Episode #3 - Rev. Ronnie LaCombe

Hey everyone, thanks for joining the Lifegate podcast.

This is Brooke, and I just wanted to take a second to make

mention of the current Lifegate linked small group sessions in

connection with this podcast that's happening over the next

few Monday nights between 7:00 and 8:00 PM to discuss the

podcast content and celebrate your personal testimonies.

We're excited for what God's doing through this ministry and

look forward to see what he has in store.

And with that, let's dive into this week's episode with special

guest brother Ronnie Will Come. All right, I'm ready.

All righty. Well, First off, I just want to

thank you for stopping by and and giving us some of your time

today and and giving us some wisdom.

I've my. Pleasure.

I've heard you preach a few times here and you've, you've

got some stories that just, they wow me, I'm not going to lie.

So I wanted to kind of see if we couldn't expand on those.

But as a whole, we started this, like you said, because I've, we

felt like people needed to get their stories out there more

abundantly. And I and I felt like people

just, when they say it on their own, sometimes you might leave

out some details. So once you kind of had that

little bit of dialogue and conversation, usually you can

kind of remember some things as you go about it.

So having someone as yourself who's who's just a giant in our

faith, yeah, that's that's amazing to to have someone on on

this podcast with us. Well, I'll just drift through it

and just tell you the stories and then you can edit whatever

you want. It doesn't matter a cut out what

I'm told might be. So I guess first question was,

were you born into an Apostolic Pentecostal family brother where

it was your were your parents? Were they, did they raise you

from from like the moment you were born, or did they raise you

in this truth? No.

OK, My mom and dad were Catholic and my mother was very devout.

My dad wouldn't, but we didn't come in until I was probably 12

years old. My dad worked for Stanley and

Oil and he started out playing baseball.

They hired him out of high school to play ball, and back

then that was the oil companies on these bigger leagues.

And so he played baseball for them.

And so we traveled a little bit, and then he got a contract for

the Yankees. So my mother did not want to

move to New York. So we plan to move to Houston,

North Houston. He'd be close to the airport and

he could commute back and forth. And so because she just refused

to go there, Daddy never played a game, but he went there to a

training camp and wasn't there very long.

But someone came to our house right after we moved and told

us, told my mom that we they were having a revival in Bay

City church. So you may not be familiar with

but an old timer and our movement brother Verbal Bean.

OK, he was in revival and he was at that time a giant, you know,

in the face. So my mother went and got the

Holy Ghost. OK, first night.

Well, my dad come back from the camp that weekend and she told

him what had happened to her. So he said, well that's great,

it's no problem. But he said I want to take the

kids out and be with them. And back then, that's when they

had revival seven days a week. It wasn't.

It wasn't a joke. I don't know.

It wasn't Saturday, Sunday. I mean, they come in, put their

kids in school, they rent an apartment.

It was for the long haul. It was seven days a week, you

know, so. So we was going out.

So Daddy said when I get in, I'd love to spend time with the

kids. And so we would drive to Bay

City, drop off my mom and we would go to the movies or

something, you know, when daddy was in.

Yeah. Well, one night, you know, how

Pentecostal churches are they, they don't know when to stop.

And the pastor sometimes, I mean, the preacher, they'll keep

the people hostage, you know, And so he had them locked down

that night. And my dad is not endowed with a

lot of patience. And so we parked, we waited and

we waited. And then she didn't come out.

So dad said, y'all stay in a car.

And I had a older sister and younger, and he said, I'm going

to go in there and find Mama. And it was the Lord's church at

the time. So Daddy went in and I preached

their sense. So it's a big joke there, you

know. But my daddy went up to the door

and they asked him. They said, can we help you, Sir?

He said, no. He said, I'm old enough to help

myself, Thank you. And he just started walking

right down the aisle. And he was looking for my mom on

both sides, you know. Well, Brother Verbal Bean was in

the pulpit and he said, come on down, Sir, just come on down.

He said when you get by the front of the pulpit here, he

said God's going to fill you with the Holy Ghost.

Oh wow. Well, dad said every step he

took, the matter he got, but he couldn't stop and he got there

and so that's how simple it is. He just.

Brother Bean stepped down there. He told him to raise his hand

and so dad got the Holy Ghost. And so my older sister, we

stayed in the car because Mama and him, they were around the

altars and they forgot about us, you know.

And so my older sister said y'all stay here we go, I'm going

to go find mom and dad. So she left and then after a

while I told my babysitter. I said come on, come with me.

We got to go find mom and daddy, you know, so I was 1213

something like that. So we went in and had our

reunion right around the altars, you know?

Yeah. So Daddy called the Yankees.

He quit. Oh wow.

And he had been with the Stanland Oil Company 12 years.

OK. And so his former coach called

him and said, I heard you quit the Yankees.

He said, I did. He said, well, what for?

And he said, well, because I'm going to church now and I'm not

going over there, you know, and be away from my family and

church. And the guy said, you're crazy.

He said, I'd never hurt anybody, quit the Yankees or quit a ball

team. And then to go to church, he

said, well, you just found one. He said, well, would you like to

come back and play ball with us? And Daddy said, no, I'm not

going to play at all. And so the guy said, I just,

I've never heard that in my life, you know, So he told

Daddy. He said Because I'm so

impressed, he says if you'll come back with us, not to play,

but if you'll come back with us, we're good.

We'll have to give him something for.

That he said, if you'll come back and play for us, you know,

he said, no, I'm not going to play for y'all.

And so he said, well, would you like to work in a in a plant?

And daddy said, yeah, I love that he said, I'll tell you

what, since I never heard anybody that's quit a bowl club

that and for church purposes, he said, I will give you 12 years

seniority back and I will pay off the contract with the

Yankees and you go to work for us.

That's crazy. And so Daddy did, went to work

for them, worked for them several years, and then Pan

American bought out Stanland and then Amoco bought out Pan

American. And so Daddy retired with Amoco.

And during that transition or during that time, we moved from

Texas back to Breaux Bridge, where my mother was from.

She inherited a lot of property and so we built a home there.

Daddy was transferred into the office in Lafayette.

And so there, there was just a small church and we got there,

you know, and that's where we went to church.

That's what I was raised until I I went to UL and got a degree in

industrial tech, which Daddy had anticipating me going to work

with Amoco and giving me a job, you know, but I failed to call

the preach. And so I did go get my degree.

When I was finished, I went to Bible College in Houston and so

rested pretty history. That's amazing.

You know, after I graduated, after four years, I got married

during my college days there and my wife and I traveled with a

Airstream trailer and a Ford truck, you know, and we just

went from church to church and preached for five years.

And then we had preached at Eunice and they called and said

we'd like for you to come pastor because our pastor is retired.

And I said no, I'm not interested.

But our Superintendent called and said I owed it to him.

So I did. I told him I would give him one

year and then I would reconsider.

But I wasn't there for just a little while.

I knew I would. Locked in.

Oh, yeah. And I pastored over 39 years.

I tried 40, but my health gave up, and so I had to resign.

So. The whole family got the Holy

Ghost at once is. That yes.

That's the same the same service.

No, not the same service. I my sister got it later and

then I got it in my baby sister. Yeah, kind of like a domino.

Effect all of there in the in that Bay City church.

I imagine mom and dad really didn't give you guys a choice,

but what was what was the kids reaction whenever you know, mom

and dad just, you know, bought in?

To, you know, we were, I mean, parents were very important back

then. Oh yeah, whatever they said, we

did. You had no choice in that

matter. And it really, they had a good

church, a lot of good program. You know, we we were just

freshly moved into Houston, so we were welcoming anything that

you know, where we know somebody and get plans and stuff.

So. You hear a lot of stories about

people getting the Holy Ghost just like they walk into service

and get the Holy Ghost. Like this is a like a revival

culture. My dad, he didn't know anything

about it. But why do you think that was

happening more like during that time frame or just like you know

what I mean? Do you think that's?

Well, I believe way back then they had less distractions.

Yeah, that's a good point. And you know, today we got a lot

going. And when somebody comes, there's

a lot they have to give up. And I realize that, you know,

and we get, we get people in that their lifestyle is, is

every night there somewhere and they come in here and we want

them to come Sunday morning, Sunday night and Monday night

prayer meeting, Tuesday night, ladies supper and Wednesday

night, midweek. You know, it is a shocker, you

know? So we, we work around that.

But that's what I believe back then they didn't, they didn't do

much of anything. OK.

So yeah, you know, work and yeah, go to bed early and get up

and go. You know, that was basically.

So like, people were just different.

Different. The whole lifestyle was

different. It was slow.

Now it's fast. I would I'd like to like point

out though, for your for your dad.

That's a pretty strong testimony in and of itself.

Man, who would even today turn down and not even just turn

down, but quit the most prominent.

Well, I'm from Saint Louis, so the second most prominent

baseball team. You know that that's that's

amazing to say. You know what, I got church and

then I've got my passion because I would argue that was probably

one of his passions and then give up the worldly passion to

make sure that he was in church for his, his spiritual passion.

And I think that's that's huge because a lot of people struggle

with that even today. That's right, I.

Mean, I think that's one of the biggest things today is people

are torn between. Decisions we have to make.

I think that in and of itself is huge.

Do you think that that influence from your father like impacted

you? You know.

We've raised like that, Yeah. We have a very close knit

family. We were, you know, we, we just

did everything together. You know, I can't think of any

time there was a problem between, you know, and a family,

you know, So we never wobbled, you know?

Yeah. Strong.

So when did you, when did you kind of realize you were going

to be called to preach? Like when did you start feeling

that? I was in probably 11th, 12th

grade, OK. And we had a little small church

where we was going to. We didn't have a pastor, you

know? We were too mean, you know?

You run them off. We it was mostly Ken folks, I've

kenned everybody there, but they had a pastor in Lafayette would

drive in at 2:00 in the afternoon, you know, and so that

was convenient for us. We had one service 2:00 you

know, and I talked to him and I told him I said I'm feeling

something. I don't know what I'm feeling,

but I just feel like, you know, and I didn't want to be a

preacher, but I said I'm feeling, you know, and he said,

no, you're not a preacher. He said you're you're going to

be a good St. and you're going to be a blessing.

Somebody. I said OK, so I I accepted that

and I went on to USL. And I guess my first year, I, I

just kept feeling it very strongly.

I didn't know what else to do. And yeah, so anyway, one, one

night we had a special service and a missionary was there that

didn't even know me. His name was Brother Strickland.

He was from Greece. Oh, wow.

And he was preaching for us. He didn't know me from Adam.

I didn't know him and I was at the altar and I just kept

feeling every time I pray it was just heaviness, you know.

So I told the Lord, I said, now you know, I'm not begging,

policing God. But I said, if if I am called a

preach and it's you, I said, I want that preacher who is from

Greece, I want him come tell me. Oh wow.

And he, you know, we were praying around the altar and he

was walking and talking, you know, and behind the wall, he

came right up to me, looked at me and he said, I, I just, the

Lord told me to tell you something.

He said God has got a calling on your life and you're on a,

you're going to step into another dimension.

It's not going to be college, he said, or USL college.

He said you're going to move to a different level.

And I knew then I was persuaded that was it.

And I wasn't near big a hurry to really just get out.

That wasn't a deal. I just felt it.

I couldn't pray until I surrendered, you know, So I felt

good about it. And then I went back to Brother

Cooley, our pastor later after I was just fixing to graduate from

UL. And he said, yeah, you're ready

to go now. So I think he would just try on

me, you know, to see if I wasn't going to just blow up and take

off, you know, I wasn't ready, you know, at the time, you know,

but and I left and went to Bible college and we graduated there

and then finally end up pastoring, you know.

That's about as close to God's audible voices you can get.

That's right, you're over. Like God, I need you to answer

this. And he he answers it just

through another man. Exactly right.

I mean, that's that's about as close as you can get to it, man.

That's pretty cool. You know, and I'm not big in

fleecing like I told y'all, you know, like I'm not going until I

hear you say or he's going to have to, you know, he's going to

talk to me before. Yeah, I'm not big in that.

I have done it, you know, but this was critical for me, you

know, because I had a job waiting for me and Amoco.

I went for industrial tech, which was a, a drafting of

oilfield lines and stuff. Daddy would tell me, you know,

he, he, he was available for me, but through my daddy.

And so he wasn't that I was looking to preach, you know, but

I just couldn't get over. Every time I prayed, it was I

was miserable. Yeah, it kind of reminds me of

the story of Samuel, honestly. God's calling him and he's going

to his his leader, and he's like, I don't know, what's this?

I'm supposed to do something. I'm supposed to do something.

I don't know what. So finally, you're like, listen,

God, is this what you're trying to tell?

Me, yeah. That's awesome.

Hey, here I am. I'm listening.

So you think he was? You think your pastor was kind

of testing you? I don't, you know, it was just

to see, I guess. No, because I've done it later.

So now I know the other man says, man, I'm thinking about

getting married. I said now I believe you, you

know, you ought to put it off. If they put it off, good.

If he comes back and I'm not going to cross swords with him,

but if he comes back then I know he wants to.

I don't want it on a whim. I don't want to just after a

date, they just said, boy, this feels good.

You know, I don't want that. I want him to do.

And I think that's what the preaching was.

He didn't want to just turn me loose when I was not real

prepared. My daddy was not a preacher.

So I wasn't raised in a preacher's home.

I didn't know anything about a preacher.

I wasn't raised Pentecost. So I it was all new to me.

So he just had. And when he told me no, I was

fine with that, I backed up and I said whatever he says, that's

what we going to do, you know? It kind of speaks to the value

that you had in your pastor too, to go to him and and start that

dialogue and then when he told you, you didn't argue with him,

you just took him out his word. Oh, I never did.

And believed it. Yeah, my dad, he told me several

times you're not a preacher now. I'm OK.

We're going to get a good job and you're going, you know and

all. And he meant well.

Yeah. Yeah.

But when I finally said Daddy, I'm going to buy them because.

Because I can't. Resist to run from this calling.

He was all in and my dad wasn't. Nobody behind me more than my

dad was. You know, that's awesome.

So he supported me, but I, you know, so he's all new to me

because I didn't have a preacher background, you know, So

everything I'd done, was you going to do it yourself?

You know I had nothing handed to me.

Where'd you go to Bible college at?

Texas Bible College called in Houston they.

Used to be one of the Juggernaut Bible colleges.

I don't know if it still is. I'm not.

Educated, but they moved it now to Lufkin, the whole college

thing. So yeah, it's doing good now and

it's accredited, you know, it wasn't when I was there, but it

is now, so. Do you think that was valuable

for you whenever you were? Getting started, I needed that

because I wasn't real coming in 1314 years old, I wasn't real

knowledgeable, you know, but now from 15 up until I left it,

20/19/20, I was very interested in the Bible.

But I, you know, there was so much I didn't know.

And then they teach you things about pastoring, you know,

making an incorporation, you know, and doing the bylaws and

all of that. I was ignorant, you know, So

yes, it was very, I wouldn't trade it.

I wouldn't go back, but I. That's awesome.

I wouldn't want to go. Back to school with.

Child. Oh, God.

But no, it was great. It was great.

And so then I built relationships there.

Yeah, that. That is lasting, everlasting.

That's awesome people you probably know all over the

country. Still now, yeah, I preach for

some of my old cronies and graduates, you know, and we, we

have great times, you know, so. So for 40 years as a pastor,

what you you accepted that position because it was asked of

you or did you feel any kind of like, I'm sure you prayed over

it? Honestly.

Honestly, I told him no because I I wasn't interested in that.

I had a good thing going. I mean, I had a travel trailer,

Airstream, good truck. We just preach, you know, one

place maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday, sometime.

We went Wednesday through Sunday.

We didn't have any children. We good alive.

So if we closed out on a Sunday night, the wife and I would

pull. She would, she would get in the

back. It was an extended cab, not a

double door, but it was extended and I had a bed.

She'd crawl back there and go to sleep.

I would run just about to my next place.

And then we would set up our trailer at a, at a lake, at a

park. And then Wednesday was going to

start. Well, I didn't have to pull, but

30-40 miles, I was there. I'd done pulled, but after I

preach I'm I can't sleep. I'm just kind of wired, you

know, and you know, you know what I'm talking about.

So anyway, when they called, I said no, I'm not interested,

which I was thinking about me, you know, and I kind of dumped

them, you know, And then they called back again.

And the third time they call, Well, Brother Tinny called me

after the second time, which he is our Superintendent.

Yeah. So he called and said they got a

church. He's calling for you.

I said, Brother Tinny, I'm really not interested at all.

You know, I feel like I'm doing what I I should do, you know,

And he said, well, you owe it to those people because they

requested you owe it to them. Go and preach and tell them yes

or no, that you owe it to go down there.

And I had preached for him before, so I knew him.

But I was on the evangelist. Like coming in.

I just go in and get. Out.

Yeah, yeah. It was kind of like we call it

love and leave him. And so I said OK, so I did.

I told him I'd go and I purposely.

Yeah, I told him, yeah. So I went over there and

preached and still didn't feel it, you know, And so then I

said, well, I'm going to just let my name run.

They had three preachers, OK, that was going to try out or,

you know, I didn't want it. The next man was Brother Tinny

son-in-law. Oh wow.

And the next man was kin to a majority of the people in the

church. OK, so so I said true.

I let my name run. You really didn't think you had

anything to worry about? Even though I'm, I'll just coast

through this, you know, and I ended up getting about 95%.

So I was stuck. And so I told it bored, I said,

I'll give you all a year, give him my best and and then I'll

let you know. But they have it again.

They had a going away party for or going away service for the

former pastor who was a great guy.

So he called me. He said, I want you to come in

late and sit in the back, but I want you there.

I said, OK, so church started. My wife and I came in late.

The ushers wanted to bring me up front.

I said no. I said I'm going to sit right

back here. And I sit in the back like he

had told me and just just sit there.

They sang a little bit and then and then Brother Shuff got up

and he started preaching and he preached about Elijah and Elijah

and talked about that mantle falling upon him.

And he did double what? And he then he said, I want

brother Roy Lacombe. I want him to come up.

Wow. Jordy didn't know I was there.

I got up and I went on a platform and he took off his

coat and he went and draped it over my shoulder and said, I'm

now giving you the mantle. Oh wow, and right then I knew it

was going to be longer than a year.

You. You are in.

Yeah, God just gave me a burden. Why not?

Then I, I realized I was in this thing now, you know, and I

stayed 40 years, you know, and. That's impressive for anybody.

And I was, you know, I, I won't say my, my body just couldn't

keep up with my burden, you know?

Yeah, I don't. After I was passing a little

while, my dad had a lot of heart problem.

My dad had two open heart surgeries and so forth.

All of his family on his side, most all of them had heart

attacks. Majority of them had open heart

surgery and over half of them died before 60 years old.

And so my dad lived just a few years after he retired.

So I inherited all that, I guess, you know, so I started

having, you know, cardiovascular problems early in life and not

just, and I know you all understand it's not just

plumbing, but electrical. My, my heart wasn't, you know,

it's got electrical deals and it wasn't, I had a problem with

both, but you know, I kept working through it.

Then, you know, passing the church, you know, and you revamp

you get people to help you and so forth, you know, and we did

good, you know, we had a great church and you know, they love

me and I love them and. What would what do you think

your experience like was as a young minister coming in first

time pastor and what kind of lessons did you learn in those

first couple of years? Well, I made a lot of mistakes,

a lot and I didn't have I didn't have a father figure or but I

had Brother Cooley, who was my old pastor, you know, and I had

went four years to Bible college and I run about five years.

And he was getting up in age, but I had been preaching now

nine years, you know, and I would call him and he was always

so nice and helped me, but I struggled through a lot of

things. I didn't, I didn't know what to

do. It was trial and error, you

know, and it was just the, the purse.

I didn't want to admit, you know, but I finally told the

post, you know, I, I don't know, but it probably was the best

thing for me because I, I handpicked a group that would

encompass me and that would help me not agree with me, but they

would help me. And we just, we just built a

staff until, you know, that's all I knew what to do is lean on

them, you know, and we, we waded through it, you know, and it

wasn't smooth, but it was, it worked until, until we got it

going. And then it was a machine, you

know, it just worked right off, you know, so.

I think that's important for anybody anywhere in life, right,

to have not just people who agree with you, right, but.

People who I didn't want nobody to agree with me.

I told him that. Well.

If I, if they, you know, all agree with me, I don't need

them. Yeah, yeah, you would just have

yourself, right. I just don't need them.

I can do that, you know, but I want somebody to say, you know,

I think we ought to do it this way.

Is that you know, and so you know, I I wasn't inferior.

I was not intimidated with anybody, you know, and you got

people. What I've learned is that

bankers are going to ask you money questions.

So it's no use you get and a builder, he's going to ask you

something about building and when you start to build

something, he's going to have input and it can get

aggravating, but he's a builder. He thinks like that.

My son is ACPA. All he thinks about is money.

That's all he wants to talk about.

But that's the way we are. I talk preaching, he talks

money. This man talks construction and

this guy over here talks painting, you know, and that

because that's what they do. And so I was reason for these,

you know, when we started really church started going, you know,

so you reach for these people and you want an input.

I wanted to hear from, from, you know, so because I wasn't a

builder, I'm not a mechanic. I, I can't do anything.

I can draw. I drew my own House plan.

I built my own. That's more of most.

People so, you know, but I mean, that's what I'd done.

That wasn't my major. I majored in oil field.

So but I could do because I was a draftsman, you know, and so I

could do that, but I couldn't. I'm not, no, I'm not real smart.

I want to ask you, AI want you to, if you can put the old

pastor's hat back on because I think there's something that is

a misconception in a lot of, I won't even say it's just to our

specific denomination, but in general of people who when they

feel the burden, a burden, everyone just naturally assumes

that preaching is, is it. And so I don't think there's as

much value on people who expand into the other ministries as

they feel like. If they're not a preacher, then

they're not the ministers. That makes sense.

What? What would you put the value on

people in in that church when you were going through all that

of people who may not necessarily been preaching

behind the pulpit with you or helping you, but we're helping

behind the scenes and doing the things that kind of kept the

church going, especially when you were not able to be perfect

in those areas. I couldn't have done it without

them. And we would have, I had what we

call a dream team. And so in the first of the year,

we would just, they had a big supper, you know, in our, you

know, fellowship hall. And we, I wanted them to come

with ideas, tell me, you know something.

And so we threw out a lot of and you know, they threw out a lot

of stuff that we couldn't afford.

But but that's that's part of it, you know, went through it.

But back to your question, I'm and then at the end of the year,

we had another dream team thing kind of, but I made them feel

very important because they were I can't do without music.

So you're what you're doing is is very important.

You know, matter of fact, you can have church service tonight

without me, without a preacher. You can good music, you know,

get going on. You can have a couple people

testify and go home and feel like you've been in church.

But we need a preacher to be saved.

Yes, we do. But everybody else, it's we're a

body. We are and we have to all work

together. And I tried as a pastor to make

everybody feel like we couldn't do without them.

We just couldn't, you know, and I couldn't.

I, I depended on them. And I wouldn't let anybody

resign. Nobody quit.

You had to work yourself out of a job.

You're fired. That makes sense.

You work your way out and whatever you do, you're a sound

man. You can't get out of your job

until you find somebody. You bring them in to sit in the

booth and you train them. Now, once you got them going and

they you can say you, then you can ease out and do something

else, you know? Did you ever have to encourage

somebody who came in discouraged, feeling like they

needed to quit? You know, Oh.

Yeah, have you ever felt like quitting a job?

Many times. I wanted to quit pastor never

every Sunday at night. So yes, yes, it was I needed

them. I we had to have them.

We were just a team, you know, and so we worked together and

I'm, I was made sure that everybody felt like they were

apart. That's awesome.

Yeah, I just, you know, because I feel like there's a lot of

roles in the church. It's a ministry, Yes, It's a

ministry. You take like Barnabas, OK, He

didn't build no churches. He didn't write.

We don't have a book of Barnabas.

But Barnabas was by name. He was an encourager.

Now that's important and that's what he done.

He was kind of what we would call a greeter.

He he he brought people in. You're doing good, you know, and

so forth. And that's and we need those

kind of people. You know, you don't have to be a

called preacher, apostle or evangelist or whatever.

We need a Barnabas in here that can can't maneuver around, you

know, the people and help them, you know, direct them to the

right path. Yeah, that's, that's an awesome

take on it. That's a really good take on

that. I guess I want to, we can,

we'll, we'll switch lanes on you real quick.

But I kind of want to talk about maybe some of the miracles that

I know one of them because I've heard you speak of a specific

story that I love. Hopefully we'll get into it a

little bit here. But miracles that have happened

in your life, miracles that are just like, there's no other

explanation other than God made away when there was no way is

there a handful of Omari, a few in particular that you can

recall that. Realistic, personal, with things

I've seen or what? Personal.

Personal or in your church, you know.

What I mean, let me just be personal.

The one that you probably referring to rewind back.

I couldn't hunt it a lot when I was young.

OK. Then when I started pastoring, I

mean during college days, I didn't have a dog, but I said

whenever I pastor, I'm going to get a dog.

With that said, I did get a dog. I started, but and then I got a

mule and I'd ride at night chasing this crazy Cundo.

Well, I had a saddle bag and I had a pistol in that saddle bag.

My wife was on a swing outside. I went into the tack room there

at the barn, and I pulled that saddle off the rack and I just

put it on the ground, on the floor, and it was cement.

And when I shut it down, put it down like that, it hit the

hammer of that pistol. It was a 22.

And that thing went off and it hit me right here and it went up

and hit my pelvis and then ricochet and it went about an

inch from my spine, just about about belt, you know, where the

belt is, which could have been bad, fatal, you know, and they

say A22 bullet is worse than anything really best if it go

because it's so small and it just, you know, it just makes

holes into your intestines that are bad.

And so many went off. I didn't feel nothing.

I just knew it went off. My wife said what is that?

I said I don't know. And I was just didn't I?

I saw the little hole in my saddlebag.

It was smoking. I said, oh Lord.

And so then I felt burning right here.

And then I didn't. So it started bleeding right

here. But anyway, I had no

complications from that at all. The doctor said you are just a

walking miracles because if it went just just he said less than

an inch away, he said you'd be paralyzed waist down.

Wow, it wasn't. And I, I got over it and, you

know, just do a while and I was back hunting again, you know,

but that was one thing that God did for me.

That's amazing. Pretty big thing, Yeah.

Pretty big one thing, yeah. You know, it's not a small

thing, but I think it was a it gives you faith, you know, and

that you and another thing, my wife, she came from a not a good

background. And so her mother gave her away

when she was younger. Her sisters, they all had

children from different men, multiple men.

One was illegitimate child. So my daughter, I mean, my wife

couldn't have a child. And when nobody wanted a baby

more than her and I'd hear her crying at night telling the

Lord, I mean, you know, I live for God for you and I'm doing

this and you don't. My sisters, you know, they, they

have abortions and children and I want a child, you know, and it

was hard on me, you know, and finally she had a, a

miscarriage. And then later on she was

carrying and we was in to six 7-8 months now.

And I was a youth secretary for our district, and I was in Saint

Louis doing some work, you know, and I got a call and they said

if you want to see your wife alive and you better get on

home, you know, And what happened was I was gone.

One of our men in our church, he just passed around our house.

Just just check on my wife, you know, make sure everything was

all right, not go in. He just went around it.

And he said he felt like the Lord told him to go in there and

check on her. So he knocked on the door and

she never answered. So he left, said he got out

close to the highway and he said, God, just, he just felt

that strong feeling, man. I got to go back and so went

back and he knocked on the door again and she didn't answer.

Third time when he went back, he kicked in the back door and we

had a, one kind of a French door thing, you know what I'm talking

about. So he kicked that in and stuck

his hand and my wife was in the bathroom pool blood and she

would die just bleeding the day she couldn't get up.

And so we lost the baby. She stayed in the hospital.

We like to lost her. I did get home and so the doctor

said we're going to have to do a partial hysterectomy because you

it's tore up in there. So they did, and he told us you

might as well make arrangements to start adopting because you

would never have a child, you know, being partly with a

hysterectomy like that. So we said OK.

So we did go on a procedure for a little girl.

We kept her to be 5 days to a year.

Louisiana law is a mother can change her mind up to a year.

We had her five days to be a year, went to court, Her mother

changed her mind. Wow, that.

Said she didn't want to get rid of it.

And then a month later, less than a month later, she called

me late at night, said if you'll meet me in the parking lot

grocery store, She said and give me 25,000.

I'll let you hit the baby back. And I said, if you'll meet me

Monday at the attorney's office and sign, I'll give you 50,000.

And so she said no, But I, I didn't want to be, you know,

blackmailed every every year, you know, so we lost a baby and

it was, it was a terrible thing. And not long after that, my

sister-in-law, my wife's oldest sister, she had an illegitimate

child. He was 10.

She couldn't take care of him. He was cussed like a sailor.

She couldn't make him to go to school.

He never had a weapon in his life.

So she, the state moved in, was taking him.

So I got an attorney and I took him in and he started doing

good, got the Holy Ghost and just a great musician and wasn't

long. He started preaching and that's

awesome, you know. So it was God's will that we

take them in. But after, after we lost a

little girl, my wife told me one day she said, I think I'm going

to have a baby. I said baby, There's no way.

I didn't want her to be in denial or something, you know, I

said, ain't no way you can. Oh yeah, She said, I'm man, I'm

craving crazy as duck. She said, I know, I said, well,

you're going to go to the doctor by yourself because I'm not

going over there and get embarrassed, you know?

And she come back and said we're going to have a baby.

And we had a boy. And then three years later I had

another. Wow.

Two years later I had a. Girl, that's, that's amazing.

Yeah. And so my own, you know, so that

was a miracle in itself. It's a massive miracle.

So that's crazy. That was something God did for

us during that that tenure, you know, and.

That's a long road to get to the end there, though.

For you, what kind of advice would you give to some people?

Maybe if they're in the thick of it, you know, somebody who needs

encouragement. How did you make it through?

Whenever you're struggling with disappointment, I guess as

pastor or I would say as a St. but also as.

A you know what, I am a very strong advocate of a church

family. Having somebody close, somebody

a good friend you can depend on. You going to need them and

they're going to come some time and you need somebody you can be

open with, somebody you can cry with, somebody you can share

some stuff with, you know, And if it wouldn't have been for my

preacher friend group, you know, or my just, you know, collage of

friendship, you know, I wouldn't have made it.

I had them right there all the time if they needed.

You know, I had a good friend of mine named Ronnie Malone Song

and I was Ronnie Lacombe, you know, and we went on vacation

together. We preached conference together.

We went to Canada probably 12. How?

Did they even put y'all's names on the flyer?

We, we had a layover in Boston, so he and our wife were with us.

And so I said I'm going to go out and get some Cinnabons and

come back. We're going to take the same

plane out. They would just had a layover.

And so my wife said no you don't have time.

I said Oh yeah. I said man, the Cinnabon place

is right there. So Ronnie said I'll go with you.

So then the wife said well we're going with y'all because y'all

going to miss the plot. Where we went we ordered it.

We got back to the terminal or to the gate and the lady said

we're sorry. So they've already, you know,

pulled air on that plane and they leaving.

I said, ma'am, we still got 10 minutes.

She said we've been calling for y'all and calling for y'all.

I said you've been calling for Ronnie Malone song and for

Ronnie Lacombe. She said no.

She said we've been calling for Melanchon and Lacumbees, so we

missed a plot. I never heard that over the

intercom. You.

Know so that's how we did. You mispronounced it even worse,

yeah. Like he and I are best of

friends, we have been for years and years and very close.

And it's nothing for me to call him and say, you doing all

right? You know, things you need to

talk about something, you know, how's your how's your marriage

going? Very candid.

We're very honest. And you need somebody like that.

You need somebody you can talk to, share with and be honest

that, you know, not going nowhere.

It's going to be right there. And he and I still very, very

close. I could call him right now.

And if I needed something, he he'll be in Alabama tonight.

That's awesome. So, well, that's just the way it

is, you know? And I, I, I urge people to

connect with somebody. Church get you a friend.

So important. There's, there is one, there's

one story that you've told that I'd like to hear.

It involved you, I hate to spoil it, but involved you were in the

hospital at some point in time and a doctor came and had talked

to you and then you couldn't find them.

Am I Speaking of the right story?

No, I think what you're what you're saying is it was a man

that came pray for me and I could.

The doctor couldn't find him. Yes, that's it.

OK, that one. I love it.

What happened was I'd already had a couple heart attacks and I

probably had 1015 stents at that time, and I'd had heart damage

and probably wasn't running on about 2530% of my heart.

I went deer hunting in Natchez, Ms. still thinking I was

bulletproof, you know, I just, man, I was just wasn't going to

stop, you know, and I was told not to hunt, you know, or be

strenuous and stuff. But I went to Natchez, Ms. and I

got a tree stand. Are you familiar with tree

stands? Those ones that, you know, we

call them Jack UPS, you know. And so I jacked up about 2530

feet on a pine and what I want to know what I could see down,

you know, and when I got to the top, which I was tired that, you

know, got to top out of breath, man, my world started just just

turning just I was spinning and I just couldn't get.

So I turned around, you know, because you're facing the tree

when you climbing. I turned around and I put my

knees where where I would sit at and I hugged that tree just to

kind of, you know, stabilize myself, you know, and I had a

cardiac arrest. So I fell out of that tree.

I don't remember falling out, but I fell out, hit the ground

and doctor said that's what got my heart started again was when

I hit the impact. I fell, I'm guessing 88 o'clock

8:30 I didn't wake up till 3. When I woke up I was in a pool

of blood. I was aching from head to toe.

I had a concussion. I broke my jaw, busted my teeth

out, I cracked my back. I cracked all my ribs.

One of them broke, punctured my liver and my lung and broke a

wrist. Other than that, I was pretty

good shape, you know, So I had to crawl out.

Nobody knew where I was at. So in the pain, I get up on my

knees and I crawl and I pass out, and then I crawl and pass

out. And finally I did make it to my

truck at the highway and I just laid down and somebody coming on

the road, they saw me and they took me to Natchez, Ms. to the

hospital where they wasn't too familiar with my problems.

You know, neither were there even good at heart.

You know, they were in the Heart Hospital.

Yeah. So I layed there for almost a

month and just, I was dying. I would just, I didn't.

I was in so much pain. Just in and out, in and out.

My my family, personal family, my mom and dad and so many

church folks, they were there. They stay.

I stayed in there through Thanksgiving, through Christmas,

through through New Year's. Well, then they finally, I got

the strength and they moved me to Lafayette, to my cardiologist

where, you know, he knew more what was going on.

You know, it didn't take just a few weeks.

I was feeling good. My ribs hurt, but I was feeling

good. And he said, how would you like

to just sit in a recliner over here?

And I said, oh, I'd love it. I hadn't been.

I've been on my back now for two months.

And so he said, well, let's put you over here.

I said, OK, so when he put me down, he wasn't hardly out the

door. And I said I'm having another

cardiac arrest because it was that room was spinning just like

it did when I was up. But it wasn't a cardiac arrest.

What it was was a blood clot from my bad lung moved in my

good lung. So the doctor told my wife said

this is he's weak and he's not going to survive this blood

clot, you know, so because my lung wasn't operating very good.

So anyway, I finally went out and I became on 100% life

support. It just kept going down until.

So the doctor finally came in after a few weeks and told my

wife said you know, machines is the only thing keeping him

alive. We just want you to know that.

And she said well he wouldn't want it to do that.

Said we'll make arrangements, I'll talk to my family and then

we'll make arrangements to take him off.

So he said OK. So my wife decided it was her

idea. She said let me, what I want to

do is, is call his friends and have them come, his preacher

friends and they can come and pray for him on a Tuesday.

Then we'll disconnect Tuesday night and then they can get the

body ready. Wednesday they had it all

planned and then Thursday we're going to have the wake and then

Friday we're going to have a funeral.

So they didn't ask me nothing about it, you know, But they

just. They had it already ready to

get. You out, you know, so anyway

that Tuesday over 100 preachers and their wives came through

that ICU unit. They opened it up, they came and

go 2 and 3/4 at a time. And so they prayed about four

5:00 they cut it off and said, you know, we we can't, we got

other patients. And so that she said, OK, I

understand that. So they let my family, my wife

and my boys come in and I mean, I wasn't aware of it.

And they stayed there a little while and found while the doctor

said go back to the waiting room and you got some friends stay

with you and said we going to disconnect him and said probably

30 to 45 minutes he'll be gone. Said, OK, So she did and went in

that room and Ronnie Malonso, my best friend, he told her, he

said don't worry, he's not going to die.

Wow. He said he's going to live long

enough to see grandchildren. And at that time, I had no

grandchild at all. And he told her, not a

grandchild. He'll live long enough to not

see grandchildren or he'll to see grandchildren.

Yeah, I got 6 right now. That's awesome.

So she said, well, I'm going, I'm going to accept that.

I'm going to hold on to that. Well, the doctor said he closed

the door after my family left. And he said he turned his

attention to all of these levers, you know, and he said

about that time there was a knock on the door.

So he said, I just went to the door and opened up.

And he said there was a tall, elderly, stately man standing at

the door. And he said, if you don't mind,

I'd like to come in and pray for my friend.

Wow. The doctor told me.

He said, I got mad. He said, we had, you know, the

ICU room open all day long. Why didn't he come there and get

come earlier? Yeah, why didn't he come with

the rest of the people? And he said, then I, I thought,

you know what, if he got through security and he got through

locked doors, who am I to shut him down right here?

Yeah, Yeah. So he said, I told him, come on

in. So he said preacher, he said he

went over there to the bed and he said, he put his hands on

you. He started praying.

And he said when he started praying, he said I knew him and

God just like this. He said I felt like I was

eavesdropping. And he said I backed away.

And he said he got me preaching or praying.

He said he was very nice. He said thank you, I appreciate

that. And he said the man went to the

door, open it and went out. And he said when I turn, he said

I never move. When I turn, he said all your

needles started coming up. And he said I went right to the

door. He said he just went out.

And he said I wanted to know which direction he went.

And he said when I stuck my head out and looked, I didn't see

anybody. And he said the nurse was right

across the hall. And she said to Doctor Stanley,

what are you looking for? He said there was an old man

just stepped in his room and prayed for my patient.

He said which way did he go, This way or that way.

She said, Doctor Stanley, it's been a long day and we're all

tired and I've been right here at this desk and I have never

left. She said and I won't tell you,

nobody went in your room and nobody came out of your room.

Wow. She said the last ones was his

family. He said well you better come

help me disconnect this fellow. He going to smother and she came

in there and they disconnected everything off of me Wow in

about two hours after giving me a little bath and stuff and

checking me and pulling wires when got my family we visited

till midnight wow and the next day at 4:00 I was in a private.

One thank you Jesus, that's amazing.

That's just an amazing story. It's it's, I know what

everybody's thinking, but I just kind of want to get your, your

thoughts on it. Who do you think or what do you

think that man was? Angel, no doubt, I believe yeah.

And and just. That's, that's amazing to think

to, to know that at some point in time an Angel came and

touched, touched your body. I wish I'd like, I'd like to met

him. Yeah, you know, But they call me

the miracle man. I go to doctor often, you know.

And the doctor told me I'd never hunt again, and I do.

He said you'll you'll never fish again, and I do.

And he said you'll never preach again.

And I'll let people decide that, you know.

But God's been good, you know, to me.

I've got a defibrillator, a pacemaker, and I got 29 stints,

Wow. And my heart, I operate on about

10 to 12% wow. That's it.

Wow. So you're not going to see me

run around the building? I'm not going to do that.

I'm going to jump and bounce. That's OK, there's people with

100% of their hearts who won't do that either.

So anyway that that's the story, you know that God, but when I

fell out a tree, I busted my knees, my back still bothers me

and that punctured lung cuts my breath and so.

I have a question for you, OK, So many detractors, you know,

people who naysayers, you know, will, will come up and they'll,

they'll, they'll, they'll take the argument of if God's so

good, why do bad things happen? You know what I mean?

That's the classic argument. Why can God be so good and he

allow bad things to happen, and you haven't lived a life where

you've had to overcome so many different things.

What's your perspective on that question?

Here's my and I've had to ask quite a bit.

Yeah, Jesus said. I came to seek and to save that

which was lost. Now that's the bottom line.

You better. You better get that clear.

He didn't come to give us a good job.

He didn't come to give us a Good Wife.

He didn't come to give us a nice car.

He didn't come to give us a good home.

He didn't even come to give us good health.

That was not his purpose was to save us.

And whatever God, not that he does it, but whatever he has to

allow to happen to get your attention, to be saved, He'll do

it. And I needed that because God

could foresee 15 years later, I would retire, I'd travel, and

I'd tell my story around the world.

Yeah, that's important. That's a good story.

And I would. People would come and be saved.

So I'm talking about personal experience.

Yeah. He didn't come to give me good

health. He didn't come to give me a good

heart, He came to save me and if saving me would help save

others, it's worth it to him because that's all he's

concerned with is saved life and life eternal.

He came to give us life, but he said I come to give it more

abundantly. We, we take just life, which is

home, wives, so forth. But he said, I came to give you

abundantly. That's the eternal life,

forever. And do you think you think that

people struggle with that because they, you know, I guess

they still, they still want to hold on to their values and not

necessarily. But you know, people are funny.

I had one lady, she called me, she would been out of shape.

Her, her her daughter run in the front yard and cut her foot wide

open. And so they had it fixed.

I went to the hospital and she was, I know she was upset, you

know, So she said, well, why does God allow that?

My daughter right there small, I'm minding her own business.

And then she gets her foot cut gassed.

I said, you know what, first we need to ask ourselves, who put

that bottle there? Yeah, there's the answer we're

going to have. God didn't have nothing to do

with it. Somebody broke that bottle,

somebody dropped it in the yard and somebody didn't take time to

pick it up. There are some things that's

just going to happen that I'm not saying God doesn't have

control over. I'm just saying that's life

that's going to happen. You know, you just blame him.

You know, if you get in a wreck, somebody's side, you know, hit

you on the side. It's not God's fault.

The guy wasn't paying attention. He hit you.

That's all. You know, I think we're two

people that get blamed more than anybody is God and the devil.

That's a good point. One person gets more credit than

is due. The other person doesn't get

enough credit. Exactly right.

That's what we are. We're going to blame somebody

and it you can't blame God, he said.

Everything in order, OK, And you can't just go to the edge of a

building and jump off the 9th floor and say, oh, God's going

to take care. No, he, you know He, he, he.

Gave you a brain to not do. That right he.

Gave us an example not to do that too.

Right. Yeah.

Itch. Yeah, Yeah.

Jesus, right. Who only jump off the vision

there. I know, yeah.

So he came to save us. That's it.

And he could have called legions of angels to stop him, but he

didn't do that. He went ahead and suffered.

Yeah, went ahead and died. The reason why he came to seek

and say that we just lost. Thought him like everything he

did was to reach the soul. Yeah, yeah.

And I think it's like with Eden, that was that experience, right?

We didn't have death in the world at that point.

Right. No, they knew nothing about it.

But we live now, right? We started it.

That's why you want to blame somebody, Blame Eve and Adam,

both of them. Yeah.

The Bible says Eve was a mother of us all.

Yeah, blame Mama, Don't blame God, because God told them leave

the Bush alone. They went to the Bush and they

said, well, Eden, no, Eden ate it, but he gave it to, you know,

Adam. Why didn't Adam say no?

Why didn't he jump in as a father and say, now come on,

darling, we can't do this. He shunned his responsibility.

So they're both but her being a mother of us all, if they want

to blame somebody, don't blame God.

He set things in motion for humanity and they and so then

our DNA now has sin in it and it's passed on to 1 passed on to

another. We pass it to our children.

You don't have to teach your children how to lie.

They got it. They they can lie.

They learn it by themselves. So you can't, you can't, you

know? It's just in our DNA the way it

is, you know? I'll tell you curveball because

of the with you bringing up the garden of and all that I heard

someone say or they threw out a theological question.

I know this is like way curveball.

But he said, you know, when, when God called out to Adam and

Adam, you know, they hid themselves.

And then when he got essentially confronted him about it, Adam,

Adam gave excuses. He didn't take responsibility.

And the biggest thing is he didn't really apologize.

The, the theological question for that situation is what do

you think would have happened? What do you think God's

obviously it was all orchestrated, but what do you

think God's response would have been or how things could have

went down if, when that first happened?

What if? What if Adam had just said I

messed up and I sinned and and and ask for forgiveness at that

point in time instead of trying to hide?

You know, I don't know if they were even aware of forgiveness

at that time. They really didn't know what

they'd done. They didn't know the consequence

of it all. You know, they were just a

desire to have it. And that's still in our DNA.

Now we have a desire to do something, but we don't stop to

think about the consequences. Everything we do, there's a

consequent go behind and God still forgives us.

But you're going to pay for your for your wrongdoing, Am I right?

Yeah. You know, you can do something

terrible. You can come and say God forgive

and he will, but you still have to pay for that sin.

And saying goes back to Adam. I think they were going to have

to pay because he told them you're going to be cast out.

Yeah. And and it's not, it's not just

maliciousness from God, but God's nature can't have sin, no,

and have it in right. He can't not going tolerate it,

you know. I guess the only, only thing

left really, because we don't have too much time, but give us,

give us some, I guess, dirty deets on our pastor because I, I

believe you. I believe you knew him.

We've gotten some hints at it before in the past.

I'm like, maybe we've got some fun stories.

He said. You know, any stories about our

pastors, what he's trying to say?

No, I don't. That's funny.

Oh, no, I've got plenty of other stories about the other pastors

That's we have a good relationship, we laugh, we, you

know, share things and but no, I don't.

I don't. I mean bad things say about it.

Make sure he knows that too. Oh yeah, you'll hear.

Click that, the check will. Clear.

Man, so I got it. I got 111 real last question for

you here. OK, there's something we do is

what's what's a lesson you've learned throughout your life,

like a theme you learned throughout your life that you

would consider somebody else could learn from, You know what

I mean? Like what's what's something God

taught you that you think is important?

Somebody else knows, you know. And I don't know.

As as tough, I mean we can. And I think we're all

individual. Certainly.

You know, and he teaches us different ways.

You know, you may not have to God make him punish you.

You know, we got to whip me and world if God knows how to handle

people, certainly, you know, that's why David said the Lord

maketh me to lie down in green pasture.

He makes me lie down and God can get him when he's just ready for

you. He can make you lie down,

brother. He can make you lie down to look

up if he has to. And that's just God.

That's the way he does it. I think he handles all of us

just a different. It's just like we got two

children, you know, one of my boys I could say now y'all going

to be home at 12, One of them going to show up about 11:15,

11/30 He's he's home now. The other one, he would come in

about 1159, you know. But.

But you have to handle them different.

And so same thing God with us, He handles things different,

whatever in a congregation. That's why some people don't

understand a pastor's the way he handles things.

And like he, you know, he made this one do that and he didn't

he hasn't addressed this and he should have you handle you can't

compare, can't compare one another.

What I can tell him and say, you know, I just want you to stop

driving. Don't you drive at all no more,

you know, and I can talk to you and I can say, you know, what

you need to consider while you're driving that you know, be

safe. And you know, there's dangers

out there. We handle it two different ways.

And so then you can look at, or he could look at you and say,

oh, he lets you drive, but he won't let me.

It's because he knows us. I know my boys.

And so they'd put a basketball, go in the street and live in a

subdivision. The neighbors would come.

They would all play basketball, My boys.

No, they weren't playing on the street.

And the neighbors said, well, why?

They said, you, you think you love your child more than we

love ours. I said no, no, didn't say

nothing about Johnstown. I said I know my boys, I know

them. They going to get the dribbling.

They not looking for cars. They focused they they are in

there, don't have anything. And that same thing happens with

area churches, other Pentecostals.

Whatever you want to say is that we all treat our our people, our

family different. And then the Church of pastors

going to he is going to treat people different.

Because if I went and told you don't you ever drive again, you

going to get mad and you going to spin your tires out of the

church and you going to leave and you'll never come back.

OK, but I know he can handle it and he needs to.

But I'm going to tell you to slow down and eventually I'm

going to make you quit driving. But it's a start.

Does that make sense? Certainly.

And so you you just have to handle everybody different the

way it is and you have to trust and give the pastor that, you

know, respect refugee to do that, you know, so it's

interesting. Thank you so much for for coming

on here and speaking with us. Music.