16 Years In The Call

I have been thinking about my teen years recently. There was something going on in me that I could not figure out. As I recall, through my late teen years I do not remember very many suggestions from preachers that God may be calling young men to preach the gospel. There were always invitations to be saved, join the church, or re-dedicate our life but just not many mentions to answer a call to preach. At the time, I was completely dedicated, rather, obsessed with playing the bass guitar with a professional traveling Southern Gospel group. The only thing I could figure out was that the Lord wanted me to use that talent and ability in that way. I was pursuing that dream with all my might. I went on to the University of North Alabama as a Commercial Music major. During Christmas break of 1994 I went to a youth conference in Gatlinburg with some college buddies. On the last night there was a time of prayer where for the first time, I heard the voice of the Lord clearly and purely. As I prayed, “Lord I will do whatever you want, whenever, where ever, (as long as it is playing the bass). He said, “I want you to preach.” To which I replied audibly, “Except that.” I never told anyone about that calling. Time went on, life kept happening, but all along the way the Holy Spirit would speak and remind me, “We are going to get to that preaching thing.” La-la-la-la-la, I cannot hear you… But that call became a heavier and heavier burden to bear. Fast-forward to November 8, 2008. We were members at Middle Tennessee Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, TN. Angel and I had Abby and Addy and I had a good job at Brentwood Benson Music Publishing. Life was good but that burden never left. At the close of the November Jesus First meeting at MTBC, Brother Tony Hutson called evangelist Roger Henson to the pulpit to bring the message for the night. The man of God shuffled pages in his Bible and hem-hawed around until he finally closed his Bible and stood silently for a few moments. Then he said, “Preacher, I just can’t get that nudge. Somebody else needs to do something.” With that, he turned and returned to his seat on the platform. Brother Tony immediately called brother Les Butler to the piano. “Brother Les is gonna play a good invitation song and we are going to see who needs to do something.” In that moment the Holy Spirit sat on my head and said, “IT’S YOU! IT’S TIME TO ANSWER THE CALL!” I asked Abby to go get her mama from the nursery. After a brief but intense conversation the three of us went to the right side of the platform where I waved brother Tony over. He said, “Yessir.” I told him I believed that the Lord was calling me to preach. He said, “I know it. I’ve been waiting on this for a while.” He put me up to the pulpit and had me announce my call. Brother Ken Elkins on the front row said, “About Time!” With that, for the first time, I was completely obedient to the Lord in every aspect of my life. Around 8pm central time this evening, I will say thanks unto the Lord for His mercy and long suffering towards me. Almost 14 years after I heard the call I was blessed to answer. That has been 16 years ago and the call is just as strong.