counselors, greeters and simply to bring others with them. We probably had the largest number involved in this crusade of anything we had ever done.

THE 100 VOICE YOUTH MUSICAL GROUP, NEW WIND CAME JUNE 1–6 Ten professed newfound faith in Christ as well as several recommitted their lives. This large group sang secular music in schools and malls during the day, but they invited, especially youth, to their night spiritual music program.

The work of this group as well as part of the cost of the Starlight Crusade two months later came partly from HMB Bold Mission Thrust projects. The churches which sent the singers as well as preacher and song leader for the Crusade helped with part of the expenses for both events.

THE LARGEST EVANGELISTIC CRUSADE HELD IN BUFFALO IN MANY YEARS: AUGUST 16–20, 1982

Many of the people of our churches, as well as church planters, Ron Burkhalter, Greg Boyd, our two US-2 couples along with most of our pastors, put out a great deal of effort to promote the Starlight Crusade held at Buffalo’s Kleinham Music Hall.

Bailey Smith, the immediate past President of the Southern Baptist Convention, was preacher and many workers from his church came to help.

The famous stars giving their testimonies for Christ attracted much public attention to our mission work in Buffalo. This was the most visible, as well as bold proclamation of the gospel that we did during my six years there.

To say that the Crusade was successful would be an understatement. Up to 700 attended nightly, 86 came forward to profess their newly found faith and many others made life commitments. Not only our Western New York churches, but also Georgia churches from Warner Robins Georgia and others came to bear witness and to help with follow-up visits each day during the meetings. We were all blessed by the testimonies of the stars. Many said, “We will never forget what God did during this week!”

1983: COMPLETING OUR MISSION IN BUFFALO AND WESTERN NEW YORK GUSTAVO AND DIANE SUAREZ BEGAN A NEW WORK IN BUFFALO IN JANUARY

They worked primarily with a Puerto Rican community to begin a Bible study. They had the help of a family from a church in the association. When summer came, they had enlisted a team of students from the Mexican Bible Institute to come to Buffalo and do house-to-house visitation, as well as assisting with worship services at the new mission church. We became close friends with Gus and Diana and have maintained a relationship with them through the years. Their love for Christ and concern to share the gospel have been a great inspiration to us.

PEGGY AND I BECAME CONCERNED ABOUT MY HEALTH For the last few months of 1982, I had a low-grade fever and very low energy level. I was concerned but took aspirin for the fever and assumed that I would be OK. When 1982 turned into a cold January 1983, the fever persisted. Eventually Peggy said to me after I came in from shoveling the snow out of the driveway, “What’s wrong with you; your nose and hands are completely purple!” I agreed and added, “They also hurt.” She insisted, “You’ve got to see a doctor.”

“I guess you’re right,” I replied.

So, I called and scheduled an appointment with the doctor. When I told the doctor my symptoms he was concerned about the low-grade fever and he gave me some medicine for it. He seemed to just pass off our concern over the blue hands and nose. So, I just hoped I would get better. But there was no change except that the fever did not bother me as much. And I kept doing my regular work routine, although with difficulty.

During the summer of 1983, we went to Ridgecrest as usual. The low-grade fever and weakness motivated me to see a doctor. He could find no reason for it, but simply gave me some medication, which I assumed was pain medicine.

After Ridgecrest our family went on to my mother’s home, still with Paul’s motorcycle and all his clothes that he was taking for school at Troy State (now Troy University). My mother suggested, “Why don’t you see MY doctor? Dr. Brantley has never failed to find out what’s wrong with me.” So, I went to see Dr. Brantley. He listened to my symptoms about temperature and examined me thoroughly. Then he asked me, “Has any doctor checked your thyroid? It does not seem to be working correctly.”

“No,” I answered, “that has not been mentioned as a possible source of my problem.” Some tests confirmed that my thyroid was infected and inflamed.

The doctor explained, “This would be the cause of your continuing low-grade fever and weakness. That would NOT cause you to turn blue and purple in cold

weather.” He went on to say, “Your symptoms sound like a blood disease; you should see a hematologist as soon as you can.”

Dr. Brantley gave me a prescription for a new antibiotic, saying, “Take these for two full weeks, but you should start feeling better in a few days.”

Sure enough, I got over the fever and felt much better within a week. So, it took a small-town general practitioner to discover that I had an infected thyroid.

My family felt this was more evidence of God’s provision in due time.

YOUTH RETREAT AT CAMP IRON BELL As the photo shows, the youth committee of the Frontier Association had a

retreat April 15–16 with 150 youth and adults present. It was held at Camp Iron Bell. According to the article, it was led by local pastors. Discussions centered around lifestyle evangelism. I can’t help but believe that Paul had a part in plan-

ning and leading that retreat. At the time, he was the president of the New York Baptist Youth Convention, so I’m assuming he had a major part in holding and even leading this retreat centering around lifestyle evangelism. Probably his friend, Joe, whom Paul had led to trust Christ, was present as ‘exhibit 1’.

TWO OTHER NEW MISSION CHURCHES FINALLY GOT PASTORS

David Miller and his wife came in May, 1983, to be the pastor of Westside Chapel, Buffalo. But it was started a year earlier by summer seminary students, Ned and Aby Cosby, seeking to plant a church. Even before they arrived, a mission group from Central Baptist Church, Warner Robins, Georgia, 7 had done door-to-door surveying, discovering 65 people interested in Bible study. No wonder the Cosbys were able to get 35 people to attend two Bible studies. After they went back to seminary in August, I filled in for them or got lay preachers when I could not do it.

PAUL COMMITTED HIMSELF IN 1983 TO FOLLOW GOD’S CALL TO MINISTRY (PREACH) After James Rivers came to be pastor of Clarence Baptist Chapel, he and Paul became close friends. James was excellent at working with young people.

He also shared a very strong conviction that Christians should personally witness to others and help them come to Christ.

Paul was also blessed, along with Wanda, by the mission teams (mostly youth and college students) and their leaders we worked with all our years in New York, but especially in Buffalo.

Going all the way back to 1980 when we moved to Getzville, Paul had become a close friend of Joe McKee, a fellow student living across the street. He would often go to Joe’s house and watch TV until late. We knew we could trust him, so he would come in whenever he could.

But one morning, he seemed much more alive earlier than usual. As he came into the kitchen for breakfast, he said, “Guess what happened last night?”

I just shook my head and said, “Why don’t you tell us?”

He answered, “Joe accepted Christ last night!”

I asked him, “When?” “At 4 a.m. this morning,” he replied. Then he explained to us, “We read the Bible for several hours and looked up answers to his questions. Finally, he decided he was ready to trust Jesus as his Savior.” Paul led him to tell the Lord he believed Jesus died for his sins and rose from the dead to give him life.

Joe made his profession of faith at Clarence Church the next Sunday and started attending the youth Sunday School (Bible study) class and worship following.

This experience was obviously God’s blessings on Paul’s life. So, we encouraged him to continue to share his faith. Soon after that in 1982, the Starlight Crusade was held in Buffalo. This gave him and Joe an opportunity to bring some of their friends to a neutral place to hear the gospel. They seemed to really enjoy that. I’m sure there were many others who influenced Paul, but he continued to grow in his faith and obedience to Christ.

One indication was that at school he was a bold witness to other students and teachers alike. For example, in an English Class where he was required to write papers. He explains, “I wrote papers that included what it meant to be a follower of Christ.” His teacher checked his papers for the grammar and structure and did not complain about his writing about such subjects. However, he did make a comment or two that indicated that he did not think much of his kind of faith.

During the winter weather of early 1983, Paul had a leather jacket that he wore and really liked because he could wear it while riding his motorcycle to school and stay warm. Someone, however, broke into his locker and stole his leather jacket. This really disturbed him because he did not have the money yet to buy another one.

He continued to ride his bike to school for the rest of the school year, without a very warm jacket. In late May, he had ridden his bike to school one day, but it would not start when he was ready to go home. This was unusual, and he could not figure out why. “I’ll check to see if it has plenty of gas,” he said to himself.

As he did, it occurred to him, “Maybe someone put something in my gas.” Sure enough, when he leaned over and smelled of it, it did not smell like gasoline alone but also like oil. Then he knew he was in trouble. So, he just pushed his motorcycle home and started working on it.

I don’t know how many days he had tried to fix it without success, but one day he had emptied everything out of the gas tank, cleaned it and the carburetor and all the parts with clean gas. He did everything he thought was needed.

Then he tried to start it again, but it would not even try to run, no matter what he tried. Finally, he just left it, went inside and walked up to his bedroom, then closed the door.

In his room, Paul got down on his knees and said, “Lord, I can’t find out what’s wrong with this motorcycle; and I can’t fix it. If you’ll help me fix it, I’ll do anything you wanted to do.” After pausing for a moment, thinking about all that had happened to him recently, he went downstairs and got a drink.

Then he went back out to the garage and thought of one more thing he would do before trying to start the bike. After checking that, he got everything ready and gave a hard kick on the starter. It started running immediately.

Paul said nothing to us about this experience that day. But the next morning after James Rivers preached, Paul walked forward and said to him, “God is calling me to preach and I’m willing to follow his call.” As James presented him to the church, we all rejoiced in what God had done.

After the church had agreed, James allowed me to present Paul with a Certificate of License to the Gospel Ministry. He also gave Paul opportunities in the next few months before he left for college to preach. During that time, a couple of other churches asked him to preach for them. Terry New, the pastor at Veterans Park, asked him to preach in a three-day Youth Revival. All these experiences seemed to confirm to him that God was calling him to a Gospel ministry.

Before we went to Alabama for our Summer vacation, Paul had already registered to enter college at Troy State despite Wanda ridiculing him for not

following her to Auburn. God was obviously directing him since he received many side benefits besides getting a good education. Read more about these in Book III. A phone conversation soon after we returned from summer vacation forced me to consider whether God was calling us to our next assignment. See the next chapter to tell how that happened.

OUR LAST CHRISTMAS TOGETHER IN BUFFALO AND WESTERN NEW YORK. As Christmas drew near, we all thought our time in Buffalo might end soon.

We planned for Paul and Wanda to come home at Christmas, although they could not leave for the long trip until a day or so before Christmas. They were on Wanda’s little Scirocco, accompanied by Joe’s girlfriend from Troy. Wanda described their travel, “The farther north we got, the worse the weather got.”

She continued, “By the time we got through Cleveland or soon afterwards, the interstate was closed. Fortunately, the exit where we had to get off the interstate had a hotel. Unfortunately, we had very little money, like most college students.”

So, we got a collect call from Paul, who told us their predicament. Peggy said, “I’ll call the motel and give them a credit card number. Perhaps they will let it be used to pay for a room.

When Peggy called the manager of the hotel and asked, “Can you take my credit card number and provide a room for my kids?”

“Absolutely not!” was his answer. “We do not accept credit card numbers over the phone.”

She explained to him the predicament her family was in, but he simply said, “I’m sorry.” And hung up.

When Paul called collect on the payphone next, Peggy told him the problem she had run into. He said, “I’ll see how much money all of us have together.

Maybe we can get at least one room.” When they pooled all they had with them, they had enough to pay for one room. So, that’s what they did. Wanda and Joe’s girlfriend slept together in a double bed and Paul slept on the sofa.

They had another problem. The weather was so cold that the Scirocco would freeze up if it was left for more than an hour. So, Paul had to get up every hour and go out and start the car and let it run long enough to warm up. Then he would go back to bed for another hour and come back again and go through the same process.

The next morning, they waited until they heard on the television that the road had been opened and they could travel. Snow plows had cleared at least one lane on each side, although it was very slick since the temperature was still below freezing.

It was now the day after Christmas Day and their troubles were not over.

When they came to the exit near Buffalo and to our house, it was very icy. When Paul started down the ramp, the brakes did no good, so he threw it into reverse; that did no good, then he gunned it hard to try to go backwards and not run into other cars ahead; this slowed the car a little, but it still bumped into the vehicle in front of them, but not hard enough to damage it. They all breathed a sigh of relief. They were at our house in a few minutes.

When they got home (the day after Christmas) we had a great celebration.

We celebrated the coming of Jesus and read the story of his birth. But we also celebrated God’s wonderful Providence in bringing them home safely in very adverse conditions. I do not remember any of the gifts that we shared with each other, just the joy of our being together and remembering the great years in Buffalo when God helped us all to learn to trust him more.

PRAISE TO THE LORD OUR GOD IN THE HIGHEST! HE IS THE ALMIGHTY! HE STILL RULES OVER ALL!

◆◆◆ _______________________________ 1. “Christianity Today,” November 3, 1978, page 15 2. Ibid, “Christianity Today”, November 3, 1978, page 15

16 LEADING CHURCH EXTENSION (NOW CHURCH PLANTING) DEPARTMENT, FLORIDA BAPTIST ASSOCIATION 1984–1996

W

hen I returned from visiting a pastor in the southern part of the association about the mission he was sponsoring, Peggy was ready to share with me about a phone call. She said, “You got the strangest call. Do you know a man named Jim Goodson?”

“No,” I answered, “I don’t think so.”

She continued, “He said, ‘this is Jim Goodson from sunny Florida. Is Clifford there?’”

“When I told him, ‘no,’ he replied, ‘please ask him to call me when he gets home.’”

She gave me his number and I sat at my desk as I called him. Jim answered the phone and I said to him, “I’m calling you back from the message you left.”

“I’m the Missions Director for the Florida Baptist Convention,” he said; “I’m calling to see if you would be interested in becoming the Director of the Church Extension Department for the Florida Convention. If you became the director you will receive a salary of ——, a convention automobile, and other generous benefits. Do you think you would be interested?”

“No,” I answered, “we’ve still got a lot to do here in Western New York.”

Jim then asked me, “Will you at least pray about it?”

“W-e-l-l”, I tried to think before I answered, but I could not think of any reason to NOT pray about his offer, so I answered, “Yes, I’ll pray about it.”

“I’ll send you more information through the mail,” he told me. Then he said, “it has been good talking with you.” I said, “Thanks. Goodbye.”

I told Peggy about the part of the call on the other end of the line and she was as perplexed as I was, “WHY would he be calling you?” She asked. “That’s what I’m wondering,” I replied.

After I got something cold to drink, we tried to get our minds back on the business of the day. Peggy handed me a stack of letters that I needed to look at as I sat down behind the desk.

I opened the first one with the return address of a supporter from, I think, North Carolina. As I opened it, a small slip of paper slid out of it onto my desk.

I picked it up to see what it said and it was a type-written quote from Jeremiah 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. They are plans for good…to give you a future and a hope.”

Almost forgetting that I had received a donation to one of our new churches in it, I sat there wondering and asking the Lord, “Are you speaking to me about considering the Florida offer?”

When I showed the note with the scripture on it to Peggy, I could tell that she was wondering the same thing. At supper that night I, suggested to her, “Let’s pray together as well as individually about this call and whether God wants me to explore it.”

We continued to talk and wonder about all of this, so much so that we could hardly get our minds on anything else. After praying together, we finally went to bed.

When I got up, drank my first cup of coffee and had my morning Bible reading and prayer time, it seemed necessary to at least explore more about the need for church planting in Florida. Peggy concurred. After breakfast we went back to the office and began a new day’s work. One of my first phone calls was to the man at HMB responsible for demographic studies. I asked him, “Can you send me the demographics of the population growth of Florida from 1970 to 1980 and the projections for growth in the next few years?” “Sure,” he replied, “I’ll mail it to you tomorrow.” I was not prepared mentally or spiritually for the facts about Florida’s rapid growth when the data arrived a few days later. It showed: population in 1970 of 6,790,000 and by 1980, it had grown to 9,750,000 people.

This amounted to a total decadal growth of 1,840,000: that’s 184,000 per year or over 500 per day. The projections for 1980 to 1990 were even more amazing.

They showed a 3,194,000 growth for the decade in Florida. This works out to 319,400 people per year or 907 people every day.

This number of people coming to Florida got my church planting instincts rising. If 100 churches were started each year, that would be 3194 new people for each new church to try to reach, not counting the thousands more in previ-

ous years’ growth. Such an opportunity got me excited, especially in light of the fact that I had learned two years earlier that buffalo was a declining city, losing population every year. Yet we had started several new churches.

A day or two after receiving the demographics, I got a letter from Dr. Goodson containing a listing of the salary benefits and job description. I looked at it but don’t remember anything that was in it. I had never been one to go to a new place because of a bigger salary and was not about to make that my concern in this new opportunity. He also sent me some of the demographic information I had already received from HMB plus the number of churches started by Florida Baptists each year for the last five years. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but it was nowhere near 100 a year.

I wrote him back, thanking him for all the helpful information and telling him that we had begun to earnestly pray about whether God wanted us in Florida. I also informed him that I had gotten some demographics from HMB and begun to study them.

AN ON-THE-FIELD LOOK AT THE NEEDS I had agreed to speak for my friend Bobby Britt at his Birmingham church after Thanksgiving. Since that was only two weeks away, we decided to leave a few days early and go by Florida to look at some of the growing areas. We attached our worn, three-legged travel trailer and made our way to Florida. We made it through the heavy traffic in Orlando in the center of the state. Then we went on to the rapidly growing south Florida areas bordering the Atlantic beaches.

We found a park near Jupiter Beach, just a few miles north of North Palm Beach, and parked overnight. After breakfast the next morning, we put on our swimsuits and walked down to the beach. A beautiful sunrise and waves lapping against the shore were ‘a sight for sore eyes’.

We could not help calling the lady in Buffalo who was filling in at Peggy’s office and asking her, “How is the weather there?” although we knew the answer. She replied, “It’s snowing as usual.”

I said, “We’ve just walked to the beach and are ready to take a dip.” She replied, “You are lucky!” I must have replied with something like, “No, just enjoying God’s smile!”

We spent the day driving around some of the most growing new developments anywhere in Florida. West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, Delray Beach and the new developing suburb near Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Pompano Beach, and all the way down to Fort Lauderdale and its vast new housing areas.

We had an early supper before beginning our drive enroute to North Alabama. It was after dark as we drove through some of the same growing new communities. Seeing all the bright lights from the homes of hundreds of new residents was heart touching. Especially when I thought, “Probably most of these people are lost without Jesus and without a church which cares for them enough to share the Gospel with every person.”

We stopped by our families in Alabama to visit both, one the day before Thanksgiving and the other, Thanksgiving Day. Paul and Wanda were already there, so we had two cheerful celebrations, thanking God for His blessings on the USA and on our families. They were excited to learn that we might be moving to Florida, almost a thousand miles nearer to Auburn and Troy.

On Saturday we started for Birmingham and there enjoyed the evening with the Britts, sharing with each other what God was doing with our lives. Especially enlisting them to pray for God’s will to be done in this possible new opportunity for spreading the gospel and planting churches. I had the joy of preaching on missions at his church both services on Sunday.

Monday morning, we resumed our ‘whirlwind’ ride back home to Buffalo.

We were exhausted but still in awe of how God Himself was opening a door FOR US TO LEAD IN STARTING CHURCHES IN THE FASTEST GROWING STATE OF OUR NATION! As soon as we got home and got our lives on track again, I called Dr. Goodson. He said, “I was wondering if you were going to call me because I was about to call you.”

I told him, “I am willing to be considered for the church extension job; I’ve studied the demographics, driven through some of the fast growing areas and seen the small number of churches started for the fast population growth. I’m also burdened for the churches to wake up to reach the people all around them in this great mission field.” He replied, “Dr. Stringer and I will need to interview you and your wife as soon as feasible. We hope to be able to present you to our state Board of missions in January.” We agreed on a date in December for us to fly down and meet with them. He informed me of the FBC process, “Keep copies of your bills for the flight and all other expenses.” Peggy asked him, “How are we going to know YOU at the airport?” He replied, “I’ll be wearing an odd colored jacket.” Sure enough, we spotted him easily at the airport. He took us to a hotel near the Florida Baptist Convention office building in downtown Jacksonville.

That afternoon we went with him by his office and met some of the people who were on the staff of the Florida Baptist Convention. One staff

member whom we had known in the Canal Zone was Hubert Hurt. He said to us, “I’m glad to see you’re considering coming to work in this real mission field.” He did not share any difficult things about working with Florida Baptists at that time.

In his office Dr. Goodson shared with me some of the responsibilities of the Director of Church Extension. “First,” he said, “YOU will be the director of Church Extension, not ME. So, as a department director, you are responsible for planning your budget and calendar. You must also be prepared to defend it when questioned before the state board budget committee. The department directors are expected to be on the field 40% of their time and in their office 60%, while other staff are expected to be on the field 60 % of their time and only 40% in their office.”

I responded, “I’ll need to get to know every associational director of missions and to see where they are in starting churches. I’ll also need to help those who want to start new work and encourage others who are interested.”

Jim agreed, “Yes, I realize that and will understand when it takes more time on the field.”

Dr. Stringer and his wife, along with Dr. Goodson and his wife, took Peggy and me to dinner in a hotel on the top floor with a rotating dining room looking out over much of the county, with the largest land mass of any county in the state. Dr. Stringer and his wife, a friendly lady originally from a rural county in Florida, were delightful people. He asked about our parents and children and mostly showed interest in us and our dreams and aspirations. He made us feel good about the kingdom work in Florida, as well the part that I would be privileged to lead. That day resolved any doubt that God was calling us to move to Florida to lead in planting new churches.

Returning to Buffalo, we felt confident enough to write the pastors and Frontier associational officers, informing them, “We expect to be moving to serve in Florida about the end of January.”

In mid-January, 1984, I flew back to Jacksonville for an interview with the FBC personnel committee of their state Board of missions and with the entire State Board of Missions.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH DR. GOODSON WANTED PRESENTED TO STATE BOARD OF MISSIONS Up until Dr. Goodson expressed his preference for this picture instead of a formal one, I did not like it. Then it dawned on me that this one shows more enthusiasm than any others I can remember. So, now it is one of my favorite pictures.

On the way to the Lake Yale Assembly meeting place in central Florida, I noticed large orchards of trees, which I supposed to be orange trees, completely dead. Dr. Goodson explained why, “A few weeks ago there was a very hard freeze in the Orlando area. It killed all the citrus fruit trees.”

“What will happen to the people who had such great losses?” I asked.

“If the owners want to continue growing citrus,” he replied, “they will probably sell their land here and look for some 50 or more miles south.” He added, “It’s just one example of why life in Florida is so volatile.”

In my interview with the Florida Baptist State Board of Missions personnel committee, I shared, “I came to Christ in a new church and was called to ministry there; then God called me to start churches and allowed me see Christ change

lives in the churches I led in starting. What a joy! In recent years,” I explained, “to my surprise, God opened doors for me to help others start churches.”

The personnel committee members asked me various questions, but they were the kind I was expecting, so I enjoyed answering them. Except one from the president of the Florida Baptist Convention, who was sitting in on the meeting. He was also a classmate of mine in seminary and now pastor of a large Florida church. His question, “What makes you think you can get churches started in Florida?”

It was the tone of his question that irritated me. He sounded as if he did not think I could do the job in Florida. Even though I was shaken by the question, I replied, “If I got churches started in Buffalo, I think I can help YOU get them get started in Florida.”

That apparently satisfied the personnel committee members, since they approved my being recommended to the full FBC State Board of Missions. After hearing the recommendation of their committee, they asked their own questions and then approved my becoming the Director of Church Extension (later— church planting).

NEWS RELEASE TO FBC STAFF AT BAPTIST BUILDING AFTER I WAS ELECTED TO SERVE WITH THEM News Release about Clifford in Florida (next page)— Their approval included my moving to Florida and going to work February 17. We immediately put our house on the market and by February 1, were back in Florida to look for a house ourselves. We pulled our little three-legged travel trailer into a park and lived in it while looking for a house. We ended up deciding to have a new one built in Mandarin. One of the attractions was a very low down payment—I think just 5% of the cost.

After a brief visit with our parents in Alabama, we returned to live in the trailer until our house was completed as well as ours in Buffalo sold. We got excited when our realtor in Buffalo called to say, “I have a contract to sell your house that will close in mid-February. We agreed to the date, indicating the sooner the better.

God’s providence intervened again through a January thaw (warm winter weather), melting all the snow in our yard, with no puddles like our old house in Cheektowaga. We arranged with the moving company to load and move our belongings immediately after the closing. We just had to go to work packing

everything we could ourselves. Thankfully this move was paid for by the Florida Baptist Convention.

GOING TO WORK IN THE FLORIDA MISSION FIELD After getting my new convention car, I filled out forms and talked with the Annuity Board director for FBC; I asked that the maximum amount be deducted from my salary each month for my retirement. This would be sent to the SBC Annuity Board.

LEARNING TO WORK WITH DR. GOODSON AND OTHERS IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE FLORIDA BAPTIST CONVENTION

Dr. Goodson explained another of my responsibilities in his office at the Baptist building in Jacksonville, “All staff members are expected to be here each month during staff week.” He gave me a printed calendar, budget, and policy manual, emphasizing, “Study all of these carefully.”

I shared with him my immediate goals: “First, I want to check on new work leads places needing assistance. Second, I want to start visiting one or more associational directors of missions each week.”

I also said to him “I am planning to start working on a Doctor of Ministries degree at New Orleans seminary.” His response was short, “why? “I replied, “so I can improve my ministry skills, especially in church planting. “He replied, “you could teach the course in church planting; so, WHY should you spend your time doing that?” I gave up on that idea and am glad I did because the job to which God had called me would take every ounce of my strength and every minute of my time. And I relished it—PRAISE THE LORD! During the first or second monthly staff meetings, I was part of a joint meeting with different leaders from other departments. We were sharing what we considered our priorities in ministry and trying to see how they might fit together. I shared, “Florida Baptists are far behind in planting enough churches for the rapid population growth in our state. The growth alone demands that we start at least 100 new churches a year.”

The other leaders present literally laughed at the idea and seemed to attribute my ‘unrealistic goal’ to my recent employment. One leader was bold enough to say, “We all started out with impossible dreams and none of us has achieved them.”

Almost everyone else nodded in agreement. Unfortunately, I had not prepared myself to defend HOW or WHY that COULD and SHOULD be our goal.

This was a painful but necessary lesson to learn. Even so, I did not give up my faith that GOD WOULD HELP Florida Baptists eventually start at least 100 new churches each year.

Dr. Goodson also informed me, “The lady who has filled in as a secretary in this department may not be the one that you should keep. There’s a lot to keep up with and you should consider finding your own secretary, perhaps someone in the building who would be promoted by becoming a department secretary.”

I followed his advice and found a good secretary in another office willing to move up to our department. I helped her fill out the forms and request a transfer to be the department secretary for Church Extension. I don’t remember how many years she stayed in that position, several I think. I learned later that the more new churches started, the bigger the workload.

Most of my secretaries eventually requested a transfer because it was just too much for them to keep up with. This was the case with our secretaries until we got a second secretary for the department, part time at first, but eventually, I think, full-time. Our second one primarily kept up with the pastoral assistance requests, and their monthly reports, which were required before each check was sent.

I worked with my secretary to put together the monthly report of new churches started, using the monthly reports of church starting strategists of all departments involved along with others reported to us by DOMs where we did not have a strategist in my early years there.

I was also required to approve all funding for church planting projects and people involved. Plus, keeping up with FBC administrative tasks, meetings and correspondence. I could see why a department director needed to be in the office 60% of the time, although I doubt that I ever lived up to that guideline. Dr. Goodson never complained but did remind me when I had not taken care of an administrative responsibility.

I developed a plan to visit with two directors of missions in the same general area each week and more time with the DOMs in the fast-growing areas. Some of my first travels were to the southern part of the state where HMB had field missionaries in cooperation with the state and two different associations. David Palmer was the CE missionary in the Palm Coast Association, who had helped get some new churches started in the prosperous West Palm Beaches area.

Gene Edwards was a Texan with a Texas style dream for starting churches in the Fort Lauderdale area with Gulf Stream Association. He had planned an intensive church planting conference for a Friday evening and Saturday morning early in my first year in Florida. The leaders he had invited to speak had started churches in various kinds of cultures. Edwards made only one mistake - he scheduled it the same date that Spring Break began.

There were so many cars on the road and streets blocked that Peggy and I could not get to the church building or even to our motel. I don’t remember how, but he found out where we were stranded and came and got us. He and his wife were gracious people and invited us to spend the night with them.

He had to call off the meeting for the next day, but I’m sure he could not reach everybody with only the landline phones of those days. Peggy and I drove home disappointed but learned that great opportunities in Florida required careful planning and dealing with the unexpected.

1984: BOLD MISSION THRUST CHURCH STARTING GOALS WERE ADOPTED BY THE STATE BOARD OF MISSIONS PRIORITIES AND GOALS TO INCREASE THE TOTAL NUMBER OF CHURCHES, 1986–1990 • • •

Aid churches and associations in starting 620 new churchtype missions; 325 Anglos, 185 ethnic, 110 black; Increase the total number of organized churches in Florida to 2000.

These Bold Mission Church Starting Goals were great, but I did not know how hard and slow it would be to get more churches started in English-speaking communities. Perhaps the SBM leaders ‘bought into my vision’, even though Florida had never started anywhere near 100 churches in ANY year, yet they proposed starting 104 each year for five years.

After a few more years of experience in Florida, I would have insisted that the number of ethnic or language starts be multiplied by 2 or 3 times and the number of Anglo starts be reduced by half. See what happened in the numbers and types of church starts, 1984-1996 in The Journal of the Florida Baptist Heritage, Page 135.1 In my 1984 report to the Convention I listed THE MAJOR CHANGES MADE IN OUR CHURCH STARTING STRATEGY THIS YEAR: • • •

• •

More flexibility in mission pastors’ assistance and field assistance in planning their strategy.

Aiding with start-up expenses and planning during the initial six months of a new work.

Assisting more associations in securing Church Planter Apprentices to start new missions in their beginning stages (2 years), giving sponsoring churches more time to prepare for helping support a mission pastor. *Providing additional Church Extension Field missionaries.

Increasing significantly the number of seminary students starting churches through the PRAXIS C. E. Seminars.

Beginning major efforts to help new churches grow into strong congregations.

These changes, when fully implemented, made a big difference in the number of new churches started annually. But it took us several years to bring about full implementation.

CROWN POINT MISSION CONGREGATION NEAR OUR HOME WAS BEGUN SHORTLY BEFORE WE GOT THERE God allowed us to move into our new house not far from the mission congregation. The new church met in a school, with Richard Broom, the treasurer of FBC, as their interim pastor. We felt right at home helping set up chairs, roll out a piano and distribute materials needed for worship and Bible study for about 35 people of all ages.

That is, on the few Sunday mornings when I was there. Most Sunday mornings and many nights I was visiting or preaching at a church to encourage them to start a new mission church or to not lose heart in working with one they were sponsoring. This was a great opportunity to meet pastors and lay people in churches of all sizes, as well as to get oriented to the various parts of the state.

Within a year or two we at Crown Point had found property and had a nice church building erected. We also called a pastor to lead us in reaching people and growing the church. Some of us men started a weekly early morning sharing and prayer time. No food, just coffee, as we prayed for one another and encouraged each other to follow Christ. After so many men moved away, we discontinued it. I asked God to provide a prayer partner for me. He led me to ask Keith Simmons to join me. He owned a landscaping business it which he himself worked.

I cannot forget one morning after I was troubled by a meeting I had with Dr. Goodson the previous day. He had brought up a certain area of work which I understood was my responsibility. His approach was what bothered me. It was so overbearing that I did not have the nerve to give my opinion. I prayed on the way home and especially afterwards in my room alone. I cried out to God, “Lord, why am I here? What am I going to do when I can’t even express my disagreement?” Even worse, I did not hear any answer or impression from God answering my urgent request.

When I met with Keith the next morning I shared with him what had happened to me. At first, he listened with empathy, but eventually, startled me with his heart felt admonition, “Maybe you are wrong. Perhaps you need to admit to him you’ve been wrong by holding this against him.” That was all—we prayed for each other and he was gone by 6:30 for work with his team.

As I meditated and prayed over what he suggested, I asked again, “Lord, show me what to do.” This time, however, I surrendered my will to the Father.

His peace came over me and began to convince me that Keith was right. So, I told the Lord, “I’ll go tell Dr. Goodson as soon as I get to work that I was wrong.” When I got to my office a little earlier than usual, I looked first at my schedule for that day and week. Then I tried to get my thoughts together to call him directly and see if I could come up to talk.

He beat me to the draw by calling me first and asking, “Can you come up soon?” When I got up to his office, he closed the door and got straight to the point. “I want to apologize for being overbearing with you yesterday,” He said frankly.

“Well, “I replied, “I was going to call you and come up to admit I was wrong for resenting some of your remarks yesterday.” I continued, “but this makes me feel good about working with you.”

He replied, “I’m grateful for you and your good work.” God had intervened when I was too timid to speak up.

‘MOPPING UP’: PROBLEMS NOT DEALT WITH AND LEFTOVERS FROM BAD DECISIONS HAD TO BE ‘CLEANED UP’ I thought of them as ‘mopping up’ problems my predecessors had left. As an example, in my first year or two, Dr. Goodson called me up to his office and asked, “Do you realize we have a church which has received pastoral aid from us through their sponsor church for 15 years?”

“No, “I replied, “that’s sad news.” He instructed me, “Prepare a letter addressed to the sponsoring church, simply saying we can no longer provide financial support for their 15-year-old mission.”

I called the pastor of the sponsor church and met him in his office. After some get-acquainted and casual conversation, I confronted him with the facts, “We’ve just noticed that your church sponsors a mission church which has been receiving pastoral assistant for 15 years. Our guidelines do not allow us to continue the support for this mission church, which should be self-supporting by now.”

When I delivered the letter to the pastor personally, he became angry, saying, “People at the state convention promised me that they would provide pastoral assistant for this work as long as we needed it! “I replied, “They may have promised that long ago, but we can no longer honor promises of unlimited assistance.”

Then he threatened, “I’ll call Dr. Stringer, as well contact others on the state board.” I replied, “That surely is your privilege.” I did not tarry but left him

with his unresolved anger. I learned that some thought we denominational leaders were like IRS agents, especially when we could not give them what they wanted.

The sponsoring church closed their so-called mission church immediately.

Fortunately, FBC still held the title to the mortgaged property. As I remember, another church took responsibility for planting a church, using their building.

They found a mission pastor and he witnessed with the help of members of the new sponsor. Within a couple of years, they had led some to Christ and enlisted Christians in the neighborhood to attend. The new congregation became a self-supporting church in 2 or 3 years.

By the end of my first year, I had visited all of the 49 directors of associational directors of missions in Florida. In the process I had driven over 49,000 miles. We also had to deal with numerous other adjustments in working with such diverse people and confronting many situations strange to us. Fortunately, my six years in Frontier Association in Western New York had begun to prepare me.

VISIT TO TEXAS HELPED US ADD SOME IMPORTANT METHODS TO OUR FLORIDA CHURCH-PLANTING Texas Baptists had started more churches than other states and I wanted to know why and how. So, I asked Dr. Goodson, “May I spend a week or more in Texas to learn how they start so many churches?” I shared with him what I knew about some of the things they were doing and why I felt they could help us in Florida. He agreed that was a good idea, adding, “Just be prepared to share your recommendations with me after you return.”

“Of course,” I replied; “that’s what I intended to do. I trust we can discover some fresh insights that will help us be more effective in planting churches in Florida.” In Texas I spent a day or two in their state office with their Texas Church Extension Director. When I asked, “What’s the most important thing Texas does to start so many churches?”

“Placing CHURCH PLANTING STRATEGIST MISSIONARIES in every part of the state,” was his quick reply. Then he explained, “Each one works closely with the DOMs and churches in his area, helping them plan, find church starters and come up with funds for starting.” After he had shared more of the details of how this was done, I thanked him by sharing. “I’ve come to the right place to learn.”

I spent a couple of days at the Southwestern Seminary library, researching the latest things being done in starting churches. I also visited some of Texas’ fastest growing areas, talking with leaders and planters about HOW THEIR MANY NEW CHURCHES WERE BEING STARTED.

First Baptist Church of Houston was a standout because of all the many ways they were sharing Christ as well as starting new churches. I had already known about them through John Bisagno’s set of cassette tapes about reaching people through a church bus ministry.

There I met Billy Bob Moore, the Texas Church Extension Strategist working in that area of the state. He shared with me some of their church starting approaches. One method First Baptist used better than anyone else I had known was to send a core group from the church to commit to serve in the new church 1 to 2 years. The ‘teeth’ in their plan was the pastor’s asking some of their best leaders to go and stay with the new church until it had developed strong leaders and were able to support their own pastor.

He used a similar strategy to restart churches which had died. But, there were a couple of big differences: first, the dying church had to agree to deed over their building to First Church. Second, they had to give up the leadership of the church to these new leaders.

They used the building and worked with any members who still wanted to attend. They led them to go with them out into the community to discover needs to which they could respond, as well as share the gospel with people personally.

It was as if a new church was being started with no need for expensive property and buildings.

The most amazing thing about John Bisagno and First Baptist Church of Houston was their willingness to urge their best leaders and givers to go and help start other churches or restart ones which had died. At the same time, they were helping start several new churches in foreign countries. I was amazed at all they were doing. Then I realized the real key to what was happening at First Baptist was a pastor with such a deep commitment to bring people to Christ that he would give away everything the church had in order to do it.

When I returned to Jacksonville, I shared with Dr. Goodson. “I really believe God has shown me some things to do to increase the number of churches being started in Florida: Number one, place experienced and compassionate church planting strategists in every region of our state to enlist DOMs and pastors to start churches.

Number two, enlist pastors of larger churches who are passionate to bring people to Christ to employ a minister of missions to lead the church in starting 2 or 3 mission churches each year.

Responding to my proposal to get regional CE strategists, Dr. Goodson asked me, “what’s the alternative?”

I answered, “Work closely with the associational directors of missions to equip and lead them to work with pastors and their churches to start new work.”

His response, “They won’t do it!”

FBC DEPARTMENT DIRECTORS WERE SENT TO EVERY ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION Peggy and I often planned a week of vacation afterwards, so we could visit unusual sites in various parts of the country.

The year when the Convention was held in Dallas Texas, when there were 45,000 people attending, was one when we looked forward afterwards in getting out into the rural northwestern part of the state. Of course, the SBC was in the trauma of electing more conservative leader ship against those who did not want that change of direction. I hoped the changes would bring a higher priority to reaching lost people.

Trying to get around in the Dallas-Fort Worth area was bad enough, but also in the convention hall itself. Our college-aged son, Paul, had to wait in line to get into the men’s restroom. “I will never go to another convention again!” he impulsively responded. A few years later after he became a pastor, he changed his mind.

In our vacation time after the SBC, we went to several places in Colorado and Texas. Our first stop was to enjoy a country TEXAS style barbecue. Unfortunately, it got rained out, so we had to settle for something far less appealing.

Over in Colorado, we drove to the summit of an extinct volcano. It had a one-mile trail going all the way around the top of the former volcano. I decided to walk it but Peggy said, “No; I’ll rest.” The mountain railroad ride was more adventuresome. This old-timey railroad chugged up some very steep mountains as it noisily gushed out steam and boomed its horn. Even us who held on tightly had the opportunity to see some wonderful mountain scenery. However, coming DOWN some of those mountains scared us half to death. We prayed that the locomotive’s brakes would hold. He answered our prayers and has let us live long enough to write about it.

The SBC meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada was also very interesting. In addition to the debate over meeting in such a wicked city, many of us took the opportunity to share the Good News of Christ in a needy place. Peggy and I participated in the door to door visitation done before the annual meeting itself.

We enjoyed meeting many kinds of people, even some who did not understand English. We still had an opportunity to share the Gospel with people. I think several did come to faith in Christ.

After that convention was over, we went on vacation with Hubert and Eva Hurt. We had first met them when we were both serving as missionaries in Panama twenty years earlier. He was the Language Missions’ Director for Florida Baptists. It was enjoyable to see a lot of different sites unique to that part of the country. How amazing that God has entrusted such a beautiful land to us undeserving citizens!

The HMB scheduled annual training for state church extension directors in areas with unique mission fields. Some of those places were Michigan, San Diego, California, Porto Rico, and Hawaii. This gave us opportunities to learn how the gospel could be shared and churches started in strange and difficult settings. Peggy and I often took vacation time before or after our planning meetings with HMB leaders.

The most memorable one was the meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii. As we talked with the missionary leader there, we were amazed at the barriers to the Gospel in this beautiful and exotic resort destination. Hindrances we had seldom ever faced: people who were believers in various eastern religions and some following pagan practices. Our mission leader there was not intimidated but told of those who had embraced Christ and been transformed. They then helped start a church. PRAISE GOD! We went early and spent several days on the big Island. There we met people from various countries who sometimes spoke different languages but especially lived a lot differently from what we were accustomed to. We found the country to be filled with natural beauty, mostly friendly people, pleasant temperatures, and an enjoyable place to wade out into the Pacific Ocean to feel the waves crashing over you.

In March, 1985, we were greatly encouraged when Dr. Goodson found some FBC funds and HMB leaders willing to redirect funds for church starting. In March HMB appointed two church planting strategists to work in Florida. Kenneth Holland became the regional Church Starting Missionary and Consultant for East Central Florida. Lee Turner became the regional Church Starting Missionary and Consultant for South West Florida.

They were in addition to two who already served with associations. We also enlisted associations to do ‘Start New Work Campaigns’. These included discovering the churches who would sponsor new works, along with the greatest needs and types of people for whom churches were needed.

The PRAXIS New Work Seminar, with seminary and Bible College students served in Florida for 10 weeks in the summer in several places where we had enlisted associations or sponsoring churches to work alongside them. We would later share the availability of Church Planter Apprentices, college graduates serving 2 years to do the initial cultivation in two places for new churches.

In 1986 we were not able to add any more regional strategists for church starting but did enlist two part time workers. An FBC retired mission leader, Ray Dobbins, began to work in Jacksonville and a mission volunteer from the Fort Walton area, Bill Scott, in the panhandle.

That year Dr. Stringer and Dr. Goodson decided that we needed a New Work Task Force to coordinate all the work of the departments involved in starting churches. I became the chairman of this group with representatives from Language Missions, Sunday School and the New Work Assistance Department (property loans and grants).

The task force planned and promoted church planting emphasis like the Start-a-Church Commitment Sunday. This led to more churches and potential planters becoming interested in helping start churches, not only for Anglos, but for ethnic and African American people.

OUR CHILDREN WERE MARRIED THE SAME YEAR Soon after we moved to Jacksonville, Wanda got a job as a medical technologist at a hospital in Valdosta, Georgia. This was west of Jacksonville only a little more than an hour away. In 1985 she called us and told us, “I’ve started going to a Bible study meeting in someone’s home.” Later she said, “I’ve met a guy that has the prettiest blue eyes.” He was in the Air Force and would be getting out in a year or so. She brought us a picture of the two of them riding their bikes together. She saw him for at least a year, and they seemed to have a growing attraction for each other.

She eventually called us and said, “I want to introduce you to Larry Lucas.”

When she brought him to visit us he seemed like a nice guy.

In 1986 we took a vacation to Washington, DC and took Paul and Wanda with us. We also invited Larry. One morning on the way to Washington, I went out to do my daily jogging and Larry asked, “may I go along with you?”

“Of course,” I replied, “that will make it more interesting.” It became even more interesting than I was expecting.

As we jogged along Larry asked me, “Would you be willing to give Wanda to me in marriage?”

I replied something like this: “I just hope you know Wanda because she can be pretty headstrong.”

“Yes,” he replied, “I’ve gotten to know her pretty well over the last year and a half.”

I continued, “Well, I guess that’s okay with me if that’s really what the two of you wish.”

Wanda had told us of Larry’s conversion, but I wanted to hear it from him, so I said, “Let me ask you about one more thing, Larry; tell me how you came to Christ and your life was changed.”

He replied, “I was mostly ignoring God in my life. While I was gone on a military mission for several months, I came home to find that my wife had left with another man. She immediately filed for divorce and our marriage ended. So, I was seeking something that would fill the loneliness in my life.

I talked with a good friend of mine who seemed to have everything together.

He told me that his life totally changed when he realized Jesus loved him and died for his sins on the cross. When I turned from what was wrong in my life and trusted in Jesus, He made my life totally different and meaningful.” After my conversation with this friend, Larry said, “I trusted Christ as my Savior. I wanted to learn all I could, so, I started going to this young adult Bible study and met Wanda there.”

They set January 10, 1987 as the date for their wedding. It was held in Wanda’s church in Valdosta, which Larry had joined. Their Valdosta pastor officiated over the ceremony. I gave Wanda away and we had a wonderful time of celebration with Peggy’s parents and my mother present.

I was surprised to learn that they were going to Breckenridge, Colorado, on a skiing honeymoon. In Buffalo we had done much ice-skating but not skiing.

So, Wanda had to learn how. That must have been pretty easy for her since it seems she graduated from the beginner slopes to more challenging ones before the week was over.

PAUL AND DANA MARRIED AT BUSH MEMORIAL BAPTIST CHURCH, March 14, 1987 Paul served as the youth director at Bush Church in Troy, my hometown, while he was in Troy State University. Dana recalls that she and some friends were at the Baptist Student Union and saw Paul walk into the room. “That’s the man I am going to marry,” she told her friends.

She attended the Bush Church along with many other students and enjoyed the activities that they did. Eventually, Dana accepted Christ and professed her faith in Him. She was baptized by the pastor.

When Peggy and I went to the SBC meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1986, Paul and Dana asked to go along. This made it possible for them to visit her grandparents, who lived nearby in Missouri. I don’t know what they talked about, but they spent a lot of time whispering to each other in the back seat. I’m not even sure they went to any of the SBC meetings.

Paul said, “I remembered a few months before our wedding that I did not have money for us to go on a honeymoon, but I could pick up pecans under our trees at the farm and maybe get enough money for our honeymoon.” He continued, “The only problem was that Foster Ellis had a big bull in the pecan grove/ pasture he rented from our family. I really came to respect that bull when he headed for me, snorting, with his head down. I scrambled to get out, crawling under the barbed wire fence to escape him. I did earned enough money for our honeymoon, which we enjoyed in a trip to Florida.”

Both Paul and Dana graduated from Troy State University shortly before their wedding. The pastor at Bush, Buddy Grey, had become a close friend of Paul’s. He was in charge of the ceremony, and her dad gave her away.

IN 1987 WE HAD TWO MORE CHURCH PLANTING MISSIONARIES TO COME SERVE IN THE STATE Billy Bob Moore came from Texas to be our West Central regional strategist.

Lane Fordham came from a Church Planter Apprentice success. He came to be the strategist for Palm Coast Association.

We were delighted when Bill Billingsley, pastor of Sheridan Hills Baptist Church in South Florida was elected as president of the Florida Baptist Convention in November, 1987, to serve through the November state convention in 1988. The family ‘tree’ of FBC, Hollywood, Florida was drawn to show how one church and a few it started can greatly multiply churches. Sheridan Hills, where he was pastor, started many of them.

FAMILY TREE OF FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, HOLLYWOOD, WHICH STARTED SIX CHURCHES WHICH MULTIPLIED

DR. STRINGER ENDED HIS SERVICE AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE FLORIDA BAPTIST CONVENTION AT THE END OF 1988

Dr. John Sullivan was elected in his place and began to serve in February, 1989. His vision for Florida was to proclaim the Gospel to all the people of the

state. To accomplish that he promoted three areas of great need. They were: (1) evangelism, (2) strengthening existing churches, and (3) planting new churches. Dr. Sullivan was elected with a great deal of enthusiasm. We who were involved in church starting were excited to have him as our leader in Florida.

1990 VICTORIES AND MORE OPPORTUNITIES Through the HMB’s emphasis, Opportunity 2000, Florida’s goal was to start 200 churches in 2 years. But we only started 85 of those the first year and did not enlist the many new sponsoring churches needed.

We did have Reaching People Through New Work Conferences in three places for the first time. Eleven PRAXIS teams worked that summer with sponsoring churches to get new work started. We also assisted in Here’s Hope Church Starting Revivals in 21 places.

One of the joys of being the church planting leader was the visit with church leaders, pastors and ‘preachers-to-be’, sharing the opportunity for spreading the gospel through planting new churches. During that year, I preached mission messages or met personally with pastors and other leaders in 92 churches, while the church extension field staff visited with 400 churches.

CHURCH STARTING NEEDS WERE IDENTIFIED IN BLACK COMMUNITIES For the first time, the Church Extension Department had the responsibility of assisting and developing congregations in black communities. Twenty-three congregations received personal and financial assistance. It was a joy to become partners with churches in this growing segment of Florida’s population, sharing the Good News of Jesus and helping develop strong congregations to disciple believers. We built relationships and helped provide materials, funds and access to our unique SBC educational and relational opportunities.

WE HELD THE FIRST TELEMARKETING TRAINING CONFERENCE IN 1990 AT LAKE YALE ASSEMBLY The results of the telemarketing training and action plans, which took up to six months to execute, were profound. The Florida Baptist Witness told about four new churches started, using this method, and two existing churches who used it. In each place, it resulted in over 100 people attending their first service Norm Whan, a marketing specialist, was a new Christian when he originated this approach to help churches get a jump start in enlisting people to attend and to get an introduction to what the church was like.

SOME OF THE PRINCIPLES WHICH MADE IT EFFECTIVE FOR AWHILE IN GATHERING A CROWD FOR A NEW CHURCH: THE LAW OF LARGE NUMBERS. Norm Whan would say, “If you’ll make 2000 calls, I can get 200 people to come to a dog fight.”

If you’ll make a contact with unchurched people found through a call once a week for 7 weeks by a newsletter or letter and a personal call the week before Launch Sunday, 10% of those originally talked to by phone will come.

If you’ll involve those who attend the first service as equal partners in the new church by giving them the opportunity to usher, bring refreshments, or help ‘set up’ for the next service, they will feel it’s THEIR CHURCH. After they receive Christ, are baptized, and begin being discipled, they will become the church leaders.

Another telemarketing conference was held in the Sheridan Hills Baptist Church where Bill Billingsley was pastor. He, along with several other pastors and new church starters left with a conviction that God could use this to get more churches started MY PERSONAL GOAL POST WAS FINALLY REACHED IN 1991 Dr. Sullivan led church planting staff in improving Pastoral Assistance. Perhaps because of his disappointment with our not reaching our goal for church starts in 1990, soon after the year ended, Dr. Sullivan got all department staff involved in planting churches together. That included those working with English-speaking, language groups, African American people and church property loans and grants. We all met with him for several hours in Jacksonville.

We discussed how we could enhance our assistance to be most helpful to mission churches and church planters. A recommendation came out of that group to provide $12,000 total PA for each new church plant. It would be available in 12, 24, or 36 months.

This was received with enthusiasm by some who had wanted to start churches but were financially not able to. Many immediately decided to proceed with their plans and to request the funds offered. In fact, there were so many new church starts which requested funds that there was a shortfall of FBC money available before the end of the year. Temporarily the new churches (for the rest of the year) received only 60% of what had originally been promised. They were distressed as well as were leaders from throughout the state.

Dr. Goodson wrote these churches and planters, promising to make up their losses at the next state board of missions meeting in January, 1992. Some even waited until after the January meeting before beginning or reporting their new work or requesting the assistance. Then the state Board of missions approved extra funding to ‘catch up’ what had been committed, as well as for the new churches that would be started during that year.

Thank God he gave us the power and direction to finally reach our goal of 100 new churches started in one year. In fact, 119 were reported. Seven of these were started in black communities—thank God, HE opened the door to begin to spread the Good News among this huge number of people to whom we previously had little access.

More new churches were started in the panhandle of Florida. Church Planter Apprentices served in four associations. All but one reached their goal of starting two new churches in two years. Some of our churches began plans to get ministers of missions and to become key churches. This meant they would start at least two new mission churches each year.

THERE WERE ALSO MANY PERSONAL HAPPENINGS IMPACTING OUR LIVES FROM 1991 THROUGH 1996 Carmella Posch, an Italian lady whom I baptized, as well as her whole family, while starting the Clinton Road Church in Utica, New York, visited our family in every place we’ve lived since leaving New Hartford.

She always called me ‘pastor,’ saying, “You’ll always be MY pastor.” Her cards, including lengthy hand-written letters, delighted us because they were so full of humor related to everything in our lives and in our nation.

HERE’S A BIRTHDAY CARD SENT BY HER TO ME FOR MY BIRTHDAY ON JULY 24, 1991: Front/back of humorous card (next page)—

July 18, 1991, one of our church starting strategists, Kenneth Holland, was at Ridgecrest and was interviewed by someone from The Alabama Baptist, who wanted to know what made church planting different.

Here is his reply as I remember the gist of it: “Unchurched people do not feel comfortable in your church because you know too much about the Bible and they don’t know what you’re talking about. In our new churches we give everyone a Bible in modern English and tell them the page number to turn to. We don’t make them stand and be recognized because they are newcomers. We don’t expect anyone to ‘dress up’; instead, we all, including the pastor, dress casually.”

He told of visiting a new church in a trailer park with many new Christians present. The pastor gave his scripture as I Peter, but nobody knew where that was in the Bible. The next time he came, he brought a bag full of identical Bibles. Then the speaker could just give the page number.

1992: CELEBRATING THE 119 CHURCHES STARTED IN 1991 WITNESS STORY, A CHURCH-STARTING CELEBRATION! Florida Baptist Witness article (next page)— THERE WERE 97 NEW CHURCH STARTS REPORTED IN 1992.

The number may have been a little lower because everybody interested in starting a church rushed to get it started in ‘91 instead of ‘92. Anyway, we strategists were pleased that 43 English-speaking and 48 language churches were started. We joined the celebration with those sponsoring churches which had stepped out in faith that God would use them and their church start to bring many to Jesus. “$85,000 IS A GOOD PRICE FOR A FARMHOUSE AND 139 ACREAS OF LAND” About the middle of 1991, Peggy’s mother called her and told her about the elderly couple living down the road from her parents who were selling their

house and land. She replied, “Well, we don’t need any more land.” That’s when her mother said, “It’s a good buy.”

Earlier her mother had talked with Algon and Allie Allen and said, “If you ever decide to sell your place, let us know; Paul (our grandson) may want it.”

When she heard the property was for sale, she called Algon and asked about it.

He replied, “Yes, it’s for sale.” Then Peggy’s mother called her.

When I called Algon and asked about it, he replied, “It’s for sale, but there’s

one catch: another man has already offered to buy the property and I’ve agreed to his offer if he can come up with the money.”

After waiting a month or two, Algon called us back to say, “The other man could not get the money. I’ll sell it to you if you want it; the price is $85,000.”

So, we began to do the things necessary to consider buying the property.

First, we asked my sister, Patsy’s husband, Billy, to cruise the timber on the land and estimate its value. After completing his cruise of the timber, he estimated its value to be $30,709. This really convinced us that the land, timber, and house were a real bargain.

We also received other information from Algon that made this even more of a bargain. I asked him about the old tractor in the barn and he said, “It goes with the place as well as everything in the other old storage buildings,” of which there were three. The tractor also had all the equipment needed for farming—a disc plow, bottom plow, planter and middle buster. It did not have a bush hog.

We bought one for the old tractor a year or so later.

Other buildings contained various kinds of hand tools for gardening and dishes left when Allie’s sister died. Old lumber was stored in the barn. There was a section with only the ground for a floor filled with old plows and farm equipment used in the days when farming was done with mules or by hand.

Peggy’s daddy, Byron Galloway, suggested, “Why don’t you check with this man at the South Trust Bank in Elba? He will probably be able to make you a loan on the property.”

So, when all his paperwork had been done, including appraisals of the house and the land a few months later, he called us and said, “I can make you a mortgage loan for $68,000, but you will need to come up with the additional down payment of $18,000.” That sounded like a lot of money for us since we already had our own house payment.

Thus, we scrambled to come up with the $18,000. First, we cashed in a small life insurance policy. Then, we borrowed what we could from our credit card.

Finally, we took out a loan on our truck for $4500. When we had the amount for the down payment, we met Algon and Allie at the South Trust Bank and signed the agreement to buy their house and land on February 14, 1992.

We were glad that God used Peggy’s mother, Millie, and daddy, Byron Galloway, to help us find our own retirement home. He again provided His plan for our lives after our work in Florida was finished a few years later. This happened with our resistance at first until He provided what was needed. There were some immediate benefits, mainly a centrally-located home in Alabama where our children and grandchildren could meet us on holidays. We could also imag-

ine the future blessings of living near our parents during retirement, if God gave us that time. How wonderfully good is our Father, who “knows what you need before you ask Him.” Matthew 6:8b.

HURRICANE ANDREW: 3 MONTHS OF CE STAFF’S TIME, BUT 15 LIVES LOST AND HUNDREDS HOMELESS I must share what we church extension staff did following Hurricane Andrew, which hit South Florida in late August, 1992. All of our regional staff and I stayed there in makeshift lodging and worked from the end of August until November 1. Most of my people directed and helped volunteers assist the residents clean up and fix temporary care for the homes which were left.

There was no form of communication for the Church Extension staff except for me. I worked out of the disaster relief headquarters in a gymnasium of the Pembroke Road Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale. We received calls from all over the country of volunteers willing to come and help. I was in charge of placing those volunteers with our staff who helped them find the homes that needed repair.

Most of us slept on mattresses in the gymnasium of the church. Each evening we would go to a pre-designated church with the disaster relief leaders and meet with the field staff, giving them their list of volunteers for the next day or for several days. My lists included how many volunteers, what they could do and how long they would be there. Our Church Extension people were each serving in specified areas to lead volunteers to homes needing repair.

The volunteers had to be able to secure temporary plastic canvas on damaged roofs and do other ‘get-by’ repairs. Repairing damaged roofs was especially urgent because it rained almost every day for a month or more after the hurricane. It would damage everything in the house unless it was moved to a dry area or the damaged roof was covered with something waterproof.

I had to know directions for where they would meet their volunteers. Since there were no street signs or highway signs left, we had to go by landmarks, like a big building, an open field or a shopping center with enough features left to describe to give to volunteers. The staff person would be there in a prominent place to meet them and to direct them to the homes where they would work.

The church where we were meeting then served us a basic meal. While we were eating and fellowshipping, our disaster relief leaders gave all of us updates on where the Red Cross and others would meet a group of team leaders with food and other supplies. They also discussed problems that had come up,

answered questions, and shared news and policies/resources which were changing. It was usually ten or later when we got back to our makeshift housing, but I had little trouble sleeping and was ready to go early the next day.

We got calls from people from all over the country. An Air Force man called me from Alaska and said, “I can take off a week to come help there. Can you use me?”

“Of course,” I replied. “When will you come?” I wrote down his name, the day he would be there, the kind of work he could do, and how long he would stay.

Also, my brother-in-law, Billy Powell, from Good Hope Church near Troy, came and brought other workers who helped repair homes. They brought sleeping bags and slept wherever they could find a dry place. What he was most intrigued by was their makeshift shower. “We took a water hose and four pieces of 4’ X 8’ plywood attached together for a little privacy,” he described, “when we went inside for a shower, somebody outside turned the water on until we had our bath. Then we shouted, ‘turn it off!’ The water was cold, but we liked that after working without air conditioning in the hot, steamy weather.”

1993 GR0WTH IN FIELD STAFF, FINANCIAL RESOURCES AND NEW STARTS At the last state board of missions meeting in 1992, they adopted a budget which would provide 5% of church COOPERATIVE PROGRAM income in 1993 for Pastoral Assistance—$1,224,291 to provide Pastoral Assistance, startup funds and other costs for getting 100 or more churches started each year.

All of us in church planting ministry where relieved and excited that there was no limit to how many churches we could help get started in terms of financial assistance in their start-up phase.

OUR EXPERIENCING GOD GROUP AND STUDY REVITALIZED MY WALK WITH CHRIST I had heard about this new plan for growing in our faith and learning to trust God as we join HIM in what HE is doing. So, Peggy and I got involved and became part of the Sunday evening study and sharing group. Several of the most zealous members of the church committed to the 12 weeks of intensive study, memorizing Scripture and interactive discussion of our daily walk with Christ.

Personally, I got to know several men intimately as we shared our personal spiritual struggles.

One of the couples, Mitch and Margaret Etheridge, continue to be friends even though we live far apart. For over 20 years now, I have led groups through this experience at almost every church where we have served as pastor or interim. In every case, we have seen God transform spiritually dry Christians into loving, joyful and Spirit-filled followers of Christ.

I have shared about the Church Extension missionaries helping churches in all 49 associations in the state. In this story from the Florida Baptist Witness in 1993, I describe each regional strategist who worked with English-speaking people and listed associational strategists and which people groups they worked with:

FOREIGN MISSION PARTNERSHIP TAKES ME TO TANZANIA Florida Baptists entered a foreign mission partnership with Tanzania, with the first teams going in 1993. They also had included money for the tin to put roofs on church buildings in the state missions offering the previous year. This allowed our small church, Crown Point, to send some of us to work there for 10 or more days.

This was an experience I will not forget: four or five of us, including myself and James Fortenberry from Florida Baptist Convention, Mitch Etheridge, and Keith Simmons went from our church. We worked with Foreign missionaries there from the U.S.A. and the able-bodied Tanzanian village men to help put metal roofs on churches in several villages and rural areas. The local people had already erected their churches, which were made of mud blocks they had made during the rainy season.

They were happy to finally get the metal roofing. When we arrived at each place, all the people from the village would turn out to welcome us. They cut tree limbs to provide make-shift trusses. Three of us helped them erect the trusses and put the metal tin roofs on which we were providing.

Meanwhile, another member of our team would meet with everybody else.

The missionary would translate as one of us shared the Gospel with 15 to 30 other community members. He had already introduced us to all the villagers, saying, “These men come to help us from Florida in the United States. Our fellow Christians and Baptists there donated the money to buy the tin. Let us thank God for them.” He then prayed briefly.

He had given each of us a bilingual Bible, so we could follow in English his reading of scripture in Swahili. After he read it, we would begin sharing the message of salvation, one sentence at a time, while the missionary translated.

The people listened intently and sometimes asked us questions. At the end, we asked him to lead an invitation time. Usually some raised their hands, indicating they wanted to receive Christ. He asked them to talk with him afterwards.

We usually had a service in the building if it was finished by late afternoon. In some good-sized villages, we visited door-to-door individually with a Tanzanian believer to invite people to the service. I cannot forget one service we had in the open field with benches to sit on. After they sang some in their language, they asked our group to sing a song in English. We belted out 3 stanzas of “Amazing Grace.” When we finished, the cows in a nearby field started mooing loudly. We all could not help but laugh. So much for our singing!

On this trip we sometimes slept in a Mission home; at others they had army-style cots for us to use in a nearby church building. They were uncomfortable and not too good for sleeping. Neither were we used to the little holes in the concrete floors as the only restrooms. We had to learn how to squat over the hole and try to be sure we hit it.

I can’t remember where we got all our food, but sometimes we ate what the local people cooked. Once the missionary had given our host family money with which to buy food to prepare for us. I don’t remember what our sister served us, but it was good. Missionaries had warned us not to eat the food cooked locally unless the missionary ate it first.

That was our signal.

We were interested to see that these people lived out in rural areas in thatch-roofed houses. The best ones had concrete floors, but many were dirt floors. For many, their only source of food was the corn they grew by hand on the mountains or steep hills nearby. We also learned that the women did the work of farming; the men told them what to do and we did not hear about anything else they did.

One missionary told us that young men in these settlements sometimes went to a higher population town and looked for jobs. Most could only get the most menial job with very little pay and people taking advantage of them because of their limited skills and ignorance of city life. Many returned home to their families, their only source of help. Yet they were joyful, optimistic Christians.

This was the most challenging, yet meaningful mission trip I have been on.

I learned to appreciate our missionaries’ willingness to live and share Christ, enduring the hardships involved. When I asked one about their health issues, he indicated that he had endured malaria several times. Yet, he acted as if it was insignificant.

I also learned why there is so much world hunger. It’s hard to understand how the people in some of these places could survive with any hope, except that which Jesus gives to all His followers. I left feeling God must look on us Americans as if we are spoiled brats. Or, at least, that’s the way I felt about myself. May we, by God’s grace, wake up!

1994 WITH GODLY AND CREATIVE FIELD STAFF WE CONTINUED TO SEE LARGE NUMBERS OF NEW STARTS

95 CHURCH STARTS WERE REPORTED IN 1994 I ended my report to the Florida Baptist Annual Meeting in 1994 with a list of what churches can do to start New Work: • • • • •

Elect a Missions Development director to lead the church in mission efforts.

Identify places needing new churches and satellite missions.

Include in the church calendar, Start-a-Church Celebration/Commitment Sunday.

Include church extension, ‘Here’s Hope, Share Jesus Now’ efforts to increase the number of baptisms.

Call on the area Church Extension consultant/director to help in praying, planning and working with you to help extend the Gospel to a new area or group of people.

Thank God, I think many churches had begun to catch up with what God was doing, based on the new starts done.

1995 LARGE NUMBERS OF NEW CHURCHES STARTED PLUS DISASTER AID IN the PANHANDLE: 103 church starts, of which 52 were with language people, 28 African American and 23 Anglo people.

HURRICANE OPAL IN OCTOBER, 1995, CAUSED GREAT DAMAGE IN THE FLORIDA GULF COAST AND IN ALABAMA It was a category 4 storm reduced to category 3 by the time it made landfall on the Gulf Coast, with a 15-foot storm surge. It then travelled up the entire state of Alabama before becoming a tropical storm in Tennessee. Our FBC Mission Division and Disaster Relief Department staff were immediately deployed to help ‘mud out’ homes in gulf coast communities.

Peggy went with me to the Fort Walton Beach area. We had already heard from our relatives in Alabama that winds of 100 miles an hour there had uprooted many trees and done a lot of damage to homes. What bothered us more was that several days afterwards, residents in rural areas still had no phone service or power. So, we could not reach her parents. My brother-in-law, Billy Powell, relieved some of our anxiety by driving to the Galloway home and returning to his where their phone worked. He said to Peggy, “Your mother and daddy said

to tell you they are okay but will be glad when you can get home to help them.”

We worked in Fort Walton homes anyway, shoveling mud and sand out and removing all appliances. The sad homeowners joined in helping remove all their useless belongings. Later all the sheetrock walls would be stripped out.

They would be left with only the frames of beautiful homes and still having big mortgage payments.

After a few days there, I got permission to go check on Peggy’s parents, as well as our house down the road from them. When we got to the Galloway’s home, they were okay, but had suffered some damage, in addition to losing all the food in their big freezer. Sad to me was that several high-yielding pecan trees in their yard were blown over.

Down at our farmhouse, we discovered that four or five huge pecan trees near the house had been blown down. However, God’s providence had protected our house while we were serving others in worse shape than us. Each of the big trees fell dangerously close to our house, but none of them hit it. We also lost several trees in our pecan grove a couple of miles away on property we had bought soon after our marriage. After a few days, cleaning up to the extent that we could, we went back to Florida to catch up on my work in our Jacksonville office.

During the 1991 through 1996 years, 632 churches of all kinds were started. This included language, African-American and Church Extension, primarily reaching Anglos. This meant that 105 new churches per year were started.

PRAISE THE LORD! Thinking back to the year of 1984, when I came to Florida, I had stated, “100 new churches a year are needed just to keep up with population growth.” Most of my fellow FBC staff did not take my statement seriously, but God answered my prayers.

Why I believe God answered my prayers: First, God Himself chose to touch the hearts of potential church planters, pastors, and Associational Directors of Missions. He also convicted the hearts of the lost, drawing many to attend the services of new churches and some to trust Christ as Savior. “I planted; Apollos watered; but GOD GAVE THE INCREASE.” —Paul, the apostolic church planter.

Second, there was a growing statewide PASSION for those who needed Christ. Many churches who had not yet had many conversions were willing to change. No longer satisfied with the weak response to their ministries, they stopped doing business as usual and sought God’s leadership. He led them to start new churches to reach people who would not come to theirs.

Third, a willingness to work together in the state convention and Associations made a big difference. This meant giving up turf for the sake of the kingdom of God. For example, from 1991 through 1995, two new FBC divisions were created, taking them out of the Missions Division.

This is the highest level of the Florida Baptist organization, which forms the FBC Administrative Committee with the state Executive Director as chairman. That year, the Missions Division, led by Dr. Goodson, relinquished responsibility for African-American work to the new African-American Division Director, Dr. Sid Smith. The Language Division was also formerly a department in the Missions Division.

To say the least, I was greatly blessed with the opportunity to serve in Florida at a time of great population growth, great change and, most of all, the moving of the Spirit of God. At that time mission leaders estimated 3 million lost in Florida out of the 14 million population. It was increasing at least 10% every five years.

We assisted these churches to become KEY CHURCHES: First Baptist, Pensacola, First, Northwood and West Palm Beach. Each employed a Minister of Missions and agreed to start at least two new churches each year.

By 1995 Florida population had increased 25% during the previous decade.

I thanked God for the many new churches started but was disappointed that there only 33 new Anglo congregations that year. This was far short of our goal of 50. Through the 5% Cooperative Program church planting assistance funds, we were able to help new churches and their sponsors with startup costs, praxis teams, church planting apprentices, ministers of missions, church planting probes and pastoral assistance.

Fourteen associational and three state conferences were conducted to equip sponsoring churches and associations for evangelizing and assembling. I concluded my 1995 FBC annual report with this challenge: “Let us pray that God will awaken his people to realize that we cannot wait to get out and spread this good news of Jesus to more and more people.”

Dr. Goodson retired as director of the Missions’ Division effective December 31, 1995. Cecil Seagle was elected by the Florida State Board as the new Director of the Missions Division.

The new African-American Division became fully functional in 1995. Their goal was to start 500 new churches in the next six years. Also, they planned to lead in church development, evangelism training, and diversity appreciation in the black communities. They started with two full-time and two part-time regional directors. Nine contract workers gave local direction. They had a 13-week Institute to train workers in church starting and church development. In their first year, 34 new churches were started in African-American communities.

THIS FBC-PROVIDED COURSE HELPED US BE PREPARED FINANCIALLY FOR RETIREMENT: “FINANCIAL STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESSFUL RETIREMENT”2 Lessons I learned are underlined.

How inflation lowers the value of retirement funds.

From 1975 through 1995 (20 years) inflation averaged 5.48% a year. Since then, fortunately, it has only averaged 1% to 3% annually. It’s like a tax that never ends.

TAXABLE INCOME and the rates on it determine your federal tax liability.

For many years ‘taxable’ income was 0% or 15% on income up to $39,000.

Two ways to lower it are: First, contribute up to the maximum to your tax-deferred retirement savings. This has to be from earned income. Two, increase your deductions – donations to charities, state and local taxes and mortgage interest. BUT TAKE NOTE: Taxes laws change most years; so, you cannot expect these figures to remain the same from when it was published.

I pastored part time churches for 10 years after retirement, and they agreed for most of my salary to be contributed to my retirement fund. Even after I started receiving most of my income from my retirement account, if I earn any income, I usually put it into my ROTH IRA. If you are NOT retired yet, try living on the income you expect to receive in retirement.

If you find it difficult, you may need to make changes in your lifestyle or pay off some of your debts before retirement.

If you’re just a few or many years from retirement, raise your retirement investments in equities.

This includes stocks, mutual funds, real estate, and REITS (Similar to mutual funds except they buy rental properties and pay a high percent of income to shareholders). These provide faster growth through higher dividends or capital gains. BUT, they must be watched by a reliable mutual fund manager or knowledgeable stock investor.

Soon after my retirement, I subscribed to the Morningstar Stock Investor and have followed their directions for at least 15 years. God has brought more income for our family and for us to give to mission causes.

The largest financial risk in retirement is not medical costs, but the cost of long-term care.

We learned that at least half the people in nursing homes or assisted-living are there through the financial support of Medicaid. However, the largest percent of those on Medicaid in long term care facilities are there because they had spent themselves into poverty by paying for long-term care. This really helped us decide to put 2%–3% of our income into the premiums for long-term care insurance from age 62 throughout our retirement years.

When people fail to enjoy and capitalize on retirement: Bob Hope, an actor and entertainer from the past, enjoyed old age and told us his view on this important matter: “If I could speak at one time to all senior Americans, I’d tell them to forget about their age and do exactly what they feel like doing. It all comes down to attitude. Excitement is what really keeps us going.”

IN 1996 NEW CHURCH STARTS ROSE TO 117, BUT WITH ONLY 25 IN PREDOMINATELY-ANGLO COMMUNITIES I got personally involved in several of the new church starts: first, I became a co-pastor of a new mission, Greenland mission in the Jacksonville area. Second, I helped set up joint sponsorship for the Embro Mission. St. Andrews Church in Northwest Coast Association joined with the West Florida Association in starting this new church. Third, I partnered with Florida Baptist College (BCF) to expand their witness through new church start experiences while teaching the church planting course during the J-Term. The church starting course allowed me to lead 14 students for 10 weekly sessions. These college students contacted thousands of people and recorded 55 professions of faith while laying the foundation for one or more new churches.

I ended my annual FBC report and my years with Florida Baptists with these words: “After almost 13 years leading the church planting in Florida, there is a depressing reality: It is less likely that the English-speaking peo-

ple of Florida will be led to Christ by Baptist Churches than when I started almost 13 years ago.”

I FAILED TO TELL “THE REST OF THE STORY: I FOUND CONSOLATION IN THESE GOOD THINGS UNDER GOD I LEFT: One, a great group of missionary church planting strategists to continue helping churches and planters, whether in Florida or elsewhere, start more new work of all kinds—African-American, Anglo, and Language. Two, a growing awareness of the great need for many new churches in Florida. Three, many new friends by God’s goodness throughout Florida and the U.S.A. Most are zealous followers of Christ who are letting God use them to share the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord with the multitudes of people still living in the dark.

FROM 1984 THROUGH 1996 THERE WERE 1064 NEW FBC CHURCHES OF ALL KINDS STARTED. MY CHURCH EXTENSION WORKERS AND I HAD A MAJOR PART IN STARTING 424 OF THEM. LEADING OUR FBC CHURCH EXTENSION DEPARTMENT ALLOWED US TO ALSO ENCOURAGE AND HELP THE LANGUAGE AND AFRICAN AMERICAN CHURCH PLANTING LEADERS. To God be the glory! As Paul said, “I plated, Apollos watered, but GOD gave the increase!” I Corinthians 3:6.

I retired from Florida Baptist Convention December 31, 1996, after almost 13 years as Director of the Church Extension (now Church Planting) Department. PRAISE GOD! HE DID GREAT THINGS.

◆◆◆ _______________________________ 1. The Journal of the Florida Baptist Heritage, 1984–1996 2. Financial Strategies for Successful Retirement, 1989–1995. Successful Money Management Seminar, conducted by Florida Community College, Jacksonville, FL., page 46

17 ENTERING GOD’S OPEN DOORS AFTER FLORIDA RETIREMENT 1997–2012

CHURCH PLANTING ASSESSMENTS, PROBES AND WORLD MISSIONS CONFERENCES

T

he flood of invitations to do these 1 to 8 day projects was not something I expected. They not only gave me the opportunity to prolong my involvement in church planting, but helped me keep updated on the changes in church planting strategies for over 10 years past retirement.

The assessments of church planting candidates were especially in demand.

Since Florida Baptist Convention’s church planting system involved an assessment of every church planter candidate, which took me two or more days to do, before he received pastoral assistance, the Convention was constantly asking me to assess candidates.

Each of these required a long interview with the candidate, 22 pages of answers from him and my assessment of his potential as a church planter. His answers to the questions enabled us to see his spiritual condition, passions and what he understood was God’s calling. Sometimes I recommended that the candidate get additional training or plan to serve in a pastoral ministry. Copies of the assessment went to the candidate, the organization requesting it and to their director of missions.

I remember one was very different, but not in a positive way. He was a pastor in a South Alabama town. After going through the long questionnaire and writing down his answers, it was obvious that he was looking for somewhere else to go even if it required him to try to plant a church. He had no passion or call to do so. I recommended he contact SBC vocational counselors, who would

help him find what kind of ministry God wanted him to do. Surely NOT to ‘try to plant a church.’

I did 40 or more assessments in my 12 years after retirement from FBC. This included many of the church planter candidates which were considering serving in Seminole Association. Several were done out of Florida at the request of a state church planting director. Probably half or more of those assessed ended up planting churches.

NEW WORK PROBES were our older strategy for studying and finding places where new churches were needed. However, for five or more years, state church planting leaders called on me. I served in Probes in places from Florida to West Virginia to New Mexico. Each local probe team member was from a church in the association where the probe was done. A church planting strategist worked with each team. We suggested people to talk with, including pastors near the proposed area of a new church. Business owners and residents were also interviewed by each team of 4 to 6 people from different churches.

I don’t know exactly how many probes I helped with after FBC retirement, but my guess is at least 25 during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

WORLD MISSIONS CONFERENCES (later renamed to ON MISSIONS CONFERENCES) was one of the most enjoyable things I participated in.

I must have served in 25 or more in several different states. In each conference of several days, we missionaries spoke in several churches, describing what we had done and what God had done, in response to their prayers and financial support. The people were usually very appreciative of our serving as their missionaries.

JANUARY–JUNE, 1997, HMB NEW CHURCH EXTENSION DIVISION FIELD PERSON On November 20, 1996, I had signed an agreement with HMB and Floyd Tidsworth, Director of the New Church Division, to serve as a field consultant from January through June,1997. At the 1997 SBC, HMB was to be completely replaced and organized into the North American Mission Board, abbreviated as NAMB. So, as soon as I retired from Florida, I began working part time for the Home Mission Board, with offices in Atlanta. I had responsibility for helping the agency relate to the state conventions on the eastern seaboard to enable them to reach more people through getting the personnel and funds they needed to plant churches. See enclosed map.

Even though it was a part time job, I was expected to attend the New Church Extension staff meetings each month. In addition to handling issues related to our work, we were working on completing a plan for evaluating candidates and training new church planters, called Basic Training. This was to be ready for the new administration to revise or drop when they began work in July.

My primary task was to visit with each state Church Extension director in my region. We discussed HMB matching funds still available, as well as positions for church planters that needed to be filled. When I visited the first state director, we discussed several things on my agenda and anything he wanted to ask me. My agenda with him included funds available to fill his vacancies for missionaries and Church Planter Apprentices. This director said “No, I’m afraid the mission agency which will replace HMB in June won’t continue providing the money for that position. I also told him, “We also have Church Pastoral Assistance funds and will be glad to provide them.”

His answer was, “I can’t use any help at this time. The future mission support is too uncertain.” I also shared a copy of our proposed action plans after the new administration took over and the rough draft of some of our proposals for the new church planting system. My conclusion was that this church extension director was not willing to take funds for any new people or projects that would require continuing beyond June. He was afraid that the new Church Extension organization would not continue the funding.

I visited some other states, but their responses were similar. So, for some I just called them. I got the same kind responses from them as I heard in my personal visits. Floyd Tidsworth, my supervisor and friend, suggested that I visit some of the present missionaries on the field, especially the Church Planter Apprentices. I visited some of them but was not sure my visits were helpful.

They were more concerned about whether their positions would be continued.

All I could say was, “I think so.”

Looking back, I feel that six-month job with HMB was the ONLY one I ever held where nothing significant was accomplished. I actually felt I did not earn the part-time salary I was paid.

OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME: PARTNERING WITH GOD TO RENEW NORTHSIDE, MY HOME CHURCH In March, 1997, two or three people from North Side Baptist Church in my hometown of Troy, Alabama, led by Lex Floyd, visited with Peggy and me.

They shared, “Northside has declined down to a handful. We’re going to have to close our doors if we don’t do something soon. Could you work with us as interim pastor for a few months.” “I’ll preach for you Sunday,” I answered, “and we’ll talk and pray about what God wants you and me to do.”

After preaching to the 14 people who came, I met with them. They explained, “Our church attendance has been going down for several years. Our last pastor resigned when we could longer continue paying him what we had promised.” I asked them, “What do you want me to do?”

They asked me, “Will you serve as our interim pastor for six months?”

“Okay,” I agreed. “But we’ll have to make some changes, work hard and TRUST GOD TO DO WHAT HE ALONE CAN DO!” Some of the leaders and I prayed and discussed what we should do first.

We wondered about the many members whose names were still on the church membership roll, yet never came to the church anymore. So, we decided to try to find them and to invite them back to church. I went with one of the deacons at a time to visit all we could find.

The results both surprised and shocked us. A few had died. About half had moved out of the area or could not be located. I wrote those who had moved out of town, whose addresses we had, urging them to get involved in a church and request the transfer of their membership. I don’t remember any who moved their memberships, but there may have been one or two who replied to the letter.

We talked to the others we ever found at home. At least half of those claimed

to be going to another church. Most of the other members we found responded with statements like, “I’ll come back to church when I can.” Or, “I’m too busy to go to church anymore.”

With very few positive responses of long-term absentee members, we began to pray about what to do next. I felt we needed for God to do what only HE could do. Then I remembered what God used when I was the leader of church planting in Florida and serving as interim pastor in my spare time. Observing the lack of vision, faith and zeal to share Christ in some of these churches, I had led them through the Experiencing God study. Some had learned to read their Bibles daily and to trust Christ to live and do HIS works through them.

So, I thought and shared with the Northside people, “This is what we need here!” They agreed. However, when we got the study guides and they saw the strenuous work involved, they were shocked. The church was blessed with only a handful of members, but they were deeply committed to Christ and to missions. After twelve weeks of studying God’s Word, memorizing Bible promises and obeying God’s Spirit daily, God revitalized us and HIS church to DO WHAT HE HAD PUT US THERE TO DO. Most of us began to witness more boldly and to talk with people about our church with new excitement.

REDREAMING THE DREAM Some Northside people understood that they needed to start over as a church, but they did not know how. When I shared with them the Biblical and incremental approach of re-dreaming what God wanted them to do, they began to PRAY, envision and look forward to finding God’s plans for the church. “How did we re-dream the dream?”

We all read and studied certain scriptures related to the work of the church.

Peggy wrote the Scriptures on slips of paper and passed them out to everyone on a Sunday. They included Matthew 16:13–19, I Corinthians 12, 13 and 14:1–19, and Romans 12:3–10.

We came back together on Wednesday night to discuss what we thought the Bible said about what our church should do. The clerk wrote on a chalkboard all the things the Bible told us to do as people repeated them. Then I asked them to think of how each applied to our needs today. We listed the actions we should take and numbered them according to how important they were from God’s viewpoint.

The following list emerged: • • • • •

Transportation for the unchurched Music and youth ministry New classes for Sunday School and reorganization Evangelism and outreach Church building needs

Then people chose which group they would like to work on. We asked each group to study, pray, and attend an overnight retreat at the Vineyard Conference Center. After breakfast on Saturday, each group brought its recommendations.

From their reports we updated the list of priority needs, which allowed us to set up this five-year plan for doing all these things: YEAR ONE: get and use a van for outreach to unchurched families.

YEAR TWO: add additional Sunday school classes, beginning with a young adult class.

YEAR THREE: begin Sunday School FAITH Evangelism.

YEAR FOUR OR SOONER: upgrade the building with glass panels in the door of each classroom; pave the driveway from the highway to the church.

YEAR FIVE: continue upgrading the building to accommodate handicapped people and to enlarge it to seat more people if needed.

The church adopted these as its priorities for five years. The teams continued to work to bring about the results set for their year or sooner. Additional volunteers and changes on each team’s proposals and members were allowed. Major changes had to be approved by the church.

As we worked at these priorities for the next few years, we actually completed all of them in about three years, except number five. The building team could not agree on whether to enlarge the building, and if so, how to make it larger. I don’t think they ever got to whether to make it more accessible for handicapped people. That part was finally dealt with several years after I left the church in 2003.

God began to answer our prayers in ways we were not expecting. A few years earlier, a group of members had split off Northside and begun having services separately. The group left Northside with the pastor after the church voted down his proposal to relocate their building. After the vote, a significant number walked out of the church with him to start a new church. They secured a temporary meeting place in the area where he wanted the church to relocate.

The rest stayed at Northside, but some dropped out of attending church anywhere. I visited at least one of them and listened to his concerns. Then I shared with him, “The Northside people want and need you back.” He did return to the church, unlike most everyone else who left.

After almost zero responses from visiting long-term dropouts, we still had not reached many people as my first six months ended. So, the church asked me to stay longer. “I’ll stay another six months,” I offered. They agreed, “We’re glad to help with anything which will draw new people.”

“First,” I replied, “we need to ask GOD what He wants us to do; then, we must DO IT WITH THE FAITH THAT HE WILL USE IT.” One Sunday afternoon, while agonizing and praying over our low attendance, I went outside and just sat on the front steps of the church. There were a lot of cars coming past our building from the rural areas east of the church.

They were going toward Troy or elsewhere, but they did drive past our building.

The Lord reminded me of a basic church growth principal, ‘people who drive by a church regularly are easier to get to come to that church regularly.’

I told Lex Floyd, one of my main visitation partners, about this experience when the Lord opened my eyes. The next Saturday, we went on one of those rural roads and visited every house. Over half the people lived in trailers and most did not attend Sunday School or church; or, even send their children.

When I asked WHY, their mother (usually) said, “Their dad works on Sunday, leaving us with no way to go.” We talked with her and offered them a ride to Sunday school and church. A few of those children started riding with us every Sunday.

Up until then, we had almost no children in Sunday School. I met with our teachers, and church leaders and asked, “Who is willing to start or help lead a class for beginners, an older children’s class and one for youth?” People answered the call and attended a teachers’ training conference led by associational specialists for each age group.

Since some of the children’s parents came sporadically, Peggy volunteered to start a young adult class if someone would be her helper and assistant teacher.

A new member responded, “I will serve if you will show me how. I’ve never

taught before.” She became one of our best at getting new people to come study the Bible in their class. She continued to lead the class many years after we had moved to our next call.

I provided the names and addresses of all ages whom our visitation teams had seen for each class. Many teachers contacted them also, while us outreach workers continued to do so. More began to help us visit prospects when we started doing visitation one Sunday evening each month. For those who would not go out, I agreed to stay and still conduct the evening service for the few left at the church.

Meanwhile, Northside’s Pastor Search Committee was still looking for someone to call as pastor. Our second six months was almost up when the committee brought a candidate to preach a ‘trial sermon’. To the committee’s surprise, the church voted against calling him as pastor.

After thinking and praying for God’s direction, I talked with Peggy about it and then followed what we sensed was God’s leading by offering to become their pastor, if they felt God leading them to call me. They voted to call me with no time frame to limit how long I would serve.

Soon afterwards, a member called me a day or two before Sunday and said, “We’re going to have several people to come forward and join the church Sunday.”

A dozen or more people showed up. I asked them to meet with me during Sunday School. Then stated my concern, “I appreciate your interest in coming back to Northside, but maybe you should attend a while before you join. For you who left earlier, this is not the same church you left. Take time to learn and pray about it.”

One lady spoke up and said, “I’ve already prayed about it.” About half the group came forward to ‘join the church’ that day anyway. The rest ‘joined’, I think, the next Sunday. I said to the church, “If we’re going to receive these as members with us, we must expect them to be able to serve in the church on equal footing with us older members. That means some of them taking responsibilities you may have now, assuming leadership of present ministries or start new ministries.”

Overall, those who joined as a group accepted the fact that they had to get reacquainted with the people in the church. Most fit right into the membership of Northside and helped us with the new Sunday School classes we were trying to get started. I think one or more became teachers. As time went on, several of these people were a real blessing to the church.

ANOTHER PART-TIME OPEN DOOR: 1998–2000 CHURCH PLANTER/EQUIPPER FOR SEMINOLE BAPTIST ASSOCIATION I returned a call from Bob Brown, the FBC Church Planter/Strategist for Central Florida in early September, 1998. He shared, “Brother Bobby Richardson the DOM in Seminole Association has asked for a Church Planter/Equipper for his association and received approval from George Thomason of FBC. He wants you to take the job if you feel led to do so.”

When I asked Bob what the job entailed, he said, “It requires 10 days of work each month and provides a modest salary and travel expenses.

After some discussion, I asked him, “Where can I get the demographic data for that part of Volusia and Seminole Counties, which compose the Association?”

He told me two or three different sources from which I could obtain this.

Then, I asked a crucial question, “Are there enough opportunities and potential sponsors to start 2 to 4 new churches a year in that Association?”

His response: “Bobby wants help to start churches. He must think there are enough opportunities, but you’ll need to talk with him.” We did discuss the fact that a new highway being built through the association would bring even more growth.

My next step was to ask Northside if they would be OK with my being gone 10 days a month to lead Seminole Association, a ‘bedroom’ neighborhood for Orlando, in starting churches. I proposed, “I’ll be gone one Sunday a month and will get our DOM or an Alabama Baptist State Convention staff member to preach. I’ll be gone one or two Wednesdays each month also. I’ll ask a deacon to read a scripture and lead the congregation in discussing it.” Before our prayer time about this decision, I distributed a sample of what I would give the deacon to follow each month. They agreed to do this.

The fact that Northside only paid me a part-time salary probably made this decision easier for them. The recent addition of some new good workers such as Gardiner and Remona Dunn, helped make it easier for me to be gone so much.

Gardiner was already a deacon and filled a vacancy we had. But he also loved to visit people for ministry and witness.

Later Remona became the church’s youth and mission leader. She soon began to lead a mission team each summer to go to another country. Our youth and several adults witnessed personally, conducting VBS and other outreach projects.

Northside approved my serving 10 days a month in leading Seminole Association and its churches in planting new churches while continuing to be their pastor. I was responsible for getting someone to preach on the Sundays I was gone. I don’t remember any discussion of my part-time salary.

After my talk with Bob Brown, I had been thinking of the job and what it would entail. I remembered writing up an OGAP request for funding when I was on the FBC staff, which sounded like this project. When I looked back through my files for my last year on the Florida staff, I found a form I had submitted to the administration for Church Planter/Equippers for Associations which would help fund them. It was somewhat ironic and even funny to me that almost 3 years earlier, I had in a sense, ‘written my own job description.’ All I could think of was, “God is confirming HE wants me to do this.”

On September 23, 1998, I called Bobby Richardson, the DOM, with a long list of questions. This relationship was made easier by my having known him several years earlier as a dynamic pastor, with involvement in starting churches.

One of my questions was, “Where is the association in relation to church starting?”

He replied, “I’m working with one church that began a couple of years ago and is doing good. I’m also meeting with two other potential sponsoring church pastors who want to get churches started. We have several other places,” he shared, “identified in a probe several years ago.”

He also shared, “We will provide housing for you, as well as Peggy when she can come, to stay in the association’s apartment, including the cost of utilities. We will pay your monthly travel expense from your house here, as well as travel on the field.” Bobby was to be my supervisor.

In a few days I drove down and met with Bobby. I stayed in their apartment while there, including kitchen, bedroom, and family room area. It seemed adequate. He also took me into the adjoining office of the association. A desk was available and he promised, “We will have another phone line put in for you.”

I liked his enthusiasm; his attitude reflected the quote, “We can do it—with God’s help.” Assuming I would be approved, he just said, “If you can be here for our annual meeting October 19, there will be many pastors present whom you can meet.”

On October 6, Bobby called me to share the decisions made at their associational executive committee meeting. Included was their recommendation to the Association to call me as their Church Planter/Equipper. He said, “Everyone was excited to know you are coming. I look forward to introducing you at our annual meeting October 19.” He also indicated that he had talked with George Thomasson the FBC Church Extension director for Florida Baptists. He agreed to cover their part of my salary for October through December, 1998, and the two years following.

Our discussion closed with his comment, “I look forward to working with you. I’m eager to see what the Lord is going to do here.” I joined him with, “I’m eager to help you start churches again.”

When I got to the Association the day before the annual meeting, I met with him and Bob Brown, regional church planting consultant. Bobby, Bob and I signed an agreement between the Association, FBC and me for me to take this important job. See the document below, which I considered to be a job description

The Seminole Association voted to call me to be on their staff as their Church Planter/Equipper, helping others to plant churches throughout that fast-growing suburb of Orlando Metro of Florida.

Before I left that week, Bobby and I agreed on the days I would serve in November and December, reduced to five each month because of the holidays.

He also shared, “I’ll be setting up a New Work Committee to work with you.”

In November, I visited with the church planters working at starting new churches, one recently started. Bobby Hosmer had started the Four Towns Community Church two years earlier.

I asked him these questions: “First, how have people been reached?” He was quick to answer, “Through relationships.” He continued, “We did The Phones For YOU. Our core group called every night for two weeks, talking with 12,000 people. Some came to at least one service and some came back more. We also get a list each month of about 150 new resident families and we do a mailing to them and call some. Every year we do mass mailings at least at Christmas and at Easter. All these are just to try to ‘get them through the door.’ We have to try to get to know them better. That will open the door for a personal witness.”

“Next, what has been your highest attendance so far?” He answered, “191; I think that was after The Phones For YOU.” Another question, “What do your people have in common?” He answered, “Friendly relationships with others in the church and appreciation for our contemporary style of worship.”

He gave me one more valuable insight: “Most of our people came to Christ in our church,” he said. It was good news to me that a new church was reaching lost people who had NOT been brought to Christ by existing churches.

John Joslin was a nurse who worked long days in order to have 5 days a week to prepare for starting a church. He was planning to launch the New Life Community Church next September. I shared with him some principles of church planting for bi-vocational planters. He was receptive and hungry to get on with his church plant.

So, about all I had learned in my first week was that there that there was only one ongoing mission church that was making steady progress. And that in one of the fastest growing areas in the U.S.A.! When I returned in December we agreed on the days I would work each month in 1999. He showed me other associational dates. I suggested we have a New Work Probe August 24, 1999. He agreed, say-

ing, “The previous one is too old, especially in light of the high population growth since then. We need to update the information in order to know the kind of new people and where they are to plant churches.”

That date held and I worked with the new work committee/program committee to plan for the probe about nine months later.

By the time I got there in January, the association I had already set up a New Work Task Force. They helped me to get involved with the pastors and people in other associations who have FBC church planters developing strategy for planting churches in fast growing areas. Perhaps because of the rapidly growing population, they were willing to serve because they saw the need was getting to be desperate for new churches.

I found out quickly that I was back in the fast track like when I was on the Jacksonville staff. The difference was that all the legwork had to be done mostly by me.

Occasionally, a sponsoring church would offer to help, but in most cases, there were at least 13 things I had to do for each church plant: • • • • •

• • • • • •

Find the place and need for each new church.

Find a church planter candidate to whom the place appeals or whom God burdens for this community.

At the same time, I was talking with pastors about one of them or more being sponsors and negotiating what they would do.

I had to meet with the Missions Development Council of the sponsor church.

Perhaps with the help of all the churches, call out a core group to serve 1 to 2 years in the new church. Most core groups came primarily from the sponsoring church.

When the church approves, check on the process for his approval and partial funding by NAMB. Then I have to send the forms to him and get him to fill out and send them back to make the request.

When he visits, I must arrange funds to pay his way, hopefully from his home church.

Introduce him to the possible sponsoring church and get the pastor to let him preach.

Once he accepts the call, I must complete the process and get him approved by FBC/NAMB. Find other churches or individuals who will help complete his needed support.

• •

I will also need to get him to enlist volunteers to help in the preparations needed to start the church.

When he moves, we must find funds to assist him, whether locally or churches which know him. Once he arrives on the field, I must meet with him every month to supervise him if he is a Church Planter Apprentice or to encourage him and answer his many questions if the church supervises him.

The DOM and I worked from January through July 1999 to lead in and involve people in preparation for the New Work Probe to be held August 24. By mid-June we had already finalized the places where the seven teams would work as well as where we would meet together and how lunch would be managed.

When I met with the new work task force we developed a schedule and all agreed to participate in the probe. In my meeting with Bobby Richardson in July, we made final adjustments for all 7 teams, in addition to areas for language workers and multi-housing workers to probe.

Roy Liburd agreed to lead a team in a region where half the population was African-American. At least six other strategists/missionaries had to be enlisted to work with 45 local church members serving on the teams. Even while preparing for the probe, we had some churches already in the process of starting or getting ready to start. An example is the brochure sent out by John and Pat Joslin to the people in their target area. The inside of their first brochure publicized that the new church they would soon start.

I prepared a new church start up schedule for church planters just arriving on the field. It showed that there was a long time of preparation before the church was actually launched. This meant getting people enthused about the needs and volunteering to help get everything ready and to find people who would serve in the new church for a year or two. It might take a little shorter time but usually even more time if the work was done thoroughly.

Getting church planters to get people so enthused about the new church that they were willing to give freely WAS NOT EASY. For a while, we had the issue of their hesitation to even ask for people to give. Back then they would only put an offering plate at the back for those who wanted to give. Attached is a sample church budget for the first year. This required changes, especially in the C P giving, for which 8% of income was required to receive pastoral assistance.

This budget: for fulltime planter and why we looked for bi-vocational pastors.

GOD GAVE A GREAT REVIVAL AT NORTHSIDE IN ANSWER TO PRAYER BY HIS PEOPLE The date was set for August 8–11, barely 2 weeks before the probe. For that reason, we put a lot more emphasis on prayer and the people visiting and bringing their friends. Our preparation teams, of which we had twelve, did their work with little or no assistance from me. God provided at evangelist who preached the gospel so clearly and was so filled with God’s Spirit that many came to Christ whenever he preached. Enclosed is a flyer used for mass mailings and passed out personally by our members.

As we prayed, God began to get us all excited about what HE was going to do. We also helped Christians prepare themselves to allow God to work. A prayer profile had 21 questions with yes or no answers for each member to use to examining his own heart and see if he was prepared to pray and do what God wanted him to do.

An example is the first question, “Do I have a daily prayer experience that enables me to meet the responsibilities of life in a Christian way?” Question two, “Do I have a scheduled prayer time when I can be still and alone with God?” Yes or no. I don’t remember our seeking to lead people to deep prayer preparation in this manner before.

God showed up in power from the very beginning of the first day of the crusade. Each night, people came to Christ as others transferred their church membership to Northside.

By the end of the crusade, 17 families had made commitments to church membership. Some received Christ and would be baptized; others recommitted themselves or became a part of Northside’s ministry.

God used this revival to bring a great spread of the kingdom in the areas where Northside served. The 1998, 1999, and 2000 annual letters from Salem-Troy Baptist Association reported the amazing growth in all areas of ministry. In 1998 we had only 112 resident members; this jumped to 146 in 1999 and to 166 in 2000. Our average Sunday school attendance went from 55 in 1999 to 72 in 2000. These figures do not reveal the cause of God’s blessings, but rather the results of what God Himself did.

I felt we had a great responsibility to disciple these new believers and members of Northside. Consequently, we passed out a revival flyer on the last night of the revival to remind them of the training for new members beginning the next week.

BACK TO SEMINOLE IN FLORIDA: MANY PARTICIPATED IN THE PROBE PLUS AUGUST 24, 1999 The probe plus included a half day of training in church planting strategy, an intensive survey of the field with interviews of all kinds of people – businessmen, residents, and those on the street. One step toward developing a church planting strategy was looking for places a new church could meet. The strategy included the team’s vision, the characteristics of the people and their ages, the kind of church planter needed, the potential strategy proposed, the potential partner churches and the next steps which should be taken.

As the enclosed list of 10 church planting needs shows, the widespread spiritual darkness demanded new churches and strategies for SHINING THE LIGHT in each dark corner of the growing area. PROBE teams also provided another list of many more places needing new churches.

TIME OUT IN OCTOBER, 1999, FOR HOMECOMING AT NORTHSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH The photo in our brochure showed the crowd swelled by new members in the previous two years:

THIS IS THE BACK SIDE OF THE BROCHURE. We used it to invite others to attend NORTHSIDE:

AFTER THE PROBE: CONTINUING ANOTHER AMAZING YEAR OF GOD WORKING AS WE OBEYED BY HIS GRACE I will not try to list everything during my last year by dates, but tell the things we did to address the places the Probe identified as urgent. This priority list DID help us enlist more church planters.

Seminary students and others who felt called to plant churches often studied the places with the greatest growth and new church needs. Orlando was at or near the top of the list for many. Many churches were glad to send a mission team or short-term volunteers.

Our most difficult challenge continued to be finding churches who would send core group families to serve in the new church for a year or two. However, a few pastors who served on Probe teams were awakened to the great need and got their people to help when they saw their unusual opportunity.

Other churches agreed to be what we called ‘sponsors in name only’. They would not send money or volunteers but would handle the mission funds for the new church (i.e., they would do their bookkeeping). Even this helped the mission church to not get bogged down with secondary details.

I was kept very busy that year talking with callers who wanted to know HOW THEY COULD PLANT A CHURCH OR HELP PLANTERS IN ORLANDO. This was refreshing but often required additional follow up. HE was calling others to the ripe harvest in our area of ministry.

Because of the stress on church planters and their families, we sought to interject humor anytime we could. You may not really appreciate the enclosed example if you have not helped start a church: Church Planting cartoon (next page)— January to June of 2000 was time for me to ‘finish up’ what I had worked with the association to do for over a year. We were also one of several associations who worked with NAMB’S Crossover Outreach before the Annual SBC Meeting in Orlando in June, 2000. We worked with 30 volunteer teams from sending churches.

BOBBY AND I LED BASIC TRAINING FOR CHURCH PLANTERS Basic Training Schedule for Planters (next page)—

TRAINING WAS INTERRUPTED JUNE 11 BY THE DEATH OF MY MOTHER, GLADYS MATTHEWS, IN TROY, ALABAMA I got a call from my sister, Jane, from the Troy Hospital. She said, “The doctor just told us that mother won’t last much longer.”

“We’ll leave here right away to come home,” I told her; “I sure hope we can get there before she’s gone.”

I finished up what I had to get done before leaving, talked to Bobby by phone, and threw my things together to leave the apartment. It was late Sunday night before I met Peggy, Paul, and Dana north of Orlando. We had all expected

to attend the SBC Annual Meeting in Orlando the next day. Peggy joined me and we headed to Troy, Alabama. Paul and Dana soon followed.

We arrived at the Troy Hospital in the morning of June 11. Ernestine, Jane, Patsy, and members of their families were in mother’s room and some standing outside in the hallway. Mother was lying on her back, apparently comatose.

I leaned over her and said clearly, “This is Clifford; Jane called me to tell us that you are not doing well; we came as soon as we could. I want to thank you for always praying for us. We love you. I’m going to lead all of us in praying for you.”

All the family held hands around her bed while others stood. I thanked God for her, for her prayers, life of obeying God and example for all of us. Peggy and I were exhausted and sleepy, so we soon left, stopped for some fast food and drove to our house. We unloaded our stuff and prepared to go to bed. Before we got there, my phone rang and Jane told me, “Mother just went to be with the Lord; she just stopped breathing and was gone.”

Peggy and I discussed some of the ways her life had blessed us, thanked God for her, and went to bed.

The next day my sisters and I planned the funeral. I will not give the details here— you can read about it in Book III about our family, Partners in Life and Ministry.

I had to ask Bobby to lead the training at least through June 17th sessions.

I made one more trip to Seminole Association in July before finishing my work as their Church Planter/Equipper from my home in Jack, Alabama, by phone, and email.

Before leaving I thanked Bobby for the joy of serving with him and expressed my appreciation to Seminole leaders, both pastors and laymen. Attached is a report of my work, which I presented to Bobby and the Association: Report of Results of Church Planter’s work (next page)— BACK AT NORTHSIDE: TWO AND A HALF OF THE BUSIEST AND MOST ENJOYABLE YEARS OF OUR LIVES DEVOTING MY FULL-TIME TO NORTHSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH We continued to sponsor Pocosin Mission. If my memory is correct, Reverend Felton and I alternated preaching in an early service followed by Sunday school. We encouraged the people to come to Northside for evening Discipleship Training and the evening service; 6 or 7 of them did.

Several were baptized at Northside who came to Christ at the Pocosin Mission. This included at least two or three African-American men. I urged them to let Reverend Felton baptize them, but they insisted that I do it. I don’t remember the exact date when Reverend Felton started preaching all the time, but we turned it over to him before I left Northside The church had grown so much that the need for counselling had increased.

The deacons helped by doing hospital and nursing home visits, but still most people wanted the pastor to come if they were seriously ill. Especially after people from the former split from Northside came back, I started counseling with each new member to see what issues they faced.

One couple coming had been together several years and had several children, but had never married. As I showed them the biblical teaching about mar-

riage and urged them as Christians and church members to get married, they listened respectfully. But it was several months before both agreed that they would get married. I think we had a wedding at Northside Church, although I do not remember the details.

Especially through my last two or three years, I counseled with several couples with all kinds of problems, some members and others not. Sometimes I referred them to a professional Christian counselor available at the associational office from Alabama Baptist Family Ministry. One couple who went to see this counselor resolved most of their issues. Plus, after a spiritual renewal helped them bond more closely in their marriage, they lived in harmony with one another and served God through His church.

I thank God for raising up an army of volunteers to carry on a widespread ministry in missions, evangelism and pastoral ministries. Looking back at the list of our workers is amazing. Six of us were part time employees: myself as pastor, our music and worship leader and a valuable part-time secretary. The yard maintenance and building custodian workers were responsible to their committee (chairman). In addition, we had eight church officers and six deacons ministering to families. They also visited each new member and worked with the pastor to give spiritual leadership to the church.

There were 27 volunteers who worked in the Bible teaching ministry through Sunday school. Twenty teams of two or three people doing everything from building maintenance, youth ministry, stewardship, missions and preparing food; we also had 18 people involved in the FAITH Sunday School Evangelism outreach for 16 weeks, twice a year, while a different Sunday School class each week prepared meals for us. God greatly used these to share Christ in homes, public places, apartments or wherever there were people.

This great army of kingdom volunteers worked together to plan programs and the church calendar through a Church Council. This included a representative from every area of work, including team leaders and officers. During six years of planting Gospel seeds in Troy, Pike County, Florida and several other countries, God gave us an abundant harvest.

ON OCTOBER 13, 2002 NORTHSIDE GAVE ME & PEGGY A CELEBRATION OF MY 50 YEARS OF MINISTRY This celebration at the church where I came to know Christ personally and felt God’s call to preach was a joyful occasion for Peggy and me. Northside recommended me to preach to other churches by licensing me to preach on Sep-

tember 23, 1951. A year later in October, 1952, they sponsored and approved my ordination at the request of the Mount Moriah Baptist Church, which wanted to call me as their pastor.

The 50th anniversary celebration provided to me and Peggy in 2002 was a special joy. Peggy had been my wife, mother of our two children, and even partner in ministry for 44 of those 50 years. Don’t ask me how many of those years she served as my secretary, often as a volunteer in new churches God call us to plant. Not surprisingly, she also arranged for the cake shown in the photo.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY—GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE!

MAY 30–JUNE 11, MISSION TRIP TO TODMORDON, ENGLAND. ROOMFIELD BAPTIST CHURCH HAS A HARD MISSION FIELD.

This was both a learning and a heartbreaking experience. Roomfield Baptist Church had been declining for many years. There were no active male members. They had several deaconesses, who were very hospitable to us. Some men attended, and their wives served in the church, but they were not professing Christians. We had evening evangelistic services at the church.

We were treated well, especially by the members who served us delicious food in their homes and at the church. When we visited door to door in teams of two, people came to the door and allowed us to visit with them at the door or inside. But after we shared our mission in England and even our testimonies, most said, “I do not believe in God.” The June weather was damp and mostly overcast with fog or light rain. I wore clothes that were adequate for that kind of weather, but still began to have difficulty breathing.

The members (women) came to the revival and several brought their husbands. Their pastor was a man who was born and raised in England and had felt

God’s call to preach. He and his family were deeply committed Christians, but unsuccessful in seeing the church return to its former glory. I think a few public commitments were made in the evangelistic services, but can’t remember who, but know they were NOT MEN. While we were having a meal with a family where the lady was a deaconess, I talked with her husband about his spiritual condition. He said, “Oh, I believe, but I’m not interested in being baptized are becoming a member.”

I shared my testimony and then asked, “Have you ever had an experience like that?” He did not reply. I shared the plan of salvation with him but he had no interest in most of what I said. He showed no signs of willingness to accept Jesus as Lord of his life.

The pastor took us to London to see the sights one day and we got the privilege of stopping by the home of John Bunyan. When our ministry there was over, I was very exhausted and continued with signs of respiratory problems.

Upon our return from England on June 15, our team members reported in the morning service our challenges and what God had done. That same week on Wednesday we had a business meeting in which a member brought up a motion to sell our church van because of the dangers and liabilities it entailed. That was very sad to me and it was obvious emotions were running high, so I suggested that we have a study committee first, which was approved.

I preached in at least one service on the June Sundays after returning from England. June 22–25 we had VBS, which was well attended but not one of our best. June 26–29 we were involved in and promoting a Hope for You Festival of Faith being held at TSU’s Sartain Hall.

By early July, I became so sick I could not keep going. My doctor could not find the cause of my exhaustion and respiratory problems. I kept trying to preach but most of the time had to get Peggy to call someone else to fill-in. After much prayer and discussion with Peggy, I resigned as Northside’s pastor on July 13, to be effective August 13. I thanked God in my letter for each of them, for all they had done while we worked together to serve Christ and his church.

I attempted to preach through the final day of my resignation, but soon did not have the strength to do anything, even missing our family reunion in late July. When we had a Nominating Committee, someone suggested they excuse me since I had already resigned. Not having the strength to resist, I agreed. In the last service when I preached, it was only by my holding onto the pulpit that I could stand.

My strength to get out of bed was gone. I had to be hospitalized before August as a very sick person. I was so sick that I wanted no food and my doctors

had no success in diagnosing my problem. They DID start giving me some of the strongest antibiotics they had.

Northside’s August 3 bulletin had this list of messages from people in the church. It was a great blessing to hear them express their love, but it was only after I began to recover that I could fully understand or appreciate it. It did bring great encouragement to Peggy.

What do we have from those six years at Northside? An amazing number of friends whom we have enjoyed seeing during the 15 years since my retirement.

Looking back to the early years of W.W. II history, Northside began as a mission of FBC, Troy, in 1946. It organized and constituted as the North Side Baptist Church in 1948. God had a purpose in its early years beyond anything anyone could have dreamed. Seventeen people felt the call to ministry, all but two to preach the gospel, one to serve in music ministry, another to be a missionary. Sixteen were called in the 50s.

At least 9 of these were among my closest teenage friends. Six of us felt called to preach and one to be a missionary as teenagers. A close bond was formed with each other—we played together, prayed together, memorized scripture together through BMA and challenged each other to love God more fervently and to be bolder in our witness for Jesus.

Warner Floyd and I, older ones by a couple of years of that early group, are the only men left on this earth. I miss all the rest of that early group of preacher brothers, but especially Burney. He and I grew up together with his family living next to mine. He became a model for all of us. He was a fun person to be around, but also a fervent witness, on-fire preacher, friend and counselor to many. My only regret is that we did not spend more time together in our last few years before God called him home in 2015.

In that early group was my sister, Jane, just 2 years younger than me, who felt called to be a missionary. The summer before her graduation from high school, she worked with Miss Dorothy Phillips, the DOM of Salem-Troy Baptist Association. They went to small churches and did VBSs. She played the piano and both of them taught the Bible lessons to different age groups of children in VBS. In 1954 the summer after high school, she was a missionary of the Department of Negro Work of Alabama Baptists. She went with an African American lady, who picked her up at our home in Troy each day to take her with her to an African American Church. At each church, just the two of them conducted Vacation Bible School for a week.

The next two summers after her 1st and 2nd years at Howard College, she led VBS in small churches in Marengo County, Alabama, and in Texas with another summer missionary.

Thank God, Northside has had its ups and downs, just as some of us Godcalled people have, but continues to be a strong witness for Jesus Christ our Lord. My son, Paul Matthews, and I, have both preached 2 or 3 times at their homecoming service held each year in October.

To God be the glory! Great things he has done! To him is the kingdom and the power and all the glory. I thank Him for raising up this church and using its

people to bring many lives to the One, Christ Himself, who changed us forever and has walked with us each day since that time. All Glory to God in the Highest—to Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

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18 THE ROAD AHEAD

2012: Writing What God Has Done Until He Comes or Calls

TEACHING CHURCH PLANTING AND GUIDING INTERN CHURCH PLANTERS FOR TEN WEEKS EACH SUMMER

B

efore 2004, I had taught the church planting course at Florida Baptist College as a J term in the summer. But in 2004 and for seven years at least afterwards, I taught it as an adjunct teacher during the regular school semester. It was a joy working with Dr. Robin Jumper, who himself had planted a church before coming to FBC. THE FIRST COURSE: INTRODUCTION TO CHURCH PLANTING Not only did students have to read daily from a textbook and be prepared for daily pop quiz and a final, each had to write a Strategy for a Proposed New Church. At least 125 young men and women during 10 years learned the basics of preparing for and planting a church.

In the summer of 2005, I started leading a Church Planters’ Practicum. Students went as church planters to work 10 weeks with their sponsor church, which supervised them during the summer. Their goal was to help them plant or be prepared to plant a new church.

I also worked with several sponsor churches each year to help them get a Church Planting Intern. Each one worked for two years to help start 2 churches. It’s amazing to me that I must have given experience to 25 or more Intern Church Planters to start 2 churches during the 7 or more years leading in their selection and training.

At the same time, from 2003 to 2014, I served with Florida Baptist Convention as a part-time church planting strategist in the Florida Panhandle.

Most of the time I served with just part of the nine-county area. For perhaps two years of that time I served all the counties in the area west of Tallahassee, from Marianna (Chipola), and Panama City (Northwest Coast) Associations West through Pensacola.

It was a joy to work with Chip Fox again. He was the DOM in Santa Rosa Association who was especially burdened to plant new churches. I worked with him many years earlier when he was a young church starter in Milton, after I first came to Florida as director of Church Extension. In 2005 he was the DOM with the most passion for planting churches. He was also serving in the fast-growing Milton area. He became and still is a close friend. Many churches of various kinds were planted in his area.

Eventually I served just the Chipola, North West Coast and Walton County Associations. This allowed us to have a peer group meeting monthly with church planters, often to which their wives came. It was a time for fellowship, prayer and training.

A favorite with Peggy and me was our annual Christmas party and dinner.

We had so much fun exchanging laughable ‘gifts’, singing carols and enjoying delicious food.

Marty Martin was a very successful church planter whom our guys enjoyed.

He had left Panama City as a young, rebellious man and returned as a zealous witness for Christ. God used him to bring many of his friends to Christ. They helped him plant a church meeting at a public school. They created a partnership with the school, maintaining their grounds and conducting fall festivals and other events for the school.

The church grew exponentially as they brought many new ‘seekers’, created covenant membership and witnessed for Christ. He met with our church planters several times and was always a blessing by sharing the how to’s of what God was using him to do in growing a church.

Hal Haller was another experienced planter who was helpful to us. He had started several churches in Central Florida with large crowds present on launch day. He came to train our church planters in his methods. Our planters not only learned, but became excited and tried many of the approaches God had used. He eventually became the church planting director of the Baptist Convention of New York. I think he left that job to plant another church himself.

A SCARY DIAGNOSIS: “THIS CANCER WON’T KILL YOU, BUT YOU’LL DIE WITH IT!” OCTOBER 28, 2010 After an annual examination by an oncologist at AUB’s Kirkland Clinic in Birmingham, Dr. Harris continued to remind me that my cold-a-glutenin had not yet caused cancer, but that it probably would eventually cause me to have lymphoma.

When my doctor found a bulging sore lymph node in my lower right side, I called the UAB doctor’s office and asked his nurse to ask what I should do next. When his nurse relayed my message to the doctor, he called back himself, his voice expressing concern: “Don’t just visit the surgeon; tell your doctor to tell the surgeon NOT to just stick a needle in the swollen lymph node to get a sample or even a small amount of the node. Tell him to either get a big chunk of the swollen part or to completely remove that lymph node. Then send it to a lab to test for cancer cells.”

When the surgery was done, it was sent to a lab and a date given for receiving back the diagnosis. I could not sleep the night before and kept thinking about what a cancer verdict would mean. Finally, I got up and read several scriptures which had meant a lot to me at times of crisis in my life: Psalm 37 and 51; Philippians 4:6–7; II Corinthians 4:7–18 and 12:7–10. The last reference refers to Paul’s struggle with his ‘thorn in the flesh’. He asked God three times to remove it. God’s Final Answer: “MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU; FOR MY STRENGTH IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS.” As I meditated on Paul’s experience, God led me to pray this prayer: “Lord, if you want me to know you better and to serve you with more zeal by having this cancer, I’ll be satisfied with that.”

The diagnosis came back as Non-Hodgkin’s B Cell low-grade lymphoma.

I called Dr. Harris’ office at UAB and told his nurse to ask him, “Can I get better treatment in Birmingham?” He called me back to say, “You don’t have to come to Birmingham for treatment. You have the most treatable form of lymphoma; you will have no problem getting treated by a local oncologist.”

In my several visits and conversations with Dr. Harris, I had shared my experience with Christ and detected that he was uncertain of his own faith. So, after thanking him for his help, I said, “I want to send you a book by Ravi Zacharias, Has Christianity Failed You?” He replied, “OK.” I think he later sent me a note of thanks, stating that he was reading the book.

My treatments for lymphoma have proven to be true to what my own oncologist told me from the beginning, “This lymphoma will not kill you but you’ll

die with it.� I have not recently had to have a treatment, but just see my oncologist every six months. I have received chemotherapy for a limited time when my disease required it. It has not interfered with my life or work in a major way, but has taught me how much God loves us and has taught ME to walk more closely with HIM. In 2011 the Florida Baptist Convention ask me to just work with two Associations, North West Coast in Panama City and Walton County centered at DeFuniack Springs. I especially worked with Michael and Sue Petty in Panama City Beach and William and Irene Whaley in Santa Rosa Beach in Walton County.

The Pettys named their church Christ Fellowship and the Whaleys named theirs New Day Church. Several new churches were helped in Panama City, but only one in Walton County.

Christ Fellowship was begun in Panama City Beach after several months of ministry in the community. February 10, 2013, was set for their Grand Opening Launch. They mailed out over 9,000 flyers of the attached card, NO PERFECT PEOPLE ALLOWED. Both front and back sides are included.

Their launch was attended by 150 people with 22 prospective families, 26 children, and five in the nursery. It required 20 volunteers to conduct. I’m afraid that not a large percentage of those attending the launch were enlisted into regular attendance at the new church, which met at the BC Elementary School on Middle Beach Road. However, that was often the case for a large number present for a launch with many extras, often NOT held afterwards.

In Walton County Baptist Association, William Whaley, from the summer of 2012 prepared to start New Day Church. He did extensive planning and training of those interested, received help from me and another excellent planter, James Ross, experienced in serving/planting churches in that area. He did four FAMILY FUN DAYS, a PREVIEW SERVICE, and eventually the Launch. See card (2 sides): Family Fun Day flier (next page)— The planter enlisted teams, locally and from other areas, to help him. Some served for a week, surveying witnessing, doing a block party and publicizing the new church. March 31, 2013 was set as their launch date. They mailed out almost 5000 cards. On Saturday prior to launch, they had a family fun day, to which 500 people came, of all ages. Unfortunately, I’m afraid the Fun Day was so popular that it overshadowed their Launch the next day, which was Easter Sunday. The launch service drew 70 people; attached is the Launch Day card:

A year later they still had 60 attending worship at New Day Church, but still had few local leaders, no regular worship leader and no permanent meeting place. A good number of attendees (22 at Launch) signed up to become “Covenant Members.”

New Day Church flier (next page)—

As I look back at both these new plants, I wonder why I did not advise them to use more of the strategies we worked with in Seminole association. They included a full year of preparation before going public and launching the church.

On October 28, 2012, I celebrated my 60th year in the ministry of the gospel!

Peggy, our two children, Paul (with Dana) and Wanda (with Larry), sent out an invitation for the celebration at Northside Baptist Church. FAMILY MEMBERS who came included both our children and their spouses and many of our grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. JANE, MY SISTER, just two years younger than me and her husband, Earl Jeffres, were there. PATSY, MY YOUNGEST SISTER and Billy, her husband, came with three of their children and several of their grandchildren. Several other extended family members came, including people from the Matthews, Shell, and Galloway branches of our families.

FRIENDS included those I grew up with in Troy and Christian friends from different churches in which I had served around the area. Fellow workers from several places came.

TWO OF THESE SURPRISED US: First, from New York State—Terry Robertson, Executive Director of the Baptist Convention of New York. He fondly remembered Peggy praying him to Upstate New York in the early 1980s.

Paul had been a young teen-ager when he and Wanda helped Peggy pray for him and Elizabeth to come to Buffalo. Just before or just after Paul felt called to preach, he became president of the Youth Convention of the BCNY. The attached photo shows our son, Paul, my wife, Peggy, Terry Robertson and myself at the 60th Year Celebration.

SECOND, two field staff from the Church Planting Department in Florida.

For 13 years I was its director. They presented me with a beautiful CSB Bible in large print. It has been a blessing to me for six years.

A third special guest and friend in ministry from Coffee County, John Granger, Director of Missions.

We received at least 25 cards with notes, money, and notice of donations to the Gideons and one to David Jeremiah’s ministry in my honor. There were numerous emails and cards from precious friends and family members.

Others were Steven and Gloria Thompson, our former pastor and wife at our Crown Point Baptist Church in Jacksonville. There was a lengthy email, sharing their news that God had called Steven and Gloria in their retirement to move to Massachusetts to serve as an interim pastor of a church there. Another card came

from the pastor of a cowboy church with whom we had worked. He let us know that God had at last provided a permanent meeting place for their Cowboy Church in Milton, Florida.

Another card came from Ed and Barbara McKee, who lived across the street from us when we were in Buffalo. Paul had led their son, Joe, to Christ, but they did not respond to our witness, even though they became friends. We also heard from Betty Grandison, a friend from Albany, New York, who helped start our first SBC church in the state capitol. She and her husband, Hamil, live in retirement in the Bahamas.

One of the most treasured cards we received came from my Aunt Annie Lois Matthews, my only living aunt. She is the widow of my dad’s youngest brother, my Uncle Willie Brown Matthews. Although in her 90s and living in a small assisted living apartment in Texas where her children live nearby, she is still mentally alert and finds ways to serve Christ.

This celebration is one I will never forget, along with the many cards and even emails from dear friends and those with whom we have served all over the United States.

2014 ACCIDENT: FINAL DIAGNOSES—LIFE ALTERING, BUT NOT HINDERING MY WRITING OR PREACHING In 2014 Peggy and I drove to upstate New York to visit churches, people and places where we worked over 30 years earlier. Only a few of the people were left, but we met some great current day missionaries. They are starting churches mostly with church planters native to that area.

Clinton Road in New Hartford still lives, although relocated and renamed.

We only found two elderly women who were dear partners in our first church plant at Clinton Road in New Hartford. Esther and Anne Sierson were still alert and a joy to see after so many years.

Anne was our first local Bible teacher and continued to bless children for years through her released time classes, VBS, and Sunday School teaching. Her son, Peter, is a graduate of Southern Seminary (SBTS) and children’s minister in a large church in North Carolina, I think. I baptized Anne first, and later, Esther. They grew spiritually, quickly becoming workers in the new church.

Esther was the church treasurer in early years.

Soon after our visit, Anne went to be with her Lord. Her Aunt Esther continues to encourage and bless others with her cards, and notes of faith and joy.

On our trip home, we stayed overnight in Virginia with dear friends from our home church while serving in Florida, Mitch and Margaret Etheridge. What

a joy to remember what God did there over 25 years earlier and what he is still doing today!

As we continued enroute home, I had an accident that required totaling our car and renting another to get home. We were not injured and could hardly believe that the car was damaged enough to be ‘totaled.’ Two weeks later I went to sleep at the wheel in what could have been a life-threatening accident.

Fortunately, it was only a life-altering accident. At Troy Medical Center I only stayed overnight. However, the doctor who examined me was convinced that I had had a seizure and kept bringing me back to the hospital for numerous tests, including a brain scan.

Meeting with several specialists finally brought me to a heart doctor in his weekly trip to Troy. He looked at my stress test report, blood pressure levels and cat scan. Then he asked me, “How active are you?”

“I walk 2 miles most days,” I replied. “I have a garden and maintain my 2 acres of yards and shrubbery.”

He smiled slightly and declared firmly, “I think you just fell asleep at the wheel!”

I replied, “I’ve been trying to get doctors to understand that ever since my accident!”

That settled my concerns about the possibility of life-threatening damage by the accident. But I still could not stand erect. Peggy kept saying to me, “Stand up straight!”

So, I talked with my doctor and he set up an appointment to see a bone specialist who specializes in back treatments. When he had completed various tests, he showed us the video of my back and explained, “Your accident forced your back joints together and twisted your spine.”

Peggy asked him, “Can anything be done about it or can he do anything to stand more erectly?”

“No, “he replied, “it’s a permanent damage but should not hinder most of his normal activities.”

Since that time, I have gone about most of my normal activities but with less involvement in hard physical labor. Perhaps my own thoughtless action of driving alone after eating a big meal caused me to have an accident, but God’s grace has preserved me and allowed me to continue to serve him and my family.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

MY CALL TO WRITE THIS BOOK WAS TO TELL WHAT GOD HAS DONE THROUGH OUR LIVES As early as 2010, I began to feel that I should tell what God had done. Some of my family and closest friends added encouragement for me to “Write down the things we’ve heard you tell about, things which only God could do!”

Providentially in 2015, just in time, I heard about a Book Writing Boot Camp to be done by Rebecca George for several days in Birmingham. She described ‘how to’ and led us to practice each step of preparation and the actual writing itself. I studied both subjects which she taught at that conference.

During the next 18 months, I attended other ‘Boot Camps’, studying four other areas and types of writing. Those studies and the PDFs she provided changed my whole understanding and approach to writing. During my last interim pastorate, God began to convict me more and more that WRITING was what HE wanted me to do before He called me home. I resigned from my parttime church TO OBEY GOD’S CALL. God convicted me that he was calling me to write, not to pastor.

Completing Worth Dying For has consumed most of my time for over two years. Praise the Lord!

HE has been faithful to me; unfortunately, I have failed at times to be faithful to HIM. But, He has helped me along anyway. HOW GOOD IS OUR GOD?!

Finishing this book, I offer this prayer to God from Psalm 71:17–18 (ESV); it expresses very much of what I feel: “Oh God from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, oh God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim Your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. AMEN!”

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APPENDIX, WORTH DYING FOR, BOOK I CHAPTER 5: MORE BACKGROUND ON BILLY GRAHAM’S LOS ANGELES CAMPAIGN The Los Angeles campaign of Billy Graham made newspaper headlines even in Troy, Alabama. Yet, when Graham met with the campaign committee in April before it was to begin in late September 1949, it hung by a thread. He urged the local group to enlarge the tent to seat 6000, to involve more churches and sponsorship and to greatly enlarge the budget for advertising. His challenge to them, “I want to see God sweep in!” Billy said, “because if Los Angeles can have a great revival, the repercussions would sweep across the entire world.” When they agreed to these conditions, he later was almost sorry that he had suggested them because of his personal struggles.

One of his friends resigned his church because he was no longer sure the Bible was true. He chose to go to graduate school instead. It was as if the enemy was going to prevent Billy from preaching the gospel. He and another friend debated strongly what THEY should do. Graham grew confused. Yet he thought, “if the gospel is NOT true, how can I preach it with authority?”

The former pastor told him, “your faith is too simple.” Still he thought, “Is a theological professor the only one qualified to speak about religion? May not a simple America, an ignorant jungle villager or anyone who knows Jesus lead another to Christ?”

In late August, just one month before the Los Angeles meetings, he was a leader at a conference, along with Edwin Orr, who was known for his strong convictions about the authority of the Bible. His friend who questioned the divine inspiration of the bible, expressed his strong disagreement with Orr. After supper one night, Billy went to his cabin instead of going to the evening service. He read in the Scriptures many passages about the authority of the Bible. “God spoke through _____(the prophet), ‘thus says the Lord.’ and Scripture says, ‘the word of the Lord came’ to a certain person. He knew God says more than 2000 times in the Bible, ‘this is my word.’”

As darkness was coming he took his bible and went out into the mountain woods. Graham said to himself: “if a brown cow eating green grass can yield white milk, I don’t understand it, but I’ll drink the milk anyway.” Many such examples came to his mind; in other words, faith was essential in any area of life but absolutely required of those who preach the gospel of Christ. So, he wandered until he found a stump. Then put his Bible on it. Kneeling there before the Bible, he opened his heart and said, “oh God I cannot understand certain things. I cannot answer the questions some ask, but I accept this book by faith as the word of God!” After kneeling a while, he stood and looked at the moon and stars and praised God for the opportunity to be a preacher of the good news of Christ.

CHAPTER 6: THE MIRACLES GOD WORKED TO BRING ABOUT THE HOUR OF DECISION / THE HOUR OF DECISION In April 1950, five months after the Los Angeles campaign ended, Walter A. Maier, preacher on the Lutheran Hour died suddenly. The graham teen prayed God would raise up someone to take his place, not thinking of Billy Graham as a possible choice. Providentially, God brought him and Cliff Barrows together with Dr. Theodore Elsner, a pastor they knew. He began to try to convince Graham to begin a national radio program to replace Dr. Maier. Billy was touched, but replied, “how am I going to get on radio? Who is going to help me? Elsner answered, “my son-in-law, Fred Dienert, who has arranged and promoted many religious programs.” Even though Graham rejected the idea, Elsner and Dienert were still convinced that God wanted such a program started.

They pursued him to Montreat and later to a six-week crusade in Portland, Oregon. Graham avoided them until the last week of the Portland Crusade and only then after a call from Howard Butt, a Texas layman and grocery store executive. He and a friend pledged $1000 each if he began a radio program.

Meeting and praying with Elsner and Dienert, Graham said, “Lord, you know I’m doing all I can. I don’t have any money, but I feel a burden to start this program. If you want me to, give a sign. The fleece I’m asking for is that $25,000 be given by midnight.” Even after that amount was given, ABC cancelled their previous offer to broadcast the program. Again, God intervened when an absent vice-president asked for a review on Monday. Three days later

they announced acceptance of the program.

The HOUR OF DECISION went out over 150 stations on Nov 5, 1950.

Beverly Shea sang and Graham preached. He told of fearful events reported in the news that day, including the possibility of a hydrogen bomb and pleaded for Christians to pray. At the close of his first program, Graham gave a direct evangelistic appeal, inviting people to say “Yes, to Christ and you can become a partaker of eternal life.”

In five weeks, it had earned the highest audience rating ever accorded a religious program. Within five years it was heard on 850 stations worldwide, including 350 in North America. The letters listeners wrote to Billy Graham—178,726 the first year and 362,545 the next year, kept rising steadily. This necessitated increasing the Evangelistic Association’s office staff to 80 by 1954.

MY FAVORITE VANCE HAVNER BOOKS: That I May Know Him Entered into Rest The Secret of Christian Joy By the Still Waters

Rest Awhile Pleasant Paths Though I Walk Through the Valley Lord of What’s Left

OUTLINES OF TWO OF VANCE HAVNER’S MESSAGES THE SECRET OF CHRISTIAN JOY: John 20:20 “Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.”

1. NOT GLAD WHEN THEY SAW: Themselves, Each Other, their Circumstances or a Particular Doctrine 2. GLAD WHEN THEY SAW CHRIST—As Crucified and Risen Lord 3. HIS APPEARANCE BROUGHT: Assurance, Joy Entered Into Rest: “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?”

WHERE ARE YOU AT THE CROSS?!

Isaiah 53:5, 6 1. THE SOLDIERS, “sitting down they watched Him there.” Matthew 27:36. They gambled for His robe. John 19:3, 4.

2. THOSE WHO PASSED BY “wagged their heads.” They misquoted His claims, “Thou that destroyest the temple, and build-

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est it in three days, save thyself.” He HAD said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” They minimized His death: “Save thyself; come down from the cross.” They mocked His deity: “If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

THE CHIEF PRIESTS, SCRIBES AND ELDERS—Matthew 27:41–43. They taunted the Son of God and joined the enemies of Christ.

THE PEOPLE: They stood beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts and returned.” Luke 23:35, 48. They looked respectfully and did nothing.

THE CENTURION did four things that can lead to conversion: “He feared greatly,” he declared, “Certainly He was a righteous man.” He called Christ “The Son of God.” He glorified God. BUT—there is no record of his becoming a follower of Christ THE PENITENT THIEF was the only one at the cross saved beyond a doubt. Matthew 23:37–43. When he said, “Lord, remember me,” Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

WITH WHOM DO YOU STAND AT THE CROSS?

CHAPTER 7: MORE ON BOBBY BRITT Bobby became one of the best preachers of the gospel I have ever heard. His personal and vivid descriptions of biblical people, events and truths made the Good News of Jesus Christ come alive. God called him to be an evangelist and he spent most of his life traveling from church to church preaching revivals.

I also invited him to the new church I had helped restart, Bethlehem Baptist near Brundidge Alabama. Two different times he came and God answered our prayers and witness. We went from house to house sharing the gospel and many people professed faith in Jesus Christ. He was with me at St. John Baptist Church, where God again brought many people to Christ and awakened the church.

Bobby is one of only four or five ministers of the gospel who have had a very strong influence on my life.

His boldness to share the Gospel challenged me to not hesitate to proclaim Jesus passionately in my conversations with people in addition to the pulpit.

This became important to me, whether planting a church, serving as a pastor or leading others in ministry.

I am sharing here my notes of the providential visit and subsequent follow-up Peggy and I had with Bobby and his wife, Caroline, on the eve of his going to be with the Lord. It was a privilege to encourage MY DEAR FRIEND AND BROTHER IN SHARING JESUS in his last days, as well as her, after his death.

What God allowed me to join Him in doing the last month BEFORE BOBBY’S HOME-GOING ON MARCH 28, 2013: February 26, 2013 Peggy and I arrived in Trussville, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, for the state evangelism conference. As we arrived in our room and unpacked, I remembered that Bobby and Caroline Lived there. Looking through the phonebook, I found their number and called to see how Bobby was. Caroline said, “he had two strokes last year and many skin cancers; his ear has been removed with cancer; now he is in a wheelchair.” When I asked, “is it okay for us to visit him?” She replied, “You can visit, but it will need to be brief.”

Carolyn ushered us into Bobby’s room, where he was lying in bed. He got up on his elbow as we talked, remembering the days of our witnessing in the Birmingham park and on the streets downtown. We reminisced about the revivals at Bethlehem and St. John. He also thanked me for teaching him how to use the Roman Road to share Christ personally.

We remembered the great times we had in college and days following. We shared about our children and grandchildren. He gave me the book he had written and show me what he had written about me in it. We pray for each other and I promised to keep in touch and to see him when I came up that way.

Two days after we got home, I called Carolyn on February 28 ,2013. She said, “Your visit really encouraged him, but he has had a tiring day and does not feel like talking.”

On March 17, 2013, I called again. Carolyn said, “Bobby has had a tiring day and is sleeping because his grandson and his bride are coming to visit him at

four this afternoon.” She promised, “I’ll tell him that you’re enjoying his book and will continue to pray for him.”

March 26, 2013, I felt led to write a card to Bobby and to Carolyn (in case he had died when it arrived).

God led me to share some verses from Psalm 63: 2-4a, ‘I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, I will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live.’

Verses 7 and 8: ‘Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.’

March 28, 2013, Bobby went to be with the master he loved and served. Carolyn called us a few days later and shared how much God spoke to her through the encouraging words of Psalm 63.

Lessons I learned from this experience are: 1. When God tells me to do something, I should do it immediately.

2. Even the people most committed to serving and sharing Christ with others will suffer, sometimes more severely than unbelievers.

3. Sharing the good news of Christ personally, from the pulpit and even in written form is always rewarded. When I face death, I can imagine rejoicing with Bobby and the people to whom we joyful witnessed as JESUS HIMSELF calls them to welcome us into heaven. Jesus said to the repentant, believing thief, “today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43b CHAPTER 8: Northside Church’s revivals were a great influence on the number of new believers baptized and on the growth of the church.

The Salem Troy annual minutes reveal the facts about this new churches’ baptisms:

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1948–1949: 16 baptized, growing from 64 to 80 members and 72 attending vacation Bible school.

1949–1950: 33 baptized, as the church grew to 125 members and 115 in vacation Bible school. This was the year when I was saved in a revival.

1950–1951: 10 baptisms with 150 members and 114 in VBS. 1951–1952: 20 baptized with 160 members and 113 in VBS. For a total of 69 baptized in 4 years.

CHAPTER 9 DR. LEAVELL: “GOD MOVED ON” MESSAGE FROM HIS BOOK, Evangelism, Christ’s Imperative Commission This challenge from Dr. Leavell is the introduction to his book and given to our first-year evangelism class. God used it to touch and burden my heart for lost people.

“Since apostolic times, wherever the church has maintained an evangelistic, missionary zeal and a soul-winning fervor, the Holy Spirit of God has given his blessings to the church. Wherever the church has lost its missionary zeal and soul-winning fervor, God has moved on.

1. The center of the Christian enterprise in the first half of the first century A.D. was in Jerusalem. The apostles sought to obey the commission of Christ. “Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” But the Judaizers, certainly Christian Jews, did not want the Gentiles to become Christians unless they should become Jewish proselytes. This anti-missionary spirit conquered the Jerusalem church. Their evangelistic zeal was chilled and their soul winning fervor was killed. God moved on!

2. This center of the Christian enterprise during the second half of the first century A.D. was in Antioch, in Syria. Paul, Barnabas, Silas, and others worked there and went out from there. Worldliness and sensuality, seeping in from the sordid environment of Antioch, poisoned the life of the churches. Their evangelistic zeal was chilled and their soul-winning fervor was killed. God moved on!

3. Strong centers of the Christian enterprise during the second and third centuries where established in Ephesus and Alexandria. The gospel was preached throughout the entire Roman empire. But the Gnostic heresy, denying the essential deity of Jesus, crept in. Their evangelistic zeal was chilled, and their soul-winning fervor was killed. God moved on!

4. A strategic citadel of the Christian enterprise from A.D. 330 until the close of the sixth century was in Constantinople. Missionary activity radiated from there into Ireland and Scotland, and among the Germans. But Constantine united to church and state. Formalism became the order of worship. The liturgy usurped the place of spirituality. Finally, the inroads of Mohammedanism killed the already waning power of Christianity there. Their evangelistic zeal was chilled and their soul- winning fervor was killed. God moved on!

5. The center of the Christian enterprise in the West from A.D. 600 until A.D. 1050 and beyond was in Rome. There was much missionary activity at first. They evangelized the Anglo-Saxons, Irish, Scotch, Germans and Scandinavians. But the Latin Vulgate developed an inefficiency in instruction. Monasteries grew up. Unscriptural beliefs crept in. Infant baptism was practiced more universally.

Biblical theology decayed. Preaching and religious instruction was neglected. Their evangelistic zeal was chilled and their soul-winning fervor was killed. God moved on!

6. The Christian enterprise flourished in France during the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries, especially when the papacy he was located in Avignon (1309–1377). Their passion for Christianity led them into the Crusades, which lasted for about 200 years. The power of the pope was greatly strengthened about the same time and a mighty struggle between the church and the state developed. Schism rent the church in twain and led to internal stagnation. The crusades led to war and bloodshed. There evangelistic zeal was chilled, and their soul-winning fervor was killed. God moved on!

7. The center of evangelistic and evangelical Christianity during the middle of the 16th century was in Germany. Luther’s Reformation began in 1517. Fervent preaching of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, rather than through ecclesiastical ceremony and sacrament, spread the gospel through Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Bavaria, Bohemia, Moravia and elsewhere.

But bitter controversies between the reformers arose concerning their theological interpretations. They forgot the souls of men. Their evangelistic zeal was chilled and their soul winning fervor was killed. God moved on!

8. A mighty center of Christian opportunity for evangelism during the exploration of the Western world was in Spain and Portugal.

Missionaries went into Central America, South America, the Philippines and the southern parts of North America. But the gold which they found ushered in an age of materialism. Their greed for gold supplanted their passion for souls. Their evangelistic zeal was chilled and their soul-winning fervor was killed. God moved on!

9. The center of the Christian enterprise during the period of the colonization and development of the Western world was in England.

Missionaries won far-reaching victories in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India. But bloody religious wars were fought. The age of skepticism cane. An ungodly rationalism load flowed out of France and Germany into English thought. Religion was paralyzed.

Their evangelistic zeal was chilled and their soul-winning fervor was killed. God moved on!

10. The center of the Christian enterprise in the first half of the 19th century was the New England and the states along the Atlantic seaboard. The so-called “Revival of 1800� began about 1785 and continued in power until about 1812. The educational institutions were saved from the grip of infidelity and were transformed into mighty evangelistic agencies. The crime wave was wiped out.

Liquor was brought into disrepute. Home life was saved. Prosperity was ushered in. The churches were immeasurably strengthened.

The foreign missionary movement in America was born in the mist of this revival. But after some years, Unitarianism swept over the

churches, denying the deity of Jesus and doubting the inspiration of the scripture. Materialism absorbed their interests. Their evangelistic zeal was chilled, and their soul-winning fervor was killed. God moved on!

11. Today the center of Christian expansion is definitely in the United States, with special concentration in the southern regions.

The lessons of history are clear to him who would learn. American Christians must evangelize or else God will move on. God’s hand is upon the Christian forces of America, thrusting them forth into the ripe harvest fields of evangelism. The United States offers the richest, ripest and most far-reaching opportunity for soul-winning and for missionary aggressiveness to be found in the wide, wide world. Present conditions demand evangelism. Christ’s commission commands evangelism.”

Dr. Leavell concluded with a poem by Henry Crocker, “Give Us a Watchword for the Hour”; our watchword is EVANGELIZE! EVANGELIZE! CHAPTER 9 DR. ROBBIN’S INTERPRETATION OF “BLESSEDS” IN MATTHEW 5 Matthew 5:3 “poor in spirit”—our spiritual bankruptcy; we are in poverty spiritually.

5:4 “they that mourn”—repentance; realizing we deserve God’s judgment, but will be comforted that Jesus loves us anyway.

5:5 “the meek”—trust not in themselves but in God’s mercy.

5:6 “they which hunger and thirst after righteousness”—for they shall be filled. Jesus said, “if any man thirst, let them come to me and drink.”

5:7 “the merciful”—for they shall obtain mercy.” When we come to Christ and care for others, WE receive mercy ourselves, at least from those we assist.

5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”—When God forgives us gives us at conversion, he gives us new hearts.

5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers”—Those who share the gospel with others help them come to peace with God and with others.

5:10 “They which are persecuted for righteousness sake”—what

happens when we stand up for Christ in our world, but we are promised all the blessings of life in His kingdom.

5:11 “Blessed…when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.” “Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven”—we’ll be rewarded even in heaven! “for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” We are in excellent company when we rejoice, as the prophets did, in suffering for Christ.

CHAPTER 11 Some of OUR REMEMBRANCES OF CEDAR HILL, precious to us, are those of people whose lives were transformed as they trusted Christ as Savior or became more deeply committed to HIM. •

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Johnnie Belle Batson was the first to have a vision from God to start a new church at Cedar Hill. She enlisted other families, helped her young pastor and new bride understand needs and faithfully served the church all her life.

Her husband, Dempsey Batson, backed Johnnie Belle in starting the church and helped erect the building. He came to services unless he forgot the time while fishing in a nearby river.

Gordon Ray Batson was a young teenager who was faithful to the church and began serving as Sunday school Superintendent when he was only 19 years old.

Grace Hoomes was a committed Christian when the church started and immediately came, began helping and trying to get others to come. Her children, listed next, followed her example.

Ruth Hoomes was an attractive teenager who faithfully served as church clerk and many other ways to involve others in the church.

Kenny Holmes was only years old when the church started. He became a follower of Christ committed to do God’s will for his life. He served as a minister of education in several places and for several years has been the Minister of Education at first Baptist Church, Montgomery.

Raymond Weaver was from a religious background, but did not know Christ personally and trusted Him as his Savior the first time I presented the gospel to him. He became the first Sunday

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School Superintendent for the new church. Raymond enlisted others to teach, visited people with me and took care of many church operating details. When he and his family moved to other parts of the country, they served wherever they lived in a church, but retired back to his home in Cedar Hill where other family members lived. They returned to serve in the Church again.

Mary Weaver, his wife, was already a Christian and began to serve immediately in the church, especially caring for small children. This included their two. She primarily took care of their ‘home base’ while Raymond used much of his spare time to help with the ministry of the church.

Eldon and Mrs. Weaver, an older couple, responded quickly to become members and modelled faithfulness through their weekly participation.

Louise Weaver, their daughter, a young single lady whose smile reflected the Christ who had rescued her from a regretted past. I think she taught youth or children in Sunday School.

Eunice Weaver, their daughter overcame her personal struggles, to become a dedicated follower of Christ, helping in Sunday School wherever needed.

Hazel Weaver Holder struggled to live with her husband, a pipe line worker gone from home most of the time. She began to overcome depression by taking steps to improve their marriage.

George Holder overcame alcohol and his restless spirit with Christ’s help; he was baptized and began rebuilding his life.

Joe Blow was a single young adult attracted to the church by its vitality. He became very faithful, bringing his friends with him.

Mr. and Mrs. Spinx, Ann Grantham and many others served in the church. There were too many to remember all their names and after over 50 years.

Peggy and I will never forget their love and sacrifices to expand God’s Kingdom. We look forward to seeing them again at the feet of Jesus in heaven.

CHAPTER 13 Dr. Paul James’ message at the Constitution of the BCNY:

I. “FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS.” Look at three aspects of these days.

• It is a time of accelerating secularism.

• It is a time of incipient and active antagonism to Christian truth.

• A third characteristic of our time is APATHY, like that expressed in Ezekiel 33:31: “They hear what you say but they will not do it, for with their lips they show much love, but their heart is set on their own gain.

II. “COME TO THE KINGDOM” • The kingdom of God is the framework in which we serve. Religion declined, not because it was refuted but because it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive and insipid.

• Culbert Rutenber, then president of the American Baptist convention said, “Southern Baptists are in a unique role to creatively minister. You’ve got the strategic position, the evangelical zeal, the biblical theology and now you are becoming more concerned about social issues. We also believe that what we are doing is top priority business. J. B. Lawrence said, “destroy every institution except the churches and the churches will rebuild the Institutions; But destroy the churches and the institutions will die from the want of support.”

• We have many comrades in our task: • Our convention is the largest evangelical body in the United States with nearly 11 and 1/2 million members; we have choice young man being trained in our 6 seminaries.

• Above all we have the assurance of our Lord Jesus Christ, who said, “upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

III. YOU I know you often feel that you’re on the Indianapolis Speedway and all you’ve got is a bike, but we have some blue-ribbon credentials for meeting the urgent challenges of this hour.

Here are eight of them.

1. We believe in the Bible as divine revelation. We accept it as final and authoritative.

2. We believe in proclamation through pulpit preaching, public teaching and personal witnessing.

3. We believe in evangelism. J. W. Hyde said, “no other organization on the face of the earth is charged with the high calling to which the church is summoned, confronting man with Jesus Christ.

4. We believe in social action. We serve within the world’s largest metropolitan community, the melting pot of people which has become a witches’ cauldron of problems. We understand that to maintain our integrity as the people of God we must be personally redemptive and socially responsible.

5. We believe in expansion. We have organized an average of six Churches a year in the area of our new convention for the last 12 years. Let us have a goal of one church a month, 12 a year, 60 new churches over the next five years. There are usually plenty of good reasons for not starting any mission, but the best time to start one is right now.

6. We believe in world missions. Southern Baptists have the largest number of missionaries of any denomination. At least 95% of those who have not heard the gospel live outside our homeland. Jesus said, “the field is the world.” Deeply committed to home missions and personally involved in local missions, we must ever keep world missions in proper perspective.

7. We believe in the church; that church which is the spiritual body of Jesus Christ and is bigger and better that anybody’s denomination or organization, for it is the “building of God.” 8. We believe in cooperation. We don’t always agree, but we try to work together and be agreeable. Far beyond the minor differences which divide us is the all-engulfing purpose which unites us. The very genius of our convention life is the spirit of oneness in Christ.

IV. “WHO KNOWS?” What is involved in the build up?

First, SACRIFICE. Albert McClelland says, “people close to the organization of any new convention make unbelievable sacrifices.

Men and women who took no interest in the state convention in older states now work hard to make it make it succeed. When I am needed, I can be counted on to pray, to serve, to give to promote and to sacrifice.

Second, SPIRIT. Arthur Walker has said, “15 years of rapid growth for Southern Baptists in Ohio can best be characterized with the word, “spirit’” I believe the rich blessings of God have come because of the spirit of pastors and missionaries and men and women of the churches who serve enthusiastically with determination, conviction and wisdom.

Third, THE SPIRIT OF GOD. A Rabbi at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem said, “there has been a blowing of the wind but there is yet to be a greater moving of the Spirit of God.” Let all of us pray, “spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me!”

CHAPTER15: JONESTOWN: WINDOW INTO THE DEMONIC —See article about Jonestown (next page)—

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