Experiencing and witnessing of God's transforming power through Jesus Christ.

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Mister, I'll See You In Glory..................

Revival.....................................................

No One Witnessed To Me....................

You Can Know -- Born Again..............

What Is Really Important......................

March For Jesus.....................................

Amy Insisted We Try............................

It Is Never Too Late...............................

Who Would You Bring With You.......

God Provided The Way.........................

Study God's Word..................................

You Plus God Make A Majority...........

Liberated From Fear................................

Greatest Week Of My Life.....................

Sir, Do You Know Jesus........................

We Have Something To Celebrate.......

Mother Will Never Forget You.............

The Well Had Gone Dry........................

The Lord Quit For Me............................

I Was In Jail.............................................

Find Time For Your Children.................

I Was Destroying Myself......................

Nobody Told Me About Jesus............

I Saw The Flames Of Hell.......................

Super Star To Servant............................

Heaven Is Real........................................

All The Way............................................

Debbie......................................................

Love Makes A Difference.....................

I Was A Loner.........................................

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Chapter Eighteen

Jim Feazell

THE WELL HAD GONE DRY

Jim and Ruth Feazell were two of the most precious Christians I have ever known. I will share much more about them at the end of this chapter. Him shared the following testimony in a lay revival in 1979:

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The Lay Team came to our church in 1970. Ruth had gone out with the Lay Team members Thursday morning as they visited and witnessed to the lost in our community. She was so excited about going out witnessing that she wanted to go out again that afternoon!

There was a time in my life when I was so active and involved in my church and I was excited about the way we were growing. But there came a time in my life when the well went dry. I was still active and involved, but I didn’t have that happiness and joy I had known. I was cold and indifferent. I was a deacon, but the well had gone dry. I had no overflowing love in my heart to reach out to other people. This was my condition when the laymen came to our church. I had just grown cold and indifferent.

I was not too excited about the revival. Ruth had gone visiting Thursday morning and was so excited about it, yet it just seemed like I was indifferent to it. It didn’t thrill me, what was going on in her heart. She went out with them again that afternoon and came back bubbling over with joy. I would not have hurt her feelings, so I just agreed with her that it was great.

As the men gave their testimonies in the revival services, the Lord began to work in my heart. But I stood back night after night and just refused to fully commit my life to the Lord. I knew what I needed to do. I knew I needed to get right with the Lord, but I would not do it. I was so stubborn.

I remember once (before this) I was asked to have a part on the WMU Program during the week of prayer in our church. I really poured it on our church members that night about how we treat one another in church. Visiting, inviting people into our homes and everything like that….we don’t even seem like a family of God. We are so indifferent. We are so busy.

That night I said, “I came from Alabama and I’ve always been a fisherman. Fished all my life. I could stand outside the church between Sunday School and Church. I would hear all you men tell stories where you went down on Kentucky Lake and how you caught the big one. I’ve been here five years and no one has ever asked me to be in your home. You came and asked me to join your church but as far as being here, I am a loner.” This really touched a doctor in our church. In fact, he and his wife were both doctors. Immediately after that, Dr. Sanders and his wife, Marilyn, invited us to their home. From that time on, we have been very close friends.

I had to say what I did that night to shake up somebody. What I said was truth and it’s been the truth everywhere I’ve been and I imagine it is the truth here. But I was as much at fault as they were because I had never asked any of them into my home. I saw their faults, but I did not see mine.

This same Dr. Sanders came to see me after the Lay Revival was over and said, “Jim, I see the need in our church to have a prayer group of men. I would like for you to join me in this group. Let’s just get together and be open and honest with each other. Let’s pray for each other and help strengthen one another in our Christian walk. We need to visit together and witness....just share our lives together and be God’s people that we can minister to one another....pray for our pastor and the needs of our church....pray for lost people.”

I didn’t want to turn him down, but I had to because I was not ready for this. I said, “John, I’m not ready for this, but you pray for me.” Well, he did and I thank the Lord for it today that those men prayed for me because the Lord really began to work on my heart. Three weeks after these men began to meet on Sunday afternoon I had to quit that TV program. I had to give up those Sunday afternoon football games and go join those men in prayer.

This was the beginning of something that has been the most beautiful part of my Christian experience. Through this prayer group, the Lord began to work on my heart about the indifference I had. I began to see myself as God really saw me. I still had not committed myself in the area of witnessing.

Our little prayer group was invited to Paducah, Kentucky to help in a Lay Revival. This was just before Christmas, 1970. We were to have the revival Friday through Sunday. I went along more as a prayer support for the other men. I was not committed to it. But when the invitation was given that Friday night, I went to the altar and knelt there, not knowing really why I went forward. As I knelt there that night, I saw Christ at Calvary for the first time. I saw what He had done for me and how sinful I had been....how indifferent I had been to Him....how unfaithful I had been for all He did for me on Calvary.

I began to cry. Hot tears flowed down my cheeks. I asked the Lord to reveal to me the sins that were in my life, to cleanse me and to fill me with His Spirit. I realized there that night I had all of Christ but He did not have all of me. I said, “Lord, I’ve held back on You these many years. Now I want to commit the rest of my life to You. Take my life and use it for Your will and purpose.”

I cried for two weeks. I was so overjoyed that night as I came forth from that service. The Lord changed my life. The Lord took a life that was so indifferent, so unlovely, so unkind, sometimes maybe bitter, and He made something out of it. Today, I rejoice. I’m happy. I’m thrilled to death to lead lost souls to come to know Jesus. I can’t get enough of this thing of witnessing for the Lord. You know, I ran from this. The best thing God had to offer me as a Christian was to tell somebody else about Jesus Christ.

I worked out a plan to tell others about Jesus. I wrote it down and said, “Now this is the plan of salvation and this is what I’ll use.” I would witness to people, try it on them and nobody would respond. I’d go to another, tell him about the Lord Jesus and still nobody would respond. This went on for six months and I was getting frustrated.

We had a Lay Revival at Valley View Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. I knelt and prayed and said, “Lord, I’m going to tell people about Jesus as long as I live. But, Lord, if anybody gets saved, you are going to have to save them. I can’t do it.” After I turned this thing over to the Lord, He began to do it through me. You know, we have to do that, turn it over to Him. We go out here so sincere sometimes, we are going to save the world. We can’t save anybody. He has to do it. If we go in this frame of mind -- Lord I’m Yours, I’m Your spokesman, I’m Your mouthpiece, Lord....through the Leadership of Your Holy Spirit, save them -- God can use us when we come yielded to Him.

We could not find an address that day in Louisville. We stopped two young men that were running in their tracksuits and asked them where we could find the address. They told us it was located over in another subdivision. I asked the young man if he was a Christian and he said, “No.” I said, “While you get your breath in about five minutes, would you let me tell you about Jesus?” He said, “Yes.” I stood there behind the car, opened the scriptures, and went over the plan of salvation with this young seventeen-year-old. He bowed his head, there in the middle of that road and accepted Jesus.

That afternoon, a young man was filling up my gas tank and I said, “Young man, are you a Christian?” He said, “Yes, I sure am, but my boss man is not.” I asked him who his boss man was and he said, “David.” I went over to where David was and began to share with him. He said, “You know, I’m interested but I just don’t have time today. Will you come back tomorrow?” We went back the next day and this man was saved. From that beginning, God has opened many doors.

Dr. Sanders spoke to me one night at prayer meeting in our church. He said, “Jim, this patient of mine is a very sick man and he may not live very much longer. He is not a Christian. Would you go talk to him about Jesus?” I said, “John, the next time I go by the hospital, I’ll go by and talk to him.”

This was a wicked man. He would not cooperate with the doctors. He would curse the nurses. He would jerk the tubes out. John said, “I don’t know how he will receive you, but I think you should go.”

I went home that night and prayed for this man. I prayed for the Lord to deal in my life to make me the vessel he could use and I asked him to prepare the heart of this man. I went back to my job the next day at General Electric with a deep burden for this man. I said, “Lord, I’ll go see him this afternoon when I get off from work.” When I came back from lunch that day and sat there at my desk, I just felt compelled to go to the hospital. I had never left my job before to do anything like this.

I went over to the hospital, which was about two blocks away. I went into this man’s room and introduced myself to him. He immediately said, “I’ve been looking for you all day. I wondered when you were going to get here.” I began to share Jesus with this man. Tears came into his eyes. Then in response to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, I asked him if he would like to receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. He said, “I sure would.” So, I went through the plan of salvation with him and he accepted Christ.

This really made a change in this man’s life. His doctor told me that God was completely making him over. His attitude changed, the smile on his face, the radiance he had about him, the glow. He was just a different person all together. People loved the man.

Shortly after that, the man was in intensive care, near death. John shared this with me and said, “I know that he would want to see you again.” I went in that day and John had made arrangements for me to go into intensive care to visit with Gene. He was asleep but in a few moments he woke up and I told him who I was. He said, "I’ll always remember you and I was hoping I’d get to see you again ‘cause I wanted to thank you for coming and telling me about Jesus....what He means to me in my life....what it means to know that you are a Christian and when you come to die that you have a home in heaven.” We rejoiced with him there that day and shortly after that, Gene died.

Later, I was back in that hospital for an operation. The morning I was to go in for surgery, a nurse came running into my room. She said, “Jim, Dr. Sanders told me that you were the man that came and witnessed to Gene. I saw the change in that man’s life and I need that change in my life. When you get out of this hospital and over the surgery, will you come and share that with me?” I promised I would.

Just a few weeks after that, I went with Dr. John Sanders and my wife to this lady’s house. She was Catholic, the head nurse in surgery. Her husband had been a psychiatrist. Five years before this, he committed suicide and left her with three teenage daughters. She said, “I’ve been to two priests and they can’t give me the answer. I can’t read my Bible anymore. I can’t pray anymore.” She said, “I’ve lost all hope. But I saw the change that came into Gene’s life and I realize I need that. Nobody has ever helped me to find that peace and joy that came into his life.”

We shared with her that night and she found that peace and joy. She began to read her Bible and to pray again. Today she goes through that hospital telling people about Jesus.

We were in a Lay Led Revival in Pine Hill, Alabama. I was paired with a deacon from that church as we went visiting that morning. We went to see a wealthy lady there in that community. There in that home she had a housekeeper couple, a man and a woman that had moved into her home to keep house for her. Instead of going to a nursing home, she just had them come into her home and look after her.

There that morning as I shared the plan of salvation with this lady who had moved into this woman’s home, this lady accepted Christ. When we got back into the car and started back to the Church, Sam (the deacon) began to weep and he said, “That was such a beautiful sight. I’ve never seen that before.”

When we got back to the church, Sam asked Fred if we could visit together again that afternoon. He said he had a man he wanted me to go talk to. Fred put us back together that afternoon. It was raining. We drove out of town, crossed the railroad track, went down a little dirt road with weeds growing in the center of it. We stopped; he let down the gap of a fence and we went through. He got out and went back and closed it. We drove to the backside of nowhere, all the way back to a creek bank, and he stopped the car. Sam said, “Jim, I know you are wondering why we are out here. I’m that man I want you to talk to.”

Even though Sam was a deacon in his church, yet he came to realize as I presented the plan of salvation to that woman that he had never been saved. I just simply went over the plan of salvation with Sam and he prayed a prayer something like this. “Lord, if I missed you back there somewhere, I want to know that I have Jesus Christ in my heart.” He asked Jesus Christ to come into his heart, forgive his sins and save him. Today, Sam is still praising God for what He did there in that field that day.

So many today are missing that joy and happiness that Sam found. You may be here tonight and you are missing the joy of salvation. You are not sure whether you are saved or not. Some of you may be like I was, cold and indifferent and you want to consecrate your all on the altar. Fred, you come and close the invitation.”

The Lord called Jim Feazell home in 1985. For fifteen years Jim shared Jesus with this lost and dying world. I’ve watched Jim share with people when we would get a chance to visit together. Tears would come into his eyes as he shared for he was so burdened to see them saved. He was fun to be with.

Several years ago he had a heart attack. Just as soon as he was able, he was back with us in lay revivals. We were in revival in a large church for the closing service on Sunday morning. The music was great. The testimonies were anointed and the power of God fell on that service. The altar was full.

Most of the people had gone home. As I walked down the aisle to the back of the church, Jim was sitting at the very back of the church. The glory of God shone on his face. God had filled his cup as we saw so many respond to the invitation that morning. With the joy of the Lord on his face, he smiled and said, “Fred, my doctor said for me not to get excited. Brother, I can’t stand too many services like this.” Well, Jim has gone home to be with his dear Lord which is far more exciting than any service he ever attended down here. We will truly miss him but heaven will be that much sweeter when we get there.

Jim overcame a heart attack and had to deal with cancer for several years before the Lord called him home. Through all of this he continued to tell others about Jesus. I would like to share with you a portion of a letter we received from Jim when he was dying with cancer:

Dear Fred & Amy:

“I am full, having received the things that were sent from you.”—Philippians 4:18.

With this in mind, we receive your expression of love, concern and prayers as Heavenly Gifts, sent from God to minister unto us in these days of sickness. We love you with the love that God has given us from Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

The abrasive experiences we encounter each day are intended to prepare us for heaven. God uses all of life’s troubles to polish and perfect our characters. If we accept our trials with the right attitude and recognize that the Heavenly Father is working through them, we will someday shine with splendor before Him.

In the rough, a diamond looks like a common pebble. But after it is cut, its hidden beauty begins to emerge. Even then the stone must undergo a finishing process to bring out its full radiance. What a picture of the way God works with us. The process is not pleasant, nor is it intended to be. The Divine Workman, however, has our final glory in view. There may be “heaviness through manifold trials,” as Peter said (I Peter 1:7). But when we understand what is behind them, we can rejoice even in adversity. The expectation of what God is accomplishing enables us to look beyond the present polishing and see the outcome. No matter what happens, Jesus will see us “through fire and through water, and He will bring into a wealthy place.” (Psalm 66:12) Praise the Lord. Amen. What a Savior!

Your Brother in Christ,

Jim

The following testimony is from Jim’s dear wife, Ruth Feazell:

HAPPIEST TIME OF MY LIFE

Ruth Feazell

The Lay Team came to our church in 1971. The revival began on a Wednesday night. We had a great service. Thursday morning, our music director called me about ten o’clock and said, “Ruth, will you call another lady and come to the church and take some of our visitors out for visitation. We don’t have enough of our people.” I told him I would but I would have to be home by noon because James would be coming home for lunch.

I’m so glad I went. As we went out and made our first visit, the Lord began to speak to me about this thing of being a witness. He began to reveal my life to me since He had saved me. Even though I had been active and involved in my church, I had never been witnessing to the lost. I’m sure the Lord had watched me since I had been saved and He knew that I had not been involved in sharing Him with a lost and dying world.

I had been visiting and invited people to my church many times on Thursday night at our regular visitation. That was not too hard. I could tell them all about our church and everything we could offer them and their family. I began to look at my life since I had been saved and I could not ever remember sharing with anyone what the Lord meant to me and how I came to know Him. I had never shared with anyone how they could come to know Him.

The Lord said to me, “You might have been the only one to share the plan of salvation in some of the homes you have been in.” I had to agree that probably was true, but I said, “Lord, You know me and my shy ways. I don’t know if I could ever do this.” But as we went on, I became more excited about this and when I went home for lunch that day, I tried to share some of this with James. I said, “I want to go back this afternoon. I want to go out again.”

As we went out that afternoon, a teenage boy accepted the Lord as his personal Savior and you know, I thought that was the most exciting thing I had ever experienced in my life. To be right there when someone accepts Jesus as their personal Savior! I had never experienced that before.

The Lord continued to deal with me in this Lay Led Revival. I had to, as best I knew how, surrender my life to the Lord in the area of witnessing. I asked Him to help me be a witness for Him. I wanted to be a witness for Him and I wanted to help someone else come to know Him as their Lord and Savior. You know the Lord honored that in my life because I was sincere. He has given me opportunities to witness to others and see them accept Him as their Lord and Savior. This has been the happiest time of my Christian life, to be able to share with someone the plan of salvation and to help to lead them to come to know the Lord.

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103

Chapter Twenty

I WAS IN JAIL

J.D. Swanger is a member of First Baptist Church, Greeneville, Tennessee. He operated a plumbing supply business in that city for many years. He and his wife, Nana, have truly been a blessing to this team. J.D. has the love of Jesus in his heart and a desire to share Jesus with a lost world. This man not only loves Jesus, but he loves his church and his pastor.

J. D. Swanger This is truly a testimony to the transforming power of Jesus. In the beginning, you see a man that is full of bitterness and hatred. In the end you see the same man with the tenderness of Jesus weeping his heart out for this precious saleslady. Praise God for the transforming power of Jesus:

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I was in jail for twenty-one years, bound and chained, going to and fro, wherever the jailer told me to go. I was not in a man-jail; I was in the jail bound by the chains of Satan. It all began at a very early age in my life. My dad died when I was eight years old. Beginning that day until I was twenty-nine years old, hate began to build in my heart. It was just like you built a wall around my heart. It began to get harder and harder. By the time I was sixteen years old, you could count my friends on one hand, less three fingers. I would trust no one. The world to me was walking in a different direction. I just wanted to get even.

My mother was a loving mother. She loved me and did by me the best that I would let her do. She took me to church until I was twelve years old. But in all of those years, I did not hear about the love of God or why He loved me. I heard the other side, that I was mean and that I was going to hell.

I went out into the world trying to get even. I was so full of hatred and bitterness that I would help no one. Not many people really knew this. I was so blind to what Satan was doing to me, yet I knew not how to escape.

When I met and married my wife, for the first time I had some peace and joy in my heart. But within a few months, she was moved her to (what I thought was her) rightful place in my life. The same thing happened with my children. I had new toys to play with, then they moved to their rightful place.

Soon the frustration, the dark and blackness came back. I was walking down the road to doom. I knew I was on my way to hell but I did not know what to do about it. I was twenty-nine years old when I walked into this little country church. For the first time in my life, I heard about the love of Jesus Christ. It was just a simple message. Do you know that God loves you? Do you know that Jesus died for you? I was a good man as far as the moral part was concerned. I was home every night when I was supposed to be. I didn’t drink, smoke or chew. But the hatred and bitterness was there. I heard that same message on the love of God for four or five nights. When the invitation was given one night, I knew I had come to the crossroad in my life. There, for the first time in my life, I had the peace and joy and commitment that I needed.

I began to work for my salvation. I thought I should do everything I did. I got involved. I worked and worked and I became tired. I was trying to pay back to God for what Jesus did for me that night. I didn’t understand that Jesus paid the full price on the cross. What happened was, I lagged behind. I began to sit down. I let my Bible lay on one side. I let my prayer life go out through the chimney. Something happened to me that I hope has never happened to you. I lost the joy of my salvation.

Shortly after that, God moved us to another church. I began to hear God’s word preached as I had never heard it preached before. I got back into my Bible, my prayer life and I thank God tonight for a pastor that preaches the Bible.

I prayed and said, “Lord, restore to me the joy of my salvation that I had when I was saved.” Fourteen years had passed since that day. The Lord said, “J.D., fourteen years ago you opened your heart to salvation. But there was a closet there. In that closet you never did turn loose of that hatred and bitterness. Although, you are not using it today like you used it before you were saved, you still have not completely turned loose of it.” I bowed my head and said, “Lord Jesus, I open up this door of hatred. I want You to come in. I want You to clean my heart.” Jesus came and really cleansed my heart. As I stand before you tonight, there is not a man in this world I have ought against.

God can’t really use us if we have got a closet in our heart that’s not clean. So many people have little vices. Nobody knows about it but themselves. It doesn’t matter about people; you can’t hide it from God! You can’t live a clean life before God with a vice hung up in a closet. God wants only a clean heart if we are to be used to win this lost world to Him.

On visitation night, we were sent to the home of a man preparing for open-heart surgery. As I was giving witness to the man, the mother and her five-year-old daughter sat listening. After the man made the decision to accept Jesus, I turned to his wife. Knowing that she was a Sunday School teacher, I asked her if she was satisfied with her relationship with Jesus. The reply was, “I’m not saved.” She too received Christ that night. Following us to the car, her daughter whispered in her mother’s ear, “Mother, tell that man I want to be saved.” That blew my mind. I had always been skeptical of a young person’s praying to receive Christ and I had not given God’s Spirit credit in this young life. I was looking for an escape. I said to her, “I bet you can pray by yourself.” And she said, “Start me.” I began, “Dear Lord Jesus,” and she took up where I left off. I have never heard a more beautiful prayer of repentance.

I called back in a few days to make a follow-up visit, and the voice on the other end was the five-year-old that said, “Hello.” I replied that I was J.D. She came forth with a loud voice, “Oh, you’re the man who told us about Jesus.”

This family is active in a local church today. God taught me from this experience, and since that time He has allowed me to share with a lot of youngsters, and He has given me a sensitive spirit. I try to obey that spirit to the best of my knowledge.

While in Korea in 1983, there was time I could not put forth a full effort to witness for Christ. After the revival was over, our Korean partners were giving us a tour of Pusan. In a gift house, I asked the saleslady if she knew about Jesus. She answered by saying, “A little bit,” showing it by the distance between two fingers. I asked if I could share Jesus while placing a tract in her hand. She said that she would like to, but the boss would not let her. I told her to read the tract, do what it says, and you can receive Jesus.

After boarding the train the next morning in Seoul, a trip of 266 miles, I tried to relax after a week of hard work. When I finally got settled, the saleslady came to my mind and my spirit was troubled. In this world, there are so many people who reject the witness of Jesus. And the one person who wanted to hear the Word, I could not share it with her. I’m not a crying man, yet tears began to flow and for miles I wept. But God knows what He is doing.

I opened the Word to Acts 20:35-38. Paul had given all he could. In verse 38, knowing they would see his face no more, the tears ceased. I believe that some day this saleslady and I can freely, in heaven, talk about that day because God’s Word will not return void. Isaiah 55:11 says, “So shall My word that goeth forth out of My mouth; it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

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106

Chapter Twenty One

J. Fred Pinckard

FIND TIME FOR YOUR CHILDREN

When my son, Philip, went away to college, I asked him two questions. First, I said, “In what way did your mother mean the most to you when you were growing up?” He said, “Dad, she was always there.” What he meant was that even though my wife worked in the office, she made it a point to be at home when that little first, second or third grader got home. She wanted to be there to share all his victories and all his defeats with him. That continued on through grade school and high school.

I then asked him in what way his Dad meant the most to him when he was growing up. He said, “I thought you worked me too hard and I thought the discipline was too much but I can’t remember you not having time for me. I can remember you coming from the chicken hatchery when you were too tired to walk, but I can’t ever remember you refusing to play with me.”

I shared in many churches that I was so glad to see Philip go away to college because those basketball games were killing me. What I’m saying is, find time for your children. Other than your salvation, your wife and children are the most precious gifts you have on the face of this earth.

The Lord called Philip to preach when he was in his first year of college. When we were in a revival at Antioch Baptist Church in Johnson City, a beautiful young lady asked one of the team members (Arlene Caywood) if we knew Philip Pinckard. She went on to share that Philip had led her to the Lord when she was a ten year old girl, while he was Philip Pinckard pastoring a small church in Maynardsville, Tennessee. Arlene said, “Let’s just ask the Pinckards if they know Philip.” Amy stood there with tears in her eyes as this young lady shared with us that she was in medical school preparing to be a medical missionary. I pray that God will greatly bless this young lady on the mission field. I pray that as Philip goes out into the highways and hedges, he will see many other little boys and girls come to know the Lord and be called into full time Christian service.

My family had dinner with Dr. R.G. Lee two years before he died. Philip asked Dr. Lee to what did he attribute the tremendous success he had at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis. Dr. Lee said, “I stayed on my knees, in the Word, and made ten visits a day for thirty-two years.” Many of those that walked the aisles on Sunday, Dr. Lee had led to the Lord during the week.

Philip helped us in several Lay-Led Revivals when he was in college and seminary. We have had many other pastors come at their own expense and help just as a lay team member, not as a pastor. These are truly men of God, for they came not seeking any recognition for themselves, but simply because they want to see people saved. Many of them have worked through several revivals and never stood in the pulpit. I have never sensed any resentment from these men. They were there to lift up Jesus, not themselves.

In 1975, we were in a Lay-Led Revival in Florida and Philip was helping us. He was visiting the home of a black family and witnessing to a young boy there. The boy was too young to understand what Philip was sharing with him. About that time his big brother came up and Philip began to share with him. He was a big man and Philip had the joy of leading him to the Lord. Philip shared with him that the Lord not only saves us, but He keeps us.

He (Philip) had been to Alaska serving as a summer missionary and the only thing he carried with him from that summer’s work was a jade ring that he wore. He was really proud of that ring. It reminded him of so many wonderful experiences he had had in Alaska. He took the ring off and held it tightly in his hand and placed the other hand over it to show how we are kept by the Lord. The Lord spoke to Philip and said, “Give him the ring.” Philip gave him the ring and said, “Let this remind you every day of the decision you made today.” The ring had been custom made for his little finger. Many in the group were weeping as he shared this beautiful experience.

Today, Philip is happily married to the former Sandra Reynolds of Beaumont, Texas. Sandy and Philip were in the seminary together and she served three years as a missionary to Hong Kong. They were called to Memorial Baptist Church, Metairie, Louisiana in November of 1986. Philip left Red Oak Baptist Church of Kaufman, Texas with so many wonderful memories. He started working with them when he was in seminary. They were just a little mission with less than twenty members and no church building. They called him as full time pastor when he got out of seminary. Nobody else wanted him because he was still single at that time.

The congregation raised the money to build the church building. Some retired Texas construction men came in with their campers and trailers and built the building at no labor cost to the church. This really touched Philip that these men and women loved the Lord enough to come in and do this. Philip stayed at Red Oak until they officially became a church. He and his family later moved to Louisiana, but part of Philip will always be at Red Oak. My, how he loved those people!

When Philip was in college, he and some other preacher boys were working with a missionary in little mission churches. They were meeting in dairy barns, tar paper shacks and old store front buildings. Philip’s first church was a tar paper shack about twenty feet long and twenty feet wide. These young men stayed in a room over the funeral home on the weekends. They would fix their own meals with the help of the missionary.

The weekend Philip preached his first sermon in that tar paper building, Amy and I went up on Saturday. Our plans were to stay in the Holiday Inn and go out and hear Philip preach on Sunday morning. We went by the funeral home just as soon as we got in town. The missionary said to my wife, “Now, Sister Pinckard, these little preacher boys sure could use that money you are going to pay for that room at the Holiday Inn. I have an agreement with the owner of this funeral home, that we can use the bed he has downstairs for any guest we have.”

To my surprise, Amy agreed to stay. The next morning, the missionary said, “Sister Pinckard, you have made the grade. Most of these old sisters would have grabbed their wigs and left.” We were not the only ones downstairs. There was a body there!

When summer came, these young preachers worked at an integrated camp the missionary had for underprivileged children. They also held tent revivals in the section of the city where the underprivileged children lived. When the team came to Cleveland, a black doctor gave Philip permission to put the tent on a lot he owned. Philip asked me to bring my backhoe and help them clean the lot. This was like an old time revival -- a tent with sawdust on the floor and very little more. They held Bible School during the day and had the revival services at night. There were three preacher boys and two black boys from the camp. Every bed in our home was full.

There was a beer hall on one side of the tent and a dance hall just across the street. A friend of mine said, “It is dangerous for those boys to be in that location.” I explained to him that this was the location God had given them and He would guard and protect them. The first night the music was so loud from the dance hall it was difficult to hear. The second night, they went over to the dance hall and passed out leaflets and did a lot of praying. The music was no problem after this.

The second night of the revival a tramp that was just passing through Cleveland was saved. He had been working in the circus and an elephant attacked him. He was injured and the circus had left him behind. He said when the elephant was attacking him, he cried out, “God help me,” and the elephant turned and walked away. Philip and Hugh Rogers stayed on their knees a long time with the tramp before he was saved. He had so many questions. When they came off their knees you could see the joy of the Lord on his face. Philip and Hugh had a little private discussion. Then Philip came over to his mother and said, “Mother, could you warm over the food we had left from supper?” Amy assured him that would be no problem. Then he said, “Could he spend the night?” Amy said, “Philip, where will he sleep, every bed is full?” Philip said, “Mother, he can have my bed and I’ll sleep on the floor.” He came home with us that night and the young men treated him like he was a king. Well, he was now the son of The King.

I headed this chapter, “Take Time For Your Children” but I think a better title would have been “Take Time for Children.” They don’t have to be your children or my children. There are so many out there, that just need someone to love them. You owe your children two things. Time and love, and you can’t give them too much of either of these. Then there is a third thing and it is more important than the other two. Live a Godly life before them and seek in every way when they are of age, to lead them to Jesus.

Shortly after the Lay-Team came to my church, I went to my pastor and asked him to let me start a Sunday School Class over at the chicken hatchery. This would be a class mostly for children from broken homes. He talked it over with the Sunday School Director and they finally gave me the green light. E.O. Dunn, a retired plumber, was my prayer partner, at this time, and he agreed to help me with this project.

He began to visit these children on Saturday and let them know we would be by to pick them up on Sunday. This gave us a chance to witness to Mom and Dad when we visited on Saturday. My, how God blessed that class! We would either take them back home after Sunday School or take them on to church if they were willing to go. We had many parties for these children and when party time came, there would be many children come that were not involved in Sunday School. We welcomed them all. We did not “cull” anybody. Sometimes we would have the party up in the field near the lake or right in our back yard. My, could those precious little children eat! I don’t think any of them ever went away hungry.

A man from Ohio that had been saved as a child at one of those parties came by our home this summer. He and his family were on their way to Texas. We showed his children where he knelt on the basketball court after Amy had shared her personal testimony and he had said, “I want to be saved.” Over the years, we have had others stop by that were a part of that Sunday School Class. These are just some of the side dishes God sends our way as a special blessing.

Friends, we not only need to be concerned about the children here at home, but we need to remember that about one-fourth of this world goes to bed hungry every night. They not only need spiritual food, they also need physical food. Find an organization where you know that your money will truly go to feed the hungry. I remember spending nineteen months in the jungles of New Guinea, during World War II and seeing the hunger there. We saw more hungry children when we returned to the Philippines. When we would come out of the mess hall and dump our leftovers in the garbage can, the little children would be standing there with gallon buckets. They would dip down in the garbage can and fill their buckets.

As sad as this story is, in many parts of the world, there are no garbage cans for the little children to dip their buckets into. I pray the day will come when every person on the face of this earth will have the opportunity to hear God’s word and the glorious plan of salvation. I also pray the day will come when no little boy or girl on the face of this earth will have to go to bed hungry.

I would like to close this chapter by encouraging you to memorize God’s word. It is so important to hide God’s word in your heart. If you just memorize one verse of scripture per week, you will know fifty-two verses at the end of one year and over five hundred at the end of ten years. I’m a slow learner. I failed the first and third grades. Most of you could memorize a verse of scripture much easier than I could. All you have to have is a burning desire to do so.

There were times when I would hang a verse of scripture in the barn where I fed hay to the cattle. Sometimes it would take a long time to memorize a verse and sometimes it would be easy. Then I began to memorize not just a verse, but a portion of a chapter. I seldom use the Bible any more when I witness to a lost man. I have found that if I share the scripture with him from memory and really make it come alive, God will often, through the leadership of the Holy Spirit, save that man.

Philip, Amy and I used to play a game of quoting scriptures as we would ride along in the car. This will encourage your children to memorize God’s word.

Memorizing the scripture is not enough. I know a lot of people that can quote from God’s word, but have never told anybody about Jesus. The same goes for many Bible teachers and Sunday School teachers. They can teach and quote from God’s word, but never do what Jesus told them to do. With all this teaching and all this knowledge, they have never become fishers of men.

This is also true for those that sit and listen. I know people that attend all kind of meetings, conferences, mission groups, prayer groups, discipleship training, but never witness to anyone. I’m not against any of this if it drives us out into the highways and hedges to witness to the lost. But, if we have all of this and stand on the sideline and wave at the world as it goes to hell, then really what good does it do? Revelation 20:15 says, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Study God’s word, memorize it, attend all the meetings you can that will make you more like Jesus. Then, go out into this lost dying world and tell them about Jesus. Listen to Jesus. Matthew 5:19: “And He said unto them, Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 10:32-33: “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” Take these verses along with Acts 1:8 where our Lord says, “And ye shall be witnesses,” and let us go tell the lost world about Jesus.

I would like to close this chapter by sharing with you a note I received from Philip as I worked on this book:

“I rejoice in the blessings that the excerpts from your developing book have given me.

I believe God will use it in the days to come to touch thousands of lives for Him. Keep up the good work. Your son, Philip.”

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