Be An Original...Well, An Original Copy! (Part 5)

Following our mid-winter board, the Summer prior to my senior year of high school, in 1996, my Dad and Rev. Miller took me and one of my high school classmates, James Mosley (also a preacher) to Dallas for the annual E. K. Bailey conference.  At that time, I knew very little about Bailey.  I just knew that, in all of the sermons on those tapes my dad would bring home from the convention, those preachers would often mention 'E.K.', either in a quote, acknowledge his presence in the audience (he was in the same convention) or some word of respect and adulation.  I had come across his messages, but never really connected with them.  I thought he was old and irrelevant.  Its amazing how things can change!  To say the least, he wasn't a favorite of mine.  Little did I know that he would one day be my college pastor, and I would cry for days after his passing, often thinking of him now before I mount the pulpit.

One thing I did know - that preacher Bailey (whomever he was) knew how to put together a first-class conference. I will never forget the level of excellence, detail, manpower and preaching lineup, which included many of the preachers I had both read and heard.  Warren Wiersbe was there. Gene Getz and A. Louis Patterson were there.  Tony Evans was there.  And a preacher who had become one of my favorites, Melvin Von Wade, was there in the flesh!  I had come to learn that Wade and Bailey were best friends; and that it was Wade who, on the campus of Bishop College, introduced Bailey to his future wife, Sheila.  I remember in the conference, getting on the elevator at the Fairmont Hotel, E.K. Bailey stepped on the elevator as well.  I never will forget he said, 'Young man, I'll give you a run for your suit!'. That was it. He stepped off, and that made my entire day!  As conferences go, I was going to my room, reading voraciously.  I really wanted to see where those guys (especially Patterson) got all of his information from.  By then, I had already become a very voracious reader, especially in the languages.  I loved to read a guy named Calvin Miller, and also Max Lucado and Charles Swindoll.  And while at the conference, there were many names dropped from all of the preachers who spoke.  One of my Dad's favorites (John MacArthur) was often mentioned, along with John Piper.  Interestingly, E.K. Bailey, in one of the general sessions, told the 700 or so ministers, '...if you came to the conference, and can only make one purchase, you need to go to the resource booth and get. John Piper's 'The Supremacy of God in Preaching.'. I got it, along with some other resources, courtesy of my father.  By this time, I had also began to preach a large portion of Melvin Von Wade.  It goes without saying, I loved this guy's sermon preparation and delivery.  To this day, the guy's sermon structure and organization is so solid, concrete and genius that it blows me away.  Little did I know I was developing a sort of 'crutch' for me.  So much of what I preached became such a part of my study and preparation and prayer life...that I'd forgot the original sources often.  

I remember one incident at the close of the conference,  it wasn't the final night, but the night before.  Stephen Olford, a guy who became known for his sermon preparation and delivery, was on to preach that night.  Initially, I thought he was originally from Britain, in that he had an English accent, but was actually born in Zambia to Christian missionaries.  What set the place on fire was his closing story, in which I've never forgotten.  He was a young man who, at that time, had become a young pastor and preacher.  He had made it his practice to have quiet time prior to his morning message on the Lord's day.  This Sunday was no different.  His father had been sick, in the hospital, and had been in a sort of coma for some time.  Olford's mother called Stephen on that morning, insisting to speak with her son.  On the other end, she explained that his father had done something quite strange.  She said, he came out of his coma, sat straight up in his bed and shouted, 'Tell the lad I said 'PREACH THE WORD!''. After he uttered those words, he laid back on his bed, and went home to be with the Lord.  Stephen Olford, since that day, said that he would all the more commit to the Biblical exposition of Scripture, because of the admonishment of his father, and moreover, his Savior!  At that time, Bailey called all of the preachers to the altar; and it was there, that you could feel a sense of conviction amongst that aggregation of preacher's who were there as a re-establishing of priorities in the proclamation of God's infallible, inerrant Word.  I was at that altar!  

Of course, there would still remain within me a sense of my own inadequacy in not having the 'hooping' gift and the close.  For me, this would be a struggle I would continue to grapple with long into my adult years.  But something did intrigue me.  Many seemed enamored with a guy there by the name of Kenneth C. Ulmer.  It didn't take long for me to discover that this one guy was a gifted preacher, on many fronts.  Only years later would I discover that Ulmer actually began preaching under Melvin Von Wade, the guy whose preaching I'd grown to love and admire.  I sat In a few teaching classes of Ulmer.  The guy clearly knew his stuff.  Though I had not heard him preach up until that point, I did admire his style, and obvious intellectual prowess.  Admittedly, he seemed a little strange (in ways I will not mention here) but he knew the languages (which I liked), but he also knew how to make those languages relevant (which I liked even more), and he even did something that had become my practice by the time I actually went to college and seminary, learning Greek, Hebrew, etc....he was giving the mood, person, etc. of the words.  I learned later in college this was called 'Parsing'.  The guy was good, to me.  Interestingly, by that time, I had discovered Paul S. Morton on BET, and had seen Ulmer on the Full Gospel scene.  This did confuse me after hearing him, in not seeing that level of depth or biblical exposition in many of the Full Gospel clips I had seen.  I didn't know if this attributed to why I hadn't heard him speak on any of those televised clips, but the man was very insightful and helpful.  I walked away knowing that, at least for Patterson and Ulmer, it was at least possible to have some ministerial clout and relevance without the typical 'gravy.'. Yes, they had their own way of closing, but nothing akin to the introductions of this form I had received via Jasper Williams and Jerry D. Black.  

Be An Original...Well, An Original Copy! (Part 3)

On the night of my Trial Sermon, I was very nervous.  I had remarked to my older brother, Keith, as we sat in my father's study that I was scared.  He, being a young up and coming sax player in the church world told me that fear is merely Satan's attempt to neutralize my faith, and cause me to move away and turn back.  He said that it is okay to be nervous, not afraid. I've never forgotten his admonishment and advice.  As I walked out...I couldn't believe how many people were there.  Everyone seemed to be there.  J.R. Miller was there, along with many of my uncles, including my Dad's brother, Lloyd A. Pullam. Cleophus J. LaRue, Harold T. Branch and most of the local pastors were present.  It wasn't until years later that I realized that their presence there was not only because of me, but more out of support and esteem for my father.  It speaks volumes to me, even now.  I shall never forget, after preaching, Dr. Joe. S. Ratliff, of the Brentwood Church, in Houston, mailed me a book on ministry and preaching, along with a note of encouragement.  To this day, I still have that note and book somewhere in my library.  After preaching, I can vividly remember something Harold T. Branch said to me.  He said, 'Son, the greatest gift God has given you, after the cross..., is your mind.'. I didnt know if this was a generic, hyperbolic statement that Dr. Branch gave to every young preacher he would come across, but that is what he said to me.  And while his words seemed minuscule to my 15-year old mind, I remembered, and ran with it!  I remember my dad raised an offering for the church that night.  He said that the offering would be used to build my library and for the sole purpose of 'sharpening my ax.'. I never will forget that the offering was $347.00!!!  My first purchases from that offering were A Broadman Commentary Set and a Thompson Chain Study Bible.  My father also encouraged me to purchase a concordance, bible dictionary and a few other books for my fledgling library.  He also did something else. With the little money I had left, he took me to the bank, and made me open up an account. My first check was my tithe check!  

After preaching that night, my aunt 'Renee' (who was a member of the prestigious Antioch Church of San Antonio) said that she thought I would love a preacher who came on BET on Thursdays by the name of Frank M. Reid.  She was right; I DID!  For me, Reid became (after my father and Miller) my first real model for preaching. He definitely became my first portable preaching seminary.  From his demeanor in the pulpit to his preaching style, to his close....it all seemed planned though spirit filled.  His preaching changed years later; but I really fell in love with his preaching from the mid-nineties to early 2000's.  I loved it because I could SEE him preach, juxtaposed to all the guys I had only heard via tapes.

Several years later, Rev. J.R. Miller, who attended Morehouse, got word that some of us were curious about attending Morehouse one day.  So...one summer, he and my father drove us young preachers into a church van and took us to Atlanta.  Man....up to that point, I had never seen a city like that, in that way.  Miller took us by Salem Baptist Church (all of us wanted to see the place where Jasper Williams preached!). At that time, prior to the emergence of T.D. Jakes....Jasper Williams was the go-to guy in black preaching.  We also had a chance to go by Rev. Miller's home church there, Antioch. We met his college Pastor, Dr. Cameron Alexander, and was able to tour his church facility. That was my first up close encounter with a church that ran like a full-fledged business.  I can still remember seeing so many people, and being amazed that so many people were at church, in professional attire, working in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week.  

We also had a chance to go by the Atlanta malls, see the sights and the girls, and also ran into TLC, a girl-singing group.  They were walking through the mall, without a crowd or entourage.  It was just after one of the group's member, Left Eye, had burned down her boyfriend's house in an Atlanta suburb.  After noticing we were following them, I never will forget Left Eye remarking I was cute.  I guess she meant as a little boy, but for some reason I thought she was trying to get a date.  I had to let everyone know that Chili was my girl, and that was it.

That Sunday, for some reason, my father and Rev. Miller didn't take us to Salem, where we wanted to go.  We were very upset, but he promised us we would not be disappointed.  This was my first test in taking Miller at his word, when it came to preaching.  We were ALL upset, to say the least. He took us to a Beulah Baptist Church.  I will never forget that as we drove up to this school-looking church, people were running to get into church.  Though the church was packed, Rev. Miller had an old classmate who was a member there, who had arranged for all of us to sit together towards the front.  What I experienced next....far exceeded what I had heard as a little boy on that golden-looking tape......(To Be Continued)