Article: Inspired (From 11/8/2019)

One inspired me to preach grace and easily understood messages, another guided me towards my education path and kept me sane through most challenging portion of my Christian faith, and another mentors me as I try to play catch up.  Three ministers of inspiration to/for me.

B.B. Gatson, George Williams, Myself, & James Thompson

I have tried my best to let these ministers know as much as I can how they have played a key role in my life of ministry. I asked for this photo because I thought that it was such a blessing that these three men were in the same place at the same time. I would not be the minister who I am if it were not for each and every one of them! I wanted to share with how each touched my life when I was headed down a very different path.

About a year into my marriage I had my mind made up that I was going to be a teacher. I began taking classes and it was the summer of my schooling, very early on in the process. I always had a desire to preach but felt as though I lacked the ability to be a great orator like other preachers (coB.B.Gatsonugh!). I settled for being a great teacher. I felt as though I could spread Christ through the school system through teaching and coaching. Well one night we had a Gospel meeting and I had just finished one of my evening classes. There was a preacher in town that I was very familiar with but I was a year into my marriage now and I was actually living for Christ and trying to find my way. So to attend a Gospel meeting was no longer by force but choice. I remember George Williams preaching a sermon and the content and presentation was so different. Either I hadn’t been listening or this was something new! He explained the Gospel in a way that educated you and allowed you to place yourself in the Gospel story. If I had not already been a Christian I would have been baptized again that very night! I had never heard God’s word so clearly explained verse by verse! I was intrigued and took good notes, Googled what I could, and probably annoyed him afterwards by talking his ear off. I told myself at that moment that even though I couldn’t preach as well as Bro. Williams and others, I was confident that I could teach the Gospel from the pulpit! I was convinced and now I knew without a doubt that I wanted to pursue working for Jesus! So I began to put in time with the youth trying to serve and find opportunities to teach and speak. Until one year there was a Texas State Youth Conference.

At this youth conference there was a counselor class and now I was an “adult” and didn’t have to move when they dismissed for classes. I remember sitting in the class and this quiet yet confident minister gets up to teach the class. And again I’m telling myself “I need what this man has!”. I wanted to be able to plainly and clearly describe God to whoever I could and do it with confidence! The whole class I excitingly took notes and my dad was just as excited as I was! We were there for our kids but I felt as though God had placed me there for a reason. So I asked him with no shame at all how I could do what he did. At this point in time I knew we didn’t have the means to move to Terrell or Abilene so I wanted to figure out how I could do my part with God’s people. Bro. James Thompson tells me of how there is a school in Austin and he even attends classes there! I was unsure about making an almost one hour drive to go to school but I checked it out anyway. I speak to a lady named Celeste and she tells me that if I just take one class with Dr. McNicol that I would be hooked. By the way that’s my paraphrase not hers. And wouldn’t you know it, I started making the hour drive after getting off work two and sometimes three times a week over the course of some years! If you are looking for a great seminary in the central Texas area check out Austin Graduate School of Theology! I am forever grateful to Bro. Thompson and A.G.S.T. for my education and confidence which came from it. But Bro. Thompson was not done in my life! When I faced the most tragic time of my Christian life, he was someone who I could trust to be open and honest with. I needed guidance at that time because I almost gave up. I took a semester off from school because I seriously considered quitting.

Fast forward to me falling into the service of being the minister of the Avenue G Church of Christ. Started off meeting in a community center and God went to work establishing what now exists on Avenue G in Temple Tx. Here I am months away from completion of school and I have no idea what I am doing other than being able to prepare and present sermons and here comes a blast from the past! As a young boy, I remember the relationship that B.B. Gatson had with Bro. Blair. Bro. Blair was Old school, chalkboard banging, wake you up if you happened to fall asleep preacher! And he really had a great relationship with B.B. because he would always have him in Temple to preach. I remember sitting on the front row with the older men and being astonished how he put words and stories together. He was the Lebron James of preachers in that I had never seen anything like him before. He was a well-crafted Frankenstein of a preacher. He had a powerful presence, the preaching voice, could sing, and had knowledge of God’s word. So to have him take me under his wing was a blessing. What I admired most about him was that he never asks me to be like him, I can’t fill those shoes anyhow.