| ||
Friday, Sept. 2, 2005 | ||
What do you think of this story? | An answer to prayer
By DAVID EPPS Its been a long time since I attended the ordination service of a Baptist deacon, but thats exactly what I did last Sunday evening. Actually, there was no way I was missing this event. Wayne, one of the men to be ordained, was only about 12-13 years old (and I was a brand new minister) when my new bride and I took him to a Nicky Cruz crusade. Nicky Cruz, the former leader of the vicious Mau Mau street gang in New York City, was converted to Christ under the ministry of David Wilkerson, founder of Teen Challenge and author of The Cross and the Switchblade. At the end of the sermon by Cruz, the teen went forward to accept Christ as his savior and, for several years, was active in the churches I pastored. When he was 15 or so, I baptized him in a pond on a farm in Greene County, Tenn. My wife and I eventually moved to Colorado, and the young man graduated from high school, earned an associates degree, married a good Baptist girl, and had a child. What he didnt do, however, was stay active in church. It wasnt that he rejected God or became disillusioned or anything like that. Its more like he got distracted. He stayed distracted and out of church for over 20 years. In the meantime, his wife, Kathie, steadfastly served and worshipped God in the Baptist church near their home and faithfully prayed for her husband. She became part of the music ministry and eventually became the director of music at the church. It must have grieved her to go alone to church, but she remained faithful to pray. Almost two years ago, she asked her husband to go to the movies with her to see The Passion of the Christ, directed and produced by Mel Gibson. He refused. She persisted, perhaps even nagged. In the end, to keep the peace, he agreed to go. The violence and brutality of the torture and crucifixion of Jesus portrayed on the screen shocked him. It tore me up, he would later say. When I saw how much Jesus suffered for me, he said, I knew what I had to do. The next Sunday morning, he walked the aisle at McPheeters Bend Missionary Baptist Church in Church Hill, Tenn., and recommitted his life to Jesus Christ. Hes been there ever since. Hardly a Sunday passes that he isnt in church where he watches his wife direct the music while he helps with the sound system. He mows the grass for the 500-member congregation and, recently, leading an activity with the youth, he hurt his shoulder and had to have surgery. Hes been on two mission trips in the past two years and two weeks ago, the 203-year-old congregation elected him to serve as a deacon. He cried when I unexpectedly surprised him by walking into the church last Sunday five minutes before the ordination service. So did I. When he stood to give his testimony before the congregation and shared about Nicky Cruz and the baptism in the pond, he cried. So did I. The pastor, The Reverend Mark Roberts, invited me to participate in the laying on of hands, a great honor that I will always appreciate. When I laid hands on Wayne and prayed for him, he cried. And so did I. I was eight years old and an only child when my mother asked me if Id like to have a little brother. I decided that I would like that. What would you like for him to be named? she asked. Without hesitation, I replied, Robert E. Lee Epps, figuring, as any good son of the South would, that Robert E. Lee was a great hero and his name would be a good name for anybody. Um, OK, she said. What other name do you like? I said that if he couldnt be named after Robert E. Lee, I thought he should be named after John Wayne. Such is the wisdom of eight-year-old boys. Several months later, I had a brother, and last Sunday evening, Robert Wayne Epps, now 45, became a deacon in the Baptist church. His wife Kathie sang a solo, Lord, Here Am I, and Pastor Mark preached on 1 Timothy 1:3-5. I wish our parents had lived to see that day. They would have both been so very proud of Wayne. I know I am. Ive always been proud of my brother and Ive always been grateful that my parents chose to remove my only child status. But to see him take his place as a servant and leader among Gods people; well, that was just overwhelming. Pastor Mark asked the people of McPheeters Bend Missionary Baptist Church to stand and covenant to pray for Wayne and the other man who was ordained that night. They promised they would encourage them, support them, and pray for them. Some of them had faithfully prayed for my brother for the full 20 years that he was distracted and not walking with God. They saw before them an answered prayer, a reminder that God is faithful when we are faithless, and a number of them cried. And so did I. | |
Copyright 2005-Fayette Publishing, Inc. |