Rebecca Gernon reads excerpts of “Amy Signs: A Mother Her Deaf Daughter and Their Story”, a joint memoir Rebecca wrote with her daughter Amy Willman. Released by Gallaudet University Press Fall 2012. To learn more about Rebecca go to http://www.rebeccawillmangernon-writer.com
Author Rebecca Gernon talks about the fulfillment of her dream to publish the truth about raising a deaf child. Gallaudet University Press releases the joint memoir Rebecca wrote with her daughter, ”Amy Signs: A Mother Her Deaf Daughter and Their Story” Fall 2012. To learn more about Rebecca go to http://www.rebeccawillmangernon-writer.com/
Fiction romance author Robin Wells talks about the spiritual process of writing.
Don Moore, the President, CEO and managing member of Miracle Restaurant Group which owns and operates 28 restaurants in 4 states talks about faith, business and purpose.
I had been attending the Southern Christian Writers Guild for several months when Milena Rimassa, the Northshore Bureau Chief for NOLA.com was introduced as the guest speaker. She shared her film making and writing experiences and then invited the members of the Guild to post articles to a new feature on NOLA.com – The Faith, Beliefs and Spirituality Blog.
“What’s a blog?” inquired one of the guild members.
Blog is short for Web Log. Whenever someone posts an article the top article moves down forming a log of material on a specific subject. All interested Guild members would be assigned a password to the blog so we could post an article on the theme of faith, beliefs or spirituality at our discretion. I had a lot of Bible lessons at home that could have been fodder for the new blog. Teaching was no longer an option for me, and I didn’t want to revisit that pain. I had moved on to writing short fiction stories and skits.
My first fiction story, “Eliohym’s Words”, about a wavering angel was on the now defunct Amazon Shorts program. I had planned to write a series of stories about Waver, the name of the main character described his nature. But Amazon.com’s exclusive contract prohibited me from using the material elsewhere. The skits I wrote were my only possibility.
I raised my hand to get Milena’s attention. “What about videos of skits performed by my drama team?”
“That would be a great idea,” Milena replied.
I left the guild interested but not enthused. Until I did some research. NOLA.com is the sole internet affiliate of the Times Picayune, the largest newspaper in the state of Louisiana. The stats were phenomenal. The website received millions of page views monthly. Most of the viewers are not looking for something religious, but that much traffic guaranteed an audience for the blog and gave me a platform.
“Platform”- a venue for an author to expose their work to an audience is very important for a writer. There is no point in writing if no one reads it and it’s the first thing a publisher looks for when considering new authors. Milena had not offered compensation. I settled for the compensation of a “platform” thinking I would be one of many contributors. I planned to post the videos of my skits and an occasional devotion.
When I received my password, I posted an article I had written about my sister’s long struggle with drug abuse, and followed that article with a testimony of an answered prayer. A smattering of other articles appeared on the blog from the other writers. Then I posted “Immigration”, the video of a skit I co-wrote with a friend about three people attempting to enter Heaven.
While attending a minister’s meeting, the Presbyter talked about the miraculous rebirth of House of Prayer that had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. “Someone should record these stories,” he said. I knew the pastor of the church, so I did. I made a video of pastors Jon and Elizabeth Smith talking about their journey from youth pastors to senior pastors, the loss of their church and decision to rebuild. The video was edited into a six part series and released on the blog weekly.
One day, I noticed that I was the only one posting to the blog and wondered if I was wasting my time. I contacted Milena. “I thought writing for the blog was a collaborative effort.” My statement, more of a question, was met with silence. Milena didn’t know why the others were not posting material. It was unfair of me to ask. My next question, “Can you tell me if anyone is reading the blog?”
“I’ll check and let you know,” said Milena.
Several days later she sent me an email with the stats. “The blog is widely read” began the email. Since its inception in May 2007 it had received 400 unique views weekly, an average of 2,000 people visited the blog monthly. In the words of one pastor, “That is more than most churches average in attendance.” Clearly, God had given me the venue the church had denied me.
The desire to teach had already died but I could not forsake writing. Milena had envisioned a community of writers submitting witty prose about the spirituality of New Orleans. She got a community of one – me. Two years later she returned to California, and I’m still writing. More about that in my next post.
Abram’s obedience to God handed him a tall glass of bitter water to drink. He traveled to Canaan looking for a city built by God (Hebrews 11:10). When he arrived, all God talked about was giving land to one of Abram’s non-existent children. After God spoke to him at Shechem, Abram built an altar to worship God. But I can also imagine Abram sitting in his tent, face buried in his hands, wondering if he had been a fool, wondering if God told him the truth, wondering if he had put his faith in a lie.
At this point in Abram’s life, he is struggling in his faith, trying to discern the truth from lies. The Mesopotamian religion that Abram forsook worshiped gods who were as corrupt as their worshipers. His former religion taught elaborate rituals and sacrifices, but never conceived the idea that a pure heart and clean hands were more meaningful than ritual. For Abram to believe in his God, he must decide if his new God is pure and clean.
Abram left Shechem, and pitched his tent between Bethel and Ai where he built another altar, but he didn’t stay. He kept drifting south away from Canaan and the bitter truth so difficult of swallow. He drifted until he encountered a famine and turned toward Egypt. According to the Bible, famine sent Abram to Egypt, but the Jewish historian, Josephus, revealed another reason.
“…when a famine had invaded the land of Canaan, and Abram had discovered that the Egyptians were in a flourishing condition, he was disposed to go down to them, both to partake of the plenty they enjoyed, and to become an auditor of their priests, and to know what they said concerning the gods; designing either to follow them if they had better notions than he, or to convert them into a better way, if his own notions proved the truest.” (Works of Josephus, Vol II 87-88)
Abram’s faith stood at a crossroads. Would the Egyptians convert Abram, or would he convert the Egyptians? The favor he asked of Sarai proved he doubted God would give him a child through Sarai. As Abram drew near Egypt he asked Sarai to “Say you are my sister” (Genesis 12:13). Technically, Sarai would be telling the truth. They shared a father but not a mother. Abram’s truth left out an important detail. Abram and Sarai were husband and wife.
Abram asked Sarai to omit this detail because she was beautiful. He feared the Egyptians would kill him and abscond with her. God’s promise could not be fulfilled without Sarai, making her very important. Yet Abram deemed it better to lose Sarai than to risk his life.
When the Egyptians saw Sarai, they commended the beautiful sister of the stranger from Canaan in the royal courts and Pharaoh took her into his house. His interest in Sarai made Abram a rich man. Pharaoh gave her “brother” gifts of sheep, oxen, donkeys, camels, male and female servants (Genesis 12:15-16).
Before Pharaoh made Sarai a permanent part of his harem by consummating their union, God intervened. He distracted Pharaoh with illness that infected his entire family and, according to Josephus, a sedition arose against his government. The Bible is silent on how Pharaoh learned the source of his problems. Josephus tells us he summoned his priest who pointed the finger at Abram and Sarai.
It is important to note that Pharaoh is innocent. Abram’s deceit provoked Pharaoh to sin against God without malice. Yet we find God plaguing the innocent while the one who created the problem grows rich. But God’s ways are not our ways, nor does he see what we see. To understand God’s reaction, we must understand who Sarai represents to God. Paul tells us what she represented in Galatians:
For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman [Hagar], the other by a freewoman [Sarai]. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh [Ishmael, Abram and Sarai’s plan], and he of the freewoman through promise [Jesus, God's plan], which things are symbolic. [Hagar and Sarai are symbolic of two different covenants.] For these are the two covenants [a covenant of law; a covenant of grace]; the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar — for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia [Mt. Sinai is where the covenant of law was established] and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is [Hagar is symbolic of Jerusalem attempting to live by the law given to Moses at Mt. Sinai] and is in bondage with her children – [The religious leadership of Jerusalem rejected Jesus in preference to the law given to Moses. When you live by the law you are in bondage to satisfy the law or suffer the curse the law requires if you break the law.] but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. [Paul is referring to the New Jerusalem that is reserved in heaven for us. John said in Revelation 21: "Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God...”]. (Galatians 4:22-26, NKJ)
According to the passage in Galatians, Hagar is symbolic of the people in Jerusalem who strive to worship God by obeying the Law of Moses. By contrast, Sarai is symbolic of the New Jerusalem, which demands its people live by the law of grace Jesus gave us: Love one another.
God was not happy when King Pharaoh took his wife, the New Jerusalem, whom Sarah symbolizes, into his house and then in gratitude made Abram rich. Abram’s fear of death opened the door for Pharaoh to take the place of God in both his and Sarah’s life; and that made God jealous, so he plagued Pharaoh.
It is important to note the God did not plague Abram, and God did not plague Sarah. They remained the objects of his great love. God plagued Pharaoh, his “competition” for Abram and Sarai’s love. He did not plague Pharaoh for Abram’s sake. God hadn’t yet promised to include Abram in the fulfillment of his promises. He plagued Pharaoh for the New Jerusalem/Sarai’s sake. God was jealous because she was his New Jerusalem, and he wanted to make her children rich. God doesn’t plague his people when they stray. He plagues the society we live in so everyone will know that we are equal in God’s eyes.
God’s actions protected Pharaoh from committing a sin worthy of death and exposed Abram’s deceit. The Bible does not tell us how Pharaoh learned the truth. Josephus credits Sarai for putting an end to the charade.
Pharaoh summoned Abram and demanded answers. “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife?” (Genesis 12:18-19)
Abram had betrayed the most powerful man in Egypt, giving Egypt a justifiable reason to kill him. He also betrayed God when he built altars to worship him but didn’t believe God was honest. The death Abram feared never befell him. God loved him and the Egyptian were not the dishonorable people he assumed they were.
Neither the Bible nor Josephus reveals how Abram answered Pharaoh’s questions. The questions may have been enough punishment as Abram was forced to face his true character and acknowledge his worth. He wasn’t worthy to inherit the promises of God but one of his children would be worthy. And through that one child Abram would obtain all God desires to give.
Abram learned a humbling lesson. He was not worthy to be king of the New Jerusalem/Sarah because he did not love her enough to die for her. He had been married to this beautiful woman for more than thirty years. Yet he would have given her up forever and did so without anyone threatening his life.
According to Josephus, before Abram left Egypt with his wife, Pharaoh gave him a large gift of money to compensate for any perceived wrong and permission to speak to the “most learned among the Egyptians”. Abram traveled to Egypt hoping to learn what they believed about God. God granted the fulfillment of that desire. Abram needed to know that his beliefs were sound and reasonable. Abram discovered that
“…the Egyptians were formerly addicted to different customs, and despised one another’s scared and accustomed rites, and were very angry one with another on that account, Abram conferred with each of them, and, confuting their reasonings they made use of, everyone for their own practices, demonstrated that such reasonings were vain and void of truth; whereupon he was admired by them in those conferences as a very wise man, and one of great sagacity, when he discoursed on any subject he undertook; and this not only in understanding it, but in persuading other men also to assent to him.” (Works of Josephus, Vol. II, 87-88)
Learning what others believed about God strengthened Abram’s faith. There is no indication he converted the Egyptians, but he did impress them.
And Pharaoh sent them out of the country under armed escort — Abram, his wife and all his household and possessions (Genesis 12:20, The Living Bible).
In his great love for the New Jerusalem/Sarai and Abram, his soon to be adopted son, God surrounded them with the armies of Pharaoh, and brought them safely back home to Canaan. Abram left Egypt knowing what he must do — return to the altar he built in Canaan and bow his knee to his own son – the Son of Promise. Abram could see him afar off hanging on a cross before he wore a crown. He saw the day the promised son would do what he had failed to do. Die so we can live free.
Linda and David Rodriguez
My attendance at a writing critique group unexpectedly ended. I awoke the next morning perplexed. I had attended the group for years and didn’t want to leave, but I knew that I did not belong there anymore. On the heels of leaving the group, a name kept coming to my attention – Linda Rodriguez.
Linda led a Christian writers group. We connected via Facebook. Her writing group had not been meeting, but she wanted to start again. She revived The Holy Scriptors long enough for me to meet her husband, Pastor David Rodriguez. Before the group disbanded again, I asked David if I could write his profile for NOLA’s faith blog.
I tried to find a mutually agreeable date to meet with Linda and David without success. Linda is a gifted writer, so I asked her to write the article. She consented and that was the last I heard from her until someone called my name as I walked out of a restaurant. I turned around to see Linda’s smiling face. She had been busy and didn’t think she would have time to write the article.
I asked Pastor David, seated beside her, if he still wanted an article written. He did. I made an appointment to meet at his church office. I didn’t need directions to Christian Fellowship Church. I had attended the church on 5049 Ehret Road when I was a teenager and it was called Marrero Assembly of God. Shortly before and during the two years I attended Marrero Assembly of God, I had spiritual experiences that are as vivid today as they were in 1973. The church holds a significant place in my heart.
David led me to a room he uses for counseling and we sat at opposite ends of a long table. For the first time since I started writing about local Christians, I would record a story without coffee machines grinding, music blasting and the neighboring table’s conversation in the background. But a greater gift than that awaited. Before our conversation ended, David solved a thirty-eight year old mystery.
David encountered God in an old-fashioned tent revival complete with sawdust on the ground. The evangelist brought his fiery message to a close and pleaded for willing hearts to come to the altar.
David looked at his friend seated next to him. “Do you want to go?”
“Do you?” His friend replied.
“I’ll go if you go.”
The boys slipped out of their seats and walked the sawdust trail to the altar. The next thing David remembered was lying flat on his back with a feeling of refreshing flowing over him and a foreign language coming from his mouth, which Pentecostals call “tongues”.
“That experience marked my life,’ said David. “From that point on I knew with certainty that I was God’s child. Then I became a teenager and the hormones from Hell kicked in. When I was 14, I decided being a Christian was too hard. I knew I would die and go to Hell if I turned away from God, but I figured I’d have a lot of fun before I got there.”
Four years later, David’s fun came to an abrupt end when he stole a car with a friend and found himself staring through the bars of a Georgia jail. The small cell aggravated his claustrophobia magnifying his suffering. He paced the cell longing to be free, and then he remembered the prayer of Cain and pleaded for mercy, “Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear” (Genesis 4:13).
The next day, David called home and told his father what happened. His father replied with calm assurance, “David, the Lord spoke to me. You’re coming home tomorrow.”
“But Dad,” David objected. “I’m five hundred miles from home, and I don’t have money to hire an attorney.” His father stood steadfast on God’s promise. David hung up the phone and was escorted to his cell with little hope of being released. The next day, his friend’s father posted bail for both of them, and the judge ordered them to return in August for sentencing.
David returned to New Orleans and met a girl who introduced him to marijuana. He was experimenting with hallucinogenic drugs when he stood before a Georgia judge for sentencing. David knew God had heard his prayer for mercy when the judge gave them probation instead of a jail sentence, but his gratitude for a lighter punishment was short lived.
The guilt of spurning God’s mercy weighed heavily on David. When he partied with his friends, conviction gripped him. While his friends enjoyed the hallucinations, David often spoiled the party by announcing they were all going to Hell and preaching to them. When his girlfriend became pregnant, he married her, but the marriage quickly fell apart. His wife left him, and then learned she was pregnant with David’s second son. David lay on his bed and cried out in despair, “God why is this happening to me?”
He reached for the Bible lying beside him and flipped it open. Proverbs Chapter 6 glared at him: “A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth. He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; forwardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy” (Proverbs 6:12-15, KJV).
“I felt I was reading my life story and God was showing me why he was about to throw me into Hell” said David. “I remember dropping on my knees, shaking with fear and saying ‘God I am sorry’, but I didn’t ask God to forgive me. I choose Hell when I was 14 and thought it was too late. When I stood, I felt a hot pressure and heard a mocking echo in my mind, ‘It’s too late, It’s too late.’”
That evening, David’s father visited him. During the course of their conversation his father said, “The Devil will tell you that you are going crazy.” When David heard those words, the oppression choking him with despair lifted.
David smiled. “It’s easier to appreciate God’s grace when you have tasted his justice. I tell people I got saved in 1970 but that’s not entirely accurate. That afternoon reading Proverbs, I knew I had crossed the line with God, but he spared me. Instead of giving me the Hell I choose, he restored me.”
David reconnected with Jeb, a high school friend who had also committed his life to Christ. On weekends, David and Jeb returned to their old haunt, a local Dairy Queen, and told anyone who would listen they had found something better than drugs. Jeb’s car was often packed to capacity with teenagers desiring to learn more about Jesus the following Sunday. When David wasn’t sharing his faith in Christ, he worked as an assistant manager for Shakey’s Pizza Parlor and fought for custody of his two children.
Several months after David’s restoration, a woman approached him with a prophecy that she believed was for him. She had felt the unction to speak it during the service but being a new Christian she was reluctant to prophesy publically. She told David, “Thus says the Lord, ‘My son, when I set you free, you are free indeed. I have a work for you that you know nothing of.’”
Shortly after the prophecy, an opportunity for David to become general manager of a Shakey’s Pizza Parlor arose, but David had a dilemma. To become general manager of his own store, he had to reveal that he had a felony conviction. The general manager knew David was on probation but the owner of the Louisiana franchise did not. David told his probation officer about his predicament. His probation officer called the franchise owner to express the dramatic and positive changes he had seen in David since he was placed on probation.
“The next thing I know, I received a letter from the Atlanta judge complimenting me on how well I have handled myself since the conviction. He had terminated my probation and ordered that my judgment be set aside. My record was cleared, as though it never happened. Then my former wife, who was still on drugs, decided our boys would be better off with me and gave me custody. I rented an apartment in New Orleans East, picked up my sons on Valentine’s Day 1971 and started my job as a general manager of my own store the next day. It was like the hand of God wiped everything clean. Then in the spring of 1972 Jeb told me he was starting a ministry called The House of Living Water and he wanted me to run it.”
At this point in David’s story I heard him talking, but I wasn’t listening. My mind was flooded with memories. God had revealed himself to me at The House of Living Water in August 1973. I wondered if David was talking about the same place and struggled to concentrate as he continued his story.
“Jeb and another man planned to to fix up a building in old Algiers. I would live at The House of Living Water and run the ministry while they went to Bible college. I was in walking distance from the Shakey’s I managed in New Orleans East. Moving to the westbank meant a twenty-six mile round trip, but I accepted the position and moved into the building with my sons.”
“What year was this?” I asked.
“1972,” he replied.
The year didn’t fit my experience but the location did. The place I had encountered the living God was on Opelousas Street in old Algiers. I remembered two things about the preacher whose message led me to accept Christ. He was young and had a beard. I studied David’s face trying to imagine how he would look with a beard and listened intently as he continued his story.
“The manager of the Shakey’s on Veterans resigned. I was managing the smallest restaurant in the chain and next in line for the bigger store. The Veteran’s Shakey’s was in disrepair, and I felt like I could grow in New Orleans East. I had already made up my mind to turn it down when the owner of the chain came to talk to me. The owner said, ‘The manager of the Veteran’s store has left and I want you to take over the Gretna Shakey’s.’ He was an older man. I thought he had a senior moment, so I corrected him. ‘You mean the Veteran Shakey’s.’ Then he corrected me. ‘No, the manager of the Gretna Shakey’s has seniority over you. He wants the Veteran Shakey’s.’ The Gretna Shakey’s was the plum in the chain; the biggest and nicest of all the stores and located minutes away from The House of Living Water. God worked everything out, and I stayed at The House of Living Water until late in 1973 – .”
“I was saved at The House of Living Water in August 1973,” I exclaimed. “I never knew the preacher’s name but I remember he was young and had a beard.”
David, the young preacher with a beard.
“I had a beard,” said David.
David had more than a beard. He kept a small photo album in his office with pictures from that time in his life. I looked at a picture yellowed with age of a young David with a beard and said, “It was you!”
It’s never too late to say ‘Thank You’, and I thanked David for his obedience to God that led me to salvation. But solving one mystery left me with another. Why did I need to know? The intensity of God’s presence that remained with me for six months after my salvation loomed larger than the people involved. One plants, another one reaps but the only one who really matters is God who gives us life. I had never been curious about or even asked God for the identity of the young preacher who reaped my life into the kingdom.
What are the odds that the man God used to lead me to Christ would now pastor the first church I attended after my salvation – the same church where God unfolded and confirmed his plan for my life? What are the odds that I would return to 5049 Ehret Road thirty-eight years later and learn the identity of “the young preacher with a beard”. Perhaps God wanted to comfort, encourage and assure a faithful servant that his labor in the Lord is not in vain. Perhaps our story is not over yet. If it’s not, I’ll blog it.
Charity Hubbard speaking at the Women's Unlimited Conference
Sonya McLean asked me to write about Charity Hubbard, one of her speakers at the Women’s Unlimited annual conference. Anyone familiar with the Brownsville Revival knows Charity Hubbard as Charity James. The teenage girl who sang “Mercy Seat” during the revival’s altar calls for five years. Eleven years later, she is married and preaching the gospel as well as singing. After the conference, I met Charity in the dining room of the hotel and recorded her story.
Charity considers herself a “Heinz 57” Christian. After dedicating her life to Christ in a Baptist church, she received the baptism in the Holy Spirit at an Assembly of God church and then her family settled in a Methodist church, which split and became an independent work. She returned to the Assemblies of God when they attended the Brownsville Revival. She currently travels as an evangelist with her husband and attends either a Church of God or Assembly of God church when they are not holding meetings.
Her path to ministry began when she was five-years-old. She sat on a pew in a Baptist church with her four-year-old sister listening to the pastor preach. At the conclusion of the message Charity and her sister walked to the altar in tears to repent.
Charity smiled and said, “Even at five, I knew that I needed Jesus.”
She was nine-years-old when she looked in a mirror and saw Jesus standing behind her with his arms open. He said, “Bless you my child.” Charity spun around to see him, but he wasn’t there. The following year, her grandmother gave her a performance tape of “Beluah Land” and asked Charity to sing the song.
“I could not sing at all,” said Charity. “My singing was so awful; my parents put towels under the door when I practiced the song. But the desire to sing burned in me and I was determined to sing “Beluah Land” for my grandmother. One day, I was practicing the song and stopped the tape in frustration. I pointed my finger to heaven and said, ‘Lord, you said you were going to bless me, so do it.’ His answer was immediate. When I started the tape to continue practicing, my parents thought I was playing the demonstration side of the tape. The Lord had blessed me with the ability to sing.”
Jesus appeared to Charity again when she was thirteen. Her bedroom had a second door that led outside. One night, she was startled awake when the outside door swung open. Angels covered in a beautiful blue mist flooded into her bedroom. They were talking excitedly and laughing. Charity wanted to know what they were excited about. She slipped out of her bed to listen to one of their conversation. One of the angels said, “I hugged Jesus! I hugged Jesus! I’ve always wanted to hug him. It was awesome.”
Charity blurted out, “I want to hug Jesus!” Instantly, the angels disappeared. She looked out the open door and saw Jesus skipping on mountains. “Jesus, I need you,” she cried. Jesus swooped into her bedroom and embraced her.
“Jesus held me for a minute,” said Charity. “It was the most wonderful peace I have ever felt. Then he gently placed his hands on my shoulders, pushed me back and looked into my eyes. His face was a multicolored rainbow, so beautiful I can’t describe it. His eyes were a crystal clear blue like the blue flame of a fire. He said, ‘Don’t you be afraid. I’m always with you.’ His eyes have been burned into my mind, heart and spirit. Anytime I’m facing difficulties I remember his promise and the peace and love that was in his presence.”
Jesus’ assurance of his love faded as her walk with God grew stale. Charity had been singing in revivals since she was ten-years-old and had grown weary of the same routine: a church invited a special speaker, she sang a special song, meetings were held daily Wednesday through Sunday. She never witnessed a true deep change in the people and her heart drifted away from her savior.
The process of restoration began when her mother heard “Mercy Seat” on the radio and believed her daughter was meant to sing it.
“I don’t want to hear it,” snapped Charity.
“This is a great song, you need to hear it,” her mother pleaded. Charity consented to listen to the song but didn’t like it. Her mother encouraged her to listen to the song again.
Charity started the song again and listened to the lyrics:
“In the darkness
Where everything is unknown
I face the power of sin on my own
I did not know of a place I could go
Where I could find a way to
Heal my wounded soul.
He said that I could come into
His presence without fear
Into the holy place where
His mercy hovers near
I’m runnin’ I’m runnin’
I’m runnin’ to the mercy seat
Where Jesus is callin’ he said
His grace would cover me
His blood will flow freely
It will provide the healin’”
© Mark Carouthers
“The lyric’s seemed to melt into me. I had never heard a song like this before. That happened shortly before my fourteenth birthday, which is the day before Father’s Day,” said Charity.
On Father’s Day 1995, Charity stood to sing Mercy Seat for the first time in the independent church her family attended. The power of God filled the church. People Charity had known most of her life came running to the altar. An hour away, Steve Hill stood to preach the now famous sermon that started the Brownsville Revival. The path of a former drug addict turned preacher, and a wounded teenager were destine to intersect. Three weeks later, Charity’s mother, a devout Christian who longed for the presence of God learned about the Brownsville Revival and encouraged Charity to attend. She wasn’t interested in attending another revival but agreed to make the hour long trip to Brownsville with her mother.
Charity and her mother had attended every night of the Brownsville revival for a week when her mother announced, “Charity, you are supposed to sing “Mercy Seat” here. I know it.”
Fearful of singing before the large crowds that the revival attracted Charity said, “No way, that’s not going to happen.”
Undeterred by Charity’s objections her mother spoke to the youth pastor, who brought Charity to the attention of Lindell Cooley, the minister of music at Brownsville.
“I was so nervous my knees were knocking when I sang for Lindell. My life changed that day. On the way home, I looked out the car window at the moon and stars and recommitted my life to Christ. Whatever God wanted me to do, I was ready to yield my life to him.”
Lindell scheduled Charity to sing “Mercy Seat” during the offering the following Friday. She sang the last note and found herself face to face with Steve Hill. “Will you sing that song again during the altar call?” he said. That request resulted in Charity singing “Mercy Seat” every night of the revival for the next five years.
Charity grew thoughtful as she shared her final thoughts. “I didn’t have much to offer God. All I had was a song. He took the little I had and changed the world around me.”
The Brownsville Revival (also known as the Pensacola Outpouring) began within the Pentecostal movement on Father’s Day June 18, 1995 at Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida. Millions of people are reported to have attended the revival with more than 100,000 estimated thousand salvations.
Donna Gentile teaching children.
Donna Gentile attended church, had a great job and a wonderful husband but always felt something was missing. She decided studying the Bible might fill that void. Her church did not offer a daytime Bible Study, so she searched the newspaper for one. She opted for “Choosing Christ Character” at First Baptist Church in Slidell.
“The Bible study lessons went through every character quality of Christ,” said Donna. “It made me analyze myself and understand that being good is not all there is. Our relationship with Christ is what really matters.”
The women in the Bible study invited Donna to attend their church services. She was reluctant to leave the denomination she had attended most of her life, and turned down their invitation. When Heaven’s Gates & Hell’s Flames, a touring evangelistic drama produced by Reality Outreach Ministry, came to First Baptist, Donna felt drawn to attend.
The presentation of the gospel through a series of skits performed by the drama team deeply touched Donna. At the conclusion, the pastor called upon people to choose heaven or hell. Donna committed her life to Christ and joined First Baptist where she became active in Christian service.
Donna volunteered to assist with the “Choosing Christ Character” Bible study. As hostess, she welcomed newcomers and assessed their spiritual needs. Martha, the leader of the study, observed Donna’s spiritual maturity and asked her if she would teach children brought to church by the bus ministry. Donna welcomed the invitation as a call from God and an opportunity to creatively utilize her Early Childhood Education degree from Ursuline College.
“I worked with eight to ten year olds. Most came of them came from single parent homes. Few of the children had been exposed to Christianity,” she recalled. “I absolutely loved the class and the opportunity to put my God given creativity to use. I put my whole heart into each class and as a result, many children accepted Christ and were baptized.” One boy was so devoted he rode his bike to class every Sunday. Even though he is now grown and moved away he still keeps in touch with Donna. Another student needed glasses. Her parents were unemployed, so Donna collected donations to buy her the glasses.
Donna also pursued the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors (NANC) certification offered through First Baptist church. The five level course consisted of rigorous training, completion of both a theological and practical counseling test and a minimum of fifty hours of supervised counseling experience. Donna completed the course and began counseling. Counseling proved emotionally draining. She quickly realized her true God given purpose was teaching children and leading them to Christ.
Following years of teaching, Donna created a collection of crafts which helped her Sunday school class build their lives around Christ’s character qualities. “The spiritual message in the crafts kept them coming back for more,” said Donna.
She joined the Southern Christian Writers Guild to learn how to get published. After much research, she wrote a book proposal and Rainbow Publishers responded with a publishing contract for not one but two books. The books, soon became Rainbow publishers’ and Amazon’s best-selling books: Bible Crafts on a Shoestring Budget: Chenille Wire and Straws and More Bible Crafts on a Shoestring Budget: Craft Foam and Felt. She has also been published in various Sunday school curriculums and articles for Lifeway Christian Resources in Nashville, Tennessee.
Donna is writing Sunday school games for www.kidsSundayschool.com and developing a new reproducible craft book series for children ages 5-10, soon to be released in 2012. She invites you to email her at awayoflifepublishing@live.com or follow her on Facebook and/or Twitter.
