Gospel Highlights

Oh really, I read that you got saved in 1976 and became a preacher in 1979 so in between there, there was a year of running?

No, actually, I was saved in '76. I accepted the call in '79. I didn't start pastoring until 1990. It was 10 years between the time I accepted the call and the time I was ordained and I quit three times in my head because I felt like God was taking his time and he was. But what he told me one day was that the depth and width of the foundation dictate the height of the strength of the building and then I realized that there were lessons that I learned in the third year of that 10-year period that I'm still using now. There were lessons I learned in the seventh year, up to the 10th year, that I'm still using now as a pastor so that entire 10 years was what I needed for preparation to do what we're doing now.

You became the pastor of Bethany Baptist in '90 and the congregation has grown from 29 to over 27,000. You have the weekly TV program and the radio program. You're the presiding officer of the Abundant Harvest Fellowship of Churches and you attend a lot of events/conferences to minister to people. Did you know God was going to use you to minister to so many people?

What I knew was this: I know I'm supposed to lie and tell you that God showed me everything but I can't do it. What I promised God and what God showed me initially was that I would grow and pastor His church and this was the confusing part, and that I would turn out preachers with substance. And so we saw miraculous growth. About eight years ago, I started sharing with pastors and preachers some of the things that I had learned. I'm one of the guys who didn't have the advantage of going to the seminary. Although I have a good secular education (I'm an economic by education) I didn't have time for Bible education so I had to study myself at night. I had to do it myself because I had to work. The Lord blessed my diligence.

27,000 people, that's a lot of people.

Yea, I try not to embarrass them on Sunday morning.

I know the church has a mortgage lending institution and I know that you're building a senior housing facility so with that being the case what else is your church doing that affects the community?

I know the church has a mortgage lending institution and I know that you're building a senior housing facility so with that being the case what else is your church doing that affects the community?

We just built our own free-standing bookstore. We're presently building a 60,000 sq. ft medical center about six minutes from the church. We have transitional houses in this area and also in Camden City and we have the homeowner initiative. We're putting people in homes all across the country.

Oh, all across the country?

Oh yea, across the country. We have partner churches all across the country. And then we do the normal stuff. We feed a couple of thousand people a month through our Angel Food program and we have a clothing bank. We're doing ministry in seven or eight prisons every week and about eight or nine nursing homes on a weekly basis.

So you really are a part of the community. I guess a lot of time when people leave church on Sunday, they may have Bible study on Wednesday but you're out there all the time.

Right. Something I say a lot is because of the size of our church we have an institutional obligation to establish a prophetic presence in the region, meaning God is the kingdom mindset that puts a demand on us as an institution. People have to be able to see the work of God, not just hear about it. So the senior housing and all the other things we are doing are actually called manifestations of the Word. I want people to be encouraged in the Lord by what the Church doing.


Any last words?


Well, I think that we're just trying to do the will of God in a way that is relevant to this society that we're in now. We're going to fulfill the obligation that God has placed on us as a Kingdom church. We understand God is using us and kind of moving us to the forefront both in TV and writing and recording and we just want to do His will and make sure we are transforming people's lives one at a time.