Initials in the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana)

In the early days of the Church of God reformation movement we knew our preachers/leaders by their initials.  From A. F. Gray to D. S. Warner their initials were burned in our minds.  However, from a historical standpoint their actual names can be lost to history if we don't preserve them.  Here is my short list of full names on various men.  I don't know all of their full names; if you can supply info then zip me a short email and help a brother out!

WF Chappel, John Chapel & Boyce Blackwelder

Boyce Watson Blackwelder
Charles Ewing Brown
Andrew Linnaeus Byers
Enoch Edwin Byrum
Russell Raymond Byrum
William Fielden Chappel
Albert Frederick Gray
Kenneth Effner Jones
Otto Fernand Linn
Charles Wesley Naylor
William Dale Oldham
Eugene Alonzo Reardon
Herbert McClellan Riggle
Frederick George Smith
Russell Eugene Sterner
Daniel Otis Teasley
Daniel Sidney Warner
Barney Elliott Warren

I need your help with these men:

Noah Holmes (?) Byrum
(and anyone else you can think of to provide me)

Jack Lawrence, His Call to Ministry, and Miracles

[I originally posted this testimony on February 19, 2013. Jack wrote it before having open-heart bypass surgery. Jack went to be with the Lord on January 7, 2018.] 

A Testimony of Faith - My Call to Be A Pastor. 

I have shared this with the churches that I have been blessed to Pastor over the near 40 years that I have been in Pastoral ministry. This a a long post but perhaps a blessing to someone who takes time to read it. This is for God's glory and not my own because I still marvel that he would call "such a worm as I." 

The path for my conversion from sin to a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ was unusual. I was an avowed militant atheist in my 20's. At age 17, I left High School and joined the Air Force. After my tour of duty, I worked at several jobs, including Union Carbide Chemical, but being restless I began to travel the country as, what was called in those days, a hobo. I would go to the next town, find a menial temporary job and work long enough to get me on the road again.   

I returned to West Virginia for a stay with my parents, and while there, I met a beautiful young lady who later became my wife. Linda and I had 3 children in the first 5 years of our marriage. I had not graduated from High School and so my "Career path" was very limited. After 6 years of marriage, I determined to go to college. I took the GED test and after passing was accepted by West Virginia State College (now West Virginia State University). in 4 years I obtained a BA Degree with a double major in History and Political Science and a minor in Philosophy. My intentions were to seek a degree and a career in Law. (I worked 40 hours a week in a K-Mart Sports department while attending college) 

I was required to take 8 hours of Biology at State and during the study of the single cell in the Lab, because of the complexity and division of labor within the cell I became a believer in God; for this single cell was not an accident or evolutionary - the single cell was by design. At first I was just a Deist, but the path led to a faith in Jesus Christ. 

I began attending my wife's church and "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me..." "Jesus called me "O're the Tumult." 3 years later, (I was then 35 years old) with my wife and children settling into our accustomed pew and the Organist playing the prelude "Be Still, My Soul" (Finlandia); in that moment I heard a voice speak to my heart "You will be a Pastor."   

Now the interesting thing about this call is that it was the farthest thing from my mind (or heart.) Had anyone mentioned it as a possibility before going into worship that day I would have laughed out loud; "Preposterous and silly" I would have replied and so would have my family and friends who knew me well. And one other interesting part to this call; I was being considered by the Chrysler Corp. (Dodge Division) for position as a Regional Sales Manager for Large Truck Division with a lucrative salary.   

GOD CONFIRMS HIS CALL ON MY LIFE. 

After the services that morning I related my experience with God calling me to Pastoral ministry to my wife. She began to cry, not for joy, but with upset and fear. I then told our Pastor about my call and he said I needed to go somewhere and study and pray. He said that he had just accepted the call to be the President of a small Bible College in Houston, Texas [Gulf-Coast Bible College] and that I might consider at least 2 years of study in Bible and Theology in that setting. 

Linda reluctantly accepted that my call was valid and agreed to our move to Houston. (There is a lot of story that I must leave out here due to the limited space for writing in this venue, so I will relate the way God confirmed His call.) 

While in school in Houston, I was asked to help plant a new church 45 miles south of Houston. Our financial situation was dire. Linda worked as a secretary in the YMCA and I worked as a salesmen of industrial tools and machinery; neither of us made much money. Our 3 children were in 3 different schools, our oldest son was a freshman in High School and son #2 was in Junior High and baby daughter was in elementary school.   

Right before Christmas, my wife came to pick me up from work because we only had one car and it was an old, tired automobile that had seen its best days. I had to tell my wife that evening that I had been laid off from work, due to a seasonal slump. She began to weep as she was driving and a siren and blue light caused her to pull over. A police officer said that she was speeding 5 miles over the speed limit. He proceeded to write her 3 tickets, she all the time shedding buckets of tears. The tickets were for speeding, improper registration and no Texas hard plate license (We had been there for 6 months and needed to change from our West Virginia License.) Linda and I stayed up that night praying - I guess you could call it praying - it was more wrestling with God and being angry with Him. We reasoned that He had called us to Houston and now look at this fine mess. No job, No money, my second semester tuition was due the following week and Linda possibly facing jail time because we could not pay any fines.   

Sunday, numb and frightened as we were, we drove to the new church plant that we were helping with. That evening on our drive back to Houston the car began to make loud noises. It got us back to our apartment and we parked it in the stall provided and it never started again. Now what! If you are familiar with Houston you know that it is one spread out town. I went to school in one area, Linda worked in a different part and the children went to school in yet a totally different section.   

The next morning we managed to get to our destinations. I went to my mailbox that I had on Campus. A notice in the mailbox said that an anonymous donor had paid my next semester tuition. A lady that Linda worked with and who knew nothing about our problems, came to Linda's desk and said "I don't want to offend you, but my husband and I just purchased a new car and we would like to give you our old car." The next day we went to court and the judge informed the Police officer who had written the tickets that Texas and West Virginia had an agreement that students from those states did not have to change their license and registration. Go figure! He dismissed the charges and we did not have to pay anything. 

One other point to confirmation: Our oldest son became very ill and running a very high temperature [104°]. We had no insurance and thought we would take him to the emergency room to see if we could find him treatment anyway. Before we left, Linda and I decided to anoint and pray for Michael. As we placed our hand on him and prayed, his temperature fell to normal! 

In all of this, I believe God confirmed His call upon my life and, further, He was telling me that during the course of the ministry that He was calling me to, that I could say with confidence, not based not theory or guess, that God is there and that He will save, heal and keep those who are His. I say this from experience not study or theory.

I am blessed to call Jack a friend.   Let me share another story he told me.   When Jack was a student at Gulf-Coast Bible College (now  Mid-America Christian University) he was working at Uncle Ben's Rice Mill at night and attending class during the day.   He developed a severe case of arthritis that gnarled and closed up his hands.   This was bad news beyond the physical discomfort; the machinery he needed to work was strong but delicate and gnarled hands wouldn't keep him in gainful employment.   Around 2-3 AM one morning during "lunch" Jack was crossing the railroad tracks of the mill and prayed.   A warmth came over his hands, they became ungnarled and he hasn't had arthritis in his hands ever since.

God Still Speaks Today

[This article was written on January 19, 2011. It has been amended.]

After church this evening at Abney Street Church of God, John King told me a wonderful story that I want to share with you. Forgive the limitations of my memory; the account went something like this:

John was a layperson and one of several people who volunteered his time to spend a weekend with a congregation. This group's premise,  Live Ministries, was simple yet profound. They simply shared their testimonies of how God worked in their lives and they looked to the Holy Spirit to move among the church—to do anything he wanted to accomplish. Naturally, very weekend was unique and open-ended. No team member knew what would happen. They just trusted that something would.

John was seated in the sanctuary during a service; nothing seemed to be happening. He looked at his watch and thought he would go and dismiss the congregation. At that point a voice behind him said,  "Someone in this church is carrying a burden and they shouldn't leave the building until they've dealt with it."

John turned around in his seat, thinking it was one of his ministry partners.

No one was there.

He got up and told the congregation that he was impressed that somebody was carrying a burden but they could get rid of it if they came to the altar and left it there. He then said he was going to pray for this person. John bowed at the altar and prayed. When he opened his eyes the altar was filled with praying people and folks were starting to kneel at the front pew.

He sat back down. The same voice came to him, saying,  "There are four young men in the back of the church. Go and get them."

Again, no one was there.

John took another person with him and went to find the young men. He heard from someone that they went outside. He found them in front of the church. All four gave their hearts to Christ that night.

John shared with me his surprise at hearing the voice and the need to obey it quickly when heard.

I believe this story; I have no reason not to believe it and I am familiar with enough Wesleyan stories to convince me that God still speaks today. He guides those who serve him in ministry.

"I won't let you go unless you bless me."  (Genesis 32:26b)

Years ago a Kentucky pastor named William C. Neace was returning to his Lexington church after hospital visitation.  A red light (that had always been green previously) stopped him at an intersection.  Bill saw an old building, set off from the road, that he had never noticed before.  Above the door of the aged structure was a sign with fairly large letters:

THERE IS NO PLACE
ANYWHERE NEAR THIS PLACE
LIKE THIS PLACE
SO THIS MUST BE THE PLACE

The saying stuck in Bill's mind as he drove back to Eastland Parkway Church of God.  He thought:

It reminded me of this text of Scripture [in Acts 4:31] where it says, "And when they had prayed the place was shaken"—shaken by God's power.  And I began to wonder what it would be like if all our people in the congregation there would determine that there would be no place anywhere near our place like our place, and that people all around would come to know that our place was the place of God's blessing.  

Years ago a Kentucky pastor named Bill Neace was returning to his church after hospital visitation.  He was stopped at an intersection in Lexington.  Neace saw an old building, set off from the road, that he had never noticed before.  Above the door of the aged structure a sign with fairly large letters announced:

It stuck in Neace's mind as he drove back to Eastland Parkway Church of God.  He thought,

It reminded me of this text of Scripture [in Acts 4:31] where it says, "And when they had prayed the place was shaken"—shaken by God's power.  And I began to wonder what it would be like if all of our people in the congregation there would determine that there would be no place anywhere near our place like our place, and that people all around would come to know that our place was the place of God's blessing.

We here at Green Valley Church of God don't believe we are better than other churches.  We aren't in competition with anyone.  We just want to be known as a place where people can experience God directly and be blessed by his presence immediately.  We believe every church should have this desire.

Please give us the opportunity to introduce you personally to God.

And welcome home!

Pastor