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I’ve been a “Christian” for
as long as I can remember.
Raised in the Baptist traditions of my
mothers family. Altar calls, guilt laced
communions and “Pastor's”
being extra “friendly” to my 6’ tall, blonde
hair, big breasted, and voice of an angel
singing “How Great Thou Art”, Mother. Oh yeah,
I could feel the Christian love in all the
churches she dragged me into. I can’t tell
you how many times I took the altar call. It
wasn’t until I had gone to my grandmothers’
church several times in a short period that
my enthusiasm for all the “Born Again”
attention was questioned and extinguished by
a Sunday School teacher that basically said
"Knock it off, Once is Enough."
Hah!
Fast forwarding to the summer of 1978. I had
just graduated from high school and I was
only weeks away from my 18th birthday. I was
really searching hard for God in those days.
The message coming from "Mainstream
Christianity" was not adding up for me. I
was becoming more skeptical by the day.
But still holding on in prayer for God to
show me the way.
Fortunately for me, my
grandmother's sister, (My Great Aunt
Lucille) had married a preacher. His name
was Dr. Paul Maddox. Having been the Chief
Of Chaplin's of the European theater
in WWII , he was the first into every
German city that was freshly captured. He
amassed a great collection of the “Spoils of
War.” Sometime after the war he became a
part of Billy Graham’s inner circle during
the hay days of revival. I decided to press
in and visit my Uncle Paul and ask his
advice for a direction. (By that time he was
already a legend in the church.) From my
youngest days Uncle Paul called me the
“Great One”, I never found out why, but this
day was no different. Except now I was a
young man.
That day my Uncle Paul changed my life in
way so profound, I can only now weep in
remembrance. Paul told me “Great One, if you
really want to learn about God, you must
listen to a man named
Dr. Gene Scott.”
I had no idea who Dr. Scott was. (And I wondered
why Uncle Paul didn’t tell me to listen to Billy
Graham?) The day would not end without an
introduction.
In those days my older brother had a
landscaping company I was working for during
the summer. After leaving Uncle
Paul, I headed for the equipment yard to
rent a small bulldozer called a “Bobcat”,
needed for the work that day. I was standing
in the office and there was a small black
and white television on top of a tall file
cabinet. The TV was on, and a man's head
filled the frame. The volume was off. I
asked the rental agent what he was watching
and he told me it was
Dr. Gene Scott!!
(good ole ch.30) I was stunned. I spent 20
minutes talking about the Dr. Scott guy. The
agent ( his name was Paul too!) told me I
could listen to him live that night on the
radio dial 99.5 FM. Of course I was glued to
the radio that night, but Doc didn’t show.
He was out of town.….Mom
Scott (Doc's
mother) WAS LIVE
that night, and she told the great testimony
about her and
Pop Scott’s
(Doc's father and a minister)
life with the young Gene Scott. All the
visions, brother and sister dying, Pop's
sickness and healing. The whole God anointed
story of how they raised up a man to teach
the Last Generation how to be Christians!
Well that’s the short story. I got the
chance to tell Doc about my Uncle Paul, and
to check a fact or two. Doc confirmed that
he had met my Uncle Paul in the days the
Melody Land church in Anaheim came under
attack. My Uncle Paul, Ralph Wilkerson and
Dr. Scott worked together to successfully
save that old church.
The following Sunday Doc memorialized the
story by weaving it into his sermon. I guess
you could call it a full circle.
I was with Doc for nearly the entire 30
years he was pastor of Faith Center. I did a
4+ year pastors internship with him from
1984-1989 and continued in his employ or as
a volunteer then and nearly 3 years after
his home-going. I loved him as a father,
admired him as a man's man, and I'm proud to
call him my Mentor and Pastor. I miss him
very much, but eternity is soon enough. There's still work to do, wars to be fought
and eternal rewards to be earned.
Thanks Doc for your faith and courage to
train by example. Thank you for your sheer determination
to never let us down.
You never did!
See Also:
God's
Angry Man
“The Sword of the Lord and of Gene!!!”
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