Nuggets 82: The Woman Preacher

  • B. Shelburne
  • Sep 28, 2007
  • Series: Nuggets

How many things I wish I had asked my parents and grandparents while they were still with us!  I'm hungry to know more of their stories.  When I meet someone who knows some new part of my family history, it is like finding treasure.  I recently had such an experience at the centennial celebration of small town church.

There a story was told to me by a valued fellow minister, Portis Ribble.  He had gone to another small town, where my dad grew up, to preach in a revival meeting.  Portis encountered a man in the church there.  Like me, Portis loves to hear people's stories.  So he asked the man, "Under whose ministry were you converted to Christ?"

"Under the ministry of Velma Shelburne," the man replied.  Velma Shelburne was my grandmother and Portis knew she had never preached for the town church.  "I don't understand," Portis said.  "Can you explain?"  "It's like this," the man answered.  "My wife had passed away.  Mrs. Shelburne walked to my house every day bringing a basket of food for my lunch.  She asked me if she could read the Bible to me while I ate.  I agreed, so she read to me every day.  I became more interested and began to ask questions.  Later I started to attend church, and soon I gave my life to Christ."

If you are a serious Christian, you see yourself as a follower of Jesus.  Jesus went around doing good and calling people back into a relationship with God.  Life flowed out from him into people's lives, bringing them from curse to blessing. The church will always be made up mostly of people who are not official leaders, but we are each one called by Christ to help others.  Jesus promised, ""If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."  You can be a channel of God's grace.  There is no better way to live.

John 7:73-39;  Matthew 16:24,25;  5:13-16;  Acts 10:38;  Galatians 6:10;  Titus 3:1;  Romans 12:6-8;  15:1-3;  1 Thessalonians 5:11,14;  Hebrews 3:13;  Isaiah 50:4

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Copyright 2007 by G.B. Shelburne, III.  May be freely reproduced or forwarded for non-commercial purposes provided content is unchanged and this copyright notice is included.  These shepherding messages are sent to members and friends of New Beginnings Church (www.nbchurch.com), to students and alumni of South Houston Bible Institute (www.shbi.org), and to other interested persons.

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