Back then in the Assemblies of God (AOG) most times when a church got a new pastor the District Superintendent (DS) soon paid a visit and a church service was held to "install" the pastor — an "installation service." I have always been amused by that term. It sounds like the minister is being installed like one installs carpet, HVAC system, furnace, and you name it. When he came down he suggested to me that I attempt to develop sermons from every book of the Holy Bible, and I felt that suggestion was a good one.

    The church building had a room where a pastor could work on their sermons and Holy Bible studies. It was nothing fancy, but it was OK with me. I still remember the constant sound the electric analog clock (the type with hands) made. It was not annoying, but I felt like it was saying, "Cook something good up. Cook something good up." That, and a "modern" typewriter that you could actually switch the font on seemed to encourage me to do just that. I eventually put one of our CB transceivers in that room so I could call over to the parsonage if need be. However, it was not much help one time when I got a certain visitor, and I am saving that for a later post.

    More encouragement to cook something good up in sermons and Holy Bible studies came from the general climate and atmosphere of that part of NC with the aroma of lilacs and honeysuckle in the air in warmer months. And I think it was the first place that I saw dogwood trees.

    There seemed to be more warmer months in that part of the USA. And when it got really warm black snakes would crawl across the road. I found out that they were not as dangerous compared to other snakes. In fact, they were considered by some farmers to be very helpful.

    And that gave me an idea: a new hand puppet, in fact, two! One would be called Snake Jake and the other would be Snake Joe. To tell them apart, Jake would have a white spot on the tip of his nose. Sister Dorcas cranked them out from her sewing machine and I would eventually crank out puppet skits, especially for Kids Crusades. Both Jake and Joe would not be very intelligent and Jake would be the one to get himself in all sorts of predicaments.

    I also thought snakes would be great because 1.) Christ conquered the spiritual serpent and 2.) it is prophesied in Isaiah 11:8 that when Christ returns "The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den," NKJV.

    This post and the next are somewhat an introduction to our first pastorate, but, rest assured, things will spiritually liven up and heat up in the posts afterwards. Eagle Mills was where more things would occur that would pull me into the supernatural spectrum as well as God would reshape my thoughts on certain points.

    And, when someone comes to Christ it is good for them to attend a local fellowship that adheres to the essential teachings of the Holy Scripture. Some churches have an official membership. While various people might be able to attend, in most cases only the official membership can make certain decisions and only official members can hold office and serve in certain ways.

    With this post is a picture of one of the groups at Eagle Mills Assembly of God. I can only recall the name of one person in this picture, and I am pretty sure the older sister is Lottie Templeton. I am not sure if this group was a Sunday School class or not.

    I forget how many people Eagle Mills Assembly Of God had but, like in many other churches, there was a mixture of the saved and unsaved. Among the saved and those of proper age it seems to me that there were only seven or eight that were legal members. However, there were a few more attendees that were saved that I thought could be added to the membership roll. To make sure, I presented the various names to the church board and they were fine with the list. I then proceeded to visit each person and offered official membership to them. All, except one, agreed.

    I was disappointed that this one brother, who lived right across the way from the church building, did not agree to become an official member. He seemed to be an exemplary Christian. Nonetheless, he was good friends with the church and us. He had a cow or two for milk and we would often buy milk from him. He also had a horse and would sometimes give our children a ride in a cart.

    In regard to children, it is always good to try to get them to church. Though they would be too young to be official members, every child needs to come to Christ and remain in Him. Sunday School and Junior Church are good tools for this, and so are . . . . To be posted, 😀.

    Teen Challenge was a work of God started by the ministry of David Wilkerson, an Assembly of God minister who had a church in Pennsylvania but was directed by the Holy Spirit to intervene in the gang culture of New York City in the 1960s. Many of the youth and young adults he encountered were enslaved to drugs, but God directed him and others to bring them to Christ, and many who surrendered to God through Christ were freed from their addictions. This ministry developed into Teen Challenge (TC). After a time, more TCs began to spring up in the U.S.A. If you want to know more about what happened, you may read it in the book by David Wilkerson, The Cross And The Switchblade.

    The TC in Harmony was a women's induction center. The property they purchased for $1.00 included a swimming pool, and you know very well that once TC got a hold of it it was also used for water baptisms.

    Of course, we went to see the facility in Harmony. After a few weeks I received a phone call and I was asked to come to TC to teach Revelation (The Revelation Of Jesus Christ, aka The Apocalypse — the last book of the Holy Bible).

    Revelation? Teach Revelation to these ladies who either just came to Christ or who were still struggling with drugs and other issues? But, that is what they wanted so I agreed. I then asked God how to do it and His reply to me was chapter after chapter according to the outline the Holy Spirit established in Revelation 1:19. So, that is what I did.

    In regard to Eagle Mills Assembly of God, following the good suggestion from the District Superintendent, I endeavored to develop a sermon (message) from each book of the Holy Bible. In the image with this post you can see I was working on something in my study area in our bedroom. Yes, there are boxes. But also note in the picture the very same shortwave radio mentioned in TBT 1, as well as one of our CB radios. Below my shortwave radio is a set of Matthew Henry's Commentaries on the entire Holy Bible. That set is now over one hundred years old, and perhaps it was one of the original sets published. See the cassette tape recorder? It was probably used for puppet skits.

    TC of Harmony would visit Eagle Mills Assembly Of God from time to time. One particular evening I was preaching from Philemon, a very short epistle, and so short that there was no need to later divide it into chapters. After the message, one of the TC ladies told me she was surprised that a sermon could be derived from that small book. Hopefully the message helped her to realize there was abundant treasure to be found in every book of the Holy Bible.

    However, probably before that night, God used TC to help me realize that what I considered in the Holy Bible to be simply symbolic, and that since we were in the days after Christ's ascension we did not have to be dealing with it, were the struggles and other issues that the Holy Bible records about angels, good and bad. In my mind I felt that if there was a problem just mention it to God in prayer and move on. In my mind we did not fight and fight and fight.

    So it happened one day when we were visiting TC that the staff asked us to join in prayer with them as they went around anointing with oil various areas and rooms, rebuking the forces of darkness and asking for the covering of Jesus' blood. One of the staff told me they would do this from time to time because of the demonic forces and influences the young ladies would bring with them.

    Well, we prayed with them, but I had to wonder if the staff was not a tad flakey. But the Holy Spirit nudged me to not write it off. Back home, I asked God that if this was something we should do that He would please give me a Holy Scripture passage about it.

    Leviticus 14:33-53 came to my mind! This passage contains instructions for the Hebrews as to what they are to do if leprosy was found in the structure of a house. While that could have been referring to mold or something else, it did not matter to me because the word leprosy was used and leprosy in the Holy Bible is symbolic of sin and sinfulness. And then, I recalled the unpleasant incident that occurred at Maranatha (see previous TBT) when the pastor's wife vented in the main sanctuary and how hard it would be for some people to get it out of their mind every time they would sit in that sanctuary.

    The images from some of the Chick tracts came to mind where, in one drawing, a grandmother is desperately interceding with God for her granddaughter who was enslaved by drugs and while she was praying demons were next to her saying It's no use! In another frame her granddaughter was having a bad reaction from LCD and a demon caused her to see her skinless skull in a mirror. I also thought of the years before I came to Christ when demonic forces were very heavy on me and I felt like the chief fool of all the earth.

    It also came to my mind that an the actual rendering of ask, … seek, … knock of Mathew 7:7 is keep asking, … keep seeking, … keep knocking. Ephesians 6 points out we war against demonic forces.

    So, I accepted the practice as valid. Now my mind was reshaped once again. However, it would not be until the next pastorate when we would start anointing buildings. This mind-opener in North Carolina was a pull into the supernatural spectrum. Something would happen at the next pastorate that would push — or shove — me into the realm of the supernatural. And a purpose in writing this final series is to get more Christians to open their eyes to the Scriptures and the supernatural realities that surround us and even influence us.

    Also, each person is a spirit-being encased in a body. If you have read the first TBT you would remember about an uncle I refer to in these series as Uncle Number One. He was the one that influenced me to dabble in the occult before I came to Christ. He visited us while we lived at Eagle Mills and brought to us something I wanted to do without.

    So the process of contacting districts and sending out résumés started again. This time it was a little different because I could now attach copies of that nice letter from the PTL Television Network and at least one recommendation from a local pastor. As I recall though, there were not many churches that needed a pastor and if I had tried out for any churches I was not voted in.

    After some weeks, I received a call from brother Howard Spruill, the District Superintendent Of The Potomac District Of The Assemblies Of God. They had a burdensome situation with a church and wanted to replace the current pastor. God willing, in the next post I will give you what details God will permit me to share. After praying about it I felt that I should go ahead and take the assignment. We decided upon a date when I would arrive at that church. As that time approached I submitted and announced my resignation to the church at Eagle Mills. As I recall, the head deacon seemed to be a bit surprised.

    As I continue I want to make it clear that this final series is about the supernatural spectrum. There will be many bad things, and there will be many good things. The Church, the Body Of Christ, is comprised of various types of people and none of us is perfect. While that is no excuse for stuff that should not happen, it does explain some things. No one should look at any church or any individual Christian as something or someone who will not err. I say all of this as a reminder and as a preface to the next paragraph. I would add, though, a real Christian might err but they will repent and endeavor not to err again. The grace of God is given so one will grow into the sinless life of Christ.

    A neighboring church in North Carolina was having serious problems. Brother Z, the District Superintendent Of The NC District to came to the church to speak with the pastor. Brother Z heard I had resigned Eagle Mills and wanted me to meet with him when he spoke to the other pastor. Once there, brother Z spoke with the pastor about the problems in that church. I cannot recall what advice, if any, he gave to that pastor. He then turned to me and spoke at length as to why I should not be leaving Eagle Mills. He gave some type of scenario about why the South lost the Civil War. After a time, I think he said that he knows I was not paying attention.

    With all due respect, he was probably correct, because I remember thinking he should have given me Biblical reasons why I should not leave Eagle Mills. I did not want to hear about the Civil War. I preferred that if I were to be corrected it would be based upon Biblical principles and pastoral examples. Anyhow, brother Z would still be the NC District Superintendent when the PTL Club debacle would occur.

    Probably just like anyone else, sometimes I look back and I have to wonder did I make the right or the wrong choice. I feel sorry for that church in NC because they really needed a pastor to stay for a time and work a work by the grace of God. But, I made my choice and it would be one where I would be pulled more, and then pushed (or maybe shoved) into the supernatural spectrum.

    Despite the trouble in our second pastorate, every now and then some would make an effort toward unity. After some weeks a young couple on the pro-brother-Y side came to visit us. I sensed, though, there was a certain spirit about the young man, that he was somehow into witchcraft. In the previous post I noted 1 Samuel 15 where there is a spiritual fact that rebellion is as witchcraft.

    Nevertheless, we had fellowship with this couple. I cannot remember if we had a meal together. A main purpose of theirs was to give us some clothing for our boys that their children were no longer in need of.

    A few days afterwards our oldest son, around six years old, began to ask questions — very strange questions, two of which we remember were, Mommy, if I move this will I go to hell, and What if the devil died on the cross? More questions occurred over time and then —
he developed a fever!

    We did not have any family doctor where we were pastoring so sister Dorcas took him and his brother to the Grantsville Maryland area.

    It did not take much for me to figure satan was attacking our oldest son. I then had to think of what I observed from members of Teen Challenge and the Holy Scripture God gave to me in regard to anointing not just people, but buildings (see Post 9). Angry with satan, I took olive oil (other oils may be used if need be) and anointed the trailer, rebuking satan and pleading the blood of Christ over our oldest son and the rest of us.

    Do not get the wrong idea. When I, and most others, say anoint we usually mean dipping our finger into the oil and transferring the oil to a person or object by making a small cross.

    I cannot remember if I did every room, but I probably did both the inside and outside of the trailer, casting out the forces of darkness in the Name of Jesus and pleading His blood. As I recall, a sense of relief came over me when I was finished around 4PM.

A couple of hours later sister Dorcas called.


I told her I anointed the trailer.


She said that she could tell me when I did, around 4PM —
because our son's fever broke around that time and he stopped asking those strange questions!

    Consider John 4:49-53, and if you are truly a redeemed child of God in Christ, born again by His Spirit the Word of God says that we are kings and priests in Him (Revelation 1:5-6). Such terminology sounds like we ought not to sit on the sidelines, but are to be open to being used by God in any capacity He decrees. I encourage those active in spiritual warfare and the like to remain active, and for those on the sidelines to draw near to God in order to be used more by Him.

    Such anointings are part of our ministry today along with other forms of intercessory prayer and a number of other things. We see results, not because we are good but because of Who God is.

    Well, that was my push, or perhaps a hefty shove, into the supernatural spectrum. More is to come in these posts. I would say some are quite amazing, especially the one about my Dad.

    The next post will cover a few interesting things I came across in that second pastorate as well as His dealing with me about a certain issue. Indeed, by His grace He directed me about anointing the trailer, casting out the forces of darkness. However, He would also direct me to cast some things away from me.

    Most cult members stay away from any information and any situation that might jeopardize what they have been trained to believe. Most times one will be visited by not one JW, but by at least two JWs. In my encounters with the JWs they will not take any literature from me, though they expect me to take theirs. And, they sure will not accept prayer. However, the situation often changes when you deal with a JW on a one to one basis. I had that opportunity while at our second pastorate while working, of all things, as a salesman.

    Generally, I do not like selling things for a living but my reluctance is greatly diminished if it is something I use and it works well. We had an Electrolux vacuum cleaner and we liked it very much. So, when I saw an ad in the local paper that indicated a need for an Electrolux salesmen in the area I became an Electrolux salesman.

    The commissions were pretty good, but I realized a person would have to sell a decent number of units to make a living. I doubt that I would want to sell door to door in this present time because I have to think of an awkward, uneasy situation I found myself in one day. I had knocked on a door and a young child answered my knock. I told them who I was and what I was doing and he asked me to step in off of the outside porch. I did, but when the child's mother found out, she hollered at the child for letting a stranger inside. I could not blame her, and I should have stayed outside until she came to the door. If I or you would do that today we might be shot.

    There came a day when I had to take another salesman with me. I do not remember why that was the case. Perhaps the guy did not have his vehicle that day. It turned out, though, this guy was a JW! We stopped for lunch somewhere. I prayed over my lunch and, if I recall correctly, he had a comment about it or, in the least, he intently observed me.

    Before we completed our work for the day he mentioned to me a problem he was having. I offered to pray for him right then and there and, he accepted! It goes to show that some cult members are less tough when alone. Through the years I have found that a good time to witness to JWs is when they are alone.

    Quite often I was alone while cleaning the church basement, scraping mud off of the stone hallway floor and cleaning the carpet in the Sunday School rooms. Toward the end of the building there was a room with an unplugged refrigerator. When I opened the door there was a stench which probably came from some meat, I think liver, left in the refrigerator. Sometimes it was just a bit creepy in that basement and it felt even more creepy the day there was an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

    The District office required a written report from me, and I believe it was once a week. An image of one of my reports has been placed in this post. I was also told by the Superintendent to call him if I had any questions, which I did from time to time. But it was at least once that he was not available to be contacted, and God reminded me I could always contact Him. When I would be able to get brother Spruill on the phone quite often I noticed he was on some type of speaker-phone. A favorite phrase of his to me was Grab the bull by the horns.

    During this time, the group that preferred the founding pastor started to do their own thing and were having meetings on the side. Some wanted to split from the church. I reported this to the Superintendent. He replied he was coming up for a visit.

    When he did, at some point we were traveling together when he said to me, You know Pete, I never believed in purgatory until I visited West Virginia. At that point I looked at him and he saw I had to wonder about that remark. In response he mentioned an advertising slogan for the state, West Virginia, Almost Heaven.

    While that was a bit funny, that fact that pro-founding-pastor group was starting to do their own thing was not funny. Previously I mentioned that the mortgage for the church building and trailer was over $1,000 per month. Looking at my records, it was actually more than $2,000 a month. If there was another split the church would be left with around twelve people or less. It was either on his visit or by a letter that he informed me that the District would close the church.

    That was a sad result, and there would soon be pressure upon my family and I.

    I will be cramming in a lot of information into most of the remaining posts in this current series because I need to close my Throwback Thursday series in the spring of 2024 in order to get other work completed. As a result, some posts will span a number of years and might include insights from more than one pastorate.

    As you see in the previous post, I was appointed as pastor of Flintstone AOG after the previous pastor resigned. As I recall, there had been some turmoil when a member was denied the opportunity of being a candidate for a deaconship because he was divorced and remarried (see Luke 16:18 and 1 Timothy 3:12). He got married to a young lady to win a bet and after he received the money he divorced her and later married someone else. I think he left the church before I got there but when I did communicate with him he seemed to think that what he did was not a problem. But, it is. The institution of marriage ordained by God is nothing to play around with and vows, spoken or implied, must be kept.

    While that problem was no longer around it was during one of the first few Sundays I came across a small, personal challenge when I noticed that one of the sisters brought the Guide Posts magazine to church to give to anyone else. What was wrong with Guide Posts? It sometimes included quotes from religious sources that did not match up to the Holy Bible. I knew I had to say something to the sister but I was a bit edgy because I was new at the church and that the church had just gone through some trouble before I arrived. I prayed, asking God for direction and that the sister would understand. She did, and she stopped bringing Guide Posts to the church.

    In later posts I will have pictures of some of the people who attended while I was there and you will see that a number of them were senior citizens. Most likely many came to Christ when they were younger and were in the Pentecostal movement decades before I was. They were closer to the time of the early 20th century fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

    The sister I just mentioned in regard to Guide Posts was strong in the Word. She, and most of the others (if not all) knew that God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16) and that divorce and remarriage was not acceptable to Him. This sister was so firm in that area that she did not permit her divorced and remarried son to bring his second wife into her house! That might sound too firm to some people, but if we look through society through decades going back to at least the start of the 1900s we will see that a very firm stance in these matters helped to prevent others from falling into error. After all, note how much of today's society is more tolerant and at the same time we have more domestic violence, crime and many other harmful things. In an upcoming post you will see how things really soured at Flintstone school when a certain procedure was dropped.

    The other image in this post is a picture of the Flintstone AOG Church building. It was built in three parts. To your left is the somewhat A-frame section built in the 1920s. It is not the original and, God willing, you will read why in the next post. On the left is the 1950s section which includes Sunday School rooms on the first floor and a staircase to the second floor where the parsonage was. The third section, built in the 1970s I think, is a two story add on for the section on your right which was in the back. The building was located about a mile (1km) or so east of the main town of Flintstone in an area called Gilpen or Gilpentown.

    It was in my early weeks at this third pastorate that while I was in the town of Flintstone that I decided to visit one of its main stores. There were two men in it at the time from the local volunteer fire department. One said to me they will burn Flintstone AOG down if I started to have Blacks in the church. The other fireman said nothing. I do not think I replied, and I did not know what to do since they were both in the fire department. And, if I told the Sheriff or State Police, there was a possibility they might have been in the same frame of mind. So, I said nothing. However, in all of the years I pastored there, which was about eight or nine years, I never came across a Black person in the entire area.

    To my knowledge, the church building was mostly wood. Every now and then some type of repairs were needed and most times I was the only man around. One time I felt the vestibule needed to be repainted. After painting the ceiling I looked at it and it seemed very streaky to me. So I redid it. Same thing. I redid it again. Thinking I was making some type of mistake, I was frustrated with myself and lay on the floor looking up. I lay there for over ten minutes and as I kept looking up I saw the streaks were disappearing. I then realized what God was showing me. If we do what we are supposed to do to the best of our ability, in due time He, by His Holy Spirit, will smooth out what we think is a mess. Even if we err, if we confess our ways to Him and seek His help, He will develop us into His likeness, if we let Him. But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. (Job 23:10) It takes fire to purify us at times, with the Holy Spirit blowing the breath of Life upon us and into us.

    While church repair is helpful, the most important things for a pastor to do is to shepherd the flock God has granted to him and try to bring the lost to Christ. One way to locate spiritually needy people was to make visits at a hospital. Back then, for most hospitals a minister would be free to look over the patient list to see if anyone from his church was present as well as anyone from his community that did not attend church or was not affiliated with any church. For the Flintstone area we would visit a hospital in Cumberland, Maryland. After speaking with the pastoral secretary a few times I learned she was a Baptist. Despite what you might have heard, not all Baptists believe in once saved always saved, so I was curious and asked her if she believed in that. Sadly, she got a bit angry and said,YES! What about it? Nothing, I replied. I was not looking for a theology argument. I was just curious.

    As you know there are numerous ways to have new people visit a church. However, for Flintstone AOG there seemed to be an opportunity that was repeatedly missed: a church anniversary celebration. Most, if not all, of the pastors before me stayed no longer than three or nearly four years. I think the church missed celebrating its 50th anniversary. I became pastor a short time after its 60th year. After discussing things with the church board we made provision to celebrate the church's existence for over 60 years. A featured speaker would be a former pastor who was the District Youth leader, Wendell Cover. Featured guests and singers would be the descendants of brother Walter C. Long, the man God used to start the church.

    The church was started in the 1920s, a time when the Pentecostal movement was hated by many people. In the next post you will read about the amazing way Flintstone AOG got started. You might be surprised as to how Pastor Long was able to get a deacon. You will read about arson, dynamite, and gunshots!

    We also came across more pictures from the rooftop sermon I gave at Flintstone. Go to post 22 to see those.

    The final reminder is what we stated at the start of this final series: Posts may not be in order of actual occurrence over time, and that there will be a lot of cramming of events and points.

    In a real Christian's walk with Christ there will be some things they will desire, and those things are fine to desire, and perhaps it is God's will for us to have them — but we have to wait for them. Such was my case in getting our first pastorate. It took a number of years for that to happen. That is why, while we were at our third pastorate (Flintstone), I was a bit frustrated with a new lady minister in the AOG who wanted to pastor but could not get a church. I tried telling her my story and the absolute fact that the AOG had more ministers than churches, but that did not satisfy her. She implied it was because she was a woman. However, the AOG treated Christian women just like any other Christian. She finally got in contact with the United Methodist and got a church. She saw me in a store a few months after that but I did not see her. She complained that I was ignoring her. The fact is, even with glasses or contact lenses, my sight is not the sharpest.

    But another thing I had to wait for was ordination. Do not misunderstand, though. The moment someone is called by God to the ministry they are ordained (set apart) by God. That is also the view of the AOG. But to work with many of our brothers and sisters in Christ there are safeguards that they desire to follow. So I was ordained by God in February 1970, but once I joined the AOG there were safeguards in place before they would openly recognize a person's ordination. Additionally, at that time in the AOG only ordained ministers of the AOG could hold certain governing positions. To make a long story short, my ordination from God was recognized by the Potomac District Council after being pastor of Flintstone AOG for over a year. Ordination candidates were ordained at the yearly district council held at the District Camp in Fallingwaters WV. Our former pastor, William Ferguson, was one of the presbyters to lay hands on me and pray for me. Those who were thus ordained were given thin KJV Holy Bibles (I like the thin ones).

    Before Dorcas and I were married we talked about a number of things, including how many children we would like to have. Four seemed like a fine number for us. However, I think it was while we were in Eagles Mills NC that we thought we would just have two. That was the plan we made. But it was not God's plan. He said, Surprise! a month or two after the ordination ceremony.

    Judging from a picture I have here, it seems like soon after that we visited my Dad and step-mom in New Jersey. Attached is a picture of Dorcas's and I family. Standing next to us is my sister Pat, her husband George, and their children, Denise and George Jr. Seated is my Dad. The picture was taken by my step-mom, Phyllis. Both Phyllis and my Dad were great fans of the PTL Club. In a post a few weeks away from now I want to mention an amazing providential event that I always look back upon as a blessing. There is no doubt in my mind God was behind what happened regarding my Dad.

    As the months rolled by God's surprise to us was born: Jon (Jonathan). Now I need to be very vague. I had some great issues with the hospital where he was born. One time as I walked past the nurses' station there were two or three patient charts left viewable on the counter — and not one nurse was in sight. One of the charts was sister Dorcas'. Anyone could have read any of those charts. But there was something much worse.

    Sister Dorcas was assigned a four bed room. That was OK, but one time when I came to see her the door was shut, and I heard talking and laughing. When I opened the door, here was a fellow maternity patient and she was not alone. HER HUSBAND WAS IN THE BED WITH HER! They were fully clothed, but they were rowdy. I was very angry. Eventually I found the doctor and told him I wanted to take Dorcas home, NOW. He objected, saying she needed to rest. I responded she could rest better at home. I signed the documents for her release and got her and Jon out of there. As a side note, years later that unruly man would have a run-in with the police. I will say no more about that.

    As the months went by, naturally Jon began to crawl around. As I was watching him one time I wondered what did God have for him. He had been in God's plans, not ours. Fast forwarding a few decades later it turned out to be that God would use him and his wife to rescue two boys by adoption, and to bless them naturally with a third son. There is more to this. The adoption of the one boy was definitely a miracle. But that would be their story to tell.

    Next post: critical spirits, visions, and other stuff.

    Second Assistant Ambulance Captain or not, as a Cardiac Rescue Technician one had to keep their skills up. If you did not get the required amount of certain skills while serving on the ambulance, you had to make up the deficit by helping at a local hospital. One of the skills was doing IV (I V, Intravenous) sticks (needle insertion). One time a nurse was having trouble getting an IV stick into a heavy patient because the veins were difficult to see and maybe too curvy. However, I noticed that for most people we have a pretty straight vein on the medial side of our forearm. So I asked if I could try, both nurse and patient agreed, I started the procedure, and was able to get the stick in.

    Then, there was the morning of January 28, 1986. As I recall, things were slow on the unit I was in because there were just a few patients. As I passed by a patient room I saw the launch of The Challenger Space Shuttle was being displayed on the television. With nothing much else to do I watched as the rocket lifted off. A minute later I heard the launch announcer say the mission was go for throttle up, and then there was a BOOM! The rocket was gone leaving behind a confused trail of smoke. The announcer, who only was monitoring the audio feed from the command room, said there had been some type of anomaly, and he did not know at the moment what was happening as witnessed by viewers across the United States. I hurried to the nurses' station and said the shuttle had exploded. They hurried to where the television was and joined in the shock and the sadness of the nation.

    On a brighter note, a rewarding part of emergency medical service was the ability to help young children and babies. One time we were alerted for a vehicular crash south of Flintstone. Upon our arrival we had two patients — a mother and her baby. Carseats back then were not what they are now and though the baby showed no sign of injury or distress, according to medical protocol I was to expect trauma to the child. That meant calling for a medical helicopter for immediate transport which in turn meant our station had to be alerted for more personnel to establish a landing zone.

    The ambulance driver fussed at me for calling for a helicopter. He was a long time member of the fire company going back to the days when an ambulance was nicknamed a meat wagon and people would just get the patient on and whiz over to the hospital. However, thank God, in later years an ambulance became a mobile emergency room. But, that did not matter to this driver. Nevertheless, I told him we were going to fly the child to the hospital. Mother and child survived everything very well.

    There are two sides of this. One, and the most important one, was about the safety of a patient. The second is that an emergency care provider is to follow protocol because if you do not there are legal ramifications besides possible adverse affects to your patient. Always go by the rules. And, the best rules we can ever have are God's rules.

    On a slightly different note, oftentimes emergency hospital personnel will do everything in their power to save a child. However, every now and then I have seen the opposite for senior adults. In some cases they are too quick to give up just because a person is old.

    Well, speaking of old, like I said this particular ambulance driver had served back in the days of scoop and swoop — get the patient in and whiz off to the hospital. And there might have been one or two more on the fire side that wanted to get things done fast. One time after a call we were at the hospital and, as according to protocol, I had paperwork to fill out regarding the emergency call. One guy was getting edgy but I told him I needed to fill out the forms. So, at the next meeting of the fire company I told the members that when the siren goes off that whoever responds should expect to be tied up with that call for a least two hours or more. If they cannot handle that they do not need to show up.

    Now, there came the time we had a call east of Flintstone late in the evening. The patient I had was physically stabilized on a backboard to prevent injury to the spinal cord. And, the ambulance driver was the same one mentioned above. He was in the grab and go mode as we headed on to the main highway. Even though it was a main highway there were many curves along the mountains we had to cross. He was told to slow down. He did not.

    We approached Martins Mountain, which meant I would have a good chance at radio contact with Medical Command. I was up and about working with the patient, but the driver kept taking the curves fast and probably weaving in and out of traffic. I asked him to slow down. He did not. I was standing up, either to go over to the patient or to the seat where I would call dispatch to ask for a medical channel when the driver made a very sharp swerve. I fell backward onto the large orange trauma kit. The rest of the medical crew yelled to the driver to slow down, peppering their orders with a curse word or two. He slowed down. I got up and went back to patient care, but mentioned my back hurt.

    When we were at the hospital and I was filling out the paperwork the medical crew said I ought to be examined. I declined. But, they kept saying I ought to be examined. So, at around 1AM, I told them to palpate my back and if I feel pain I will asked to be examined. My back was palpated. I felt pain. So,I was examined and received an X-ray. One of my ribs were broken. I was treated and released. Our car had a manual transmission and I was told I could not drive it for a week. A few days later the fire company suspended the driver for thirty days. However, if I recall correctly, he chose to never drive an ambulance again.

    Next post: a few more directives from the Great Psychiatrist. And, I get a good scare while in prayer.

    While we were at Flintstone (Maryland) we had a few opportunities to visit my Dad and step-mother, Phyllis, in New Jersey. Sometime after they were married my Dad secured employment as a custodian at a nearby community college. After a time, he retired from that job and worked evenings as a security worker at a local Jewish cemetery. Attached to this post is a picture of the retirement party for my Dad at the college.

    In or near the mid 1980s we had to make an extra trip to New Jersey because Dad was in the hospital. If I recall correctly he was there because of a flu. We went to see him and to pray for him. As I talked with him I noticed a nitroglycerin patch on his arm. So, I asked, Dad, what is that on your arm? I think he replied that is was nothing, but as a Maryland emergency medical volunteer I knew very well it was a nitroglycerin patch. For information on nitroglycerin heart patches see https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a601085.html .

    His reply could have been one of two things: a little lie or an expression of hyperfaith. A lot of people often do not speak the real truth when they are at times asked how are they doing. It could be thought that my Dad did not want me to worry about him.

    However, Dad and step-mom Phyllis were avid fans of the electronic church and enjoyed viewing The PTL Club, The 700 Club, Trinity Broadcasting and much of whatever else styled itself as Christian, Pentecostal Christian, and Charismatic Christian. Many of that day, and even now, feast on what I call Carbohydrate Christianity. It is very tasty, but it lacks the full nutrients of the in-depth Word of God.

    For example, many who adhere to a hyperfaith attitude look to the mustard seed passages where, if you have enough faith, you can just command a mountain to be removed (Matthew 17:20) and you can send a tree into the sea (Luke 17:6). Additionally, based on Matthew 13:32, many say that in order to do such great feats all you need is a tiny bit of faith.

    Go to Strong's Concordance and you will see least (for the mustard seed being the least of all seeds in Matthew 13:32) does not always mean size, but it can mean small or little of rank or influence. And, in fact, Matthew 13:32 carries that precise thought because although we humans would prefer things like wheat and barley for sustenance, the lowly mustard seed can grow into a haven for birds. So, mustard seed faith really deals with quality of faith, not the size of faith.

    Many who venture into hyperfaith mean well. Any Christian that really loves God desires to please Him by having faith. However, hyperfaith tends to be low quality faith because, among other reasons, it ignores the sovereignty of God. Think of the faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego (Daniel 3:16-18). But, to be concise, every Christian ought to keep in mind 1 John 5:14, Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

    Nevertheless, knowing the influence upon his spiritual life I would tend to think Dad was in hyperfaith mode. At the extreme other end of the spectrum would be no faith at all, which is not pleasing to God. From what I have seen in the Holy Scriptures and from personal experience, when it comes to sickness I feel that a good type of faith we might have is to admit we are confronted with a problem and ask God to heal us while, at the same time, we listen to what He tells us about that problem. It might be we will hear from Him how to correct that problem, and this has happened to me a number of times.

    After staying in New Jersey a day or so we returned home and Dad was eventually released from the hospital. After some time, perhaps a year, we needed another car. I forget how it all came about, but we purchased a station wagon. I always wanted one of those, and there are pros and cons of having one.

    We never had a station wagon, but now we had one, and near the end of 1986 someone called with what I thought was a pretty odd request. They said they found out we had a station wagon and wanted us to ship a load of beef to some location in New York, New York. Why? That was how they were paying their rent, at least for that year. I asked them how much meat needed to be transported. After they gave me the figure I checked the specifications of the vehicle. It was able to handle the beef and our entire family! So I said we could do it.

    Of course, they paid me to do it. I was quite tickled! It was a free trip to see my Dad in New Jersey on the way back after delivering the beef! However, with Jon still being young and it being winter, sister Dorcas opted not to go and kept Jon with her.

    We made it to New York without a problem. We then went to see my Dad and step-mom and stayed overnight.

    The next day, Dad followed us as we went to the car. Except for the goodbyes I forget what was said, but I do remember he gave me a twenty dollar bill. My Dad stood near the curb, and as we began to drive away I glanced one more time at him – and he appeared a bit serious. That was normal for him at times, so I did not think much about it.

    Well, we had a nice Christmas that December and the boys enjoyed their gifts they got from sister Dorcas and I, and others. Jon got his first calculator. When it was opened it played We Wish You A Merry Christmas. I mentioned this for a reason which comes up in part two.

    1987 rolled on in and we were keeping busy. As the second half of the month came along our telephone rang.

TO BE CONTINUED! Return next week for No Bum Steer From God - Part 2.

    For me, pastoring Flintstone AOG was loaded with great spiritual lessons from the Holy Spirit. One lesson was the reinforcement of the truth that it takes the Holy Spirit Himself to perk up the mind of a listener. One Sunday morning I dwelt a little on Colossians 1:13-14, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. At one point I said that translated could be expressed as transferred (see Strong's Concordance), and dwelt a few seconds on that concept. At that point, the eyes of a young person near the back of the sanctuary lit up and after the service he mentioned to me the concept of being transferred from one spiritual condition to another brought some enlightenment to him. Something like this has happened countless times to other ministers too and it can only be said that it is God working on hearts and minds. And this is why it is good to intercede in prayer for all as directed by the Holy Spirit, that hearts and minds would come in tune with what God says.

    In regard to prayer, it was at Flintstone that I realized one of the tools to stay out of depression was to stay busy. I saw that joining the local volunteer fire company really helped, so I prayed Lord, keep me busy. And, from that time on, He most certainly has. This is one reason I will be closing this series in the spring of 2024. I have many other things I feel God wants me to do.

    In our first three or four years at Flintstone AOG we had seen some progress of growth, but things began to level out after that. To my knowledge that church never had a pastor stay more than three years, and the community was probably accustomed to that cycle too. Around our fifth year there I wondered if I should move on. I prayed about it and felt that I should not.

    To help with the finances of the church we began to not use the main sanctuary in the winter and use the area off to the side. Attached to this post is a picture of one of those services. Another change that was made was to remove a wall between two Sunday School rooms in order to hold the midweek service in a smaller space, heating it with electric heaters and not with the oil furnace. Thankfully, I had the church membership vote on whether or not the wall would be removed. You will see why in the next post.

    So we continued a few more years, but I finally felt we ought to move on. We began trying out for open AOG churches, and that, indeed, was an eye-opener!

    We tried out for a church in LaVale, Maryland (MD), and the head deacon was not there to hear me speak. Well, he did briefly show up in shorts, spoke with a few people, and left for a vacation. But I knew right then I would not be elected because another candidate, a more well-known one, was trying out the following Sunday and I sensed he was the one the church had really wanted.

    At the end of one October we tried out for a Virginia church not far from the North Carolina border. I was shocked to see that one of the men had a meeting with some of the young people and he was telling ghost and horror stories!

    Some time later we tried out for another church in the same area of Virginia. Things seemed to be hopeful when I spoke in the morning service. During my message, among other things, I indicated to the entirely Caucasian congregation that Christians ought not to discriminate in the propagation of the Gospel. I sensed that the majority tended to agree. However, there was a little problem when I met with the church board that evening. By this time I had decided that when I would send out résumés that I would include a sheet that expressed my pastoral philosophy. One of the points was that I would not discriminate. During the board meeting I asked if they had read the page. They did, and one man rose up and indicated he disagreed with my non-discrimination statement. I also sensed that most of the board members had the same concern.

    The vote on me would occur sometime later. My mind was a bit torn on the return home. I sort of wanted to be the pastor but, because that church voted every two years whether or not a pastor should stay I was really concerned about accepting the position. Why move my family hundreds of miles and then perhaps be forced again to relocate? Even if I felt we could start another church in another city about twenty miles (32.19 km) away, we would still have to move out of the parsonage. I called the presbyter of the section and said I withdrew my name from consideration. He thought I should keep it in. I said no. He called a few days later and said some people wanted to keep my name in. I said no. He called again asking me to keep my name in so they could vote. This time I said OK, but told him that if I were elected I would not accept the position.

    After trying out for these churches and others I sensed there were some problems in the AOG. But, let me quickly add this: This is probably true of most, if not all, church groups. Churches are comprised of Christians and some who think they are Christian but are probably not. There are strong Christians and weak Christians. Christians spiritually grow at different speeds. All of this affects denominations and fellowships.

    Additionally, I was not liking what I was seeing out of the AOG-USA headquarters in Springfield, Missouri. The Pentecostal Evangel, a main AOG publication at that time, began to change from having a godly, uplifting front cover and a similar approach in their articles to a less than victorious sentiment. One summer issue came out with an artist's cartoon-like conception of hectic situations in homes when Christians were getting ready to go to church camps. It was as if the passages of the New Testament in regard to victory were considered figurative or out of reach, and a lifestyle similar to the unsaved was being accepted.

    All of this was going through my mind one day as I was sitting on the front steps of the Christian radio station I worked at. One thing that would help the AOG would be a sovereign revival from God. And, then another thought came to my mind: fresh blood, i.e., new churches from new converts to Christ! So, the thought of home missions came to my mind. But, I had to laugh at what might be said to me by the AOG. A decade before that time I was told I was too young and inexperienced for home missions. So I figured now I would probably be told I am too old!

    My attention was now focused on where we could start (AOG would use the term plan) an AOG church. One of the first places that came to mind was the Thurmont - Emmitsburg area of MD. We had been through there before and I felt it would be a beautiful place to plant a church. It is also the area where Camp David, used sometimes for presidential retreats, is located. Surely we should go there. However, when we drove to the area to assess it I felt the Holy Spirit told me no. The same held true for a place in West Virginia, as well as Reisterstown and Frederick MD.

    Well, how about the Eastern Shore of MD (MES)? AOG churches were few in number on the MES, Chestertown, Pocomoke City, Salisbury, Crisfield and Easton being some of them. Easton? That is where I wanted to plant a church in the latter 1970s but was told I was too young and inexperienced. A few years after that, an AOG minister started a church in Easton WITHOUT DISTRICT APPROVAL!

    Anyhow, in between Easton and Salisbury was Cambridge. When we had visited Cambridge back in the latter 70s I felt a spirit of fear when crossing the then two-lane bridge with people of color fishing off of the sides of the bridge (see https://oasisofhope.neocities.org/TBT/04TBT#p51). However, this time in the latter 80s I did not sense that. After driving through various parts of Cambridge we stopped for a treat at one of the mini-malls near U.S. 50. As I enjoyed an ice cream sandwich I felt God saying this is where we were to go.

    So I informed the District Office and was instructed that, among other things, I had to create a home missions survey of Cambridge and submit it to the Eastern Section of the Potomac District. That Section would decide whether or not I would be permitted to plant a church in Cambridge.

    I have often taught that we have to be careful with what we feel we think is God's will. But, if I had any doubts at first about God's will for us to go to Cambridge they would be shattered in the coming months. In the next post I will mention a number of miracles by God to get us to Cambridge.

    I mentioned all of this at some type of family gathering at Dorcas's parents' home in Grantsville, MD. Present was one of Dorcas' nieces and her husband who were working with Wycliffe Bible translators. What are you going to do if they tell you no?, asked the niece. That was a tough question for me because I felt, and still feel, that when a minister of God belongs to and works with a fellowship he ought to be submissive to those above him otherwise he enters into rebellion and, based on the King James rendering of 1 Samuel 15:23, rebellion is as witchcraft. On the other hand, I definitely felt it was of God we ought to go to Cambridge and, above all, I must not rebel against Him. So, I told her we would go anyhow. That might mean I would lose my credentials with the AOG, but I did not tell her that.

    Back in Flintstone I began working on my Home Missions Survey of Cambridge, MD. I researched the city of Cambridge, created certain goals by the direction of God, and revisited Cambridge. Another pastor from a nearby AOG met me and showed me around the area. As I looked at some of the existing churches they were either all white or all black — except for one. And, most of them were jacket and tie fellowships, except for the same one. That one church was Jubilee Christian Fellowship, a non-denominational Pentecostal group, pastored by brother George Wheatley. That church had a pretty good mix of white and black and seemed to tolerate casual apparel. Because I had a concern for the underdogs of society I felt that the church I would plant by the help of God should be the same way. I saw only one church like that so I figured Cambridge could use another church like that.

    I wrote up the survey (its page of contents is shown in this post, and, yes, I know I spelled schedule incorrectly at first) and sent it to the presbyter of the Eastern Section. In a few weeks I was told by that presbyter that I was to meet with them at a church in, I believe, Annapolis on a certain day.

    I do not recall what questions they asked of me, but I do recall I was asked to wait in an adjacent area while they discussed the matter behind closed doors. But the acoustics were not good, and I could hear them talking. To this day I have to wonder if they knew, or did not know, that the acoustics were poor. Was it done on purpose or not? Nevertheless, I just had to inch over to the door. When I did, someone, and I think it was the presbyter himself said, We do not need another weak church on the Eastern Shore. I knew right then that their answer would be no.

    Probably what some of them considered about me was that the church we had before we came to Flintstone was closed while I was the pastor there. Yet, as you can see from post 14 to post 20, that was not my fault, and I had actually helped the Potomac District out of the problem they had with that troubled church. Some of them also figured that I had been in Flintstone for over six years and there was no numerical growth. They did not factor in that eastern Allegany County was economically depressed and I was appointed to a church which had a number of senior citizens and some of them died while we were there. They also did not factor in any of the people God helped me to lead to Christ nor the fact that I stayed the longest out of all the pastors that had that church.

    When they came out of the room the presbyter told me he would call about their decision in a few days. I was really seeing some weakness in that presbyter. He was afraid to tell me then and there that I did not have permission. I went back to Flintstone, waited a few days, and he never called. I am of the opinion he was afraid, because he, and some of the others, did not seek God for the decision.

    After some days I called him. We do not think you should go, he said. I cannot remember what I said to him, but after we hung up I still felt like we were to go to Cambridge. So I called the District Superintendent, whom I think agreed that we ought to go to Cambridge, and he told me to hold steady while he worked on some things.

    The Maryland's Eastern Shore only had a handful of AOG churches. I felt there was a need for more and I was perturbed at the sectional ministers for not letting me try. I was not asking for their money.

    A few weeks went by and we, as Shaklee Independent Distributors, received a referral card from Shaklee headquarters of a potential customer in Denton, MD. My eyes got big!

    Where is Denton?, asked sister Dorcas. On the Eastern Shore, where we belong, I replied. I considered this a providential sign from God! So, I asked God for two more signs that He would overturn the decision of the presbyter of the Eastern Shore.

    A few weeks later I received a phone call from an AOG minister in the Northern New England District who had a teaching ministry. He wanted to come to our church in Flintstone to do some teaching. While talking with him he named an AOG minister in the Potomac District that would vouch for his teaching ministry. Guess who he named — the presbyter of the Eastern Section who did not have the courage to tell me no in person! My eyes got big again and I had a big grin on my face!This was the second sign! Of all people he could have mentioned! To me this was proof we would go to Cambridge.

    So, with a smile on my face I called the presbyter and asked about this certain teacher. The presbyter gave me a very good reference on him. Before we hung up, still grinning, I said to the presbyter, By the way, I still think we should go to Cambridge. He said he did not think so and we hung up. I was still grinning. He was saying no, but God was saying yes.

    Month after month went by until sometime in the first week or so of December. I was distraught about the situation. There were unreached people in Cambridge. The AOG certainly could use another church. Frustrated, I started flipping through the Holy Bible. As I was paging through The Psalms a repetitive word in Psalm 37 grabbed my eyes: Wait. Peace came over me and I closed the Holy Bible. I considered that incident to be the third sign. Within about three to five days the phone rang. It was brother Spruill, the Potomac District Superintendent.

    Brother Macinta, do you still want to go to Cambridge? I replied yes. He continued by saying there had been a change. The Executive Presbyters of the Potomac District, which was comprised of all of the district's presbyters, voted to let the AOG ministers on the Eastern Shore to decide. Of course, the vote was not unanimous because the presbyter of the Eastern Section was a member. However, the majority agreed that the handful of Eastern Shore ministers would decide. What I now had to do was to write a letter of intent and send it to pastor Wood who was the pastor of the AOG church in Crisfield, MD.

    I was so calm and absolutely sure we were in the will of God that I waited until after Incarnation Day (what the world calls Christmas) to send the letter. I sent it, and soon Pastor Wood either called or wrote that I would have to meet with them at English's Restaurant situated between U.S. 50 and the end of Washington Street (that restaurant no longer exists in Cambridge and a Family Dollar is now in that location).

    When I met with them, I was asked, Do you want to start a church in Cambridge?

    Sometimes in moments like that my mind gets into a silly mood. The reply came to my mind to say, Nah. I just came here for this free meal you guys offered me. But, of course I did not say that. I replied, yes.

    You know, it is going to be hard.

    What place is not hard in its own way?, I asked.

    After some more questions and answers they gave me permission to come.

    I soon told Flintstone Assembly Of God that I would eventually resign as their pastor and plant a church in Cambridge. And, we began to make preparations to go.

    At some point during all of these months sister Dorcas and I said to each other that we would like to see an actual court case some day. Little did we expect God to answer that passing thought too, and little did we know about certain things in Cambridge and the rest of Dorchester County. And, some in Dorchester County are either smiling, or chuckling, or even laughing out loud at this point. And, as you keep reading this series you will find out why.

    By the way, we did not simply pull out of Flintstone and go to Cambridge. More miracles would definitely have to occur before we would open an AOG church in Cambridge. God willing, you will read about them in the next post.

    When I did the Home Missions survey for Cambridge it seemed like, according to one or two sources, Cambridge was bustling a little so I thought it might be easy to find a job. However, though some of the data I had was only around ten years old a lot happened in Cambridge. For one thing, the shirt factory on Race Street, a main street of the city of Cambridge, had shut down. So, when I checked in at the unemployment office there seemingly was nothing available for me, and it seemed like the shirt factory workers were given priority.

    Then there was an opening at Pleasant Day Adult Day Care on Pleasant Street. It required a Bachelor's degree but when I went there I was told they wanted that degree in social work. It did not matter to them that I was a pastor (social work right there) and had experience as a nurse's aid.

Miracle One: Employment

    Cambridge was so sparse for employment opportunities that I included Easton as a possibility. I had to chuckle at that thought because the AOG pastor in Easton worked in Cambridge so I figured it would mean an AOG pastor in Cambridge would have to work in in Easton. After some days Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in Easton placed a job opening in a local paper. I went and applied and returned to Flintstone with no hint of whether or not I would be accepted. By this time I had only about $10.00 remaining for travel expenses.

    That Friday KFC of Easton called and asked me to return that coming Monday for an interview. Like a dummy, I moaned and groaned to the lady manager that I had just been there. She said the KFC District Manager would be there on Monday and I would not be hired unless I came back down. I went, and I was hired for $6.00 per hour! That was somewhat higher than minimum wage, but I asked for that.

Miracle Two: Temporary Housing

    Next I had to find temporary housing. Not too many things were available, but then I saw an ad stating there was a room to rent on Henry Street. I went to see the owner, Mrs. Horner, and said I just needed a place for a few months until I could bring my family down to Cambridge that fall. She said she only rented rooms for a year. I started to worry a little. But, within a second or two she said she would make an exception! To me that was another miracle.

    During those months, even before I got the job at KFC, I had a few bundles of Gospel tracts stamped with the P.O. Box address of Cornerstone. I would place them at houses around Cambridge. A block or two of Phillips Street was my first target. Cambridge had numerous houses and it was no problem to place Gospel tracts where I legally could.

Miracle Three: Get An Apartment

    As I kept checking the newspapers I saw there was a two bedroom first floor apartment to rent on Peachblossom Avenue. Having three sons, we could have them in one bedroom while we were in the other. I paid the amount needed, which I think was $300 first month rent and $300 deposit, and went back to the apartment. However, when I stepped into the main bedroom I was attacked by fleas! In a huff I went back to the landlord and asked for our money back, but she said she would take care of the fleas. She did.

    Now, remember a few posts back that I had Flintstone AOG vote on whether or not I could remove one wall from a back room to make a bigger room for midweek services. During a meeting before we left Flintstone one of the oldest members asked if I was going to put the wall back before we leave. I nicely told her that church agreed to remove the wall. They could ask the next pastor about putting the wall back.

    The day came we left that precious little pastorate in Flintstone and headed to Cambridge. I can remember the feeling of definitely being in the will of God as we drove along I-68 and I-70. By the way, we had a U-Haul truck. Pictured in this post is Tim bringing a box to the back door of the apartment.

Miracle Four: Sister Dorcas Lands A Job

    After we moved, my wife secured employment with Dorchester County Public Schools in food service, and therefore became an official Lunch Lady.

    Though we had moved a lot of our things it seems to me we went back to Flintstone to get a few more. We left some things at the back door of our apartment, one of which was Tim's bike. When we got back, the bike was gone. Pretty nice welcome to Cambridge, eh? By the way, bikes are still stolen quite often in Cambridge in 2023.

    Being listed as official church planters, Dorcas and I were blessed with at least one or two AOG church planter retreats / training sessions. I remember one where they wanted to serve the Lord's Supper but there were some other very young children there. We volunteered to entertain them with a puppet show while the others partook of Communion.

The Best Of All Miracles: People Coming To Jesus

    Church planters were instructed that the best way to open a church was to get a core group of converts, train them in their homes or wherever we could, and then open a church. Besides distributing Gospel tracts, we would visit the local hospitals (which included one for those with mental troubles). Back then, before HIPPA was ever birthed, we could look at a list of patients and find those with no church affiliation and we would offer them prayer. We would leave donated AOG literature for them to read, and we had loads of cardboard boxes of literature donated to us mainly from Frostburg Assembly Of God. Tracts were also donated.

    Another way to find souls was by holding Kids Crusades with our puppets. Our apartment was just across from the Meadow Avenue Playground. We received permission from the city to hold our puppet skits there. With this post is a picture of some people at the playground raising their hand to receive Christ as their Savior and King. By the way, I do not remember if it was before or after the crusade, but one of our sons was at the park and somehow lost his hat. Then, we saw another boy with that hat on. When we talked to the dad about it he said it was his boy's hat. We asked him to take it off and look on the inside. Yep. Macinta was marked on the inside, so we got the hat back. But, the dad and his wife eventually came to Christ and became part of our core group.

    We offered our converts the opportunity for us to come to their homes for Holy Bible studies. By the grace of God, by this time I had developed a series of lessons on Basic Christianity. (See what I currently have online at sapphirestreams.com/bec/).

    During these months there were two men, one who was a Christian and I dare say one who claimed he was Christian, that were delighted we were going to start a church in Cambridge and hung around us at times to, uh, help us. What they did not know was that the AOG just about insisted a core group be established first. There was a special AOG dinner by the District for us where we would tell about our plans to open a church. The bubble of excitement these two men had was burst when I set a target date of two years away for opening the church. They sort of gave up right away, but the one who claimed to be Christian (I will begin to refer to him as Mr. Questionable or Questionable), came back to hang around from time to time. I think that was a plan from the devil and you will soon see why.

    Our entire family was involved in getting things ready for Cornerstone to open. Tim helped with getting pages ready that I would use at the piano for choruses that we would be singing. Sister Dorcas also helped with that as well as stamping more Gospel tracts as pictured in this post. As pictured in this post, Jon, among other things, worked on sorting the vinyl records and picture slides for a pre-computer age make-believe TV for children. Sam, of course, was helping too but, God willing, he will be pictured in the next post.

    As the core group grew and the time drew near for the target month for the church opening, we began to look at some possibilities of where to have the church meet. I definitely felt it had to be in the city of Cambridge. With the financial donations coming in along with the tithes and offerings of our core group I figured Cornerstone would be able to afford a place for round $300 to $350 per month. One place we looked at was a little narrow sliver of a storefront that had been used by local Black Muslims, but it was horribly too small. The old First Baptist location on Locust Street was open but out of our price range as well as the old armory on Gay (nothing to do with homosexuality) Street.

    Alexander's Music Shop, owned by Ocean Odyssey, on U.S. 50 closed. We went to look at it and were shown a certain portion of it that might be suitable for a church. It was suitable, but the owner wanted $450 per month. A picture of that area will appear in a later post. When Mr. Questionable found out about that location he said I should rent the entire building! That would have meant over $2000 per month and would deplete Cornerstone's finances within six weeks. God willing, you will hear more about the location next to Ocean Odyssey in a later post.

    Finally, 507 Race Street was available. It had a handicap accessible bathroom, water fountain, three rooms, a closet, and a larger room. It looked good to us. Brother Ken Burtram, in charge of Potomac District Missions, came down to look at it. He indicated it was a little cramp but then approved the idea of Cornerstone using that facility. We paid the needed money to acquire that storefront. A picture of 507 Race Street appears with this post.

    Within a few days Pastor William Wood of Crisfield AOG called to arrange a painting session where some of the attendees of his church would help paint our selected location. Pictured with this post is pastor Wood speaking with one of the young men from his church who was painting near the handicap accessible bathroom. Also pictured in this post is how the main room looked after being painted and filled with folding chairs (some of which were donated) and other items. 507 Race Street was all set to open as Cornerstone Assembly Of God of Cambridge, MD.

Unhappy Church Incidents

    In the previous post I mentioned how things are getting spiritually darker. When I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, I never encountered a situation where individuals of opposite gender would change clothing in the same room at the same time. Imagine my shock when I had a ministry team come to put on, if I recall correctly, Bible plays and when it came time to switch scenes or topics a male and female go into the same Sunday School room at the same time to change their outfits.

    Then there was a time we had a Christian lawyer address our church and during his talk or devotional he indicated that the Pentecostal experience was not real. However, I was so glad when two or three of our people immediately spoke up to tell him otherwise. This lawyer was not a member of the AOG.

    There also came an opportunity for us to have an AOG lady minister that worked with the famous Mother Theresa. Now, understand the late Mother Theresa was a Roman Catholic nun and, sadly, for various reasons the Roman Catholic Church is not truly Christian. If anyone wishes to challenge me on that feel free to contact me, but bear in mind I was raised Roman Catholic. Anyhow, before I agreed to have her come I asked her why she had worked under Mother Theresa. She said that she wanted to gain discipline. At that time I felt it was then OK to have this lady speak, but if the same opportunity would occur again today I would turn it down. But, I did agree to let her speak and I thought for sure I would get a crowd out to that service. I had announcements printed and spent a day or two driving to many points in Dorchester County to put the notices in stores and wherever else I could. If you have time, look at a map of Dorchester County and see how much traveling I did: Taylors Island, Church Creek, Fishing Creek, Hoopers Island, Crapo, Eldorado, Linkwood, Salem, Galestown, Vienna, other locations, even way down to Bishops Head. Some of these places were so sparsely populated and remote from Cambridge that occasionally a few guys seemed very delighted that an outsider would venture to visit them. For sure I would get a crowd. Nope! Perhaps two or three new people showed up. I was VERY disappointed and it really dampened my evangelical enthusiasm.

The Street Beat

    On the other hand, as I did other things like passing out tracts I was blessed by the work of God from time to time. One day I got the hankering to pass out tracts and felt impressed to walk from our apartment on Peachblossom Avenue to a point around 3 miles (4.8km) away to the east called Jacktown. However, when I got to Jacktown it seemed like no one was around, but I soon spied one lone man walking along a road. I attempted to witness to him but he indicated he was going to keep walking so I just gave him a tract. He was the only one out there, but it just seemed like God wanted me there at that moment.

    Similar to that was the time I drove westward out of Cambridge on Hudson Road and turned right on to another road. Again, one lone man. I rolled down my window to give him a Gospel tract and he said that was the third time that day for someone to give him religious literature.

    At least twice I encountered a situation where residential housing was supposed to be locked, but God opened the doors. As I walked down Race Street one evening as I approached such a building near Muir Street I thought it would be nice if I could get in there. When I ventured into its entrance way I saw the inside doors leading to the upstairs apartments was not locked and took advantage of it. Then there was the newer building on Academy and Market Streets, right next to the creek drawbridge. Lord, it would be great if I could get in there, I prayed. As I walked closer I saw some contractors were there and, lo and behold, they had the main door wedged open. I did my thing and left to walk across the drawbridge. I kept my tracts in a back pocket, but there was a guy coming in my direction and must have sensed I was, uh, dangerous and crossed to the other side.

Two Miracles From The Days Of Unrest

    Cambridge had gone through torment during the days of the Civil Rights movement. At one point H. Rap Brown gave a speech here and soon a block or so was set ablaze in the Black section of town. During those days the National Guard was called in to simmer things down. A young White guardsman named George Wheatley was on Pine Street (I think that was the street) when he spied a quarter on the ground. Just as he bent down to pick up the quarter a bullet whizzed over his head. That was one miracle. Either some time before or after that he and other guardsmen were doing some crowd control and at one point for some reason he had to subdue a Black man by placing the tip of a bayonet near his throat. That man was Lemuel Chester. After some years BOTH men surrendered their lives to Christ and BOTH men became pastors! And, yes, because they were true brothers in the Lord they became friends.

I Get A Friendly Warning

    And, after the 1960s there was some spiritual healing, as well as emotional healing in Cambridge. Pockets of racism remain here and there but from what I see things appear to be better than what they were.

    But I still sensed I had to be more cautious in some areas than others. There were times I went to the Black sections on my own but there were a few times I was accompanied by a Black from our young church, Kevin Gibbs. However, one day when he was not available I felt like I had to place tracts at homes in the Schoolhouse Lane - Chesapeake Court area. By the way, no matter where I go unless I am told by God to do otherwise I never knock on a door. As I finished I went along Chesapeake Court and on to High Street. There, a young Black man nicely told me that I had to be careful around that area. I smiled, thanked him, and assured him I knew.

Threatened That A Lead Pipe Would Be Used On My Congregants

    Now let us fast forward to the 2010s. When sister Dorcas worked at Arbys at Dorchester Square Mall, on warm days I would go around the parking areas placing Gospel tracts in any vehicle that had a window opened to any degree. One time I tossed a whole Gideon New Testament into the cab of a tractor trailer.

    But one day a jeep, without a rear window, pulled into the Arby's parking lot. Now THAT's an invitation. Plus, it sported a Don't Tread On Me bumper sticker, so I thought the owner would not mind someone practicing a little freedom of religion and speech. So, while the driver was in the restaurant I went to the back of the jeep and gave a Gospel tract a good flick into his jeep. The tract ricocheted off of the side of the front passenger seat and landed in the center of the console.

    That night the phone rang and the man left a nasty message on our answering machine, saying that one of our church members broke into his jeep and left the tract there, and that he was going to come to our church, stand outside, and beat us with a lead pipe when we came out.

    I did not pick up the phone, but he kept calling back! Around 10pm I finally picked up the phone and listened to his rant. I calmly told him that no one broke into the jeep but had flicked the tract into it from the rear. After some time he calmed down. After he hung up, I had to think about Pastor Walter Long of Flintstone (see Post 22). Maybe this angry guy with the lead pipe would become one of my deacons. It has not happened yet.

New Potomac District Section

    Anyhow, back at the church, while I had no deacons I did have a nice little bunch from time to time as pictured with this post. Other Assembly of God churches popped up on the Eastern Shore where it got to the point the Eastern Shore became a separate section in the Potomac District Council. I was pleased to be at Falling Waters WV for that session where the District voted we may become a section. The ministers of the Eastern Shore were then told to have a business meeting in one of the back rooms of the tabernacle to select our officers, which we did.

    By the way, as a home missions church we had to be audited by our sectional officials and that occurred a few times. At one point they voted to up my salary to $50 per week.

Let Us Conclude By Going To Court

    Remember I wrote that while we were still in Flintstone we thought it would be great if we would see an actual court case sometime? Well, welcome to Cambridge!

    When Cornerstone was situated on Race Street one of the residents upstairs had gotten into some type of legal problem. I think he allegedly had stolen from a restaurant across the street. Anyhow, he tried to muddle things by saying he was jumped by a cop in the mutual entrance way of our church and the apartments upstairs. His lawyer had me summoned to be a witness for the defense. I was baffled. He said his client claimed a cop had hidden behind a door and jumped him and I was there to see it! I told the lawyer I was not there. The lawyer said I still had to appear in court and tell the judge that I did not see any such thing.

    That was my first trip. There are two courts in Cambridge, one is the District Court and the other is the Circuit Court. Soon, Dorcas and I were summoned to jury duty from time to time. Ha! Ha! Be careful what you desire.

    But, there came the day I would be both the accused and the plaintiff. However, it all worked out for the glory of God which, God willing, you will read about in the next post.

    The background goes way back to before when I came to Christ. I was a macho boy, so much so that I considered certain things to be somewhat sissified. Part of that temperament carried over when I came to Christ. At first, I did not like the Psalms because some of them seemed a bit wimpy. When reading 2 Samuel I felt that David was not acting very manly when he rejoiced with dancing. As an Assembly of God (AOG) minister I did not mind other Christians dancing by the Holy Spirit but I felt that such action was not for me nor for other more manly ministers.

God Taught Me That I Had To Change My Mind

    That attitude stayed with me for a few years until I felt God nudge me to start using a reference book I had purchased for well over $30.00 but hardly opened. That book is Wilson's Old Testament Word Studies by William Wilson. After buying it I browsed a little across the pages but was not quite sure how to use it. It sat on one of my shelves for a time but eventually I felt God tell me to start using this tool I had paid so much money for.

    One day, while getting a message (sermon) for an upcoming service, I was drawn to a passage in Zephaniah, viz., Zephaniah 3:17, YHVH your God in the middle of you is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over you with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over you with singing. I saw it said he will rejoice over you and he will joy over you. Similar words in English, but was there any difference in the Hebrew? When I took basic Koine Greek in Holy Bible college I heard that the Greek was quite often more expressive than English. But then, a fellow student told me that Biblical Hebrew was more expressive than Greek. Various words had different shades of meaning and I very recently discovered that Hebrew has the ability to show intensity of action.

    So I opened Wilson's Old Testament Word Studies and checked these words in the Hebrew. Indeed, they were two different words. The first one, for he will rejoice over you meant, to exult, to be glad, to rejoice; the primary idea is that of springing, leaping. Uh, YHVH (YHWH, Jehovah, The LORD) Himself would spring and leap with immense joy over the Jewish people. Dare I consider Him to be a wimp, a sissy?

    For the other phrase,he will joy over you, the Hebrew word means, to be joyful, to be very glad; to rejoice with a joy which expresses itself in the gestures of the body. I thought had the first phrase meant that I could just stay with shouting, clapping and, perhaps, waving my arms. However, the first phrase specifically had the primary idea of springing, leaping. At that moment I knew that I had to change my ways of thinking about certain things.

Back To The Rumor

    Usually, there has to be an ingredient, or ingredients, to concoct a rumor. In the case I am about to tell you, remember that I had been charged with assault and was found not guilty. Nonetheless, word gets around town and whether you are guilty or not the basics of your court case, at least in Maryland, are usually available as a public record (although, I saw that as of 2024, my case is no longer available online). This was one of the ingredients for a vicious rumor about me.

    The second ingredient came about in the course of pastoring the new AOG church in Cambridge. Some of the youths and older children that were attending tended to be unruly at times. There were times sister Dorcas and I had to settle them down. They could be nasty. I cannot remember if one either threatened or actually did kick sister Dorcas in her knee. Regardless, I felt like giving that girl a hefty slap, but I held back knowing that would be considered child abuse. There were a few times we had to have that girl leave the service and go home. There was also another girl I placed in a corner one time. Perhaps some would consider that to be child abuse. Well, I say child abuse also occurs when parents and other responsible people do not discipline children. I thank God for the discipline, physical and otherwise, that I received from my parents, relatives, and teachers. My mother's wooden spoon knew me quite well! Sure, a person can overdo things, but I would say doing nothing is worse.

    One of our community outreaches included some Holy Bible teaching and some preaching at an apartment complex, The Bradford House. We would meet in the community room. Attached to this post is a picture of sister Dorcas and I holding a study in the community room. Some adults there (no one who is pictured) were unruly at times, loudly talking when I would be preaching. On top of that was the tables were greasy from food at times and had to be cleaned before I permitted our keyboard and other items to be placed upon them. By the way, look at this first picture and note how hefty I looked at the time. You will need that to imagine something in your mind in a moment.

The Rumor

    There came the day I received a call from a resident of The Bradford House, and let me call this guy Burt. Burt, at the time, was not a Christian. He was, using the Holy Bible term, a drunkard. Burt told me that he had heard that I had to go to court because of child abuse.

    I usually carry a decent reading of blood pressure but, guaranteed, if someone had checked my blood pressure at that moment I am sure the systolic would be over 140. I was concerned about my reputation and standing as a minister when I was charged with assault, but this rumor really concerned me. It was a very vicious rumor, one that would definitely be very destructive to my ministry. There was a piece of Pete that felt like ripping this drunkard's head right off of his shoulders. But, by the grace of God and Christ within, I did not verbally blast this guy.

    I told Burt that I did go to court, but it was not over child abuse. I also told him he had probably heard that we did have to discipline some girls in church. Burt was convinced. I do not know if I talked to him at that moment about salvation or not, but we spoke with each other a little more and hung up.

    After we hung up, my mind analyzed the situation and I came to the conclusion that I and my ministry had come under persecution, not by Burt or anyone else, but by satan. As I thought about this, Matthew 5:11-12 came to my mind: Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Did you see that command from Jesus? He said, Rejoice, and be exceeding glad. — EXCEEDING glad. I knew what I had to do but I did not want to do it at first. Nevertheless, I had to be EXCEEDING glad. And, I had to be EXCEEDING glad in public!

    I got up. I went out our front door. I started skipping down Race Street, lifting up both hands at times. I had to ignore the fact that my neighbors, those walking along the sidewalks, or driving along the street would see me. Picture it — a somewhat plump man in his mid-forties skipping down the street with hands uplifted and moving back and forth at times. It was a sight for sure! I did that for about a half block and went back home.

    At some point I did talk to Burt about salvation, and he did receive Christ as his Savior. I think he also quit drinking, but soon died. Perhaps God took him before he would slip back.

    Ministers, especially male ministers, must be very cautious with their demeanor, otherwise, one opens themselves for attack. Years back there had been a minister in North Carolina that was accused of rape (this was before DNA testing was available). Although he firmly denied the accusation, the state seemingly had a strong case against him. If he went to trial pleading not guilty but was found guilty he would have faced many years in prison. So, under such pressure, he pleaded guilty. His ministry was destroyed anyway.

    We heard of many such cases when being trained at Holy Bible college and at various minister meetings. This is one reason why I always try to have someone else with me when interacting with ladies, or at least do so openly in public. Not that I am good, but because Christ within is good that I tell you I received one of the best of compliments in my life when I was transferred for a couple of years to work at a crab meat processing plant in a tiny place called Crapo. While going there, I had to pick up most, if not all, of the pickers — all ladies — with the company van before getting there at 6am. Sometimes it was still dark. I would open the picking house door and the ladies followed me. One lady said she felt safe around me. Apparently someone who did the task before me was a questionable character.

    I now end this post with a lighter occurrence. As a member of the Eastern Shore Section of the Potomac District of the Assemblies of God I would often attend their monthly meetings. One time, wanting to have a little fun, the presbyter suggested we have an Ugliest Tie Contest. At the next meeting we were to wear the ugliest tie we could find. I had a few, so for the next meeting I wore a red tie that looked like it had paint dribbles on it. Someone else had a very ugly one too, but the presbyter settled on mine and I won the award, a small wooden plaque with ugly writing and design. I have attached a picture of it with my winning tie.

    Hey, I was advancing in the AOG, no? But 2001 would see what I feel was a devastating change in the Assemblies of God. Also, Nine-Eleven would occur.