I remember when...

[OneAccord]

* One time, when I was about 15, I went into the town I was living in at the time, to pass out Gospel Tracts. In the middle of town was a BIG Luthern Church. I felt led to go to every door and place a tract on all the doors. I did, and, as I did, I began claiming that building as a Pentecostal Church. I walked all around the building praying that, one day, the Holy Ghost would fill that building.

Today, that building is not a Luthern Church. It is called the New Life Church, a Pentecostal/Charismatic church pastored by Norvel Hayes (if he is still the pastor). Back then, I didn't know the difference between Pentecostal/Apostolic/Charismatic. I don't think anyone had "gone Charismatic" yet. Had I known the difference, I would have claimed it as an Apostolic Pentecostal Church.

* Does anyone around Tennessee remember the Mull Singing Convention that came on the radio? Use to play the "Chuch Wagon Gang". J. Bazzell Mull was blind and I saw him on his live TV program (where they played videos of Southern Gospel Groups- the Rambos, the Goodmans, etc). Mayfield Milk was the sponsor and, J. Bazzell would hold up a 1/2 Gallon Carton of milk. Trouble was, he usually held the carton upside down until his wife, "Lady Mull" would pinch his leg under the table. He'd turn to her and say "What are ya pinchin' me for?" She'd whisper, "You've got the milk upside down!".


* Remember the towels or cloth that was put over womens legs when they would fall out in the "spirit"? I wonder if churches today still have (or still need) those cloths?

* I remember when the late Evangelist Larry Gilliam climbed a tent pole and preached for about 30 minutes clinging to the top of the pole. Why did he do it? I don't know, I guess it was just there.

* He was preaching on the radio in Bridgeport, Alabama once when, right in the middlie of his message, he lost his new "store bought" teeth. They flew out of his mouth and hit the window of the control room and bounced back. He caught them in mid-air and, dropping them in his pocket, never missed a beat.

* I remember going to revivals in N. Georgia and having to post "guards" at the door to keep people from bringing in rattle snakes. (Snake handlers were pretty common around Kingston, Ga at the time). In Canton, Ga, a Bro. Glass slipped one in in his inside coat pocket. When the Spirit began to move, he pulled it out and began handling it. At one point, he brought it over and put its head an inch or two from my nose.

* My first revival tour, I guess you would call it, took me to 9 states in 30 days. I left my first wife (who passed away in '88) and children at home, and ventured into tthe full-time evangelistic ministry. I didn't know it but my wife started fasting the day I left home and never ate til the day I came home. I was "proud" of what I had accomplished, until I realized that all that was done in those meetings, was because of HER sacrifice, and not because of anything I did. I'm still proud, but the credit goes to Rose, and not to me!

Later- I'll try to post about "Elvis Presley and the Blike Slice Condication"