In this issue I am celebrating my sixtieth year of preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, by looking back over my journey and giving praise to God for His faithfulness.
I was converted to Jesus Christ on a hot July night in 1946, in Nady, Arkansas, in a revival meeting in the southern part of Arkansas County, which is a part of the Delta. My mother, Estelle Tharp, had been greatly influenced by a Bible scholar, Martha Honeycutt, who was a New Testament professor in Union Bible Institute in Westfield, Indiana. Through Miss Honeycutt, my mother studied the great revivals of church history and knew that a mighty outpouring of the Spirit on the wicked community of Arkansas County was our only hope, especially those of us who lived in the lower part of the county.
My mother and Miss Honeycutt formed a prayer pact. Miss Honeycutt returned to Indiana, and she and my mother met every morning for seven years at the Throne of Grace, interceding for revival in Arkansas County, though they were 700 miles apart.
The two began praying in 1939, but it was in 1946 that God hit Arkansas County like a tornado. Everyone on Momma's prayer list got saved - all of our relatives, including my dad. When I saw my dad get saved, it was then that I gave my heart to Christ. My sisters and brothers got saved. All our neighbors got saved, and many came from distant places, drawn there by the Holy Spirit, to find Christ. Our
