I BELIEVE IN THE LOCAL CHURCH (5 OF 5)
by Tony Thomas
Scripture: Matthew 16:16-18
This content is part of a series.
I Believe in the Local Church (5 of 5)
Series: I Believe
Tony Thomas
Matthew 16:16-18
When I arrived in Cincinnati for college in the fall of 1972, I accepted a weekend Youth Ministry in Hillsboro, Ohio. I was to be their interim youth minister for four months. Paul Jones was the pastor and he lived in a cabin on the lake. When I drove up on that first Friday night he was smoking a cigar, and I'd never seen a pastor smoke before. I soon discovered that Paul was an orator and he possessed a photographic memory. Paul was an extrovert, a larger-than-life-personality, and I liked him immediately. When I left on Sunday night he handed me $25 and he said he'd give me $25 every Sunday. I thought I was rich! His instructions were simple: ''Just keep us afloat til the real guy arrives!''
When January rolled around I began preaching in Broadhead, Kentucky. It was another interim ministry, this time preaching on Sunday morning and evening. I was the night auditor at the Holiday Inn Downtown and I got off work at 7:00 a.m. Christie picked me up and she drove us two hours south while I slept, then I preached, and afterwards a family fed us. While I napped in the afternoon Christie did her homework, and then I preached the evening service. Then, she drove us back to Cincinnati while I slept. Again! That little church paid me $35, and we didn't know what to do with all that money! Christie also critiqued my sermons and the first time she heard me preach I committed 135 grammatical errors. She went through two No. 2 lead pencils in twenty-five minutes. Does she know how to pick a guy or what?
And then we settled down. I accepted the Youth Ministry in Harrison, Ohio and we stayed for ten years. They paid me a whopping $50 a weekend and we thought we were living on Wall Street. We married, I graduated, the church ordained me, and ten years later we had two children. Three men were elders: Bob Clark, Lloyd Gulley and Orville Griffin. Those relationships from that minist ...
Series: I Believe
Tony Thomas
Matthew 16:16-18
When I arrived in Cincinnati for college in the fall of 1972, I accepted a weekend Youth Ministry in Hillsboro, Ohio. I was to be their interim youth minister for four months. Paul Jones was the pastor and he lived in a cabin on the lake. When I drove up on that first Friday night he was smoking a cigar, and I'd never seen a pastor smoke before. I soon discovered that Paul was an orator and he possessed a photographic memory. Paul was an extrovert, a larger-than-life-personality, and I liked him immediately. When I left on Sunday night he handed me $25 and he said he'd give me $25 every Sunday. I thought I was rich! His instructions were simple: ''Just keep us afloat til the real guy arrives!''
When January rolled around I began preaching in Broadhead, Kentucky. It was another interim ministry, this time preaching on Sunday morning and evening. I was the night auditor at the Holiday Inn Downtown and I got off work at 7:00 a.m. Christie picked me up and she drove us two hours south while I slept, then I preached, and afterwards a family fed us. While I napped in the afternoon Christie did her homework, and then I preached the evening service. Then, she drove us back to Cincinnati while I slept. Again! That little church paid me $35, and we didn't know what to do with all that money! Christie also critiqued my sermons and the first time she heard me preach I committed 135 grammatical errors. She went through two No. 2 lead pencils in twenty-five minutes. Does she know how to pick a guy or what?
And then we settled down. I accepted the Youth Ministry in Harrison, Ohio and we stayed for ten years. They paid me a whopping $50 a weekend and we thought we were living on Wall Street. We married, I graduated, the church ordained me, and ten years later we had two children. Three men were elders: Bob Clark, Lloyd Gulley and Orville Griffin. Those relationships from that minist ...
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