January 18, 2025 • 28 mins
Join Dr. Gene Bailey and Vep Ellis Jr. as they delve into the incredible journey of Vep Ellis Sr.'s unwavering commitment to Christian ministry. From a career in music to a powerful ministry, they uncover how music education shaped gospel music. Discover the profound connection with Oral Roberts, the trials of health challenges, and miraculous healings that followed. Above all, this story reveals the true power of prioritizing faith over fame, urging you to be the one who rises in your generation.
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(00:02):
In everygeneration there have been revivals,
massive moves of the spirit
that changed the course of history.
In every revival,there were believers like you
who chose to answer the call
to become the one in their generation.
Discover your call.
(00:22):
To be the one in your generation.
Welcome to Revival Radio.
I'm Gene Bailey and here againwith Vep Ellis Jr.
So let's pick up the storynow with with Vep Ellis senior.
Talk to me about him.
I want to know that story.
My dadof course, would be the third generation.
(00:44):
And my grandfather
was one of James Benton's sons. Right.
He had 13,I think kids three of those became
preachers, two Nazarene preachers,
Church of God preachers.
And of course, my my grandfather
was an executivein the Church of God, State overseer.
That's right. Over several states.
(01:05):
And pastor and all my dad'ssiblings were in the ministry.
Two brothers and
and his sister was married to a preacher
and state overseer. But.
And then so that'sit just flows right through.
You know, we know that God doesn'thave any grandchildren and step-children.
(01:28):
We're all children of God, right?
But families, God firstand or God said he, bless Abraham
and his children and his children'schildren and children and children.
And that blessing can come through,and God can anoint
people and our generations.
And I'm fourth generation,and now we're into the sixth generation.
(01:50):
And my brothers, I have two brothersthat have been in the ministry
and now my kids.
I have one, my oldest daughterand her husband in the ministry,
and my cousins,of course, David David Ellis,
which is a cousin of mine, playsthe piano for Brother Copeland, sure,
great musician and a ministerand his own he’s a minister as well.
(02:11):
So is the the anointingthat God has is just flowing.
But my dad,when he was called to the ministry,
the first person that he went toand of course he loved his dad, but
the first person he told was his greatgrandfather, I mean his grandfather.
Sure.
JB Ellis and,I remember what my dad said.
I told him that I was calledin the ministry, and he heard me preach
(02:34):
my first sermon, and afterwardshe said, well, son, you did a good job.
He said, and you know, all the things
that I've gone through in my life,you know, my story
and how that I, I was shot
at, you know,I was threatened, thrown in jail.
But he said the thing you sayyour generation in the next generations
(02:55):
are going to going to befacing are going to be much tougher
than what I went through.
Mine were physical, but youryour warfare is going to be more right.
It's going to be even more difficult,he said.
But God will bless you.
And he's a pretty good fella to work for.
(03:15):
So he said it.
But he is.
But anyway, so that's my dad.
He, he was a young man, probably
in his early 20swhen he received a call to the ministry.
And his dad was,of course, the state overseer,
the state overseer of Floridafor the Church of God.
(03:36):
And dad had been travelingaround in churches and holding
singing and singing conferences.
Whether is call singingnormal or something, right?
He'd go to churchesand teach them how to sing.
Did you read music?
And, and out of some of those,out of those experiences,
JD Sumner.
(03:57):
Was sure.
They had taught him music,gave him his first voice lessons, put him
his first quartet, James Blackwood wasand his family with and went to the church
in Chattanooga, Tennessee,where dad was, when dad was a teenager,
he met my mother, and James Blackwas about five years younger than dad.
(04:17):
And James told me, says, you know,your dad treated me like
I was his kidbrother and said I'd follow him around.
We'd hang around together all the time.
But when dad was called to the ministry,he was already married.
But he was just holdingthese music schools.
So before we go any further, did musicreally kind of blossom
(04:39):
with your dad, or was there somethingback with JB Ellis or
where did that happen?
You know, James Benton,I mentioned earlier that when he
when James Benton Ellis,my great grandfather, he set up a pattern
and a plan rightfor living out his Christian life.
He would read the Bible,he would sing hymns, and he would pray.
(05:00):
Right.
This was he never got away from this plan.
Every day, every day.
And so he he would sing hymns.
This method to hymns. Sure.
They would come to his heartand he would sing them.
And then he wrote a few songs.
And of course, dad, being a musician,
he would take those songsand write the harmonies.
(05:20):
And they had dad was a music editorfor the Church of God for many years.
And and so dad would put those songsin print, you know.
Right. And, so that's my.
And my grandfather,dad said above the door,
when he come in into to the mail,they'd have the the scale above the door.
(05:40):
My grandfather had that up thereand the kids would sing, sing
the scales is comingin. Before they would sit down and eat.
Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do, and they'd learnthey had learned the scales.
Sure.
And so my grandfather was,
of course, was a strong in this area,wasn't necessarily a musician.
He didn't sing, but he made sure thathis kids could sing and play instruments.
(06:05):
In fact,my dad was so he dad, you know, there's
some peoplethat just have such a gift, right?
Well, my dad was that gifted.
He he he could play just about anythinghe set his mind to.
And, dad was not a real good teacheras far as teaching.
Me to do instruments,but he was a good coach.
(06:27):
I remember when hewhen I wanted to learn to the trumpet,
he just wrote the scales out
on a piece of paper and I got practice.
Yeah.
And,
and our family, of course,we didn't have a choice.
We all had to sing and play instruments.
But my dad, when he was,
(06:48):
when it was called of the ministry,he was doing those music normal.
So the music schools and the churches.
But he would on a Sunday, for example.
Then he would get up and he he'd sit downand talk, you know, and
he was called to the ministry, but it wasjust kind of a slow process for him.
(07:08):
Right.
And so
that developed to the fact
where he people wanted to hear himtalk to.
So then he would just begin to share.
And before long, he was preaching.
In fact, my uncle Woodrow Byrd,who was also full time minister,
a great overseer, and eventually became
(07:31):
one of the assistantgeneral overseers of the Church of God.
Woodrow Byrd from Lake City,from Lakeland, Florida.
Here's where they were from, mostly,
he said, you know, when your dad was youngand I was young,
we would go around,I was moody and he was Sankey.
He said, I preached, in your day,we do the music.
(07:51):
How about that?
He said, we goanywhere. We get into a church
and preach.
When we're in Bible school.
And so that's kind of the way it started.
But dads, there is something more downinside of that than just the music.
And it was the call to preach.
So he eventually began to pastor churches.
Let's don't let's don't leave
(08:12):
the music just yet because he wrote,how many songs did he write.
Between 500 and 600 gospel songs?
Publish them?
I just wrote them.
He published them and he recordedmaybe I know,
but between 100 and 200 he recorded them.
Now you've got an album here or somethingI do.
All right.
So this is, in the garden of my heart,babe.
(08:36):
Ellis and fella singsOral Roberts Crusade favorite.
So let's talk about,the connection with Oral Roberts.
How did that happen?
We're thankfulfor the ministry of Oral Roberts.
I don't know when dad actually met Oral,
but dad, when he was probably 28,
(08:58):
had had a, physical problem.
We as a family didn't know about it.
But dad was sitting into organand he's getting ready to produce
a radio program for the churchwith my grandfather being the teacher.
And he said, all of a suddenI felt the strength leave my body.
My hands became numb.
(09:19):
Pain.
I just got so weak I can barely get up,get down off the organ, said.
I went home,he said, I've got feel better.
But years later he was diagnosed.
Diagnosed with aI think they call it incipient epilepsy.
It was the beginning of epilepsy, right.
But he kept that hidden from usuntil Lake City, Florida,
(09:40):
where where he was pastoring.
And he built a church there.
One night at dinner table, he passed out,
My mother said, run and get the deacons.
Your dad needs prayer. Yeah.
You know, I was I was about eight.
Well, I can remember I was either 7 or
(10:03):
8, and my brotherand I, we ran down that dirt road,
knocking on the deacons at homesaid, come to the parsonage.
My dad and his prayer.
You know,you can remember things like that.
It was traumatic.
So we ran and gathered,they can say, came and prayed for dad
and he got feeling better.
Then we moved to Tampa, Florida,
(10:23):
which he pastored, the Sulfur SpringsChurch of God.
And it was at that time, Oral Roberts came
and brought his big tentto Tampa, Florida.
And of course, the Ministerial Associationwas sponsoring the meeting.
The week before hecame, dad had another episode
(10:45):
at the church,
and he went home and told mother,
my ministry is over.
What I feared has happened.
It happened in public, he said.
And you know, they will not want a pastor
who has epilepsy.
(11:07):
He said But I'm committed to sponsor
this meeting, Brother Roberts,so I will go ahead with that.
But saidwe're going to have to leave the ministry.
I guess he was thinking just being musicthe rest of his life
when Oral Roberts spread that big tent,probably 3000 people out there.
I don't know if it made him before,but he talked to Oral
(11:29):
and he said,this is what I'm dealing with.
And Oral looked him up later and said, Vep
on the night that you feel likeit's a night for you to be healed.
You let us know.
We'll put you in the front of the line.
So the last day
was coming at the last day of the meetingthat had not been prayed for.
(11:52):
They had woke up on that last morningand he felt like he said,
I heard the Lord say, this is the day.
He said, you know that.
He said, the devil fought me all daylong and people need to realize this.
You know,the devil is not going to go down easy.
Right?
All day long, he said, I startedfeeling bad.
(12:13):
He's had some of the worst painsand numbness in my body, my neck, my back,
he said.
I felt the worstI had felt in a long time, he said.
Then I had a wedding come up.
It was not planned.
I had to do, he said.
Then it was a funeral that came up.
I had to do, he said.
By that night I was not only feeling bad,but I had had so many
(12:34):
interruptions of the day.
I didn't get to the tent meetinguntil Oral was halfway through.
His message.
Oral preached,
and when he Oral stood back afterthe invitation, as people are streaming
to the audience for salvation or alook at me and I said, this is the day,
(12:55):
he said, when Oral looked at me,looked back at me
with that confidenceand that calmness with his eyes.
It was confirmation Oral call for an usherto put in front of the line, he said.
I got on the line and when I got
when Oral got ready to pray for me,he laid his hands on me.
He said I didn't feel a thing.
(13:16):
He said, I've seen people
fall into the power I felt, you know.
But he said I didn't feel a thing,but I knew it was healed.
Interesting.
You don't go on feelings. That’s right!
The Lord had already spoken to him.
He already knew the word.
He already knew it.
He said that when I walked off that ramp,I knew it was healed.
(13:39):
Although I didn't feel a thing,
but all my pain was gone by the timeI got to the bottom of the ramp.
How about that?
And he said,I never had another episode of epilepsy
from that period on, to God be the glory.
And at that meeting, Oral Robert'smother came up to me and said, Vep
you are supposed to be with Oral.
(14:02):
See dad had been making records.
And he was alreadywell known for dad was a legend in music
in the 40s, 50s and 60s.
There was nobody in gospel musicthat was more well known to my dad.
Right.
11 years later, in 1962,he began to be the crusade soloist
(14:22):
for the Oral Roberts Crusade to Godbe the glory.
If you do any research like we have on,
revivals through the years,you keep running into Oral Roberts,
and usually there's Bob DeWeeseand Vep Ellis.
You know, you can't go faruntil you keep running headlong into,
(14:43):
a Vep Ellis in there.
Talk about how his relationship with BobDeWeese, because, I mean, he started
he wanted to be, he was singing,but he didn't want to do just that.
Talk about that.
Yeah.
My dad, of course, he he valued.
They called it the Ministry. Sure.
(15:04):
And he, of course,he was called to write music
and saying and record and,and and had great influence.
And nobody was more influential in music
than my dad in the 40s and 50s and 60s.
But, he and Bob became
great friends, and Bob
was the associate minister for the OralRoberts ministry, the Crusades.
(15:28):
Right.
And in the afternoon,they would have afternoon
meetings, and Bob DeWeesewould preach one day, and Oral Roberts
and my dad, Vep Senior,would preach on the next day.
They would alternate in the afternoonmeetings.
They'd preach. They pray for the sick.
And so that's the way they started.
But but Bob DeWeese and and my dad becameso close friends, of course,
(15:52):
they all played golf, you know, and they,they didn't like, of course, Bob DeWeese,
he he had been chosen for the Olympicsfrom California.
And, along with Johnny Weissmuller,who was the first Tarzan.
You know,they were on the same team together.
That was great athlete.
They played golf, all of that.
But competition,
(16:14):
they they play golf all the time.
They compete.
One day they had playedtwo rounds of golf.
One of them one the first 18holes, the other one the next 18 holes.
So they had to play a third round.
This is how close friends they were,but compared so they played three rounds.
I never heard who won the third round.
Yeah, but they were competitive.
(16:35):
But Bob, when they stopped doingcrusades, Bob
basically retiredfrom the from traveling with Oral
just like dad did and they and and Bobwent back to pastoring some churches.
He pastor up there in Ohio.
But dad eventually invited Bob to come.
Why don't she just come down here?
See when dad left Oralbecause the Crusades were discontinued.
(16:57):
Dad went back to Florida,as we've mentioned, talked about earlier,
then began to pastorthat church there in Largo
on Indian Rocks Road 688and it was called Harvest Temple.
And so
then it started pastoringthat church of 30 people.
It grew to 3000
(17:18):
before the dad retired in about.
I think dad retired in about 18,
not 18, 1986, 85, somewhere in there.
But Bob cameand was dad's associate for several years.
I couldn't imagine what it was likebeing on that staff.
(17:38):
I can say those two guys were
powerful preachers, great friends,
and it was a it had to be a riot
every day at work because they werethey were fun to be around, you know.
But anyway, so they that that relationshipwas very close
and and, and in fact
(18:03):
even and when Bob moved back to, to Tulsa
and I would play golf with Bob,play racquetball with golf
with him, play tennis ballwith with Bob DeWeese
And it was always a storythat he would tell about
about my dad and him playing
golf,you know, was a great, great friendship.
(18:25):
And that's as how they got along.
They got alongjust great. Now this picture,
this is, this is your dad. Yes.
In this is, 1958.
He was 41 years old.
Was this at, any idea where this would have been?
I think that that particular picture,say my dad
(18:47):
bought a tent and about 1956, and dad
started traveling the countryand preaching, tent revival.
His own tent revival, his.Own tent revival.
Dad was a great camp meeting speaker.
Yeah, for the Church of God.
He spoke one summer.
He spoke.
He preached nine camp meetings,and they each were one week at a time.
(19:10):
Wow. He was he broke a record
of preaching nine campmeetings and one summer.
That's amazing.
And he took the family with him.
But anyway, that's kind of the background.
And when then when dad, 11 years later,
Oral inviteddad to be the crusade soloist.
(19:32):
We we had moved to
Californiaand dad was working with the full gospel
businessmen, and Demos Shakariantraveling the West Coast,
speaking in the chaptersin the international meetings.
And it was a tremendous time.
I was in my second year of college then,
but boy, they we talk about revival now.
(19:56):
It's I, I'm my family, my generation.
So blessed to reap the benefits. Right.
Of the of the move of God around 1900.
My my great grandfather. Yeah, absolutely.
I mean and then there was the latter daymovement.
Well, I don't want to get into thatjust because I want to save that
for a little bit.
(20:16):
But, you know, thereI saw the story and some of the research
here at theanybody would remember from years ago.
William Morris Talent Agency brought youryour dad
to New York Cityto audition for a CBS TV show.
Now, that's got to be that's a big deal.
There was no like him.
(20:37):
He was unique,but he was unique as a father to sure.
He wanted his familywith him when he traveled.
I was in one of those nine meetings.
Oh, the whole family.
Well, I have four siblings and hehe involved us in the ministry.
He would have us sitting. On the platform.
Yeah.
He didn't just want us with him.
(20:58):
He had a singer.
I can remember singing on the radiowhen I was nine,
right when my and my older brotherwas making records,
when he was in high school with dad,then mom back that up on records.
So, I mean, this isthe and dad was so influential.
He was the he was the he changed the waysome of the gospel music was written.
(21:20):
Really.
He was the first oneto have a Christian record club.
He, he he was the first one to domultiple recordings.
Now, this will lead me into your question.
He was already nationally known for hishis song,
his compositions, his preaching,for his writing, his recordings.
(21:40):
He wrote a song of the yearat the end of the trail,
but he did multiple recordings.
Now you'll you'll appreciate this.
This is before tracks.
Yeah. We have we got 16 tracks.
We got 18 tracks.We can put everything in here we want.
This is before that he made recordingsand he was an RCA recording artist.
(22:01):
Right? He was an SESAC composer.
So William MorrisAgency was very aware of his talent.
Yeah.
And had been on radio for yearsand but he was the first one to
he had to write his own songsand record him.
And he sang every part.
(22:23):
So the engineer and dadwere quite creative, really, to be able to
then sing all the partsand play that into all the instruments.
This was the same year that Patsy Clinesang a duet with herself, right?
Which made which made the news.
She sang a duet herself.
And that same year dad did a multiplerecording singing all four parts
(22:46):
and playing the instruments.
I still have those multiple recordings.
Oh, wow.
RCA got Ahold of thatand they sent their engineers down
to Cleveland, Tennessee, to theto the recording studio there at Church
of God of Prophecy, where Tom, I can'tremember Tom's last name right now.
He was engineer.
That's where did a lot of those recordingshe had recorded in Hollywood
(23:07):
over the years and also in New York,but the William Morris Morse Talent Agency
knew dead,
and that had been on, like I say, on radioand all those did All those recordings
brought dad to New York,and they did a national radio program.
They did a I guess it was a trial, right.
(23:29):
They national radio program nationwide.
They got so much feedback,they told my dad said,
we want you to we want you to go on TV.
So we're drawing up the contracts.
We want you to come back tomorrow.
Then we'll talk about, a TV program.
So he came back the next day,
and the slot they had was primetimeSaturday night.
(23:52):
They said, now we've got the contract.
The lawyers were there,
and they said, so we're excited about it.
You'll make more moneythan you ever dreamed.
Everybody in America will know who you arebefore the year's out, you
were a household word.
And so they had listened to all this storyand they said, but
there's only one thing we don't want youto sing just Christian song.
(24:15):
We don't we don't want that to be the maintheme.
And dad looked at and said, well,
you don't want me,
because I can't abandonthe one who has brought me this far.
Amen.
I cannot do that.
And they looked at him and said,but you make more money and talk to it.
(24:37):
They tried to persuade him with moneyand with fame.
There's a they can't do it.
They looked at him and said, well.
You'll just be a poor man's Bing Crosby.
Dad looked at them and said,you know what?
I will not be anybody's poor man.
(24:57):
I'm rich in waysthat you will never know. Wow.
And dad turned it down and it walked away.
And they gave that slot on Friday,on Saturday night to Gunsmoke.
Yeah.
And the rest is history.
As they would say.
But, you know,dad left there and came home.
(25:19):
We were living in Cleveland.
That was in 1950, I think.
Now marriage is around 55.
1955 or 56,probably 55 could have been 54.
But, you know,I wasn't old enough to pay attention.
But anyway,they got food poisoning on the way home
that that yeardeveloped nodules on his throat.
He had never had a problem.
(25:40):
He had camp meetings to preach.
And then the Washington
camp meeting.
Dad was preaching that summer.
God healed him of his.
The nodules of the throatnever had another problem.
All right.
There's so much more to this story thatyou're going to have to hear next week.
The time just flies by,but I still see this
(26:01):
common threadgoing through this whole story
with Vep Ellis and JB Ellis and you there,and we have even gotten to you yet,
with, with your family,how God takes what you give him
and it
and it expands and it expandsand it expands.
And the legacy of faith keeps going onand on.
(26:22):
Do you want that?
Listen, you can have exactly that.
And you want to be able to talk tosomebody.
We've got a phone numberright there on the screen.
You can call someone right thereto pray with you.
Maybe you don't know who Jesus is,and somehow you got Ahold of this video
or this television programand you need to know, call that number,
someone's there, ready to pray with youand walk you through it.
(26:43):
It's not weird. Not spooky.
You'll understand what it really means,but let me pray for you real, real quick
before we go.
Heavenly father, I thank you, Lord,for every person watching this program,
whether it's live or years down the road,that every person that watches
this show feel the power of Godcome through the airwaves,
that they are ableto quicken themselves to you,
(27:07):
give their hearts to youand be encouraged, edified, built up
that we're going to see great thingshappen in their lives.
In Jesus name, Amen. Amen.
All right.
Thank you for watching Revival Radio TV.
Thank you for supporting us.
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about how you can help.And until then, we'll see you next time.
(27:31):
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(27:52):
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(28:14):
It's right there on your screen.
Let's be the partners that we need to be.
And let's see God do something amazing.
In everygeneration there have been revivals,
massive moves of the spirit
that changed the course of history.
In every revival,there were believers like you
who chose to answer the call
to become the one in their generation.
Discover your call.
(00:22):
To be the one in your generation.
Welcome to Revival Radio.
I'm Gene Bailey and here againwith Vep Ellis Jr.
So let's pick up the storynow with with Vep Ellis senior.
Talk to me about him.
I want to know that story.
My dadof course, would be the third generation.
(00:44):
And my grandfather
was one of James Benton's sons. Right.
He had 13,I think kids three of those became
preachers, two Nazarene preachers,
Church of God preachers.
And of course, my my grandfather
was an executivein the Church of God, State overseer.
That's right. Over several states.
(01:05):
And pastor and all my dad'ssiblings were in the ministry.
Two brothers and
and his sister was married to a preacher
and state overseer. But.
And then so that'sit just flows right through.
You know, we know that God doesn'thave any grandchildren and step-children.
(01:28):
We're all children of God, right?
But families, God firstand or God said he, bless Abraham
and his children and his children'schildren and children and children.
And that blessing can come through,and God can anoint
people and our generations.
And I'm fourth generation,and now we're into the sixth generation.
(01:50):
And my brothers, I have two brothersthat have been in the ministry
and now my kids.
I have one, my oldest daughterand her husband in the ministry,
and my cousins,of course, David David Ellis,
which is a cousin of mine, playsthe piano for Brother Copeland, sure,
great musician and a ministerand his own he’s a minister as well.
(02:11):
So is the the anointingthat God has is just flowing.
But my dad,when he was called to the ministry,
the first person that he went toand of course he loved his dad, but
the first person he told was his greatgrandfather, I mean his grandfather.
Sure.
JB Ellis and,I remember what my dad said.
I told him that I was calledin the ministry, and he heard me preach
(02:34):
my first sermon, and afterwardshe said, well, son, you did a good job.
He said, and you know, all the things
that I've gone through in my life,you know, my story
and how that I, I was shot
at, you know,I was threatened, thrown in jail.
But he said the thing you sayyour generation in the next generations
(02:55):
are going to going to befacing are going to be much tougher
than what I went through.
Mine were physical, but youryour warfare is going to be more right.
It's going to be even more difficult,he said.
But God will bless you.
And he's a pretty good fella to work for.
(03:15):
So he said it.
But he is.
But anyway, so that's my dad.
He, he was a young man, probably
in his early 20swhen he received a call to the ministry.
And his dad was,of course, the state overseer,
the state overseer of Floridafor the Church of God.
(03:36):
And dad had been travelingaround in churches and holding
singing and singing conferences.
Whether is call singingnormal or something, right?
He'd go to churchesand teach them how to sing.
Did you read music?
And, and out of some of those,out of those experiences,
JD Sumner.
(03:57):
Was sure.
They had taught him music,gave him his first voice lessons, put him
his first quartet, James Blackwood wasand his family with and went to the church
in Chattanooga, Tennessee,where dad was, when dad was a teenager,
he met my mother, and James Blackwas about five years younger than dad.
(04:17):
And James told me, says, you know,your dad treated me like
I was his kidbrother and said I'd follow him around.
We'd hang around together all the time.
But when dad was called to the ministry,he was already married.
But he was just holdingthese music schools.
So before we go any further, did musicreally kind of blossom
(04:39):
with your dad, or was there somethingback with JB Ellis or
where did that happen?
You know, James Benton,I mentioned earlier that when he
when James Benton Ellis,my great grandfather, he set up a pattern
and a plan rightfor living out his Christian life.
He would read the Bible,he would sing hymns, and he would pray.
(05:00):
Right.
This was he never got away from this plan.
Every day, every day.
And so he he would sing hymns.
This method to hymns. Sure.
They would come to his heartand he would sing them.
And then he wrote a few songs.
And of course, dad, being a musician,
he would take those songsand write the harmonies.
(05:20):
And they had dad was a music editorfor the Church of God for many years.
And and so dad would put those songsin print, you know.
Right. And, so that's my.
And my grandfather,dad said above the door,
when he come in into to the mail,they'd have the the scale above the door.
(05:40):
My grandfather had that up thereand the kids would sing, sing
the scales is comingin. Before they would sit down and eat.
Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do, and they'd learnthey had learned the scales.
Sure.
And so my grandfather was,
of course, was a strong in this area,wasn't necessarily a musician.
He didn't sing, but he made sure thathis kids could sing and play instruments.
(06:05):
In fact,my dad was so he dad, you know, there's
some peoplethat just have such a gift, right?
Well, my dad was that gifted.
He he he could play just about anythinghe set his mind to.
And, dad was not a real good teacheras far as teaching.
Me to do instruments,but he was a good coach.
(06:27):
I remember when hewhen I wanted to learn to the trumpet,
he just wrote the scales out
on a piece of paper and I got practice.
Yeah.
And,
and our family, of course,we didn't have a choice.
We all had to sing and play instruments.
But my dad, when he was,
(06:48):
when it was called of the ministry,he was doing those music normal.
So the music schools and the churches.
But he would on a Sunday, for example.
Then he would get up and he he'd sit downand talk, you know, and
he was called to the ministry, but it wasjust kind of a slow process for him.
(07:08):
Right.
And so
that developed to the fact
where he people wanted to hear himtalk to.
So then he would just begin to share.
And before long, he was preaching.
In fact, my uncle Woodrow Byrd,who was also full time minister,
a great overseer, and eventually became
(07:31):
one of the assistantgeneral overseers of the Church of God.
Woodrow Byrd from Lake City,from Lakeland, Florida.
Here's where they were from, mostly,
he said, you know, when your dad was youngand I was young,
we would go around,I was moody and he was Sankey.
He said, I preached, in your day,we do the music.
(07:51):
How about that?
He said, we goanywhere. We get into a church
and preach.
When we're in Bible school.
And so that's kind of the way it started.
But dads, there is something more downinside of that than just the music.
And it was the call to preach.
So he eventually began to pastor churches.
Let's don't let's don't leave
(08:12):
the music just yet because he wrote,how many songs did he write.
Between 500 and 600 gospel songs?
Publish them?
I just wrote them.
He published them and he recordedmaybe I know,
but between 100 and 200 he recorded them.
Now you've got an album here or somethingI do.
All right.
So this is, in the garden of my heart,babe.
(08:36):
Ellis and fella singsOral Roberts Crusade favorite.
So let's talk about,the connection with Oral Roberts.
How did that happen?
We're thankfulfor the ministry of Oral Roberts.
I don't know when dad actually met Oral,
but dad, when he was probably 28,
(08:58):
had had a, physical problem.
We as a family didn't know about it.
But dad was sitting into organand he's getting ready to produce
a radio program for the churchwith my grandfather being the teacher.
And he said, all of a suddenI felt the strength leave my body.
My hands became numb.
(09:19):
Pain.
I just got so weak I can barely get up,get down off the organ, said.
I went home,he said, I've got feel better.
But years later he was diagnosed.
Diagnosed with aI think they call it incipient epilepsy.
It was the beginning of epilepsy, right.
But he kept that hidden from usuntil Lake City, Florida,
(09:40):
where where he was pastoring.
And he built a church there.
One night at dinner table, he passed out,
My mother said, run and get the deacons.
Your dad needs prayer. Yeah.
You know, I was I was about eight.
Well, I can remember I was either 7 or
(10:03):
8, and my brotherand I, we ran down that dirt road,
knocking on the deacons at homesaid, come to the parsonage.
My dad and his prayer.
You know,you can remember things like that.
It was traumatic.
So we ran and gathered,they can say, came and prayed for dad
and he got feeling better.
Then we moved to Tampa, Florida,
(10:23):
which he pastored, the Sulfur SpringsChurch of God.
And it was at that time, Oral Roberts came
and brought his big tentto Tampa, Florida.
And of course, the Ministerial Associationwas sponsoring the meeting.
The week before hecame, dad had another episode
(10:45):
at the church,
and he went home and told mother,
my ministry is over.
What I feared has happened.
It happened in public, he said.
And you know, they will not want a pastor
who has epilepsy.
(11:07):
He said But I'm committed to sponsor
this meeting, Brother Roberts,so I will go ahead with that.
But saidwe're going to have to leave the ministry.
I guess he was thinking just being musicthe rest of his life
when Oral Roberts spread that big tent,probably 3000 people out there.
I don't know if it made him before,but he talked to Oral
(11:29):
and he said,this is what I'm dealing with.
And Oral looked him up later and said, Vep
on the night that you feel likeit's a night for you to be healed.
You let us know.
We'll put you in the front of the line.
So the last day
was coming at the last day of the meetingthat had not been prayed for.
(11:52):
They had woke up on that last morningand he felt like he said,
I heard the Lord say, this is the day.
He said, you know that.
He said, the devil fought me all daylong and people need to realize this.
You know,the devil is not going to go down easy.
Right?
All day long, he said, I startedfeeling bad.
(12:13):
He's had some of the worst painsand numbness in my body, my neck, my back,
he said.
I felt the worstI had felt in a long time, he said.
Then I had a wedding come up.
It was not planned.
I had to do, he said.
Then it was a funeral that came up.
I had to do, he said.
By that night I was not only feeling bad,but I had had so many
(12:34):
interruptions of the day.
I didn't get to the tent meetinguntil Oral was halfway through.
His message.
Oral preached,
and when he Oral stood back afterthe invitation, as people are streaming
to the audience for salvation or alook at me and I said, this is the day,
(12:55):
he said, when Oral looked at me,looked back at me
with that confidenceand that calmness with his eyes.
It was confirmation Oral call for an usherto put in front of the line, he said.
I got on the line and when I got
when Oral got ready to pray for me,he laid his hands on me.
He said I didn't feel a thing.
(13:16):
He said, I've seen people
fall into the power I felt, you know.
But he said I didn't feel a thing,but I knew it was healed.
Interesting.
You don't go on feelings. That’s right!
The Lord had already spoken to him.
He already knew the word.
He already knew it.
He said that when I walked off that ramp,I knew it was healed.
(13:39):
Although I didn't feel a thing,
but all my pain was gone by the timeI got to the bottom of the ramp.
How about that?
And he said,I never had another episode of epilepsy
from that period on, to God be the glory.
And at that meeting, Oral Robert'smother came up to me and said, Vep
you are supposed to be with Oral.
(14:02):
See dad had been making records.
And he was alreadywell known for dad was a legend in music
in the 40s, 50s and 60s.
There was nobody in gospel musicthat was more well known to my dad.
Right.
11 years later, in 1962,he began to be the crusade soloist
(14:22):
for the Oral Roberts Crusade to Godbe the glory.
If you do any research like we have on,
revivals through the years,you keep running into Oral Roberts,
and usually there's Bob DeWeeseand Vep Ellis.
You know, you can't go faruntil you keep running headlong into,
(14:43):
a Vep Ellis in there.
Talk about how his relationship with BobDeWeese, because, I mean, he started
he wanted to be, he was singing,but he didn't want to do just that.
Talk about that.
Yeah.
My dad, of course, he he valued.
They called it the Ministry. Sure.
(15:04):
And he, of course,he was called to write music
and saying and record and,and and had great influence.
And nobody was more influential in music
than my dad in the 40s and 50s and 60s.
But, he and Bob became
great friends, and Bob
was the associate minister for the OralRoberts ministry, the Crusades.
(15:28):
Right.
And in the afternoon,they would have afternoon
meetings, and Bob DeWeesewould preach one day, and Oral Roberts
and my dad, Vep Senior,would preach on the next day.
They would alternate in the afternoonmeetings.
They'd preach. They pray for the sick.
And so that's the way they started.
But but Bob DeWeese and and my dad becameso close friends, of course,
(15:52):
they all played golf, you know, and they,they didn't like, of course, Bob DeWeese,
he he had been chosen for the Olympicsfrom California.
And, along with Johnny Weissmuller,who was the first Tarzan.
You know,they were on the same team together.
That was great athlete.
They played golf, all of that.
But competition,
(16:14):
they they play golf all the time.
They compete.
One day they had playedtwo rounds of golf.
One of them one the first 18holes, the other one the next 18 holes.
So they had to play a third round.
This is how close friends they were,but compared so they played three rounds.
I never heard who won the third round.
Yeah, but they were competitive.
(16:35):
But Bob, when they stopped doingcrusades, Bob
basically retiredfrom the from traveling with Oral
just like dad did and they and and Bobwent back to pastoring some churches.
He pastor up there in Ohio.
But dad eventually invited Bob to come.
Why don't she just come down here?
See when dad left Oralbecause the Crusades were discontinued.
(16:57):
Dad went back to Florida,as we've mentioned, talked about earlier,
then began to pastorthat church there in Largo
on Indian Rocks Road 688and it was called Harvest Temple.
And so
then it started pastoringthat church of 30 people.
It grew to 3000
(17:18):
before the dad retired in about.
I think dad retired in about 18,
not 18, 1986, 85, somewhere in there.
But Bob cameand was dad's associate for several years.
I couldn't imagine what it was likebeing on that staff.
(17:38):
I can say those two guys were
powerful preachers, great friends,
and it was a it had to be a riot
every day at work because they werethey were fun to be around, you know.
But anyway, so they that that relationshipwas very close
and and, and in fact
(18:03):
even and when Bob moved back to, to Tulsa
and I would play golf with Bob,play racquetball with golf
with him, play tennis ballwith with Bob DeWeese
And it was always a storythat he would tell about
about my dad and him playing
golf,you know, was a great, great friendship.
(18:25):
And that's as how they got along.
They got alongjust great. Now this picture,
this is, this is your dad. Yes.
In this is, 1958.
He was 41 years old.
Was this at, any idea where this would have been?
I think that that particular picture,say my dad
(18:47):
bought a tent and about 1956, and dad
started traveling the countryand preaching, tent revival.
His own tent revival, his.Own tent revival.
Dad was a great camp meeting speaker.
Yeah, for the Church of God.
He spoke one summer.
He spoke.
He preached nine camp meetings,and they each were one week at a time.
(19:10):
Wow. He was he broke a record
of preaching nine campmeetings and one summer.
That's amazing.
And he took the family with him.
But anyway, that's kind of the background.
And when then when dad, 11 years later,
Oral inviteddad to be the crusade soloist.
(19:32):
We we had moved to
Californiaand dad was working with the full gospel
businessmen, and Demos Shakariantraveling the West Coast,
speaking in the chaptersin the international meetings.
And it was a tremendous time.
I was in my second year of college then,
but boy, they we talk about revival now.
(19:56):
It's I, I'm my family, my generation.
So blessed to reap the benefits. Right.
Of the of the move of God around 1900.
My my great grandfather. Yeah, absolutely.
I mean and then there was the latter daymovement.
Well, I don't want to get into thatjust because I want to save that
for a little bit.
(20:16):
But, you know, thereI saw the story and some of the research
here at theanybody would remember from years ago.
William Morris Talent Agency brought youryour dad
to New York Cityto audition for a CBS TV show.
Now, that's got to be that's a big deal.
There was no like him.
(20:37):
He was unique,but he was unique as a father to sure.
He wanted his familywith him when he traveled.
I was in one of those nine meetings.
Oh, the whole family.
Well, I have four siblings and hehe involved us in the ministry.
He would have us sitting. On the platform.
Yeah.
He didn't just want us with him.
(20:58):
He had a singer.
I can remember singing on the radiowhen I was nine,
right when my and my older brotherwas making records,
when he was in high school with dad,then mom back that up on records.
So, I mean, this isthe and dad was so influential.
He was the he was the he changed the waysome of the gospel music was written.
(21:20):
Really.
He was the first oneto have a Christian record club.
He, he he was the first one to domultiple recordings.
Now, this will lead me into your question.
He was already nationally known for hishis song,
his compositions, his preaching,for his writing, his recordings.
(21:40):
He wrote a song of the yearat the end of the trail,
but he did multiple recordings.
Now you'll you'll appreciate this.
This is before tracks.
Yeah. We have we got 16 tracks.
We got 18 tracks.We can put everything in here we want.
This is before that he made recordingsand he was an RCA recording artist.
(22:01):
Right? He was an SESAC composer.
So William MorrisAgency was very aware of his talent.
Yeah.
And had been on radio for yearsand but he was the first one to
he had to write his own songsand record him.
And he sang every part.
(22:23):
So the engineer and dadwere quite creative, really, to be able to
then sing all the partsand play that into all the instruments.
This was the same year that Patsy Clinesang a duet with herself, right?
Which made which made the news.
She sang a duet herself.
And that same year dad did a multiplerecording singing all four parts
(22:46):
and playing the instruments.
I still have those multiple recordings.
Oh, wow.
RCA got Ahold of thatand they sent their engineers down
to Cleveland, Tennessee, to theto the recording studio there at Church
of God of Prophecy, where Tom, I can'tremember Tom's last name right now.
He was engineer.
That's where did a lot of those recordingshe had recorded in Hollywood
(23:07):
over the years and also in New York,but the William Morris Morse Talent Agency
knew dead,
and that had been on, like I say, on radioand all those did All those recordings
brought dad to New York,and they did a national radio program.
They did a I guess it was a trial, right.
(23:29):
They national radio program nationwide.
They got so much feedback,they told my dad said,
we want you to we want you to go on TV.
So we're drawing up the contracts.
We want you to come back tomorrow.
Then we'll talk about, a TV program.
So he came back the next day,
and the slot they had was primetimeSaturday night.
(23:52):
They said, now we've got the contract.
The lawyers were there,
and they said, so we're excited about it.
You'll make more moneythan you ever dreamed.
Everybody in America will know who you arebefore the year's out, you
were a household word.
And so they had listened to all this storyand they said, but
there's only one thing we don't want youto sing just Christian song.
(24:15):
We don't we don't want that to be the maintheme.
And dad looked at and said, well,
you don't want me,
because I can't abandonthe one who has brought me this far.
Amen.
I cannot do that.
And they looked at him and said,but you make more money and talk to it.
(24:37):
They tried to persuade him with moneyand with fame.
There's a they can't do it.
They looked at him and said, well.
You'll just be a poor man's Bing Crosby.
Dad looked at them and said,you know what?
I will not be anybody's poor man.
(24:57):
I'm rich in waysthat you will never know. Wow.
And dad turned it down and it walked away.
And they gave that slot on Friday,on Saturday night to Gunsmoke.
Yeah.
And the rest is history.
As they would say.
But, you know,dad left there and came home.
(25:19):
We were living in Cleveland.
That was in 1950, I think.
Now marriage is around 55.
1955 or 56,probably 55 could have been 54.
But, you know,I wasn't old enough to pay attention.
But anyway,they got food poisoning on the way home
that that yeardeveloped nodules on his throat.
He had never had a problem.
(25:40):
He had camp meetings to preach.
And then the Washington
camp meeting.
Dad was preaching that summer.
God healed him of his.
The nodules of the throatnever had another problem.
All right.
There's so much more to this story thatyou're going to have to hear next week.
The time just flies by,but I still see this
(26:01):
common threadgoing through this whole story
with Vep Ellis and JB Ellis and you there,and we have even gotten to you yet,
with, with your family,how God takes what you give him
and it
and it expands and it expandsand it expands.
And the legacy of faith keeps going onand on.
(26:22):
Do you want that?
Listen, you can have exactly that.
And you want to be able to talk tosomebody.
We've got a phone numberright there on the screen.
You can call someone right thereto pray with you.
Maybe you don't know who Jesus is,and somehow you got Ahold of this video
or this television programand you need to know, call that number,
someone's there, ready to pray with youand walk you through it.
(26:43):
It's not weird. Not spooky.
You'll understand what it really means,but let me pray for you real, real quick
before we go.
Heavenly father, I thank you, Lord,for every person watching this program,
whether it's live or years down the road,that every person that watches
this show feel the power of Godcome through the airwaves,
that they are ableto quicken themselves to you,
(27:07):
give their hearts to youand be encouraged, edified, built up
that we're going to see great thingshappen in their lives.
In Jesus name, Amen. Amen.
All right.
Thank you for watching Revival Radio TV.
Thank you for supporting us.
As we're here on the VictoryChannel, you'll get all the information
about how you can help.And until then, we'll see you next time.
(27:31):
If you would like
to, to be a part and with your financialdonation, it's very simple.
If you want to mail a check,just simply make it out to Revival Radio.
Fort worth, Texas 76192.
That's all the address you need.
If you want to text your gift,just text it to 36609
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(27:52):
And of course, if you'd liketo pick up the phone and call
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Should you continue to expand, continueto see God do something in this world?
And of course, you can always go online
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(28:14):
It's right there on your screen.
Let's be the partners that we need to be.
And let's see God do something amazing.
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