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Remembering Jerry Savelle

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One of my favorite preachers went home to be with the Lord this past Monday. Jerry Savelle was born on Christmas Eve, 1946 in Vicksburg, Mississippi. His family later moved to Shreveport, Louisiana. At ten years old, he heard the call to preach while watching Oral Roberts on television but resisted that calling for years. After marrying Carolyn Creech, Jerry continued pursuing an automotive career until finally surrendering to Jesus in February 1969. The Lord directed him to shut his business down and spend time daily listening to teaching tapes by Kenneth Copeland . Jerry later worked for Brother Copeland for two years before starting his own ministry. As a young believer, I first heard Jerry Savelle in February 1992 as the guest speaker at Living Word Christian Center . I immediately liked his humor and the “adventures in faith” he shared. A few months later, I heard Jerry minister at another local church. Near the end of the service, someone sitting behind me gave me a $100 bill. I
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Don’t Alter the Altar Calls

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A practice done in many churches is the altar call. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines that as, “an appeal by an evangelist to worshippers to come forward to signify their decision to commit their lives to Christ.” Years ago, multitudes walked down “the sawdust trail” in tent meetings. Billy Graham encouraged sinners to get out of their seats during his crusades held in stadiums. One church I attended regularly changed their altar calls. They used to invite people to come forward for salvation before the close of every service. Now they usually have altar workers talk with individuals after the congregation has been formally dismissed. I didn’t agree with this change, but what the pastor does is between him and the Lord. I believe it’s important to have altar calls during services where sinners are likely present. In her personal testimony, Joyce Meyer talked about going to a church with relatives when she was nine years old. The pastor normally had altar calls but not that part
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Signs in the Sky

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Tomorrow afternoon, portions of the United States will get to view a total solar eclipse. When the last one occurred seven years ago, my hometown newspaper (the Fargo Forum) published an article about two Messianic believers claiming the eclipse represented “a seven-year judgment on America.” I agreed with their exhortation of our country’s need for repentance. However, they also stated that unless America repents, “another one [eclipse] is coming in seven years.” Eclipses happen regardless of what man does on earth. Nevertheless, God uses signs in the sky to get our attention such as the wise men being led by a star to Bethlehem in Matthew chapter 2. The rainbow in Genesis 9 was a sign that God will not flood the whole earth again. Acts 2 mentions signs of the end times prophesied by Joel… 19 I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of
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A “Memorial” of Christ’s Death?

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Just over a week ago, I joined a ministry called GodTown that regularly reaches out to homeless people in St. Paul, Minnesota. While we put together bags of food at an outreach center, two Jehovah’s Witnesses stopped in. The couple handed us brochures to promote an Easter event they were having. That’s rather odd since the Watchtower discourages celebrating holidays.  I asked one of the Jehovah’s Witnesses questions about eternity, plus shared Scripture pointing out that salvation is a gift one must receive. The Watchtower promotes a false gospel based on works. One woman who was part of GodTown later approached me with tears in her eyes. She thought I needed to “love them more.” With all due respect to her concerns, we are to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). True love warns sinners of wrong beliefs that can lead to eternal separation from God. Galatians 1:8 says,  “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let
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MacBook Mishaps

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For almost eighteen years, I’ve owned an Apple MacBook Pro. This laptop has helped me create newsletters, music, and videos for my ministry. My current Mac is almost four years old. I’m desiring to upgrade to a newer one soon. It has showed signs of wearing down. For example, the Touch Bar occasionally flickers like a strobe light. Usually, I look forward to doing software updates on my electronic devices. They are supposed to improve performance, but that doesn’t always happen. A few months ago, the Music app stopped working on my iPad after updating the IOS. So I brought it to the Apple Store. A Genius Bar employee suggested resetting my iPad. That didn’t fix the problem. I still had to reinstall all my deleted files and applications. The Music app finally worked following another update a week later. Over two weeks ago, Apple released a new macOS called Sonoma 14.4. After installing that on my MacBook, a spinning wait cursor (also referred to as a beach ball or “the wheel of deat
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Good Luck?

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T oday is St. Patrick’s Day, a holiday celebrated by Irish and non-Irish alike. It originally began as a Christian holiday but became more secularized like Valentine's Day, Christmas and Easter. One symbol often associated with St. Patrick’s Day is the shamrock. Saint Patrick was a missionary who reportedly used the three-leaved clover to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish people. In recent years, someone finding a four-leaved clover represents good luck. Wikipedia defines luck as “a belief in good or bad fortune in life caused by accident or chance.” Many people believe good luck charms such as a rabbit’s foot or horseshoe will attract positive things in their lives. Then there are things associated with “bad luck” like black cats and Friday the 13th. My birthday is on the 13th day of January. One of my most memorable birthdays that landed on a Friday was my 14th in 1978. While nothing really terrible happened to me, one of my aunts was injured in a car acciden
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Basic Training

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March 10th is a memorable anniversary for me. It was 39 years ago today when I started Basic Training. Weeks before I enlisted in the Army National Guard. Dissatisfaction with my life prompted a visit to the local recruiting office. I found out my college background made me eligible for increased pay and other bonuses. Since the Army would also cover my housing and meals during my active duty time, I could save up most of my paychecks for a planned move to Minneapolis . I was flown from Fargo, North Dakota to Columbia, South Carolina, and then driven to nearby Fort Jackson. For the first three days, I went through processing, which included getting my head shaved, receiving vaccinations , and being issued army clothing. Initially, the sergeants weren’t too hard on us. I remember one in particular who was quite funny. When a couple of soldiers didn’t line up properly in formation, the sergeant compared them to Sesame Street characters. The atmosphere drastically changed when my group
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