Bennettsville, SC Revival

The next town’s meetings that stand out to me were in Bennettsville, SC.  There was already a church organized in this town, but the church was hungry for more of God, so a Holy Ghost Revival was in order.  Dad was called to hold these meetings.

Dad’s revivals always had great music programs.  His music director was C.W. McCoy.  C.W. helped write the harmony parts to Mom & Dad’s song “Want to Be Like Jesus”. This song was published in the Pathway Press Choir books.  Vep Ellis, a great songwriter for the Church of God also helped in some of dad’s meetings. Brother McCoy lead the people in several songs, then Mother and Dad sang the song, “You Waited a Moment to Late”. Setting the tone for the message, now it was time for dad to pour his heart out to the people.  The people responded, the altars were overflowing with the people’s desire of more of God.  The great revival had begun.

The second night of the revival would change the lives of 7 young ladies.  These ladies were friends and hung out with each other all the time. They were there for each other through good times and bad.  Through telegrams from the war stating their husbands were missing in action to found dead, these girls were there for each other.  On the second night of the revival they happened to be riding around looking for love in all the wrong places when they rode by the Tent Meeting.  They were drawn into the meeting and sat down together.  At the end of the congregational song, my mother began to sing the old Hymn, “The Love of God” and dad preached his message about God’s Love that was so forgiving.  The altar call was given and all 7 ladies came to the altar with tears in their eyes and hands uplifted, as Jesus came into their hearts.  They left that night spreading the good news of what Jesus had done for them to their families and friends.  

The third night of the revival meeting would be just as powerful as God was revealing His holy ghost power to the city of Bennettsville.  The city had a business couple, Bill & Helen Haithcock, who were members of the Episcopal Church.  They owned a Pool Hall, Café and Liquor Store with a BBQ pit in between.  Helen had a bad reputation in the town.  She was a large woman with a temper and was known to throw men out of her Pool Hall and cursed as bad as a sailor.  Well Helen had heard from her friends what Jesus had done for them in the Tent Meeting and so she decided to drive down to the revival and join her friends.  She walked into the tent and sat on the same row as her friends.  I’m sure there were some looks from people just because of her reputation.  

After the congregational songs, dad joined mom at the piano with his guitar and they began to sing their song “Want to Live Like Jesus”.  After the song dad preached the word and was getting excited for what God was doing in these meetings and how the people were responding to the Word of God.  This noticeably large woman, Helen responded to the altar call and all 7 ladies that were saved the night before followed her to the altar. She began to raise her hands toward heaven and with tears streaming down her face, allowed Jesus to come into her heart.  Giving her a new Heart and Mind.  She stood up from the altar with a huge smile on her face.  My dad said he had not seen anything like this before.  He had not really preached a big doctrinal message, he had just focused on the Love of God.  Helen decided she wanted to be like Jesus. She took her hands and pulled all the bracelets off her arms and they fell to the ground.

Two days later Helen came by the trailer to ask Mom & Dad over for dinner.  When they arrived at her home, she was still cooking.  Dad couldn’t help but look around the house to see all the bullet holes in the walls and ceiling.  Helen noticed dad looking around and began to laugh.  She said “Brother Cox, we used to have shootings around here but no more.”  She then asked dad to go to the liquor store and let Bill, her husband, know that dinner was ready.  While walking to the store he began to think, “I have never been in a liquor store before”, but because Helen had asked him to get Bill, he thought it would be okay.

Dad opened the door to the store and went inside.  Bill greeted dad at the door.  “Preacher, he said, I have been hearing about the great meetings you’re having.  I need to know what in the world have you done to my wife? She has stopped cursing, has a smile on her face and we enjoy having breakfast & coffee together now.  I just don’t understand this.  I want to give you something”.  Bill begins to pull out his wallet and pulls out a hundred-dollar bill.  Now in 1940 that was a lot of money.  Dad said quickly, “I can’t take that, I did nothing to your wife.  Bill, Jesus Christ gave you a new wife”. Bill said to dad, “Well you were the instigator.“ So dad told him if he felt that way, he would take the money.

For many years this Tent Meeting Revival was remembered in the city of Bennettsville, SC.  Later in years, Bill passed away and my dad was called upon to preach his funeral.  Dad never forgot this meeting either and would remind me of it years later.

The Night the Jail House Shook in Brevard, NC

In the summer of 1945, Pastor A.L. Gardin, from the Rossman Church of God asked my father, Rev Carl Cox, to organize a Church of God in Brevard, NC.  In order to do so, a Tent Revival Meeting would be scheduled.  In those days many churches especially in warm climates were organized from an old fashion Revival under a Tent.  The new church would be organized from the people saved in the meetings.  They would meet under the tent until the church could be built or a building found. 

The tent was set up one block from Main Street on Caldwell Street in Brevard.  The lot that tent was placed on nestled around the large brick buildings from the city.  A great location for all to see and be intrigued to what was happening.  Very large crowds would attend in the beginning.  The music program lead by Pastor Gardin, was outstanding.  Weekend services had special group singers, like E.D. Randolph and a ladies quartet, and my mother would play the piano.

These revivals, like most in the Church of God back then, were very lively.  Being Pentecostal people they would hollar as they say it in the mountains, and jump and dance, as the Holy Ghost would come upon them.  Running the isles, screaming as they were delivered from their sins, running down the street speaking in tongues.  My mother was part Cherokee Indian and when the Holy Ghost would fall on her, she would let out a Cherokee War Cry from the piano.  This revival went on for several weeks and as you can imagine it started stirring up devils in the community as well.

The mayor of the town of Brevard contacted dad and asked him to come to his office for a meeting.  During that meeting the mayor proceeded to tell dad that the meetings were to loud and the people were to loud and he would have to shut down the meetings.  Dad said to the mayor, I cannot shut this meeting down; it’s not my meeting but God’s meeting.  The Mayor got into such a rage that dad said he begin to fear for his safety so he got up and left.  The Mayor contacted the Transylvania County Sheriff that day and told him to go shut the meeting down.  The Sheriff came to dad and told him he could not hold the meeting on that Monday.   Dad immediately contacted the NC Church of God State Overseer and asked him what to do.  He told dad, don’t stop the meeting, continue tonight, I’m sending my State Evangelist to preach for you tonight. 

That night the tent was packed and overflowing.  Dad said it was one of the largest crowds he had during that meeting.  The Mayor and Sheriff had of course been talking and the town people that labeled us Holy Rollers came to see what would happen.  Pastor Gardin started the music for the night and during Worship the power lines to the tent were cut so the lights went out and the Microphones were silenced.  Some of the men attending the meeting went to get their cars and surrounded the tent with their lights turned on so people could see.  They continued the service.  After the worship service was the Evangelist was preaching pretty heavy that night and during his preaching, dad notice that 4 Sheriff’s cars drove up and parked along the street outside the tent and got out of their cars and grouped together right outside the tent.  The Evangelist started preaching hard right at the Sheriffs, he was telling them they would have to clean that jail up before they could arrest these people and put them in jail, these were clean people.  Dad said his heart sunk when he was preaching, he wanted to just reach out and grab his coat tail and tell him to take it easy, these guys were already mad as hornets with us, don’t go egging them on.  But he could do that to a State Evangelist.  See my dad was a very humble man.

The Sheriff told one of his Deputies, a large man of stature to go into the tent and arrest those preachers.  The Deputy, with a cigar in his mouth, preceded to walk about a quarter of the way into the tent, stopped and started scanning the congregation.  He then took a puff of his cigar and blew it out and turned around and walked back to the Sheriff.  He took his badge off and handed it to the Sheriff and said I will turn my badge in before I arrest these people.   The Sheriff and all his Deputies got back in their cars and left the meeting. 

Bro Richardson continued preaching and they had a great service, many more people saved.  After the meeting a group of men came up to dad and told him they had the money to pay his bail, if they arrest him and take him to jail.  That blessed him so much.

Later dad told me that the icing on the cake to this story was the Jailer and his wife, that lived above the jail and took care of the jail stated that that night the jail house shook, the pots & pans on the walls shook, the windows shook, and they were scared.  The next day the Brevard Daily News printed a story that the Jail House Shook, and it was reported that there was no documented earthquake.  It was a mystery as to why this happened but it brought a reverent fear of the Lord to that town that people talked about for years.  Needless to say, the Revival kept going and the Sheriff and Mayor left daddy alone. 

In several weeks dad organized the Brevard Church of God.  I visited Brevard with my family many years ago and saw a new beautiful church building.

My dad later went on to be State Overseer in the Church of God for Iowa & Nebraska.

Walterboro, SC

In 1941 we leave N Charleston to go to Walterboro, SC to organize a church there with 21 members.  The Church of God purchased a beautiful piece of property there that had palm trees on it and we parked our trailer under a shade tree to set up our tent for meetings.

Dad had two loud speakers and a PA system that the State office had given him and dad would place them on top of the car and him and me would ride through the town paying music by the Blackwood Brothers & Stamps Quartet through out that first week telling people about the meeting that would begin on Monday night. 

God began to bless, through the week he would have local singers in the meetings and on the weekends he have special guest some of them being the noted song artist Vep Ellis.  Dad always stayed until he had a breakthrough and just like in other cities the breakthrough began almost immediately.  Four serviceman came to the altar that had been fighting in WWII were saved.  These men would stand with daddy during tough times as well.

Persecution began to start; a police car drove up to the trailer one day to pick up dad.  I will never forget it to this day.  I ask mom, were is the policeman taking my daddy and mom said I don’t know Carl.  The chief of police had carried daddy to the poor part of town and stopped at some property and said preacher if you will build your church right here, we will give you the property and dad looked at the police chief and said sir, the Church of God has purchased a beautiful piece of property out by the highway and said this is where we will be building our church.  The office got in such a rage that dad didn’t know if he would make back home or not but he did.  Two days later dad got a notice to go to court.  Dad immediately called Bro Bright, the state overseer of SC and told him we will send you a lawyer and don’t worry just pray and God will be with you. 

They got into the court room and dad told me his lawyer was just a little short fellow, small in statue and the chief was a big tall man. Dad was questioned first by the judge and when he began to tell the judge that the chief of police had driven him to the poor part of town to show him land that they would give him for a church, the chief stood up calling dad a liar and drew back to hit daddy but his small attorney stood in between them and said, “don’t you hit my preacher”.  The judge immediately ordered the chief of police out of the courtroom and let dad continue. 

The lawyer took over then and told the judge, you don’t know what you have a hold of here.  This is not a fly by preacher that comes and goes.  This preacher belongs to an organization that has colleges, that has missionaries all over the world so.  This is a man of God that has come here to preach the gospel to Walterboro, SC.   After it was all said and done the Judge allowed the church to be built.

The day came for the first load of lumber to be delivered came and dad was so excited.  On that day there was over 500 people there demonstrating against the church being built.  Dad would find out later that the businessman that owned the piece of property beside the church was the ringleader.  He did not want any Holy Rollers beside his property.   

The 4 servicemen that had gotten saved in the first tent meetings in that city raised an American flag in the middle of the property and were telling the people that were protesting, “ we are fighting a war so this preacher can have the freedom to preach the gospel and we stand by this man of God.  The truck arrived with the first loan of lumber and the crowd had to step aside to let it onto the property and dad moved towards the truck to grab the first piece of lumber to get the first piece and just then a voice rang out “Preacher, your not going to unload this lumber to build this church”.  Dad slowly turned to the businessman that owned the property next door, holding a double barrel shotgun and said and looked at the man and said “ Sir, the God that I serve sent me here to organize and build a church and my denomination, the Church of God, had confidence in me and sent me here to organize and build a Church of God so sir, you do what you got to do but I got to unload this lumber.”  Dad then turned to start unloading the lumber and the man holding the shotgun threw the gun to the ground and walked up to daddy and said preacher I’m sorry, the gun wasn’t loaded.  Dad didn’t know that gun wasn’t loaded he was depending on God’s protection. 

It’s very dangerous to point your finger to an anointed minister of the gospel.  These two men would die a violent death soon after that.  Dad said the businessman feel to his death in his private plane and the Chief of Policeman would be stabbed on the streets of Walterboro.   Both meet their eternity and dad had know idea if they were ready to meet the Lord.

Today there is a beautiful church that stands in Walterboro, SC because dad accomplished what God called him to do whatever the cost.

North Charleston, SC

Dad graduated in 1938 from Lee College, which is now Lee University in Cleveland, TN.  He was called to back to his home church Slater, SC.  The church on top of Holiness Hill was too small to sit all the people so they purchased property at the bottom on the hill and dad began to raise money to build a new church. 

The ladies Willing Workers would sell chicken plates and Slater Cotton Mill donated $5,000 and many other people donated as well.  The building began and soon a beautiful church was built that seated 300.  That was considered a large church back then. 

In 1939, the state overseer of SC, JD Bright, contacted dad and asked him to be the State Evangelist for the Church of God in the state of SC.  They gave daddy a tent that seated 500 people and a two- room trailer, which would be our home for the next 5 years.

Dad’s first appointment was North Charleston SC.  He set up his tent and began       n to have very large crowds of people.  God begin to bless, a great revival broke loose.  Many people would begin to know Jesus.  Of course the devil didn’t like that as well.  Dad got up one morning to find his Tent was down, the ropes had been cut and slits were cut in the tent.  Dad and a team of volunteers helped to sew up the holes and get the tent put back in place.

Shortly after this incident a police office came up to dad at the trailer and stated that we have caught the two teenage boys that cut your tent.  The officer asked dad if he wanted to press chargers or what he wanted to do and dad told the officer “ this is what I want you to do, take the two boys to their father and have the boys tell their father what they have done. “  In 1940 he went on to organize the N Charleston Church with 21 members. 

In later years he went back to Pastor N Charleston and got to live in a brick home and a nice brick church to pastor.  Every town back then would have a community ministerial association that would be all denominations of that city.  Dad would join that association in N Charleston and when he arrived he introduced himself to president of the Association wouldn’t you know the President of the N Charleston Association, the Pastor of the 1^st Baptist Church was one of those teenage boys that cut daddy’s tent all those years ago.  Daddy said he had never been treated with such royalty, the president sat dad down next to him at the front desk for the rest of the time he was in the association.  

Dad always treated people with love and tried to show them the same love, grace and mercy that his heavenly father extended to him.   This was just another example of how God’s favor was upon his life for all the love he showed to people over the course of his ministry.