Born in the Heart of God
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- FAITH FILLS THE SCHEDULE
- FAITH FOR THE FAMILY
- FAITH IN GODS MEN (THE PASTORS)
FAITH REAPS A HARVESTIt was my privilege to work with Dr. Larry Wimberly in one of his first pastorates; I served as Youth Minister. He taught me how to utilize an evangelist for maximum effect. He along with his staff would cultivate prospects and then draw the net in home after home during the week of revival. He would not have the evangelist visit. He requested that the evangelist rest, study, and pray. The main thing brother Wimberly wanted was for the evangelist to be at his best while he preached and to extend a powerful invitation. I do not remember all the evangelists that Brother Wimberly used, but he sure knew how to hold a revival. A pastor can use evangelists for one-day revivals. This is especially effective in churches that reach a lot of people for Christ every year. Rev. Tony Dickerson of Pinehurst Baptist Church, along with a host of other pastors who baptize great numbers of people year after year, use this method. The evangelist can receive from $400 up to $10,000 or more on that one day. Sometimes the church is stirred and no one is saved, however, it is not uncommon for 20 or more people to publicly confess Christ and join the church on such days. FAITH FILLS THE SCHEDULEEvangelists can be contacted on short notice especially during their early years. This is true for men who book meetings one to three years in advance. Even the men on the "Home Run Circuit" who are booked up to five years in advance have sudden cancellations. In 1986, the best revival and harvest that God allowed me to participate in that year was taken on four week's notice. A cancellation, due to miscommunication had occurred, during the Simultaneous Crusades. I had already turned down at least ten other meetings for that week, only a month or so prior to the time for revival, when I discovered the miscommunication. Suddenly the week was open (a key week). It was too late to book another meeting for that date. I began to say over and over again, "God is my supply, not the church offerings; only God is my supply." I repeated that prayer for two days, until I believed it, and I got a peace in my heart that God would supply all my needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. I had a luncheon engagement with Rev. Woodrow Hudson. He was my former pastor and was now at First Baptist Church of Douglasville, Georgia. Over lunch, he told me that his evangelist, who was coming in four weeks, had canceled on him. I explained to him about my circumstance in losing the key week of revival due to the miscommunication. It was by God's providence that we had been brought together on that day. Brother Hudson felt that the Lord had a special reason for these circumstances. The revival was set. Some 43 people received Christ during that week of revival, and a host of other decisions were made. Also, I received the largest one-week offering in the history of the Keith Fordham Evangelistic Association. There are many, many reasons for cancellations, pastors die, or buildings are not completed on time. A wise pastor, who feels led of God, should call that evangelist on his heart. Often, the very day of a cancellation, a pastor will call an evangelist wanting that same open date. Indeed the evangelist can trust God for his scheduling. FAITH FOR THE FAMILYThe evangelist must trust God to take care of his family especially while he is away from home. In 1976, I was preaching a Home Mission Board revival in New Brunswick, Canada. There was to be no remuneration and I was to spend $200; $180 was for a roundtrip plan ticket; the other $20 was to take the pastor and his wife out to eat. The church there in Canada was so poor that it could not pay the pastor adequately. It looked as though we would be without income for one month, since I had no other meetings scheduled for that month. While I was preaching in Canada, my wife received a threatening phone call, on our answering machine. Both she and my daughter were threatened. The police said this threat could be real because of the identifying of my wife and daughter. On first impulse I wanted to catch the first plane to Atlanta. However, it would not be possible to get out until the next afternoon. I prayed, "Oh, God, I cannot be with my family to protect them. I am on your business. Please, Lord Jesus, place an angel at 245 Blalock Street in Mountain View, Georgia." A peace came over my heart. I knew that if a man in a Sherman tank tried to attack that house, he would never make it down the driveway. If he fired a shell it would not reach the house. I began to read that night in the Psalms about God's ownership. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and the wealth in every mine. On that same night I put a fleece out before the Lord concerning the use of a dummy (ventriloqual figure). I said, "Lord, if you want me to use a dummy in the ministry, please provide at least $450 for me by the time I step off the airplane in Atlanta, Georgia." I tried to figure out by man's way how the money could possibly come. I figured that someone or some church in the United States would send my wife a check for $450 to $500. I was wrong. God worked it out miraculously. That little church in New Brunswick handed me a check for $500 Canadian. It was changed into over $500 American. I gave the overage to the pastor in Canada and I went home and ordered the dummy. FAITH IN GOD'S MEN (THE PASTORS)That pastor in New Brunswick, had the attitude that Richard Harris of the Home Mission Board said that every pastor should have when taking an offering for an evangelist. Richard stated that the right attitude would realize that in helping others, you help yourself. When you help other evangelists and pastors, you really help yourself. Never could the words of Christ be more true, “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to ye, do ye even so to them:" (Matt. 7:12), than in the area of taking the offering. It will teach your people, your needs, when you truly, whole heartedly take a love offering. Even when the offering is less than it should be, most evangelists will be thoroughly satisfied if the pastor truly tries. At least two examples of great effort need to be shared. In Decatur, Alabama, Ron Manley had me in during the first week of December 1985. His church was a new mission and was running only 45 in Sunday School. They were in debt from building their first unit on their new property. However, Ron Manley whole heartedly took the offering that week. On that Sunday through Wednesday we received $850. God gives certain men a heart for evangelists. One such man is Rev. Jimmy Coleman of Pell City, Alabama. He has often asked the question, "Why did God ask me out of evangelism and put me in Pell City, Alabama for twenty years?" Well, I know part of the answer; God has led his church to help evangelists. Brother Coleman had me in on a special July Fourth revival day and gave me $1100. The only reason he had for doing that was to help this ministry. Before that in my first or second year of evangelism, I was in desperate financial straights; he had another young evangelist and me in at Christmas time and gave us around $600 a piece. He has helped get dozens of other evangelists started. May God raise up men such as him all over the Southern Baptist Convention. His church runs just over 200 in Sunday School. His deacons’ give $25, $50 or $100 apiece before the evangelist gets there. They are truly cheerful givers. Some pastors will take offerings off and on for 12 weeks to be sure the evangelist gets $2000 or more. The amount needed at the turn of Twenty-first century to keep the ministry going. One pastor told his people on the closing night of the revival that the evangelist would remember how you treated him in the offering long after he leaves here. If you give to him as a family member, a brother in Christ, he will know it. A responsible pastor will make sure that the evangelist who lives by faith gets the entire love offering and will not split that offering with a musician who is a staff member. The staff member should have a full salary from his church and should be given an honorarium out of the budget from the church he is assisting in revival. The offering should only be divided with other vocational evangelists.
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