I was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1942. My father worked in the oil field, and we traveled from town to town a lot. He was a hard worker while my mother took care of me, my sister and younger brother. In addition to meeting our physical needs, our spiritual needs were nurtured by my mother who loved the Lord and faithfully took us to church every time the door was open.
While growing up, my reading comprehension was not very good. But looking back, I realized that I had a learning disability which adversely affected my grades. For example in eighth grade, I presented a book report and received a D. I probably deserved less than that, but the teacher had mercy on me and gave me the D. In fact, due to the struggles in school, I had a lack of interest in schoolwork and didn’t think much about pursuing it after I graduated high school. The only thing that really interested me about school was playing sports.
Many people witnessed to me about the Lord, but it never registered until high school. I went to a small church and the youth group there was really on fire for God. One night they invited me to go to a rally out of town. I went with the group, mainly because the girls in the group invited him. However, when we got there, I did not go inside the church building. While riding back after the service, a young man talked to me about my soul. That night, I accepted the Lord as my savior. I told my Mother about it the next morning, and she said, "I have been praying for you." Having a mother like that was really a blessing!
Shortly thereafter, the youth leader asked me to share my testimony. To me, it did not seem very good, but the Lord was so real in my life. A pastor of a very small church asked me to come and preach in his church. There was only three people present and that included myself. When I started to talk, a strong anointing fell upon me and suddenly it was not me preaching but the Holy Spirit preaching through me. The pastor stood up and shouted, and ran out of the church praising God. Later that night, he and I had a prayer meeting that lasted all night long. Words cannot describe the anointing that was in that prayer room. I knew that night that God was calling me into the ministry.
Amazing as usual, God blessed me with the way to attend Bible School in 1960. God provided the funding and skills to overcome my financial as well as learning challenges. While I was there with a lot to learn about God, life, and the world, I was still not as grounded in my faith as I knew I should be. That was when God provided me with my soulmate, and love of my life, Lydia. She was a person that loved God with all her heart and made a positive impact on my life. We were married in 1963, and we have been married for 54 years.
After graduating, we started our journey into the ministry. We held revivals and have pastored many churches over the years together. During this, God has blessed us with three children, our oldest son Barry, was born in 1965. In 1969, my wife was expecting twins. During her pregnancy, she became very sick. Her prognosis was bleak and the doctors only gave her a ten percent chance to live. Many people were praying for Lydia and our unborn twins at this time. One of those mighty prayer warriors was my sister, Sharron. She organized a blood drive and spread the word to many people to help donate the massive amount of blood to keep Lydia alive. God once again proved himself faithful that after the prayers and exchanging Lydia’s blood three times, she made a remarkable recovery.
It took several months after the blood transfusions for Lydia to feel better. While she was recovering, our twin boys, Keith and Kent were born prematurely. Both had to spend a month in the hospital until they were healthy enough to go home with us. However, after Keith and Kent were released, we received the sobering news that they both had Down’s Syndrome with only nine years to live. Keith and Kent are now 48 – Praise the Lord! Serving God in the ups and downs of ministry along with sustaining the faith and cohesiveness of our family, the next few years were the most trying times of our lives. But God`s mercy and grace brought us through.
Today, Lydia and I continue to pastor a church and share the Good News. I am not going to tell you it has been easy, but God has always kept His promises, provided for us in amazing ways, and has blessed us every step of the way. I now have an internet ministry that reaches thousands, and God continues to reach the world with His Word.
I trust this has been a blessing to you! God Bless.
