MAY 2015 “He broke apart their chains.”c919297.r97.cf2.rackcdn.com/mywnozefddo2yujfe8a7... ·...

CHURCH OF GOD

MAY 2015

Evangel“He broke apart their chains.”

—Psalm 107:14 GW

Personal stories of divine guidance, deliverance, healing, and miracles

EVANGEL • may 2015 3

Contents may 2015volume 105 n issue 5

PERSONAL STORIES, or “testimonies,” have been an important aspect of the Christian life since Jesus’ time on earth. Since the death and resurrection of Christ, personal stories told by Christians have contributed greatly to our understanding and appreciation of God—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Through the sharing of their experiences, believers have helped illuminate, clarify, and verify aspects of God’s work in our lives and in the world.

Individuals who share their testimonies give us an intimate view of some of the most precious moments in their faith walk. In a sense, they are inviting the reader to join them in a walk on ground that is sacred to them.—French L. Arrington

columns

5 In Covenant, Mark L. Williams 7 On My Mind, Lance Colkmire 34 Church of God Chronicles, Louis F. Morgan

departments

4 Ministry Snapshot 6 By the Numbers 8 Currents 17 GlobalConnect 30 Viewpoints 32 People and Events

god breaks chains

10 “Revival Is Our Only Hope” by Lance Colkmire Interview with John Ritcheson

12 Divine Encounters by Kay Mortimer Responding to God’s voice

14 When What You Believe Becomes What You Experience by David M. Griffis God killed my giant.

15 Counting or Complaining? by Susan Miller Pass God’s gratitude test.

16 His Ways! by Steve Gardner Eight years later

21 The Faith of a Few Good Friends by Marsha Robinson Praying for the impossible

22 My Daughter’s Healing by Mark Proctor Medicinal and miraculous

24 Kathy McDonald’s Missions Miracles by Sharon Arthurs Clinging to God’s promises

features

26 God’s Not Dead, So Why Do We Judge? by Josh Rice No stereotyping and vilifying others

28 2015 Camp Meeting Schedule

4 EVANGEL • may 2015

Church of God DECLARATION OF FAITH

WE BELIEVE:

1. In the verbal inspiration of the Bible.

2. In one God eternally existing in three persons; namely, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

3. That Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of the Father, conceived of the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary. That Jesus was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead. That He ascended to heaven and is today at the right hand of the Father as the Intercessor.

4. That all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and that repentance is commanded of God for all and necessary for forgiveness of sins.

5. That justification, regeneration, and the new birth are wrought by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.

6. In sanctification subsequent to the new birth, through faith in the blood of Christ; through the Word, and by the Holy Ghost.

7. Holiness to be God’s standard of living for His people.

8. In the baptism with the Holy Ghost subsequent to a clean heart.

9. In speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance and that it is the initial evidence of the baptism in the Holy Ghost.

10. In water baptism by immersion, and all who repent should be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

11. Divine healing is provided for all in the Atonement.

12. In the Lord’s Supper and washing of the saints’ feet.

13. In the premillennial second coming of Jesus. First, to resurrect the righteous dead and to catch away the living saints to Him in the air. Second, to reign on the earth a thousand years.

14. In the bodily resurrection; eternal life for the righteous, and eternal punishment for the wicked.

PUBLICATIONS MINISTRIESDIVISIONAL DIRECTOR

M. Thomas Propes

DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONSTerry Hart

MANAGING EDITORLance Colkmire

CENTRAL DISTRIBUTION COORDINATORRobert McCall

CFOWayne Walston

PRINTING DIRECTORMike Burnett

EVANGEL STAFFEDITOR

Lance Colkmire

EXECUTIVE SECRETARYElaine McDavid

COPY EDITOREsther Metaxas

GRAPHIC DESIGNERBob Fisher

EDITORIAL AND PUBLICATIONS BOARD

Tony D. Cooper, Les Higgins, Ray E. Hurt,David W. Jarvis, Cheryl Johns,

Antonio Richardson, T. Dwight Spivey

INTERNATIONALEXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Mark L. Williams, David M. Griffis, J. David Stephens,

Wallace J. Sibley, M. Thomas Propes

CHURCH OF GOD congregations meet through-out the United States and in more than 180 other countries. To find a church and times of services near you, access the church website, www.churchofgod.org, or fax your request to 423-478-7616.

Publication of material in the Evangel does not nec-essarily imply endorsement of the Church of God.

The Church of God Evangel (ISSN 0745-6778) is edited and published monthly. n Church of God Publish ing House, 1080 Montgomery Ave., P.O. Box 2250, Cleveland, TN 37320-2250 n Subscrip-tion rates: Single subscription per year $17, Canada $24, Bundle of 15 per month $17, Canada $28, Bundle of 5 per month $7.50, Canada $11.25 n Single copy $1.50 n Periodical postage paid at Cleveland, TN 37311 and at additional mailing offices n ©2015 Church of God Publications n All rights reserved n POSTMASTER: Send change of address to Evangel, P.O. Box 2250, Cleveland, TN 37320-2250. (USPS 112-240)

MEMBER OF THE EVANGELICAL PRESS ASSOCIATIONAND THE INTERNATIONAL PENTECOSTAL PRESS ASSOCIATION

MINISTRY SNAPSHOTVoice of Nations (Covenant Church of God, Charlottesville, Virginia) singing at the local shopping mall

If you have a ministry photo to be considered for this page, send it to [email protected].


IN COVENANT

ONE OF THE declarations of Jesus, captured in John 14:12, causes some Bible readers to scratch their

head. It says, “He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (NKJV). How literally are these words of Jesus to be understood in 2015?

If we believe the Bible—and we do!—Jesus’ statement in Mark 16:15-17, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature . . . and these signs will follow those who believe” (NKJV), removes any doubt of our expecta-tions. Jesus definitely taught continuity between His ministry and the ministry of the Church.

Signs and wonders serve many purposes in our time. Logically, they confirm the ministry or message of a preacher under whose activity they occur.

The affirmation of the message came home to me in a powerful way some years ago when I was preaching in a camp meeting. The subject was “Liv-ing a Spirit-Empowered Life,” and I was perhaps 20 minutes into the sermon. An unusual move of the Spirit suddenly swept over the congregation, resulting in a weighty sense of worship. As people stood with hands and voices raised in praise, a pastor ran to where I stood, excitedly pointing and exclaiming, “Right here on my side, under my arm, a large tumor-like growth had appeared a while back, but as the message was preached, it disappeared. It’s gone!”

God had confirmed His Word with signs following.

mark l. williamsgeneral overseer

Miracles serve as the evidence of the one true God. My mother’s father was an unsaved Depression-era coalminer who was struck by the dread scourge of tuberculosis. After extensive treatment in the hospital, he was released by doc-tors to go home and die, since nothing further could be done for him. Lying on his deathbed, he was visited by a Church of God preacher and a group of mem-bers who prayed for him. He was raised up instantly, completely cured, which resulted in his salvation and the change of spiritual trajectory for his family and future generations.

Bible scholars rightly observe that, although sporadic miracles have been recorded throughout the centuries of God’s dealing with humankind, basi-cally three intense periods of miraculous manifestation have taken place: the time of the Exodus, the period of ministry of Elijah and Elisha, and the first-century activities of Jesus and the early church.

Some now speculate that God’s people may be experiencing another miraculous wave in this era of Pentecost. Whatever we may think about this idea, we know from experience and from the Word that signs and wonders are real. Since the devil and false prophets are capable of producing “lying wonders” (2 Thess. 2:9), we must be discerning. Our challenge is not to substitute the sand of experience for the rock of revealed truth.

Signs and wonders are real. They con-firm ministry and message, testify to God’s power, meet the needs of people, increase faith, manifest God’s judgment, and teach powerful truth. Let us believe God for them and praise Him when they happen!

signs and wonders in 2015?

Our challenge

is not to substitute

the sand of experience

for the rock of

revealed truth.


BY THE NUMBERS

ALL THE PREACHING, teaching, music, and entertainment beamed by Christian TV and radio is primarily consumed by Evangelicals and weekly churchgoers, according to data released by LifeWay Research in February. However, Ed Stetzer, executive director of LifeWay Research, sees good news in the numbers.

“Most people would be surprised that one in three of their neighbors is watching Christian TV. Do one in three watch the nightly news? I don’t think so. It’s an overlooked segment of society that is larger than most people think,” he said.

Survey results:

• 67% of Americans never or rarely watch Christian-based programming on television. Those who do watch at least sometimes are overwhelmingly self-identified Evangeli-cals (69%) and weekly churchgoers (62%).

• One in four Americans say they watch or listen to Chris-tian programming every week on their computer, phone, or tablet.

• 71% never or rarely listen to Christian radio. Among those who do, 67% are Evangelicals, and 57% are weekly churchgoers.

• 33% of Americans said they at least sometimes read Christian-based books, while 40% report seeing a Chris-tian movie in the last year.

WHO’S WATCHING?

MORE UTAHANS attend a religious service every week—51%—than any other state, according to a new Gallup poll. That statistic is “a direct result of Utah’s 59% Mormon population,” Gallup’s Frank Newport writes, “as Mormons have the highest religious-service attendance of any major religious group in the U.S.”

The next most-frequent attendees are in the South—Mississippi (47%), Alabama (46%), Louisiana (46%), and Arkansas (45%).

At the bottom of the list is Vermont, “where 17% of residents say they attend religious services every week,” Newport writes. Just ahead of the Green Mountain State are New Hampshire (20%), Maine (20%), Massachusetts (22%), Washington (24%), and Oregon (24%).

Respondents were asked, “How often do you attend church, synagogue, or mosque—at least once a week, almost every week, about once a month, seldom, or never?” Survey-ors then added up those who say “at least once a week.”

WHO’S GOING TO CHURCH?

n Top Religious Traditions By State in 2014

SOURCE: Public Religion Research Institute

Catholic White Evangelical Protestant Unaffiliated

White Mainline Protestant Mormon


Four ways to contact the editor:

• [email protected] • 423-478-7592

• Church of God Evangel on Facebook • Box 2250, Cleveland, TN 37320-2250

Charles Swindoll said, “Our churches must believe the Word, teach the Word, and hold believers accountable to the truths of the Word. Otherwise, we’re playing religious games” (The Church Awakening).

On February 8 of this year, I stood in the balcony of the Kingston Park New Testament Church of God in Jamaica. From there I watched four adult classes taking place simultaneous-ly in the sanctuary’s four corners, with a fifth class in the choir! The groups did not distract each other; instead, students were tuned into the morning’s lesson.

The day before, at Jamaica’s National Sunday School Convention, I presented two seminars for 500 adult teachers from 260 New Testament Church of God congregations. These hungry teachers posed challenging questions and offered sharp insights. Contrarily, when the Church of God in the U.S. planned a national Sunday school conference several years ago, it had to be canceled because so few people signed up.

In Amos 8:11, the Lord warned of spiritual famine—a famine “of hearing the words of the Lord.” Let’s stop starv-ing ourselves and our children! Let’s read God’s Word at home and study His Word with fellow believers.

ON MY MINDlance colkmire

editor

IMAGINE YOU ARE in a church where spiritual manifestations are taking place week after week. Messages in tongues are being spoken and inter-

preted . . . words of prophecy are going forth . . . the worship is loud and wide open. The congregation is even consider-ing changing its name to “Glory Flow House of Worship.”

One day, your church receives a letter from the administrative bishop. It begins, “Brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts.”

You immediately think, It’s obviously been a very long time since the bishop has visited our church. He doesn’t know how the Holy Spirit is moving here.

However, as your pastor continues reading the letter to the congregation, you realize the bishop is not saying your church is ignorant of the reality of spiritu-al gifts; the issue is how the gifts are being used (and misused) among you.

This is exactly what was taking place in the ancient church at Corinth. Spiritual gifts were flowing, but in chaotic, showy fashion. So, a few years after he planted this church, Paul wrote to them, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant” (1 Cor. 12:1 NKJV), then spent three chapters teach-ing how spiritual manifestations must operate “decently and in order” (14:40), and always “for the strengthening of the church” (v. 26 NIV).

Sadly, ignorance of spiritual matters persists in churches today . . . and not just concerning gifts of the Spirit.

“Christians used to be known as ‘peo-ple of one book,’” said Biola University’s Kenneth Berding. “They memorized [the Bible], meditated on it, talked about it, and taught it to others. We don’t do that any-more, and in a very real sense we’re starv-ing ourselves to death” (Biola Magazine).

In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association added “avoidant/restrictive

food intake disorder” (ARFID) to the fifth edition of its guidebook on mental disorders. ARFID is an eating disturbance so pervasive that the person is unable to meet appropriate nutritional needs—for instance, he or she might refuse to eat anything except chicken nuggets and cheese pizza. For the person’s condition to be labeled as ARFID, their problem with eating cannot be explained by a lack of food being available.

In the American church, we could label our problem CHAIN (Choosing Hunger and Ignorance Now). The average American household has nearly five Bibles (american bible.org), yet most Americans cannot name even half of the Ten Commandments (barna.org). That’s choosing ignorance.

The problem stretches beyond per-sonal devotions. According to a LifeWay Research study, less than half (47%) of Protestant churchgoers attend classes or groups for adults (such as Sunday school, Bible study, or small groups) at least twice per month. That’s choosing to go hun-gry—skipping the life-giving sustenance of sharing the eternal bread with fellow believers.

CHAIN results in . . .• not knowing what we believe (or,

if we can state our beliefs, not knowing why we believe them)

• singing worship songs to a God we do not know

• failing to understand and follow God’s will for our lives

• being unable to pass on the faith to the next generation

• losing confidence in the inspiration of Scripture.

IGNORANCE AIN’T BLISS

are we just playing

religious games?

I


CURRENTS

The purpose of CURRENTS is to inform readers of trends and events influencing the culture.

children devastated by boko haramn MEMORIES OF Boko Haram’s murder-ous spree in his Nigerian hometown haunt Tom Gowon, 9, as he sits on a patch of grass at a refugee camp in Chad, sipping steaming porridge from a plastic mug.

“I was lucky because I was not killed,” said Gowon, recalling the assault on Baga, Nigeria, in early January. “But they shot and killed my father. My mother was kid-napped by the militants.”

Children such as Gowon bear the brunt of Boko Haram’s rampage since its fighters kidnapped more than 200 school-girls last year and conquered enough terri-tory to declare a caliphate that covers one-fifth of Nigeria. Where the militants have met resistance, they’ve torched villages and left piles of corpses in their wake.

“There are several camps around here housing many children who have lost their parents in attacks,” said Guy Nan-housngue, a Chadian relief worker who said children make up about half of the Nigerians coming to the Baga Sola refugee camp on the shores of Lake Chad, which separates the two countries. “We’re regis-tering more than 50 children every day.”

The chaos has displaced more than a million Nigerians, creating a wave of refugees that includes 157,000 people who have fled to neighboring Cameroon,

Chad, and Niger. The vast majority of the refugees are women and children.

More people would seek refuge at the camp if families weren’t trying to navigate 40-mile-wide Lake Chad. “Many of them are dying en route trying to cross,” Nan-housngue said.

Refugees who try to circumvent the lake often meet the same fate, said Seid Abdullaye, a Chadian official who oversees the Baga Sola camp. The walk through deserts and wetlands at the edge of the lake can take days or even weeks.

Those who reach their destination can breathe a sigh of relief.

“Once they reach the camp, their safety is guaranteed,” Abdullaye said. “We are protected here with Chadian military, and we’re not worried about any kind of attacks.”

But their future is increasingly uncer-tain: The camps in Chad are bursting at the seams. Shelter, food, medicine, and other supplies such as mosquito nets and cooking equipment are running low, Abdullaye said.

Traumatized refugees such as young Gowon have settled into despair. Since Chadian officials moved him from a detention center for orphan children to the refugee camp, Gowon has been sniff-

ing solvent to take the edge off his chilly, nightmare-filled dreams.

He’s reluctantly slipping into an addic-tion. “I don’t like the solvent because it makes my chest hurt,” he said. “I have been sick since I came to the camp.”

The solvent is his only diversion from an otherwise bleak life. If Gowon can’t secure space in a tent at night, he some-times sleeps outside on the grass, huddled with other orphan children under card-board blankets, he said.

Other lonely orphans roam the streets of the camp. Many witnessed Boko Haram militants massacring hundreds of people when the extremist group seized a Nigerian military base in Baga as well as several other towns and villages in the region in January.

“I don’t think I have a bright future in my country,” said Ali Hasana, 12, who waited in line for food. “I have no educa-tion. I have no parents. This is because there’s no peace in my country.”

Hasana witnessed Boko Haram fight-ers murder his parents in a Baga shooting spree in which militants seemed intent to kill everyone on sight. He and five other boys escaped the carnage and made their way to Chad.

“There were dead bodies all over the streets,” he said, recalling Baga. “I wit-nessed Red Cross officials loading corpses in polythene bags onto trucks after the massacre.”

Hasana’s friend Rick Lami wonders whether his mother and father escaped death in Baga. “I was separated from my family members when the militants attacked us,” he said. “We ran for our lives, and we’ve never met again. I don’t know if they are dead or alive, as they are not here at the displaced-people site with us.”

Nine-year-old Gowon said, “I don’t know where my future lies. I wish I could also have died during the attack.”—RNS

Tom Gowon, 9, in a brown

jacket, with his fellow refugees

at Baga Sola camp, Chad.

Photo courtesy of USA Today.


n OUR LADY OF VILNIUS Church, built by families of immigrant Lithuanian long-shoremen, started out a century ago as a beloved worship space. It was closed in 2007 because of what the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York described as a dwindling congregation, a weak roof, and a pastor who could not “understand, read, or speak Lithuanian.”

Now, it’s a coveted real-estate asset.In 2013, it was sold for $13 million to

one of the city’s biggest developers. The following year, that company flipped it to another developer for $18.4 million. Now the yellow-brick church near the entrance to the Holland Tunnel awaits demolition to make way for an 18-story luxury apart-ment house.

“It makes you cynical,” said Christina Nakraseive, a former parishioner. “It seems like it’s all about real estate.”

The issue has taken on added sig-nificance since the archdiocese—citing declining attendance, rising costs, and a looming priest shortage—announced plans to merge scores of parishes and close dozens of churches this year.

The move raises an issue that has been faced by thousands (no one seems

to know exactly how many) of shuttered houses of worship across the Northeast and Midwest: what to do with buildings that are often architecturally important and always sentimentally important, espe-cially since a church’s shape, age, and loca-tion make the building hard to reuse.

The booming residential real estate market in parts of Manhattan and Brook-lyn offers a solution, albeit controversial: Demolish them—or even convert them—to allow for housing.

A few have been converted to apart-ments. A developer who paid $13.8 million in 2011 for St. Vincent de Paul Church in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn turned it into the Spire Lofts, a 40-unit apartment house. A former Pentecostal church in the Greenpoint section was con-verted into three apartments, each renting for about $100,000 a year. Wood-beamed ceilings and peaked windows remind resi-dents of the building’s ecclesiastical roots.

Several other such projects are in the works. The Episcopal Church of the Redeem-er in Brooklyn probably will be torn down, and St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in the same borough will be converted into apartments, with a triplex in the steeple.

Robert Corti worships at Our Lady of Peace, whose redbrick 1866 building will close when the parish merges with anoth-er on the East Side under the archdioc-esan program called “Making All Things New” (which skeptics have dubbed “Mak-ing All Things Condo” or “Making All Things Revenue”).

Our Lady of Peace was established by Italian immigrants who felt unwelcome in other parishes. Corti’s grandparents were married there; he, his mother, his aunt, his sister, and his grandchildren were all baptized there. He walks eight blocks to go there, even though another church is closer. Corti says closing a church in good physical and fiscal condition will alienate its loyal and generous parishioners.

About a mile uptown from Our Lady of Peace, St. Thomas More parish also finds itself endangered (even though it’s not yet clear the parish will be merged with another or what might happen to its buildings, which are not city landmarks). It is a rich church in a rich neighborhood. This church was the site of John F. Ken-nedy Jr.’s memorial service. Its build-ing, which has a 19th-century pastoral elegance, is usually filled on Sunday.

Meanwhile, former parishioners at Our Lady of Vilnius still gather occasional-ly to pray outside their old church’s locked front doors.—RNS

shuttering and selling new york churches

Robert J. Corti talks about the closing of Our Lady of Peace Church on East 62nd Street in New York City. Photo courtesy of USA Today.


John Ritcheson is a full-time Church of God evangelist and ordained bishop based in Boiling Springs, South Carolina. His minis-try’s website is voiceofdeliverance.com.

Talk about your childhood. I grew up on the streets of Chicago, joining a street gang when I was 8 years old. By the time I was 12, I was in reform school. The first night there, several inmates tried to rape me. My clothes were off, but my uncles had taught me that when you got checked in, they would give you some socks and a bar of soap. They said put that bar of soap in a sock and tie it—use it as a blackjack. And back in the ’60s, they actually had metal forks instead of plas-tic. I was able to fight them off [with the “blackjack” and forks]. I got a week in the “hole” with no clothes. I slept in my own waste. When you’re in solitaire, you’re in the dark. I was 12. You feel bugs crawling all over you. You wake up and you’ve got body sores, and a week seems like a hundred years. I believe I became demon pos-sessed at that point. I could feel lust, anger, hate, and greed, but I could feel no remorse and no mercy. Describe your life in organized crime. Sometimes I would be sent out of town to take care of a job because they needed someone who wouldn’t be recog-nized in the community. When I would check into a motel, even though I could not read, the first thing I would do is get the Gideon’s Bible and throw it in the garbage outside. Those demons inside me knew there was enough power in that book that if I got a hold of it, God would

somehow make me able to read enough of it so I would get saved. That’s how fearful the demons are of the Word of God. The demons fear God’s Word more than the church respects God’s Word.

How did you become a Christian? Mitch Maloney sent a man named David Ebel to pastor a Church of God in Romeoville, Illinois. My first wife went to church one day in 1979 and was saved. I asked her, “Where have you been?” “Church.” I had a punch bowl full of joints. I reached over and grabbed a joint. She loved to smoke dope. I lit it up and said, “Here, let’s smoke some dope.” She said, “I don’t smoke dope anymore.” I knew she loved cocaine, so I said, “OK, let’s do some blow.”

“I don’t do blow anymore.” Then I put on a record by the Rolling Stones; the song happened to be “Sym-phony for the Devil.” My wife knew I was a criminal, so she never talked back to me. But she knocked the stereo off the stand and said, “I don’t listen to that anymore.” I went to grab her, but a fear came over me and I started shaking uncontrol-lably. I had never been afraid—not even the three times I was stabbed. So, I went on a three-day binge. I called out Chicago police officers and threatened them, try-ing to get them to shoot me, but they did not. I went home and did some horrible things. Then I looked at my wife and said, “What do you think now?” She said, “I love you.” I was 25 years old, and no one had ever told me that. I was going to shoot her that night because the moment I felt love, that rage rose up. She went to bed, and I had a gun in my hand. It was a “32 throwaway”—no serial numbers—with finger-proof grips on it. I went through the bedroom door and ran into a wall that was not there. I thought it was a ghost; now I know it was the Holy Ghost! I was scared witless. A phone number came into my head. It was 2:00 in the morning, but I called it. In those days, you didn’t have caller ID, but David Ebel answered the phone and called me by name. I said, “It all started when I sat down in your church. There are these fists inside of me, there are ghosts in my house, and I’m scared of my wife. It started with you; now you’re going to fix this.” Brother Ebel said, “Say a prayer.” It was just a simple prayer, but I was changed. I felt a supernatural warmth and peace come over me.

john ritcheson:by lance colkmire

“revival is our only hope”

evangel interview


Because of my criminal background, I was moved to Texas. There, I went through the Ministerial Internship Program. I did my internship under Tony May—a very good man. I knew I was called to be a life-time evangelist. If we in the Church of God do not recognize and make opportunity for traveling ministers—which are all through-out the Bible—then we’re eliminating one-fifth of the fivefold ministry. I went to one church to share my testi-mony, and five weeks later we were still in revival! This was in 1981. I had started digging in the Bible, and God blessed my brain after 12 years of being fried. I would listen to the Bible on tape at night when I went to bed, and somehow I began to visualize the words. Brother T. L. Lowery allowed me the privilege to preach for him in 1992 [at the National Church of God near Washington, D.C.]. He took me under his wing and taught me about prayer and fasting—oh, what a life-changer! Another brother, Pat Schatzline, taught me about studying the Word, how to become an expository preacher, and really help people. I am pro-education. Some people think that if you’re into a move of God, you’re into ignorance, but I want to be smarter tomor-row. There’s no premium on ignorance. My daughter, Sarah, is getting her doctorate at the University of Miami; my son, John, is a family counselor. Both of them passionately love God. Here I am— a man who couldn’t read or write—and I have a son who has a master’s degree and a daughter finishing a doctorate degree. My wife, Pam, has two married chil-dren—Charity (married to Ned Bernard) and Eric Burkhead (married to Julia)—who both attended Lee University. We have four grandchildren—Olivia, Julia, Melanie, and Eric.

What challenges do you face as a full-time evangelist? All the time I hear, “Times have changed; revivals are no longer relevant.” I believe it’s relevant when something

I’d been on massive drugs for 12 years. I had eight pounds of pot in my freezer. I flushed it all down the toilet—didn’t know why, just did it. I threw all my booze on my front lawn. My neighbors thought it was Mardi Gras or something. From that moment, it took me about three months to get off cigarettes. God deliv-ered me from what I had to be delivered from to stay saved, and then He let me learn how to get delivered from tobacco.

What happened next? The phone rings two days later, and it’s my brother Dan. He said, “John, do you have that dope?” I had bought it and he was going to sell it. I said, “No, Dan; I flushed it down the toilet.” We went down the list—Quaaludes, heroin, coke—all flushed down the toilet. He said, “What happened, John?” I said, “I think I found religion.” He said, “Well, I’d like to have religion too.” I said, “I don’t know if you can have religion. Are you scared of your wife?” “No.” “Are there any ghosts in your house?” “No.” “Do you feel anything in your stomach pounding or anything trying to get out?” “No.” “Well, I don’t know if you can have religion. All I know is I asked this guy Jesus to forgive me of my sins and come into my life. I don’t understand this, but I’m not mad. I don’t hate anyone. I can’t do dope anymore. I slept last night for the first time in 12 years without having to knock myself out with drugs, and I woke up without a hangover. I woke up happy.” I led him in the sinner’s prayer, and he was saved. A couple of weeks later, my mother called. She said, “The women in the neigh-borhood say you’re acting really strange. They said you’re being real nice to people and giving people money.”

I couldn’t keep the money I had made from all those crimes, so I just gave it away. I started crying, and my mom knew I hadn’t cried since I was 12 years old. I said, “Mom, what is that?” My mom got real quiet and said, “Son, I think that is love.” I said, “Well, Mom, Jesus loves me. I am sorry for all the horrible pain I’ve caused you and the torment I’ve put you and Dad through.” They were good people. They were hardworking. My dad worked 70 hours a week to raise 10 children.

I said, “Mom, I know Jesus. I don’t know what that means, but I know Him—He’s real.” I led my mom to the Lord on the phone that day.

Talk about your call into the ministry. My wife would read the Scriptures to me, but I didn’t know I was called to preach. One day she read, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). I asked the pastor, “Could I talk to the church about this?” He said yes. I spoke, and 45 minutes later, three people got saved.

“I knew I was called to be a lifetime

evangelist. If we in the Church of God do not recognize

and make opportu-nity for traveling ministers—which

are all throughout the Bible—then

we’re eliminating one-fifth of the

fivefold ministry.”


me to, I will do this. I will do it simply by faith.”

“Good. Trust Me.”

I called my friend, and we went to break-fast. I explained honestly what my pur-pose was, and what God had said. I told her how I wasn’t sure what work I could give her, but that I must be obedient to the Lord. She agreed to pray and discuss it with her husband.

Within a couple of days, my friend called, excited. God had given her and her hus-band peace, and I had my confirmation. I decided to send her to a tax-software training school a few months later. What happened next proves only God could orchestrate this whole thing!

It was a two-day seminar, and she called me at noon the first day.

“Kay, you’ll never believe what has hap-pened. I’m sitting at a lunch table with a lady who has a tax business just a few miles from us who wants to sell it. You’ve got to meet her. You’ve got to talk with her!”

Excitement was pouring from her voice like water from an opened spigot. She knew this was from the Lord. I, however, wasn’t quite convinced. How could I buy a business with no money!

I did meet the woman, and negotiations began. God opened the way for me to buy her business through a payment plan from the seasonal profits over the next few years.

divine encounters

by kay mortimer

WE SERVE a God who is intricately involved in our lives. He does not just tell us He cares for us; He

proves it with His actions.

Sometimes these actions remain unno-ticed by us, while at other times they are unmistakably conspicuous.

A Taxing Situation

About 15 years ago, I was working full-time for a payroll company, making a decent salary while maintaining a home-based side business doing tax preparation and accounting. God began to deal with me to leave my full-time job and build my tax business. This made no sense to me, as my side business was very small and not able to provide a substantial income.

The next word I heard from the Lord was to take a friend to breakfast and ask her about working with me. This prayer con-versation went something like this:

“Lord, You do know that I only have a very small tax business at my home. I mean, very few clients.”

“Yes, Kay, I do.”

“So, Lord, I don’t have a clue what work I could possibly give her, since it is so small.”

“Yes. I got that.”

“What can I offer her?”

Then, in an aha moment, I found myself saying, “Nevertheless, because You told

is really happening. That is why I am determined, as an evangelist, to fast and seek God’s face, so when I leave a church the pastor can say, “This man helped me.” I understand how pastors got turned off by having a “revival” without results, but it’s twofold. The churches that have great results are the ones that have a program to follow up what happens in the revival. Last July, we had a five-week revival in South Aiken, South Carolina. We had 286 people saved. That’s because the pastor, Bruce Fox, pleaded with the people, “Please, this is a man of God. We need this.” The devil has deceived the church into thinking that revival is the one place we have to cut, when I think it’s the worst place to cut. Money follows ministry.

How can a congregation experience revival? With all my heart, I believe the only hope America has of survival is a Holy Ghost revival. We must make prayer a priority. A praying church will eventually have a revival. You can’t pray without getting God’s will, and revival is part of God’s will. Every time a church gets hungry, God will send spiritual food. This causes growth individually and corporately. If we don’t start emphasizing reviv-als, what about those little churches that are the only Pentecostal church in their community? It’s the only place people can get healed or delivered, because people receive only what is taught. Those churches can’t survive without revival. They have to have that drawing point, that exposure. If we don’t have revival, we’re not going to reach Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world. We will fail miserably.

it might mean praying for a child you’ve never met.


benefit. Sometimes, God just wants a will-ing vessel to accomplish His life-changing plan for another person.

One Sunday morning as we prepared to go to church, I checked the weather forecast as usual. The Weather Channel posted an Amber Alert about a 2-year-old boy abducted from a town about two hours away from us. The alert described the vehicle, but was unsure of the direc-tion it was traveling.

As soon as I finished reading the alert, the Spirit of the Lord arrested me.

“You need to pray for that child!” the Lord said to my heart. “He’s on the interstate very near you. Pray that the child will be safe and that the perpetrator captured.”

Knowing this was a divine call, I imme-diately prayed in accordance with His revealed will. I did not know the people involved nor the details of what had hap-pened. All I knew is the God I serve cared about this precious child and wanted

to rescue him. When He looked for an intercessor in my area, it was as if He was saying, “Tag, you’re it!” So, I obeyed.

I prayed until I felt the burden lift, then we finished preparing for church and left. As we entered the interstate, I noticed several flashing lights ahead.

As we drew closer, I saw several police cars surrounding a vehicle identical to the one described in the Amber Alert! I knew this was that child. It was con-firmed later by a friend in law enforce-ment. The child was safe and the man was captured!

As soon as I passed that car, I began to cry as I realized how important it is for us to be sensitive to the Spirit of God at a moment’s notice. It may be an imme-diate need for us, for our family, or for someone we don’t even know—but He does! I then began to pray for that child and his abductor regarding their future.

I may never in this life meet any of those people, nor may I find out here on earth what happened long-term with that child. However, I rest in knowing that I obeyed a divine direc-tive on behalf of someone else.

Staying Sensitive

Both of these experiences taught me the importance of being sensitive to God’s Spirit at all times. We never know when God will send us an urgent call.

What a privilege to be a small part of God’s eternal work! Let us be found ready, available, and willing at a moment’s notice.

Kay Mortimer, founder of Covenant Truth Ministries in Aiken, South Caro-lina, leads Bible studies, speaks at special events, and teaches through a weekly radio program. kaymortimer.com

Amazingly, I had enough work during tax season for myself, my friend, another tax professional, and my friend’s retired husband full-time! The business only grew from there until I recently sold it.

What would I have missed had I limited God way back when I could not imagine what He was planning? What would I have forfeited if I had not been willing to take a leap of faith?

Sometimes the divine encounters in our lives are costly. It cost me humility to speak to someone about a potential job I didn’t even know about. It cost me sacri-fice to leave a salaried job and move into a field where I didn’t know if I’d have a dol-lar to spare. Yet, our faithful God meets our acts of obedient faith head-on by supplying “above all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20).

Amber Alert

God’s encounters with us sometimes are not about us at all, but for someone else’s

divine encounters


THE PROMISE of divine heal-ing found in Holy Scripture has never been foreign to me. Being both the son and grandson of

Pentecostal preachers, I learned of divine healing through expository preaching, Sunday school lessons, and great hymns of the church. And I have preached about healing since my teen years.

To know and believe in the concept of divine healing and then reach a physical crisis in your life where you need God’s healing touch are two very different things, or so I thought. It was in such a crisis that what I believed became what I experienced.

In April 2014, I underwent extensive surgery for a serious condition that had developed in my lower back. I had stenosis in my spine as well as herniated discs in the lumbar region.

My surgery was successful and, initially, my recovery went very well. I had started going back to my office on a limited basis and my prognosis appeared excellent. This was to be my calm before the crisis.

Toward the end of the second week, I began to feel overwhelming fatigue and

loss of strength. After undergoing test-ing, I was found to have contracted MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus)—a deadly antibiotic-resistant infection that had invaded my surgical site.

I was rushed back into surgery. For a week, I stayed in the hospital with a wound vacuum placed in the surgical site. Then I underwent surgery again for removal of the wound vacuum.

After returning home, I was given a week of IV antibiotic therapy with one of the few drugs available to treat this powerful disease . . . but my fatigue continued. At the end of that week, the home health-care personnel drew blood to send to the laboratory to gauge my recovery. That same evening, the laboratory called and told Judy, my wife, to rush me to the emergency room as the labs indicated that I was in critical condition. My blood count was dangerously low and my kidneys were racing toward failure; in short, my life was in jeopardy.

The doctors, nurses, and technicians were outstanding as they aggressively treated me to save my life. I received four blood transfusions and appropriate medications, but the situation was very bad. I thought

of the scripture concerning the woman of Capernaum—she “was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse” (Mark 5:26).

On a certain night, however, things would change as they did for the woman of Capernaum when she “touched the hem of [Jesus’] garment” (Matt. 9:20). On that night, as I lay in the bed, I heard clearly the Spirit of the Lord ask me, “What is your name?”

I responded in that darkened room, say-ing aloud, “My name is David.”

I seemed to hear the Lord say to me, “I had a David once that I loved dearly. He was a man after My own heart. A giant was about to kill him, but I went into that valley and killed the giant that would have killed My David. David, a giant is now try-ing to kill you, but I am going to kill this giant for you.”

At that moment, I was filled with a sense of peace from a world far beyond this one. I remembered how David the shep-herd had told King Saul, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine” (1 Sam. 17:37 NKJV).

when what you believE becomes what you experience

by david m. griffis


The next morning my phone was filled with text messages from people the Lord had awakened to pray for me during the night. Many did not know I was ill.

A lifelong pastor friend and his wife called to tell me they felt led to come and serve me Communion, lay their hands on me, and pray for my complete healing. They came and ministered to me that after-noon, and the next day all of my positive indicator numbers began to rise. My heal-ing was now rapidly taking place and my kidneys and blood were climbing back to normal levels.

I had spent more than 30 days in the hos-pital and rehab, and would still have to do a lot of outpatient rehabilitation. Because of my severe edema and bed confinement, I had to learn to walk again.

Some might ask, “Why didn’t you receive instant healing from that condition?” I had to go from a wheelchair to a walker and then to a cane until I was able to walk freely, but God’s purposes were wonder-fully fulfilled in my life throughout this progression. What empathy and appre-ciation I have gained for those who face life with handicaps! What I now know about the beauty and selflessness of my wife, who cared for me “in sickness and in health,” I may never have understood completely except for this experience.

I now know the courage of those who live with pain and uncertain steps, yet face life as they do. I have found that pride and self-sufficiency, based upon carnal over-confidence, create in us an arrogance far from the nature of Christ.

Being crippled, if only for a few weeks, filled me with gratitude for every bless-ing of God, and gave me a renewed total dependence on Him. He healed my body; more significantly, God became my Jehovah-Rapha—“The Lord that healeth thee” (Ex. 15:26).

Dr. David M. Griffis is first assistant gen-eral overseer of the Church of God.

RECENTLY WHEN I paid my bill at a res-taurant, I told the owner about the atten-tive service and sweet attitude a server had shown me. It turned out she was new on the job, and her employer was glad to know she was performing so well. (Of course, I also thanked the server and left a good tip.) Sighing, the owner confided, “It is so encouraging to receive compli-ments. The majority of comments from patrons are only complaints.” Sadly, this seems to be true of most of us today, even believers. We spend too much time standing at a complaint counter and not enough at the compliment counter. Not only do we complain to other people, but we usually spend more time complaining to our heavenly Father than counting the blessings He bestows on us. Hear Moses’ words: “When the people com-plained, it displeased the Lord” (Num. 11:1). When Hezekiah was sick unto death, he asked God to heal him, promising that if he were healed, he would praise God all his days (Isa. 38:19-20). Yet after God did heal him,

Hezekiah did not give God the glory, “for his heart was lifted up” (2 Chron. 32:25). In other words, Hezekiah failed God’s gratitude test. Whether it is physical healing, financial blessings, emotional well-being, family rela-

tionships, or whatever blessing God showers you with, do you give God thanks? Not only should we be grateful for what we have received, but also for

what we have escaped. Recently one of my grown sons phoned to say, “Thanks for your daily prayers for me, Mom. My car was totaled in an accident today, but I was unhurt.” Another young friend phoned recently to report, “The tumor on my thyroid was not cancerous after all, although all the doctors predicted it would be.” If the screen between heaven and earth were removed, we certainly would discover that God makes sure His angels are perform-ing their job very well. We too often focus on the negatives rather than the positives of life. It is time to quit complaining in favor of praising God for His numberless blessings.

COUNTING OR COMPLAINING?We should be grateful for what we have received and for what we have escaped.

by susan miller


in a coma in ICU, and his head was four times its normal size!

She told us the doctors had said if he lived, he would have severe brain dam-age. Then she asked if we would make the three-hour drive to the hospital to pray for him. Our response was, “Absolutely!”

Upon arrival at the hospital, we were greet-ed and thanked by his mother. A nurse said we could go in and pray for him, but that we had to whisper and could only anoint him on his foot, so as not to arouse him. So many emotions flooded our souls as we entered his room. We gently laid hands on his foot, and began to pray. As we did, we both felt what seemed like electricity run-ning through our bodies and into his! The power of God was so real in that room!

When we finished, we took his family out for dinner, prayed for them, and went home. We smiled and said, “This must have been God’s purpose for what we went through in the failed adoption.”

A few days later, the mother called to inform us that the day after we anointed her son and prayed for him, his brain swelling began to go down, his eye was completely restored, and there was abso-lutely no brain damage! We shouted at this miracle of God!

A few weeks later, the mother drove to our house and let us spend time with this miracle child who had almost become our son. We more deeply realized that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts!

I do not know what you are going through right now, but I know God has everything in His control. You may not understand the whys of what you are enduring, but you must understand the who! Trust Him, knowing that “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than your ways!”

Steve Gardner is lead pastor of Christ the Rock Church of God (ctrcog.com) in Knox-ville, Tennessee. He blogs at Reclamation-Ministries.com.

Y OU WILL NEVER be able to have children.”

For two people who loved kids, that news was devastat-

ing to my wife and me. I remember the empty, surreal feeling that filled our souls as we contemplated life without children. We were heartbroken, and shared the dreadful news with our family and closest friends only.

Shortly thereafter, a pastor friend called to tell us about a young woman in his church who was pregnant and wanted to give up her baby to a good Christian couple. He told her about us, and soon we were on our way to meet her! Our sadness was turning a corner . . . or so we thought.

We met her, and she proceeded to “choose” us as her baby’s adoptive par-ents! We were thrilled! We soon found out she was carrying a little boy, and began making arrangements to receive him into our lives. I remember sitting in a restau-rant and giddily talking with my wife about all we needed to get “our son”! My list included a baseball glove and a Thomp-son Chain-Reference Bible!

The day of his delivery came, and we were there at the hospital to pray with the birth mother. He was born, and the hospital hosted a “parents’ dinner” for us. However, within a few days, his birth mother changed her mind, deciding to keep her baby!

Again, devastation and heartache flooded our souls like polluted water! Was this some kind of cruel joke? Were we destined to be childless? Were we suffering for some past sin?

So many questions crowded our mind, and it was difficult to hear the voice of the Lord. The weeks that followed that devas-tating experience were filled with a bevy of emotions. We went through our daily routines on autopilot.

his ways!“My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8-9 NKJV).

by steve gardner

We pastor a church, so we had people who needed us. But how could we talk about faith and purpose when our own faith was riddled with hurts that only parents who have lost children can understand?

God was gracious during this time, and Isaiah 55:8-9 became real for us. How-ever, it wasn’t until eight years later that we understood how much “higher” God’s ways were above ours. One day my wife got a call from a woman she had not heard from in eight years—the birth mother of the baby boy we had planned to adopt.

She was crying, and explained to us that her son had been in a horrible bicycle accident. While riding down a hill, he had flipped his bike. The kickstand penetrated his eye and lodged in his brain! He was

y

17global

It seemed an audacious goal when World Missions announced at the International General Assembly in 2014 that we would take on the FINISH Challenge, a serious effort during this

“How is the FINISH Challenge going?”

The Marcelly’s Dream

prayer forcewww.1plus1.cc

Israel Initiative

The African Firewall

from the continent indicate that 528 new congregations have

pastors are receiving training that they will travel to Africa and share with the beginning pastors who are shepherding the new

concentration on working among Unreached People

And while these ambitious plans that will help us move the FINISH Initiative

possibility to FINISH!

TIM HILL Director

JOHN CHILDERSAssistant Director

FUSING TODAY’S DREAMS WITH TOMORROW’S POTENTIAL.

CHURCH OF GOD

WORLD MISSIONS

Global Connect

May 2015

WORLD MISSIONS LEADERSHIP

Tim Hill, Director

John Childers, Assistant Director

Dee Raff, Missions Administrator

EDITOR Bill George

DESIGN EDITOR Brandon Spell

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Janet Polen Price

From the Director

What About the FINISH Challenge?

Tim HillDirector

18 global

been making a vital contribution in developing Church of God students into men and

Associate Missionary Marcia Anderson is presently Dean of Students and teacher

The Shepherd’s Network.

Africa and her desire to see restoration

She delights in opportunities to minister

often asks women students to accompany her when she conducts women’s conferences in Kenya and neighboring

This global missionary is one of God’s

MarciaAnderson:

represents the best of those who hear the

Citizen of the World

M i s s i o n a r y P r o f i l eCategories of Missionaries

Church of God World Missions approves

missionaries to serve in one of several

classifications. The principal category is Career

Missionary. This person meets stringent

qualifications, goes through a series of interviews

and examinations, meets the qualifications for

a particular ministry, receives a fixed salary and

benefits from money he or she raises and has on

deposit with World Missions, and typically serves

a minimum of a four-year term (although some

Career Missionaries have served for many years).

Workers are classified as Associate

Missionaries for one of two reasons: they are lay

persons, not credentialed, but needed for specific

ministries; or, they have been Career Missionaries

and have been unable to raise adequate funds

for a guaranteed salary and benefits. In this case,

they have agreed to receive whatever money

comes into their budget account.

Short-term Missionaries usually serve for

a few weeks or a few months at a time. Some

work for many years by visiting the field for brief

periods at certain times each year; others may go

for only one two-week trip. Student visits, medical

care projects, and similar efforts are considered

short-term.

Parachurch Missionaries are sponsored by

the Church of God, but may serve with a partner

agency, such as Wycliffe Bible Translators,

YWAM, English Language Institute, or others.

Missionary Evangelists may work primarily

in the United States, but commit to make at least

two overseas trips each year. Approved Ministers

Abroad are commissioned by World Missions

to spend a limited time on the field in specific

professional assignments, such as a college

faculty member who teaches for an intensive

course or semester at an overseas Bible school.

Different parameters and guidelines direct the

status of each of the missionary categories.

19global

In Latin America

The Latin American HarvestLatin America, that long sweep of land that flows southward from the United States and reaches all the way to the tip of Argentina, is a place of diversity and extremes.

Geographically, it embraces steaming rainforest jungles, the driest desert in the world, sky-touching mountain peaks, and unbelievably beautiful white beaches. Culturally, it is a patchwork of Indian, African, and European influences. Its languages are primarily Spanish and Portuguese, but 503 indigenous tongues are also spoken. Religiously, it contains animism, Hinduism, Islam, Santeria, and Christianity in its many iterations, including one of the strongest Pentecostal movements in the world.

Six hundred million people call Latin America home, divided into four recognizable zones: Mexico, Central America, Brazil, and Spanish-speaking South America. Twenty-one countries and one United Kingdom territory make up its political divisions. The Church of God is present in all its nations, with the exception of French Guiana and the Falkland Islands.

The maturity, growth, and effectiveness of the denomination in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries is impressive. Four regional superintendents guide the planning and implementation of vision in the four distinct areas. Each nation has its own overseer, most of them indigenous to the countries they serve, and each is led by an elected council. The Church of God in

Guatemala has more local churches than any non-Catholic movement in the nation.

David E. Ramírez, who serves as director of Latin America, has led the regions and the countries in a coordinated plan that embraces church planting, discipleship training, education, women’s ministries, benevolence, and other emphases.

He shared a report recently, showing wonderfully successful results for establishing new congregations. During the past four years, 777 new churches have been opened. This includes 278 in Central America, 80 in South America, 204 in Brazil, and 215 in Mexico.

Women’s work and benevolence activities have marked the church in Latin America for years, but these have received new impetus. Care for orphans has increased dramatically.

Latin America is not without its challenges. Some areas of the church are more fervent in faith than others. External threats face the believers. Illegal drugs cause untold suffering and upheaval; billions of dollars enrich wicked people, while nations seem powerless to bring them to justice. Widespread human need exists. Poverty, urban violence, and greed are constant perils. A city in Honduras, San Pedro Sula, has earned the title of “Murder Capital of

the World.” One of the great challenges is the existence of 874 people groups in the hemisphere, speaking more than 500 distinct languages.

The Latin American Harvest faces the church. With a strong network of able leaders; a system of Bible schools throughout the hemisphere, including graduate schools in each of the four areas; a robust lay movement; and other points of strength, the future is bright. For decades, the North American church helped sustain the churches; now, however, the Latino church is sending offerings to mission projects in the United States. A passionate missions-sending movement also exists, with Latin Americans serving in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

This flowering field is setting an example for the other venues of World Missions outreach. Occasionally, Latin America may still ask aid of churches in the United States. When they do, it is totally worthy of enthusiastic support.

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20 global

What’s Happening in MissionsNews from around the globe

New Award Honors Waneda Brownlow

Legacy Award will be presented annually by the International

worked closely in designing a training program for children’s workers that was placed in action across the continent of

Scotland Gathers

Staying in Touch

Focused and intentional blessings directed their way will result

The Gospel Via InternetAn unusually effective approach to sharing the gospel in the

leaders in charge of this effort had the opportunity to record

and an invitation for people to accept Christ as personal

Waneda Brownlow

Pyramids of Giza, Egypt

Visit globalCONNECT online at www.cogwm.org for updated information weekly.


Those friends were determined that the professional doubters crowding them out, who were only there to find fault with Jesus, would not stop them. The power of the Lord was there to heal! So they carried their friend to the top of the house, where they met another obstacle—the roof! Some would have given up, saying, “It’s just not meant to be. We’ll wait until it’s easier, more convenient.” But not these friends! They tore that roof off to get their sick friend to Jesus.

That is what praying people did for me. In faith, they ignored the professional doubt-ers, kept pushing forward in prayer, and tore away every barrier with intercession on my behalf.

And I know exactly who was holding the four corners of my bed, getting me to Jesus. My family grabbed one corner and my friends grabbed another. My friends called on their friends, and those people took the third corner. Who was on the fourth? Unknown intercessors, prompted by the Holy Spirit. People prayed—stand-ing, kneeling, driving, walking, on phones, quietly and loudly—all holding on to their corner of my bed in faith.

The doctors were not wrong. My symp-toms, lab reports, and test results, along with their knowledge and experience, supported their belief that I was going to die. But my friends had powerful evidence that I would be healed: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evi-dence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1).

Because of God’s goodness, the truth of His Word, and the persistent, faith-filled prayers of a few good friends, I lived!

Marsha Robinson is a copy editor and staff writer for the White Wing Messen-ger in Cleveland, Tennessee. [email protected]

I HAD BEEN terribly ill for two weeks. I was not getting any better, so we opted for a trip to the emergency room. There, I saw the triage nurse and was

taken to an exam room. Doctors asked questions, and a battery of tests was run to try to determine what was wrong with me.

After the initial assessments, my husband, Bryant, was told I probably had the flu and would be sent home in a little while. When a few more tests revealed some troubling numbers, they told him I would be kept overnight for observation. As day turned into evening, a nurse suggested that my husband go home. It would be a long wait for a room, she said. So, Bryant left to get some much-needed rest.

At 2:00 a.m., he was abruptly awakened by a phone call telling him I had been taken to ICU and was on a ventilator. In a con-fused state, he dressed and rushed back to the hospital.

The next morning, the lead physician called for my family and friends to meet him in a hospital conference room. My husband later told me that he thought the doctor was going to give them good news. Something like, “This is what’s wrong with her and here’s what we’re doing about it, and this is when she’ll go home.”

Instead, the doctor said my kidneys had failed because a deadly infection had taken over my body. He said my condition was so grave that I had a zero percent chance of surviving the night. He also explained it in these terms: “On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst that a person could be, she’s a 12. We have her on life support, but sometime tonight, her heart is going to stop. We can revive her, but it is going to stop again.”

He lowered his eyes on my husband and said, “You need to tell us how many times

you want to put her through that.” Then the doctor turned and left the room.

The click of the door shutting behind him was followed by stunned silence. My family and friends did not know what to do . . . for about three seconds. And then spontaneous prayer burst forth like a broken water main! That conference room became a fervent, Pentecostal prayer meeting. Word spread, and other friends outside in waiting rooms and hallways began to pray, too.

THE FAITH OF A FEW GOOD FRIENDS

Doctors gave me a zero percent chance of surviving the night.

by marsha robinson

Things looked too far gone, but they prayed. The doctors gave them bad reports, but they prayed. They prayed and kept on praying, their petitions filled with great love and bold faith. They bombarded heaven on my behalf.

In later days, I realized what those praying people did for me has a parallel in Scrip-ture. Luke 5 tells about a sick man who was unable to get to Jesus. His friends devised a plan to carry him to where Jesus was, but when they got to the house, they could not get inside. It was packed with scribes, Pharisees, and seekers. “And the power of the Lord was present to heal” (v. 17).

I


In September 2014, a special worship service took place in the Lee University Chapel to cel-ebrate testimonies from six members of the university community who recounted their experience of divine healing. The service—aimed to illustrate the various ways God restores our health—can be viewed online (youtube.com/watch?v=dWKCsjXHcP0). This article is a written account of the testi-mony I delivered on Esther’s behalf, which sought to illustrate on the basis of John 9:1-8 how divine healing sometimes looks both medicinal and miraculous.

WHEN MY WIFE and I moved our family from the southwestern sub-urbs of Houston, Texas,

to Tennessee in order for me to join Lee University’s theology faculty in fall 2009, one of our biggest long-term concerns was health care. Our former place of residence is home to the world’s largest medical center, consisting of 54 medicine-related organizations. So, whereas one might describe Houston as a great place to get sick, Cleveland has . . . well, it doesn’t have the Texas Medical Center.

It was with a profound sense of alarm, therefore, that the events of fall 2013 hit the Proctor household. All parents who deserve the title fear the prospect of a health crisis in their child’s life far worse than any malady in their own, yet that is exactly what happened to Wendy and me that September. At my youngest daugh-ter’s annual checkup, her pediatrician noticed a significant curvature in Esther’s spine and advised us to seek the help of an

my daughter’s healing

orthopedic specialist. At the conclusion of Esther’s first visit with Robert Madigan, she officially became a scoliosis patient.

Although her initial X-rays revealed a 33-degree curvature, Dr. Madigan pru-dently saw past his status as an adolescent

surgeon, and suggested we begin treat-ing Esther conservatively by seeing how her back might respond to an orthopedic brace. Dr. Madigan assured us that the skill of his close friend and colleague at designing such braces was unsurpassed, and, as a result, Esther’s backbone wound up in the capable hands of local orthotist Karl Fillauer.

Esther’s first appointment with him was in October 2013 at the headquarters of

Fillauer LLC, on Amnicola Highway in Chattanooga. Those familiar with the Scenic City recognize this location as a somewhat-less-than-picturesque part of a large commercial business district studded with factories, industrial supply houses, and manufacturing facilities. My parental anxiety over Esther’s initial orthotics visit grew with every bottling company and plumbing supply store we passed on the way to Fillauer LLC’s address.

With my skepticism meter already on “full alert,” we entered the lobby area only to be greeted by Karl himself, who seemed to be waiting on us to arrive. Now I am ashamed to admit that the first thing I noticed about this godly man was not his welcom-ing smile, but his trembling hand. As it turns out, Karl Fillauer has Parkinson’s disease. Yet, Karl’s neurological ailment has affected neither his willingness nor his ability to treat patients with precision, sensitivity, and excellence. In fact, this recipient of the Titus-Ferguson Award (for lifetime achievement in orthotics) began Esther’s examination with a self-effacing joke to help her relax: “Since I must take measurements for your brace,” Karl said, “I’ll have to touch you. Now I’m going to charge your parents for the examination, but the massage is yours for free.”

Those kind words, combined with Karl’s subsequent display of clinical precision, convinced me for the first time since Esther’s initial diagnosis that she was in God’s hands and would receive the best care possible. While Cleveland doesn’t have the Texas Medical Center, Houston

by mark proctor

“by his wounds you were healed” (1 peter 2:24 nasb).

Esther Proctor


X-rays did indeed speak for themselves. What had started out as a 33-degree curvature had now been divinely reduced to only 9 degrees—a number falling just within the “normal” range for the human spine. That figure has since fallen all the way to 5 degrees, and Esther Proctor is technically no longer a scoliosis patient.

What are we to learn from this story? When your health fails, and it almost cer-tainly will, trust God to take care of you, and He’ll do so in surprising wonderful ways. Follow the example of both the man born blind (John 9) and Esther: Own your treatment, take your medicine, follow doc-tor’s orders . . . but be sure to welcome the prayers of the faithful and the interven-tion of the Great Physician in the process.

We should not regard God’s wondrous deeds and the cures that the medical community offers as antagonistic to one another. Sometimes divine healing looks both medicinal and miraculous.

Mark Proctor, Ph.D., is a professor in Lee University’s Department of Theology.

doesn’t have Karl Fillauer. He is a superb Christian craftsman whose clever inven-tions have helped him restore mobility and quality of life to disabled vets and afflicted children, whose business savvy has allowed him to expand his several companies worldwide, and whose sense of Christian calling motivates him to do all things “to the greater glory of God.” That first meeting ended with a promise to have Esther’s brace ready in a week.

On the evening before Esther’s second appointment with Mr. Fillauer, I sched-uled a review session for an upcoming Greek exam. When I first mentioned Esther’s predicament to my students a few days prior, a student named Michael Pierce informed me that in the preceding spring semester he had prayed for one of his dorm mates, who was instantly healed of severe scoliosis. Without tell-ing Michael or the others what I planned to do, I had my wife bring Esther to the School of Religion building on November 3 so my class could pray for her heal-ing. Suffice it to say we had a great time together in prayer that night.

When our family arrived at Fillauer LLC the following afternoon, Karl made a few final adjustments to Esther’s brace, instructed her to wear it tightly for no less than 23 hours a day, and cautioned us to guard against unbridled optimism. “This is not something we can correct,” Fillauer said. “This is only something we can hope to keep from getting any worse.”

I’m happy to report that God had much more ambitious plans for Karl Fillauer’s beautiful brace—plans born out of the countless hours he spends in earnest prayer to God on behalf of his patients in the early hours of every morning.

Three weeks later, Esther came to me in the middle of the night in tears, worried that she had broken her brace. Upon close examination, her mother found some-thing surprising. Esther’s orthopedic brace is made from semi-rigid plastic and fits like a clamshell around her torso, fasten-

ing in the back with Velcro straps. When Karl initially fit her with it, he left about a two-and-a-half inch gap between the brace’s ends. He told us it would close up a bit due to the shifting of Esther’s internal organs, but we discovered five inches of movement.

The brace now overlapped by as much as the initial gap, and therefore she had simply run out of Velcro material to keep things tight. Something had changed sig-nificantly. Esther’s brace had not broken, it was working . . . and I believe God was working right along with it.

The following day we notified Mr. Fil-lauer of the change in Esther’s condition and scheduled an appointment to have her brace trimmed and adjusted. Upon observing her, Karl remarked, “Esther looks good. She looks really good, but the X-rays will tell the tale. When is her next appointment with Dr. Madigan?”

On December 4, 2013—just one month into a two-year process that aimed only to keep things from getting any worse—the

Esther’s X-rays “before” . . . . . . and “after”


KATHY COULD NOT believe it! Their passenger van limped to a halt on a road-side in Belize, and with sink-ing hearts the entire team

exited, their faces registering disdain.

It was the second time the driver had pulled over, and this time he indicated the problem was not something he could fix. The year was 1985. Kathy McDonald (Ontario, Canada) had completed her School of Evangelism training with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Belize, and their class was headed to the airport for the required mission outreach. The affec-tionately dubbed “Manna van” had been a much-needed gift to the ministry from someone in the U.S., where it had been a delivery vehicle for a bakery; but now it sat helplessly on the roadside. Time was ticking away, and the road was practically deserted.

At the onset, although the class knew their destination was Jamaica, they did not have the needed finances for the trip. They had prayed and fasted earnestly . . . the Lord had done much cleansing of their hearts . . . and the funds had come in just in time. They had diligently prepared dances and dramas to present in Jamaica . . . so how could this be happening now?

Minutes were ticking by toward their plane’s departure time, and they had no way to call for help. Stranded on that bright tropical day, the team turned to their only recourse: prayer. As they reminded God of His promises, another van eventually pulled up, and the driver inquired about their situation. Amazingly, he had room in his van for the entire team, and he just “happened” to be going to the airport, too, because he worked there!

kathy McDonald’sMissions Miracles

The shouts of hallelujah again turned to sudden silence and disbelief when the van rounded the final turn into the airport. Their plane had already taken off and was ascending into the sky! With sinking hearts, they realized another plane was not due at the remote airport.

Where was God in this situation?

Dragging into the terminal, Kathy saw something she has never forgotten—their plane making a loop, descending, and landing on the tarmac so their team could board! The members felt like royalty as they boarded the plane and people looked at them, probably asking themselves, Who are they? To this day, Kathy does not know how it happened. All she knows is the van driver had said, “Don’t give up!” and went running into the terminal. Somehow, God had done the impossible for them.

This was only the beginning of a series of miraculous interventions by God over the next few weeks. The team arrived in Jamaica at one of its two airports, only to find they had been booked into the wrong one, so their pickup person was not there. Airport officials graciously allowed them to sleep in the terminal—the girls behind the counter in sleeping bags, and the boys in front.

Looking up at the placard for the airline whose desk space they borrowed, Kathy had to shake her head. It read: “Challenge Airlines: Will You Accept the Challenge?” Certainly, her challenge in a life of mis-sions had begun, and that motto became the word of the Lord to the team for the duration of their stay in Jamaica.

Their trip was to be for four weeks, but two weeks into it, Kathy got an urgent mes-sage that her father was dying from cancer.

She needed to get home immediately if she intended to see him alive. As a young mission student in training, Kathy had no money and a return ticket only as far as Miami. Buying a ticket to Canada was out of the question. Still, she knew she had to get home. The other students and the com-munity they were serving rallied around her, and an offering (including a check) was collected. Someone also promised to book her ticket from Miami to Ontario.

After Kathy arrived in Miami for a 10-hour wait, she checked at the desk every hour to see if the promised ticket had arrived for the flight to Ontario.

There was a huge knot inside Kathy’s heart concerning her dad: neither of her parents was saved, and Kathy felt she had to get there to share the gospel with him, giving him a chance to receive Christ before it was too late.

When no ticket had arrived two hours before departure time, Kathy found a private spot and threw herself before the Lord in tear-wracked prayer. “O Father, You promised me my parents’ salvation. O God, reach him—save my dad’s soul!”

When Kathy got up to check on her ticket, still it had not come. Just one hour was left before the flight. Frantically, she spoke with airline officials and showed them the funds she had, including the check, and explained: “This is all I have. Please take it; I have to get on this plane!”

Hearing her situation, they returned a few minutes later and, to her relief, scooped up her money and the check and issued her a ticket! Overjoyed, Kathy boarded and could not wait to land, only to find that her dad was already in a coma. Her mom

by sharon arthurs


Today, Kathy serves her church in Bel-mopan, the capital of Belize, as youth director. She is also the discipleship coor-dinator for Samaritan’s Purse in Belize and serves on the board of directors for Freedom House, which helps released prisoners reintegrate into society.

“God didn’t say there’d be no sad things, no difficult things, no problems,” Kathy said. “He just said no weapons formed against us would prosper [Isa. 54:17]. When God promises something, don’t give up on the promise. Sometimes His hand is on the doorknob!”

Sharon Arthurs lives in Belize City, Belize. She leads mission trips and is a student at the Pentecostal Theological Seminary in Cleveland, Tennessee.

tion. Kathy’s joy was complete as she left for foreign service!

Over the past 30 years of mission minis-try, Kathy’s life has been in danger several times. She and a friend would rescue children from dysfunctional and desper-ate families—once having 15 children in their care—and had to have police protec-tion circling the house. When, unknown to her, one of the children’s dads was released from prison, she was startled as he put a machete to her throat from a window. However, God delivered her.

was facing the difficult decision of whether or not to keep their dad on life support. Kathy looked a mess from lack of sleep, stress, much crying, and exhaustion from traveling; however, her mom especially looked to her, and asked her opinion.

Kathy knew her dad well. Having been the outdoor type, she had worked shoulder to shoulder with him on their farm. She sadly but firmly told her mom: “Dad was an active ‘nature’ person, made for the outdoors. He would never want to be liv-ing on a machine!”

Ted was also a Christian. Kathy slumped down and confessed to him what she had been saying to God.

Ted’s face lit up as he asked, “But Kathy, don’t you know?”

Her furrowed brow slowly relaxed as her brother smilingly reported, “My pastor and I went in to pray with Dad at 10 a.m. yesterday. He gave his heart to Jesus, and then slipped into the coma at noon.”

Kathy could hardly believe it! That was the same time she had been at the airport

Her mom nodded, agreeing. So the deci-sion was made, and life support was dis-connected.

The next morning at 7:00, Kathy received the phone call saying her dad had died.

Devastated, she rushed into the family’s barn and locked herself in, banging on the walls wildly and bawling. She cried out, “No, God, You promised me! You told me that if I obeyed Your call and went on the mission field into full-time service, both of my parents would be saved. You promised me! How could You?”

Someone was knocking at the barn door, but Kathy didn’t respond. When the knocking persisted, she opened the door to see her brother Ted, who asked her, “Kathy, what are you doing?”

in Miami in a corner on the floor, des-perately pleading with God for her dad’s salvation! She then realized the wisdom of God. Had she already been holding the ticket to Ontario, she would have been less concerned, thinking she would be able to talk with her dad.

However, without the ticket, she had been driven to prayer instead. God came through in her absence. He had been faithful!

Kathy spent time with her mom and family, and then officially accepted the call to full-time missions service. One day in August, less than a month before leaving the coun-try for Belize, her mom declared, “I want to become a Christian today, just like Kathy!”

At the kitchen table, Kathy and her pastor led her mom in receiving the gift of salva-

The young missionaries

saw their plane leave

without them . . . and then

come back for them!

Kathy McDonald


IN 1744, KING LOUIS XIV of France fell dreadfully ill. Fearing imminent death, he prayed for a miraculous recovery. As his condition worsened, King Louis tried to twist God’s arm

by making a solemn vow: If God would spare his life, he would rebuild the Church of Saint Genevieve to make it worthy of her honor.

The king did indeed recover, and made good on his vow. The cathedral that he built, now called the French Pantheon, stands today as one of the crown jewels of French architecture and history.

Because of the grand beauty of the Paris cathedral, French geniuses and luminaries began to be buried within its foundations in the 19th century. These include the great writers Voltaire and Victor Hugo, the composer Rousseau, Marie Curie (the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize), and Louis Braille (who invented the alphabet for the blind). Western societies would look dif-ferent today had these prodigies not lived. An inscription above the door to the French pantheon reads, “For the Great Men.”

Today in Paris, a newly prominent artist started out painting illegal graffiti before switching to photography. Going

only by the name “JR,” he is never photo-graphed without a disguise of some sort, and his work is growing in fame around the world.

Last summer, the French government commissioned the photographer’s “Pan-theon of Selfies.” JR covered the French Pantheon, inside and out, with thousands of selfie photographs of everyday people. The photographs lined the floors, the dome, and the outside of the building. Had they been spread across the ground, the selfies would have spanned multiple football fields.

The message of the “Pantheon of Self-ies” is there are no great men anymore—there are no outstanding voices among the chatter of the masses. It is a message of the ultimate demolition of Christian civiliza-tion, declaring we are drearily all the same.

The Greatest VoiceIn all of history, no single body of

teaching has approached the impact of the Sermon on the Mount. In this speech, Jesus claims to be the greatest voice when it comes to the art of living. If we do not believe in great men and great voices, Jesus’ teaching will be insensible to us.

Even the context of the sermon is laden with meaning. Just as Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments and the Law, which would serve as the constitution of Israel in the Old Testament, so Matthew’s Gos-pel depicts Jesus climbing a mountain to deliver the supreme body of teaching for the New Testament church. There is no feigned humility in Jesus’ words. Jesus claims there is a great voice—the voice of God found in the Law and the Prophets—and that He is the true echo and interpret-er of that voice. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to ful-fill them” (Matt. 5:17 NIV). Bold words.

Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is picking a fight with the Pharisees. He repeatedly tells the people what they have conventionally been taught, then claims a greater author-ity with a new teaching. In what many scholars consider the thesis of the entire sermon, Jesus declares, “Unless your righ-teousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will cer-tainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (v. 20 NIV). More bold words.

god’s not dead, so why do we judge?

by josh rice

I


Today, we would find Jesus’ words arrogant. We might expect Him to say something like, “Here is the voice of the Pharisees and their interpretation. It is a fine and valid interpretation; it’s just dif-ferent than Mine. I’m contributing to the conversation.”

Jesus offers no such soft edges, for His teachings embody true greatness. His instructions on every subject in the Ser-mon on the Mount—anger, lust, divorce, hatred, giving, prayer, anxiety, money—are tough as nails.

Yet, right when Jesus’ followers are ready to barnstorm the world with this new Sermon on the Mount lifestyle, Jesus applies the brakes. After He has aggressively deconstructed virtually every societal norm, thus creating a new society, Jesus reminds them that conventional methods are not going to bring about such change. Somehow, Jesus’ followers must discipline themselves to embody this new way of being, to spread this new message, to shine like a “city on a hill” (5:14 NIV) for the whole world to see, without casting judgment on others.

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you (7:1-2).

Bold words.

A Nonjudgmental MovementJesus calls His followers to enroll in

a movement that lives radically counter-culturally and yet refuses to judge detrac-tors. In the following verses, He makes it clear that this posture against judgment should take place both within the Chris-tian community and toward outsiders. We are called to help our brother or sister to clear their eyes, but not without greater attention turned on ourselves (vv. 3-5). We are also to be careful not to presume that outsiders (sometimes called “dogs” or “pigs” in Jewish tradition) will respond favorably to our values (v. 6).

When it comes to this challenge, how are we Christians doing today?

I recently saw the hit Christian film God’s Not Dead. If you have not seen the movie, perhaps you should. I would gladly watch it with my children were they old

enough to understand it. For me, the film is important because it is written for Christians, especially Christian youth groups. Because of this audience, the film is representative of the way Christians are thinking about themselves. If so, we are in trouble, because the movie embodies a terribly judgmental posture—one that we Christians should be running from. This posture can be summarized as stereotyp-ing, vilifying, and simplifying.

The film tells a series of stories in which Christian characters interact with non-Christian characters. There is an atheist professor whose sole job in the classroom is to demean and belittle Christians. There is a Muslim man who beats his daughter and kicks her out of the house when she listens to Christian preaching. There is an environmental activist who viciously attacks evangelical Christians in her journalism.

Do such people exist? Of course, but they are not the enemy, and sweeping generalizations based on media personali-ties are irresponsible. Those images are powerful, and we Christians should be the first to oppose them because they objectify people Christ loves and for whom He died.

In an age when Christians are increas-ingly stereotyped as anti-gay, judgmental, and hypocritical (I would argue that we are none of these things, but that the Church’s “light of the world” mandate is actually getting along quite well), we should maintain a constant vigilance when it comes to stereotyping. If I under-stand the basic teaching of Jesus, we cer-tainly should not fight stereotyping with stereotyping.

We must stand guard against stereo-typing because its sister is the next step in the process of judgment: vilifying. There is something about human nature that is rabidly fed by an objectified “other.” We often use this objectification to mark out what we most believe about ourselves. This is important. Our beliefs are not like atheists or Muslims. However, can we be comfortable and clear on these differences without vilifying and creating opponents?

Too often, we Christians have wielded the sword of Peter in the Garden of Geth-semane, wildly (and somewhat blindly)

swinging away at whomever appears to be an enemy of Jesus. It’s the scientists! The atheists! The gays! The communists!

Jesus, however, seemed to recognize “they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34), and the power of groupthink had prevailed in His death. The majority who lynched Him were just following orders. All that to say, should we be interested in increasing the preexisting tensions between us and Muslims, or us and athe-ists? How would this glorify God? Yet, in a society where conversation gives way to the shouting matches of the cable news wars, we so easily fall into this.

Finally, to embody Jesus’ nonjudg-mental attitude means to beware of simplifying. There is always the tendency to see people we disagree with as two-dimensional, along with their ideas. More often than not, everything is complicated. Rather than being baited into the same old hot-button positions, shouldn’t Chris-tians be the primary voices of reason and nuance in the marketplace of ideas?

The Narrow RoadIn the end, the way of the Sermon

on the Mount is so difficult because it requires fierce passion for the correctness of the way of Jesus alongside the refusal to judge those who disagree. Instead, we leave judgment up to God. Dietrich Bon-hoeffer summarized the dilemma thusly:

To give witness to and confess the truth of Jesus, but to love the enemy of this truth, who is His enemy and our enemy, with the unconditional love of Jesus Christ—that is the narrow road. To believe in Jesus’ promise that those who follow shall possess the earth, but to encounter the enemy unarmed, to pre-fer suffering injustice to doing ill—that is the narrow road. To perceive other people as being weak and wrong, but to never judge them; to proclaim the good news to them, but never to throw pearls before swine—that is a narrow road.

Indeed, to depart the masses of selfies and enter the cathedral of Jesus’ teaching is to enter through an archway that bears this inscription: “For the Great Men.”

Josh Rice, Ph.D., is teaching pastor at North Mount Paran Church of God in Marietta, Georgia. [email protected]

28 EVANGEL • may 201528 EVANGEL • may 2015

2015 CAMP MEETING SCHEDULE 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015

STATE DATE LOCATION BIBLE TEACHER EVENING SPEAKER IEC REPRESENTATIVE Alabama June 2-5 Metropolitan Church of God, Birmingham Mitchell Tolle, Mark Walker Propes, Oldfield, Rodriguez, Cooper M. Thomas Propes Alaska May 5-8 North Anchorage Church of God Shane Bearden Tim Hill J. David Stephens Arizona June 2-5 Cathedral Christian Center, Glendale Williams, Bonilla, Madden Eliezer Bonilla, Tom Madden Mark L. Williams Arkansas June 2-5 River of Life Assembly of God, Little Rock Doug Baker Kip Box, Larry Timmerman Wallace J. Sibley California/Nevada June 16-19 Life Cathedral Church of God, Fresno M. Chapman, S. Chapman Tim Hill Wallace J. Sibley Canada—Ontario June 7-10 Praise Cathedral Worship Center, Mississauga Mark L. Williams, Kevin Wallace Mark L. Williams Canada—Quebec May 1-3 Eglise De Dieu Garizim, Montreal J. David Stephens, Ronnie Stewart J. David Stephens Canada—Western May 1-3 Winnipeg, Manitoba Mark L. Williams East Central Hispanic September 24-26 TBA David M. Griffis David M. Griffis Florida—Cocoa June 24-28 Rosen Centre Hotel, Orlando Various Various J. David Stephens Florida—Tampa June 8-12 Wimauma Convention Center Oliver McMahan M. T. Propes, Reinhard Bonnke, Jentezen Franklin M. Thomas Propes Georgia—North June 3-5 Buford Church of God TBA TBA Wallace J. Sibley Georgia—South June 1-5 Church of God Campground, Tifton David Cooper Mark L. Williams, Chris Moody, Kevin Wallace Mark L. Williams Great Lakes June 10-14 New Life Celebration Church of God, Dolton, IL Propes, Culpepper, Madden, Childers M. Thomas Propes Hawaii June 22-25 Calvary Chapel, Aiea Bryan Cutshall Mark L. Williams, Reggie Dabbs, Bryan Cutshall Mark L. Williams Heartland June 2-5 Lakeside Church of God, Norman, OK Terry Tramell Bruce Deel David M. Griffis Illinois June 7-10 All Nations Church of God, Marion Kelvin Page Mitchell Tolle J. David Stephens Indiana June 10-12 River of Life Church of God, Indianapolis Bill Isaacs, John Childers M. Thomas Propes, Tim Hill M. Thomas Propes Kentucky June 8-12 Church of God Conference Center, Lexington Bob Gilley Chris Moody, Gary Mullings J. David Stephens Louisiana June 9-12 Maranatha Fellowship, Baton Rouge Gerald McGinnis Mark L. Williams, George Moxley Mark L. Williams Maryland/Delaware/DC June 21-24 Raymond E. Crowley Tabernacle, Georgetown, DE Various Sibley, Roever, Barnett, McGlamery Wallace J. Sibley `Michigan June 16-19 Church of God Ministry Center, Fenton Bryan Cutshall M. T. Propes, Les Higgins, Jonathon Zeigler M. Thomas Propes Midlands June 2-5 Bellevue Fraternidad Christiana, Bellevue, NE Bill Isaacs David M. Griffis, Thomas Gillum David M. Griffis Minnesota June 10-12 Various locations John Morgan John Morgan Wallace J. Sibley Mississippi June 2-5 Christway Church of God, Flowood Dewayne Moree, Chuck Duncan J. David Stephens, Kevin Wallace, Jimmy Smith J. David Stephens Missouri June 3-5 House of Praise Church of God, Desloge Joe Dobbins Tim Hill Mark L. Williams Multicultural July 15-18 North Cleveland Church of God, TN Doug Small, Diane Jacques Williams, Nelson, Porter, Barnett Mark L. Williams New England Hispanic June 27 House of Restoration Church, Hartford, CT Charles Lambert M. Thomas Propes M. Thomas Propes New England—Northern June 23-26 Royal Ridge Church of God, Scarborough, ME Ron Cason, Deven Wallace David M. Griffis, Kevin Wallace David M. Griffis New England—Southern June 22-27 Rehoboth Church of God, Bloomfield, CT Joycelyn Barnett Jennifer Cox, Jonathon Zeigler, Issac Anto, Tim Hill David M. Griffis New Jersey June 24-28 New Covenant Church of God, Plainfield Glen Colley, Chris Fraley M. Thomas Propes, Jamie Massey, Devon Dixon M. Thomas Propes New Mexico June 14-16 New Life Church of God, Albuquerque Bruce Rabon Stephen Darnell Wallace J. Sibley New York—Metro June 10-12 New Jerusalem Baptist Church, Jamaica, NY Samuel Rodriguez, Jean Bruno Wallace J. Sibley New York—Upstate June 25-27 R.I.T. Inn & Conference Center, Henrietta G. Dennis McGuire G. Dennis McGuire David M. Griffis North Carolina—Eastern June 7-11 Church of God Conference Center, Kenly Bryan Cutshall, Andre Hester Tim Hill, Bryan Cutshall, Janice Hill Mark L. Williams North Carolina—Western June 14-18 Gateway Campground, Whittier TBA David M. Griffis, Dan Hampton, Kevin Wallace David M. Griffis North Central Hispanic June 18-20 TBA Hugo Serrano Mark L. Williams, Luis Rodriguez Wallace J. Sibley North Central Region June 24-26 West Minot Church of God, ND T. Dwight Spivey David Cooper J. David Stephens Northeastern Hispanic June 25-27 Church of God Jubilee Camp, Allentown, PA Samuel Pagan David M. Griffis, Various David M. Griffis Northwestern Hispanic April 24-25 TBA Wallace J. Sibley Ohio June 7-10 The Potter’s House, Columbus Gary Sears Tony Stewart, Tim Hill David M. Griffis Pacific Northwest June 15-18 Christian Life Center Church of God, Yakima, WA Josh Rice Darrell Rice Mark L. Williams Pennsylvania June 10-12 Spring Valley Church of God, Temple Reather Campbell Tony Stewart Mark L. Williams Rocky Mountain Region June 9-12 North Hills Church of God, Thornton, CO T. Dwight Spivey, Gail Spivey J. David Stephens, Mitchell Tolle, Gary Lewis J. David Stephens Romanian November 12-15 TBA TBA TBA M. Thomas Propes South Carolina June 7-12 Church of God Campground, Simpsonville David Cooper, R. Lamar Vest Barry Clardy, R. Lamar Vest, Timothy Oldfield J. David Stephens South Central Hispanic June 19-20 Iglesia de Dios Heme Aqui, Houston, TX TBA J. David Stephens J. David Stephens Southwestern Hispanic June 5-6 Templo Calvario, Santa Ana, CA J. David Stephens, Jaime Loya, Efrain Navas J. David Stephens Southwest Indian June 8-12 Church of God SWIM Campground, Manuelito, NM David M. Griffis David M. Griffis Tennessee June 16-19 North Cleveland Church of God Various Various David M. Griffis Texas June 8-12 State Campground, Weatherford Doug Small Propes, Higgins, Culpepper, Wallace M. Thomas Propes Virginia June 16-19 Victory Tabernacle, Richmond Johnny Moore J. David Stephens, J. Martin Taylor, Chris Moody J. David Stephens West Virginia June 7-11 Family Worship Center, Beckley Ed Lipsey, Chris Moody Wallace J. Sibley, Chris Moody, Ed Lipsey Wallace J. Sibley

EVANGEL • may 2015 29EVANGEL • may 2015 29

2015 CAMP MEETING SCHEDULE 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015

STATE DATE LOCATION BIBLE TEACHER EVENING SPEAKER IEC REPRESENTATIVE Alabama June 2-5 Metropolitan Church of God, Birmingham Mitchell Tolle, Mark Walker Propes, Oldfield, Rodriguez, Cooper M. Thomas Propes Alaska May 5-8 North Anchorage Church of God Shane Bearden Tim Hill J. David Stephens Arizona June 2-5 Cathedral Christian Center, Glendale Williams, Bonilla, Madden Eliezer Bonilla, Tom Madden Mark L. Williams Arkansas June 2-5 River of Life Assembly of God, Little Rock Doug Baker Kip Box, Larry Timmerman Wallace J. Sibley California/Nevada June 16-19 Life Cathedral Church of God, Fresno M. Chapman, S. Chapman Tim Hill Wallace J. Sibley Canada—Ontario June 7-10 Praise Cathedral Worship Center, Mississauga Mark L. Williams, Kevin Wallace Mark L. Williams Canada—Quebec May 1-3 Eglise De Dieu Garizim, Montreal J. David Stephens, Ronnie Stewart J. David Stephens Canada—Western May 1-3 Winnipeg, Manitoba Mark L. Williams East Central Hispanic September 24-26 TBA David M. Griffis David M. Griffis Florida—Cocoa June 24-28 Rosen Centre Hotel, Orlando Various Various J. David Stephens Florida—Tampa June 8-12 Wimauma Convention Center Oliver McMahan M. T. Propes, Reinhard Bonnke, Jentezen Franklin M. Thomas Propes Georgia—North June 3-5 Buford Church of God TBA TBA Wallace J. Sibley Georgia—South June 1-5 Church of God Campground, Tifton David Cooper Mark L. Williams, Chris Moody, Kevin Wallace Mark L. Williams Great Lakes June 10-14 New Life Celebration Church of God, Dolton, IL Propes, Culpepper, Madden, Childers M. Thomas Propes Hawaii June 22-25 Calvary Chapel, Aiea Bryan Cutshall Mark L. Williams, Reggie Dabbs, Bryan Cutshall Mark L. Williams Heartland June 2-5 Lakeside Church of God, Norman, OK Terry Tramell Bruce Deel David M. Griffis Illinois June 7-10 All Nations Church of God, Marion Kelvin Page Mitchell Tolle J. David Stephens Indiana June 10-12 River of Life Church of God, Indianapolis Bill Isaacs, John Childers M. Thomas Propes, Tim Hill M. Thomas Propes Kentucky June 8-12 Church of God Conference Center, Lexington Bob Gilley Chris Moody, Gary Mullings J. David Stephens Louisiana June 9-12 Maranatha Fellowship, Baton Rouge Gerald McGinnis Mark L. Williams, George Moxley Mark L. Williams Maryland/Delaware/DC June 21-24 Raymond E. Crowley Tabernacle, Georgetown, DE Various Sibley, Roever, Barnett, McGlamery Wallace J. Sibley `Michigan June 16-19 Church of God Ministry Center, Fenton Bryan Cutshall M. T. Propes, Les Higgins, Jonathon Zeigler M. Thomas Propes Midlands June 2-5 Bellevue Fraternidad Christiana, Bellevue, NE Bill Isaacs David M. Griffis, Thomas Gillum David M. Griffis Minnesota June 10-12 Various locations John Morgan John Morgan Wallace J. Sibley Mississippi June 2-5 Christway Church of God, Flowood Dewayne Moree, Chuck Duncan J. David Stephens, Kevin Wallace, Jimmy Smith J. David Stephens Missouri June 3-5 House of Praise Church of God, Desloge Joe Dobbins Tim Hill Mark L. Williams Multicultural July 15-18 North Cleveland Church of God, TN Doug Small, Diane Jacques Williams, Nelson, Porter, Barnett Mark L. Williams New England Hispanic June 27 House of Restoration Church, Hartford, CT Charles Lambert M. Thomas Propes M. Thomas Propes New England—Northern June 23-26 Royal Ridge Church of God, Scarborough, ME Ron Cason, Deven Wallace David M. Griffis, Kevin Wallace David M. Griffis New England—Southern June 22-27 Rehoboth Church of God, Bloomfield, CT Joycelyn Barnett Jennifer Cox, Jonathon Zeigler, Issac Anto, Tim Hill David M. Griffis New Jersey June 24-28 New Covenant Church of God, Plainfield Glen Colley, Chris Fraley M. Thomas Propes, Jamie Massey, Devon Dixon M. Thomas Propes New Mexico June 14-16 New Life Church of God, Albuquerque Bruce Rabon Stephen Darnell Wallace J. Sibley New York—Metro June 10-12 New Jerusalem Baptist Church, Jamaica, NY Samuel Rodriguez, Jean Bruno Wallace J. Sibley New York—Upstate June 25-27 R.I.T. Inn & Conference Center, Henrietta G. Dennis McGuire G. Dennis McGuire David M. Griffis North Carolina—Eastern June 7-11 Church of God Conference Center, Kenly Bryan Cutshall, Andre Hester Tim Hill, Bryan Cutshall, Janice Hill Mark L. Williams North Carolina—Western June 14-18 Gateway Campground, Whittier TBA David M. Griffis, Dan Hampton, Kevin Wallace David M. Griffis North Central Hispanic June 18-20 TBA Hugo Serrano Mark L. Williams, Luis Rodriguez Wallace J. Sibley North Central Region June 24-26 West Minot Church of God, ND T. Dwight Spivey David Cooper J. David Stephens Northeastern Hispanic June 25-27 Church of God Jubilee Camp, Allentown, PA Samuel Pagan David M. Griffis, Various David M. Griffis Northwestern Hispanic April 24-25 TBA Wallace J. Sibley Ohio June 7-10 The Potter’s House, Columbus Gary Sears Tony Stewart, Tim Hill David M. Griffis Pacific Northwest June 15-18 Christian Life Center Church of God, Yakima, WA Josh Rice Darrell Rice Mark L. Williams Pennsylvania June 10-12 Spring Valley Church of God, Temple Reather Campbell Tony Stewart Mark L. Williams Rocky Mountain Region June 9-12 North Hills Church of God, Thornton, CO T. Dwight Spivey, Gail Spivey J. David Stephens, Mitchell Tolle, Gary Lewis J. David Stephens Romanian November 12-15 TBA TBA TBA M. Thomas Propes South Carolina June 7-12 Church of God Campground, Simpsonville David Cooper, R. Lamar Vest Barry Clardy, R. Lamar Vest, Timothy Oldfield J. David Stephens South Central Hispanic June 19-20 Iglesia de Dios Heme Aqui, Houston, TX TBA J. David Stephens J. David Stephens Southwestern Hispanic June 5-6 Templo Calvario, Santa Ana, CA J. David Stephens, Jaime Loya, Efrain Navas J. David Stephens Southwest Indian June 8-12 Church of God SWIM Campground, Manuelito, NM David M. Griffis David M. Griffis Tennessee June 16-19 North Cleveland Church of God Various Various David M. Griffis Texas June 8-12 State Campground, Weatherford Doug Small Propes, Higgins, Culpepper, Wallace M. Thomas Propes Virginia June 16-19 Victory Tabernacle, Richmond Johnny Moore J. David Stephens, J. Martin Taylor, Chris Moody J. David Stephens West Virginia June 7-11 Family Worship Center, Beckley Ed Lipsey, Chris Moody Wallace J. Sibley, Chris Moody, Ed Lipsey Wallace J. Sibley


VIEWPOINTS

of the Spirit. He gave me direction and insight, showing me “the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord” (Ps. 37:23). I simply followed orders from on high. I don’t have enough space to tell you how much the Holy Spirit has influenced my life. Currently, my wife is losing her memory because of Alzheimer’s, but every morning when we have our devotions, she worships God. Usually, the Holy Spirit blesses by enabling her to speak in a heavenly language. That makes my day.

an essential gift in a needy world Matthew Propes is the state youth and discipleship director for the Church of God in Kentucky.

I RECEIVED THE BAPTISM with the Holy Spirit at a youth-camp altar in the Great Lakes Region on July 22, 1996. I had been seeking the baptism for some time, and I thank God for the camp workers who prayed with me until I prayed through.

In this and numerous other experiences, faithful camp work-ers were used by the Lord to speak wisdom into my life, guide me through difficult circumstances, and help me avoid danger-ous pitfalls. Now, from a different perspective, I am thankful for Church of God ministers and members who volunteer their time and labor to make the vital ministry of youth camp possible.

Receiving the baptism with the Holy Spirit was a validation and confirmation of the calling God had placed on my life. It was a clear signal that God answers the seeker and equips the

called. In my late adolescence and early adulthood, it was a reminder and recalibration when my confi-dence in the presence of a calling on my life was shaken. Now in the ministry God has assigned to me, it is the impetus and catalyst behind the mission of making disciples (Matt. 28:19).

Whether it is doing everything possible to ensure an unchurched young person makes it to camp,

striving to build relationships with lost people in our community, or preaching the gospel with rock-ribbed conviction, the baptism with the Spirit provides the willing vessel with the necessary boldness to be Christ’s witness (Acts 1:8).

My wife, Jenn, and I have had the opportunity to build rela-tionships with people outside the church with whom our lives have intersected. These relationships have been strategic, with a specific goal in mind. We have discovered through our experience that relationship is the key that unlocks the door of discipleship.

following orders from on highJack Reynolds is a retired Church of God minister who lives in Middletown, Ohio.

MY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY began when I accepted Christ at a Baptist church in Lebanon, Ohio, on July 5, 1958. We left the Bap-tist church when my wonderful wife, Wahneta, convinced me that God had more for me. She had been a member of the old Clayton Street Church of God (Middletown), where she was filled with the

Holy Spirit at a young age. She told me I needed that special anointing in my life if I was ever going to amount to anything for God. After praying about what she said, I attended a district tent revival for my first Pentecostal meeting. I slipped in and sat in the back. The power of God was present like I had never experienced before. Suddenly a strong wind blew in, the flaps on the tent began to beat its

sides, and the center pole started swaying. It looked like the tent was going to fall. All of the ministers gathered around the pole and prayed, and immediately the pole stopped swaying and the flaps fell down. I looked outside and the wind was still blowing at full force, but inside it was camp-meeting time. I had never experienced anything like that in my life, and it was the begin-ning of my desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I became so determined to receive the gift that I was always the first one to the altar to pray and usually the last one out. The local church started a revival with a woman evangelist, Lu Galino. In a Sunday-morning service as the choir sang, God’s power filled the room. Sister Galino came down the center aisle speaking in tongues, and asked everyone who wanted to be filled with the Spirit to come to the altar. I was the first one to respond, and she came to me and asked, “Do you want the Holy Ghost?” She then laid hands on me and said, “In the name of Jesus, receive the Holy Ghost.” I was between two of the brothers who had prayed with me many times, and immediately I began to magnify God by speak-ing in tongues. Sister Galino called Wahneta over to where I was, and told her she needed to be ready to accept what God had called me to do. Six months later, I received the call from God to preach the Word. After a short time in Texas, we went to Lee Col-lege, where I spent three years preparing for the ministry. From my first pastorate in Union Beach, New Jersey, to my final one in Brunswick, Georgia, I was favored with the anointing

When and how did you receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and how has this gift influenced your life and ministry?



the loud foot stomping of the choir and the jerking, running, and shouting frightened me.

The pastor’s wife was a caring woman who took me on as a special project. She told me how she had received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. She was in the choir singing when she saw (in

the Spirit) a cloud roll in the door and down the aisle, then wrap itself around her; she spoke in tongues for hours. That sounded so exciting!

One day I was home alone pray-ing a simple prayer—not asking God for anything. All at once, I was speaking words I had never spoken or heard. I brushed off the thought that it was the Holy Spirit, but it happened again the next time I prayed. I thought my “flesh”—a

term I had heard at church—might be causing it, but it happened repeatedly! There was no emotion—no real excitement. Talk about troubling!

I finally got up enough nerve to talk about it with my first-grade schoolteacher, who attended the Zellwood Church. She exclaimed, “You have been baptized in the Holy Ghost!”

“No, no,” I argued. Then she explained, “The Bible says, ‘Ye shall receive power,

after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you’ (Acts 1:8). It does not say, ‘You shall receive emotion.’ I know you very well, and I have seen power coming into your walk with the Lord.”

I felt cheated because I did not receive the kind of experience my pastor’s wife received, but then I moved away to a Christian university that fought the Pentecostal experience. They went so far as to say speaking in tongues is of the devil. I remember the day a faculty member who really wanted to help me began a conversation, “I know you were not alone at home praying a ‘God bless Uncle Jim and Aunt Susie’ prayer.”

I laughed and said, “That’s exactly what happened.” My non-emotional experience kept me strong during those years of intel-lectual conflict.

Today, speaking in tongues is a normal part of my prayer life. It keeps my faith strong when the battles get rough as an interces-sor. I love my private times with God when I commune with God in a heavenly language that goes straight to the throne room.

When I am praying with non-Pentecostal intercessors, I realize I do not have to speak in tongues. But I love praying cor-porately with my Pentecostal friends when we can let go and be blessed by the experience that means so much to us.

We live in a society in which everyone wants to tell the entire world about their lives; yet without relationships, they won’t divulge the simplest detail to a person standing in front of them. The boldness provided by the Holy Spirit enables the believer to build bridges into the community that might other-wise not be available. Those relationships, endorsed by the favor of God, can open doors for the same types of conversations Philip had with an Ethiopian, and Jesus had with the woman at the well.

The beauty of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is that this power to be a witness will manifest differently in the lives of vari-ous believers. Peter spoke with boldness on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2), and Paul used logic and reason to witness to the intel-lectuals in Athens (ch. 17). Believers today can build bridges for lost friends to meet Jesus; articulate the gospel to a skeptical yet curious community; and, if necessary, stand on the mission field like a modern-day Stephen, declare the truth of God’s Word with total commitment, and give their lives for the cause of Christ.

In the face of the new persecution—with martyrdom seep-ing beyond the shadows and standing in the forefront, and with the graphic and explicit fulfillment of Christ’s words in Matthew 5:11-12 and John 15:18-19—believers across the world need the baptism with the Holy Spirit like never before. It is a gift and an essential asset for the believer to reach maximum effectiveness for the kingdom of God.

quietly receiving a powerful experiencePeggy Scarborough and her husband, Neigel, pastor the Socastee Church of God in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

AS A CHILD, I remember my father sitting on the front porch and listening to singing coming from the Zellwood, Florida, Church of God, which was quite a distance from our home. Sometimes dur-ing their special meetings, Dad would park his truck near the church and just listen. We liked it, but it seemed a little “spooky.”

Dad was a Baptist deacon and Mother had a long history as a Baptist. One of Mother’s relatives had fallen in a Pentecostal meeting, leaving her seriously injured, so Mother felt that all Pentecostals were too radical and did not want any of us getting involved with them.

Then the day came during my senior year in high school when Irma Williams led me into a real experience with the Lord. She and some of the other young people from the Church of God were encouraging me to seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The first revival I experienced was puzzling. I loved the people and the exuberant singing, and I wanted the joy of the Lord. However,



n AS A FEMALE PASTOR for 23 years, I was pleasantly surprised to read your article on women in the ministry (“Viewpoints”) in the Feb-ruary 2015 edition of the Evangel. I can certainly empathize with the struggles mentioned in the article. . . . It never ceases to amaze me how cruel and unkind many people are to female ministers. It is my belief and prayer that the scales will be removed from the eyes of God’s people and we will no longer be treated as second-class people.—Pastor Karen Campbell (Tribbey Church of God, Hazard, Kentucky)

n I HAVE MOVED to the Connally Prison because the Lord did an amazing thing. Now I can be released in two years. I have not seen any of your magazines in the chapel. I can assure you that I will not only comb through every issue you can afford to send me, but I will pass them on to other inmates serious about our Lord.—Paul (Kenedy, Texas) Editor’s note: A donation to the EvangelCare fund has enabled us to provide Paul with a one-year personal subscription.

Letters to the EDITORSend your comments to the editor [email protected]

PEOPLE AND EVENTS

Huntsville, AL—A few years ago while living near Huntsville, I was working for a motor-coach company. My boss asked me to take his car and meet a motor coach during the night, hand off some paperwork to the driver, and come right back home. Due to the location where I had to meet him, I drove some back roads through the middle of nowhere.

After I met the driver, I took the same route back to Huntsville. About halfway home, I started having car trouble, and eventually the car would not run more than about five miles per hour. The only thing around me was farmland and cows. I had no cell-phone ser-vice, and had no idea what I was going to do.

I looked in my rearview mirror and saw headlights coming way off in the distance. Eventually, the vehicle passed me and kept going. It was a small pickup truck pulling an empty tow dolly. A few minutes later, I could see the truck stopped in the road ahead. When I caught up, the driver asked if I needed help. I told her the situation, and the middle-aged woman said, “Well, let’s get this car onto this dolly and get you to Huntsville.”

After we got in the truck, she said she worked for a man that bought cars and was headed to pick one up. She said she made this run several times a week, but never took this route. However,

something had told her to stay off the interstate and take the back roads tonight. She was certain she had come this way just for me.

I had no doubt that the Lord had spoken to her spirit to take a route she would not normally so I could be rescued!

I had heard that God might not come when you want Him, but He’s always right on time. Well, that night He came when I wanted Him and right on time!—Keith Hart

family delivered

Odivelas, PORTUGAL—I was sitting in a pastor’s study in metro-politan Lisbon. A lady called, des-perate for help. I learned from the pastor that the church people had distributed leaflets explaining that if you had a need, call their number for help.

When the pastor and I arrived, she was frantic. She was not a believer. Her husband was para-lyzed from his waist down, and her son was a drug addict. He took most everything they had and sold it for drugs. He told his mother he was returning home in one hour. If she did not have money for drugs, he would kill her and his dad.

We shared with her the gospel, and she was gloriously saved. We went into the bedroom where her husband was. We prayed for him, and God healed him! He got out of

right on time!

the bed and ran around the house, praising God.

The son came home. He saw his father running around and his mother laughing and clapping her hands. He could not believe what

he was seeing. We told him about Christ; he was saved and deliv-ered from drugs. The family goes forward serving Christ.—Douglas LeRoy (True Stories of God at Work, Church of God World Missions)

a mother’s intercessionDade City, FL—One day a

few years ago, I felt impressed to fast concerning my son, Clyf Champion. I almost did not, but decided I must.

The next day, Clyf called to tell me he had passed out for

a while from gas fumes where he was working. A friend who was

helping him took him to the hos-pital, and he was OK.

I am so glad I listened to God talking to me. —Louise Prewitt


n AYERS, Rujean Emma; 88; exhorter; West Virginia; Gilmer Ayers (husband)

n CARVER, George Douglas; 80; ordained bishop; North Carolina; Grace Carver (wife)

n CHENAULT, Thomas E.; 80; ordained bishop; Florida; Winifred Chenault (wife)

n DAVIS, Claude William; 87; ordained bishop; Alabama; Arthur Davis (son)

n EAGLE, Donnie Ward; 84; ordained bishop; Michigan; Jessie Eagle (wife)

For daily news updates about what’s happening in the Church of God and Evangelical world, visit FAITH NEWS NETWORK, at www.faithnews.cc.

DECEASED MINISTERSn ENGLE, Archer G.; 91; ordained bishop; Kentucky; Sandy Hinton (daughter)

n EVORS, Claude Estol; 84; ordained bishop; Georgia; Lora Evors (wife)

n HARDY, Lafon; 77; ordained bishop; South Carolina; Shirley Hardy (wife)

n JOHNSON, Douglas M.; 82; ordained bishop; South Carolina; Lila Ruth Johnson (wife)

n JOHNSON, Leland Hayes; 78; exhorter; Florida; Navadean Johnson (daughter)

n LAUGHLIN, Eskor; 87; exhorter; Florida; Betty Laughlin (wife)

n MCEACHIN, Daniel Lee; 63; ordained bishop; Georgia; Renee McEachin (wife)

n MILES, Foreman C.; 79; ordained bishop; Georgia; Ivalene Miles (wife)

n ROBINSON, Cleveland; 83; ordained minister; Ohio; Beverly Collins (daughter)

n ROWE, Joseph Cecil; 80; ordained bishop; Maryland; Leona Rowe (wife)

n SKELTON, Amos J.; 97; ordained bishop; Georgia; Elsie Witcher (sister)

n SMITH, Bobby Leroy; 82; ordained bishop; South Carolina; Margaret Smith (wife)

n SMITH, Caroline June; 84; ordained minister; Pennsylvania; Patricia A. Grim (niece)

n TULL, W. E.; 101; ordained bishop; Delaware; Ruth Sneller (daughter)

n WRIGHT, James Doyle; 77; ordained bishop; Kansas; Charlene Wright (wife)

by louis f. morgan

“i persecuted the church” the story of W. H. cabaniss

“This is Little Willie from down on Broad River. Most everybody knows of me because of when I persecuted the Church, but oh, thank God, one time a wayworn pilgrim on his way to a land called heaven came through this town and Jesus spoke sweetly to my soul through his ministry. Jesus saved me; praise the Lord forevermore.”—W. H. Cabaniss, 1940

REVEREND W. L. EDGAR arrived in the mill town of Lockhart, South Carolina, in spring 1937 with a desire to see individuals

transformed by the power of God. Assisted by Johnnie Childers, Edgar placed a tent in the middle of the mill town, and the two began preaching. Curiosity and excitement drew large crowds to the tent, which was often filled to capacity with many standing outside.

Yet, some resisted the idea of a Pentecostal church in the town. One of those who opposed the Church of God was “Little Willie” Cabaniss. While Willie and others tried to hinder the services, God’s Spirit moved among the people, convicting them of sin. Miraculous healings occurred, and people were saved, sanctified, and bap-tized with the Holy Spirit. Spiri-tual fervor became stronger than the persecution.

On August 28, 1937, the Lockhart Church of God was orga-nized with 13 charter members. Reverend Edgar was appointed as pastor, and Cora Brown was chosen as treasurer. As winter approached, local members

searched for a place to worship. The Mur-phy family permitted use of their farm-land, which the church shared with cattle grazing along the hillside overlooking the town and the Broad River below.

Initially an old store building was purchased, dismantled, hauled to the property, and used to construct a church building. To help pay for the building, women of the church often gathered to cook hot dogs, which they sold at the mill. The building was completed in time for an all-day service in April 1938, with only

CHURCH OF GOD CHRONICLES

$400 remaining on the debt. Following a successful revival led by noted evangelists Myrtle Whitehead and Pauline Jackson, membership increased to 61 the next year. The church was firmly established in Lockhart.

By December 1946, the Murphy fam-ily had sold the land to the church and, through the faithfulness of local members and leadership of Pastor N. A. Jordan, the wooden building had been transformed into a new, brick house of worship. Although the town had initially resisted

the establishment of the church, many community leaders and residents joined in the celebra-tion and dedication of the new building.

Today, Pastors Allen and Vick-ie McKee are leading the Lockhart Church in a time of renewal and growth. The congregation wor-ships in their recently renovated building, which, still on the hill-side overlooking the town, stands as a testimony to God’s enduring faithfulness and blessings.

And what about “Little Willie”? Soon after the organization of the Lockhart Church, he surrendered his life to God. Instead of resisting the church, he answered God’s call to ministry. The Reverend W. H. Cabaniss spent the next 50 years sharing the love of Christ and seeing lives transformed by the power of God.

Louis F. Morgan, Ph.D., is a mem-ber of the Church of God Historical Commission and serves Lee Univer-sity as an associate professor and the director of library services.


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