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.