Teena Myers

When my stepfather died, I asked my husband about attending a church closer to my mother’s home. Both my brother and sister died young, leaving me responsible for my mother’s care. Attending a church close to her home would make it easy to visit on Sunday afternoons to see if she needed help. Rod agreed to my plan, and I made a list of the churches in her neighborhood.

The children’s ministry at the first church we visited shone like a beacon in the night. I immediately knew Hosanna would be the perfect place for Rod, who has a heart for children’s ministry. The following Sunday, we invited the pastor to lunch. Rod expressed his willingness to assist with the children’s ministry, and then I turned on my recorder to gather information for a profile article.

George sat in a church on Hurricane Street, listening intently to the pastor. At the conclusion of the message, he walked to the altar to pray. He pulled out his keys and, one by one, presented each key to the Lord.

“Here is the key to my dorm,” he said, “and the key to my car.”

When he came to a key he did not recognize, he said, “I don’t know what this key is for, but I give you all the keys to my life.”

Not knowing what to do next, he returned to his seat and remained there until the service was dismissed. When he rose to leave, George felt a hand on his head and heard, “Be still. I’m molding you.” He remained seated.

A few minutes later, he attempted to rise but again felt the hand and heard, “Be still. I’m molding you.”

George graduated from college and entered the ministry, unaware of the hard road that awaited him.

Hurricane-force winds of adversity blew against George’s ministry when his mother, a Jehovah’s Witness, learned that her son had built a church. Believing he had been led astray, she stood in front of his home shouting, “Jehovah is God.” When she failed to convince George that he had erred, she disrupted worship services at his church. As her antagonism intensified, he sought help from the police to prevent her from entering the church.

Nine years later, the alienation from his parents appeared permanent. Then Dale, a teenager who attended the church’s youth group, learned about his pastor’s estrangement from his parents. Convinced that his faith could conquer any problem, Dale insisted on visiting George’s parents. Reluctantly, George sat in the passenger seat of Dale’s Dodge sports car for a wild ride to visit his estranged parents. During the visit, Dale led George’s parents to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

George had served his congregation for eighteen years when he felt led to resign. He accepted a position as headmaster of a church school. The family sold their household belongings and moved to New Orleans, unaware that a spiritual hurricane awaited them.

George witnessed the first sign of the approaching storm at a men’s ministry meeting. A man disrupted the gathering when he pointed at George’s pastor and shouted, “In the seventh month, you will be judged.”

World-renowned televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, who was later disgraced by his own sins, summoned George’s pastor to a meeting and confronted him about inappropriate behavior with another man’s wife. The pastor confessed his sin in July, the seventh month. His resignation from a successful 5,000-member church sent shock waves through the Christian community.

One week before Christmas, the church, struggling to survive, released George from his position as headmaster. Disillusioned by the moral failures of God’s ministers, George’s son David abandoned Christianity. Heartbroken, George watched his son descend into an abyss of destructive behavior.

Jobless and with a family to support, George sent a letter of inquiry to the Assemblies of God district office in Pennsylvania. The district office responded with information about a small church in Connellsville. George was not interested. He had hoped to be recommended to a church in Lancaster, an area of rolling hills he had visited in the past.

The Pennsylvania district office called three times before George consented to visit. Although he loved the people he met in Connellsville, he did not want to relocate to an economically depressed small town.

On the return flight to New Orleans, George prayed, “I don’t believe you’ve heard of Connellsville, Pennsylvania, and I’m not going to a place you’ve never heard of.”

The following week, George began reading The Intercessor, a biography of Rees Howells, whose prayers many believe influenced the course of World War II. George read about Howells’s journey from Wales to America and how he had heard the gospel but resisted accepting Christ. Engrossed in the story, George turned the page and read, “Then I came to Connellsville, Pennsylvania, and the chase ended there.”

George chuckled. “God had the last laugh on me! What could I do? We moved to Connellsville.”

During a time of prayer, the Lord said to George, “This town and this church will be to you what the widow woman was to Elijah. You will see that I have resources you know nothing about.”

The Connellsville church quickly grew large enough to sustain a television ministry and finance many mission trips.

Even though George was a successful pastor, the problems with his prodigal son grew worse. Deeply concerned, George and his wife encouraged David to enroll in Teen Challenge, a Christian rehabilitation program. When he refused, they admitted him to a secular residential drug rehabilitation program.

Having done all he could for his son, George opened The One Year Bible for his daily reading. Ironically, the passage for that day was Psalm 51, King David’s plea for restoration after a prophet confronted him about his sin. George prayed the psalm, inserting his son’s name in place of the pronouns.

David left the rehabilitation center early and returned to New Orleans, where he became involved with the Mafia. Desperate to help their son, George and his wife purchased a condominium in the New Orleans area so they could search for him.

“I could have stayed in Pennsylvania,” George said. “God had tremendously blessed my ministry, but winning the world to Christ meant little if I lost my son.”

Before George left Pennsylvania, he participated in a mission trip to Hungary. While ministering at a youth meeting north of Budapest, he stopped the service and shared his grief.

“I rejoice in what God is doing in Hungary, but my own son is lost.”

The congregation stood and prayed for David.

After the service, a young woman told George she had seen a vision of his son groping through a dark forest while a light shone upon him. Encouraged by the vision, George returned to America hopeful that God had already intervened in David’s life.

Instead, his wife gave him the disappointing news that their son was worse rather than better. George clung to the hope that God’s light would lead David home.

In March 1994, at four o’clock one morning, a voice calling, “Dad,” awakened George. He arose and found David standing at the front door.

In the stillness of the night, David confessed that he was going nowhere and that life was no longer fun. He pleaded with his father to help him.

George replied, “I’m not a psychiatrist. I’m not a psychologist. I’m a preacher. If you want to come to the Lord, I can help you with that.”

Father and son knelt together, and George led David in a prayer of repentance.

Months later, David accompanied his father back to the Connellsville church for a series of meetings. He asked if he could share his testimony with the congregation. George did not know what his son planned to say but approved the request.

He listened in amazement when David began his testimony by reading his favorite Scripture—Psalm 51.

Apparently, Pastor George’s salvation experience on Hurricane Street foreshadowed future events. He faced adversity from his parents, adversity in his church, and the emotional pain of a son who spurned God. Yet despite his many afflictions, God enabled him to triumph over every adversity.