August 30, 2025 • 69 mins
When was the last time you truly listened to your grandparents' stories? In this intimate family conversation, a grandson sits down with his grandparents, Don and Evelyn Scott, to capture their voices, memories, and wisdom for future generations.
Don and Evelyn take us back to childhoods marked by material poverty but spiritual richness – homes without electricity where oil lamps provided light and pot-bellied stoves offered warmth. Their courtship began in 1959 when Don was serving in the Marine Corps, leading to 64 years of marriage that produced four children, eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
The conversation turns deeply spiritual as Don shares his unexpected calling to ministry after teaching Sunday School, leading to 55 years as a Pentecostal Holiness pastor. Both grandparents speak movingly about their "baptism in the Holy Spirit," describing it as "like electricity" that empowered their faith journey. They thoughtfully address misconceptions about Pentecostal practices while emphasizing the denomination's historical inclusivity across racial divides.
Most touching are their reflections on family legacy. "Our grandchildren and great-grandchildren are God's gifts and treasures," Don says, while Evelyn adds, "They have brought so much joy to our lives." Their message to future generations resonates with both spiritual guidance and unconditional love: "It doesn't matter what you've done before or how far you've run away... You're never too far away. You can always come back."
This conversation offers more than just family history – it's a powerful testament to how faith, love, and perseverance can create a meaningful legacy across generations. What stories from your family elders have you preserved?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Josh (00:00):
Okay, everybody, I wanted to interview my grandparents,
very two special people.
So Evelyn and Don Scott arehere.
If anyone's listening to this,when I'm older or anything, this
is what your grandparentssounded like.
So y'all want to say hi.
Evelyn (00:21):
Hello, I'm Evelyn, I'm the grandmother.
Don (00:25):
Okay, my name is Don.
I'm the grandfather, okay myname is don.
Okay, why don't y'all tell?
Me your story growing up andhow you met how we met.
Yeah, how just your story about you and how you met each
other and how y'all grew up.
(00:45):
This is a long, complicatedtype of a story.
Josh (00:48):
We're not timed, so I want to hear from you.
I want to be able to play thisback one day, okay.
Don (00:57):
Well, we had a.
My childhood in some ways wasvery good, and other things in
other ways it wasn't.
It wasn't in the fact that wewere a very poor family, and I
can remember going back so farwhere we didn't even have
(01:21):
electricity in our home.
Our light was an oil lamp, Ourheat was an old pot-bellied
stove.
We again, we were kind of poorgrowing up.
(01:46):
We had to kind of entertainourselves.
One of the things that reallykept us going was our close
friends.
When we were growing up aschildren, we would get together
and we would throw down fourrocks and we'd have a baseball
game, we would frog hunt atnight and things such as that.
(02:11):
We had to entertain ourselves.
So that is basically the waythat we grew up.
Okay, what about?
Josh (02:22):
very similar for you, Ne, growing up.
Evelyn (02:25):
Somewhat similar, but not quite that poor.
I was one of ten children.
I was the seventh.
We grew up.
My mom farmed, my dad had apublic job and she always put
out a big garden.
We always had to help do that.
My mom was a great cook.
(02:48):
We always had lots of good food.
We always had someone to playwith, not necessarily the
neighborhood kids.
Our cousins lived near to us.
We didn't have a lot richesmoney-wise, but we were a very
close family, still are, stillhave been.
(03:08):
And that's about it, you know.
Josh (03:13):
Right?
Well, both of y'all had a lotof siblings and a lot of
brothers and sisters.
Evelyn (03:18):
We did.
I had five brothers and foursisters, yeah.
Josh (03:24):
And I know Paul had a bunch of brothers and four
sisters.
Yeah, and I know Paul had abunch of brothers and sisters.
How many brothers and sistersdid you have?
Don (03:31):
I had one sister and I had five brothers you didn't have
five brothers.
Evelyn (03:39):
You had four brothers.
Don (03:39):
Four brothers.
I'm sorry.
Josh (03:42):
Well, that's why it's always good to have a good woman
to correct you.
So um did.
Now um.
So y'all got married when youwere in the Marine Corps, right,
yes, okay, how did?
How did y'all meet?
How was um?
If you want to walk us throughthat, if you want to talk about
(04:03):
being in the Marine Corps,because what you were in the
Marine Corps when you were 16,is that when you went, I went in
the Marine Corps when I was 17.
Don (04:10):
Okay, I first seen Evelyn at a local restaurant in the
community.
I was immediately attracted toher Very pretty.
(04:33):
Initially I was just too shy totalk to her and one night, as
she was on her way home, weoffered to give her and her
friend a ride.
(04:54):
They accepted.
As it happened, I think maybeEvelyn got in the vehicle with
me and sat beside of me and thatwas the beginning of our
courtship.
Evelyn (05:08):
Okay, Okay, don left out a very important thing.
One of his friends was madly inlove with my younger sister and
he wanted JC, another friend,to bring him over to see my
sister.
And that's why Don was withthem, and my neighbor and Helen
(05:33):
and I.
We were walking home fromchurch, from the tabernacle, and
we were almost home when theygot there.
So that's how we met, becauseone of his friends loved my
little sister.
That's how we met, because oneof his friends loved my little
sister.
That's how we met.
Josh (05:50):
Yeah.
Evelyn (05:50):
And he was in the Marines then.
Right, I'm glad it happened,because if it didn't and that
was in July of 1959, and we gotmarried in March, the 11th 1961.
Josh (06:08):
Okay, I got you.
Was it hard when y'all weredating each other when you were
in the Marine Corps?
Is that hard?
Don (06:16):
It was very difficult, very hard.
Words really can't describe thedepth of the love that I had
toward her, and it literallyhurt me to be away from her, and
I would usually, whateverchance that I had, of course, I
(06:40):
would come back home and visitwith her.
I was stationed at Camp Lejeune, which is somewhere around 300
miles.
I would get home in a way thatI could Sometime I would have
the money to come home in a bus.
Other times I would get a ridehome with someone that was
(07:01):
traveling to this part of thestate and I would ride with them
.
She and I would spend as muchtime together as we possibly
could, and always on a Sundayafternoon I would have to go
back to the base, because I hadto be back there on Monday
morning, and so it was verydifficult.
(07:23):
Sometimes I would have tohitchhike, oftentimes
practically no money in mypocket, and so it was a very
difficult time for me.
Josh (07:38):
I'm guessing you always made it back to base.
Don (07:41):
I was never late going back to base, but come Monday
morning and it was time to go towork in Marine Corps, you had
to be there, and a lot of timesI didn't get back, maybe to
about three o'clock in themorning, and then at 530 that
morning we had to, we had to beon the job, and so that was very
(08:04):
difficult, very hard.
I was usually pretty much beatevery Monday morning I got you.
Josh (08:10):
Was that hard for you, Ney , when he was in the Marine
Corps?
Evelyn (08:14):
I miss him very much, yeah, and I loved him.
I loved him very dearly and Ialways look forward to seeing
him.
And when he couldn't come home,I was very lonely.
I wrote him letters every day.
He got letters from me everyday that he needed to get to
(08:38):
come home, but it was worth it.
Don (08:44):
Can I intercept something here?
Yeah, you can jump in any timeyou want.
I really look forward to thoseletters and, as Evelyn said, she
would write to me practicallyevery day.
And someone that is away fromhome and the Marine Corps away
from the person you love verydearly.
Those letters meant so much tome.
(09:08):
After I met her I stayedhomesick.
I wanted to come home, but ofcourse in your military you
can't do that and I alwayslooked forward to the day when I
would get out.
I got out on October, the 20th1962.
And it was a very happy day forme.
(09:30):
Yeah.
Josh (09:32):
Well, so you had a kid before you were out of Marine
Corps, didn't you?
Don (09:35):
I did, yeah.
Jimmy was born and she waspregnant with Rhonda, our
daughter.
Okay, when I got out, Okay,yeah.
Josh (09:49):
Well, if I said then, dad was born in 64 and Phillip, how
old are we after?
Evelyn (09:53):
that 66.
Josh (09:55):
66.
And then he had four kids, manygrandkids and many great
grandkids.
Evelyn (10:02):
We have four children, eight grandchildren, we have
three grandsons, five great fivegranddaughters, and we have
three great grandsons and twogreat granddaughters and they're
the smartest and the mostbeautiful all of them are.
(10:23):
That's ever been, ever been, noquestion, and we love them all
that's true.
Josh (10:32):
I, I I've seen friends and other people be around their
grandparents and it reallytouches me because, um, there, I
mean there's some affectionthere.
But I, I really do think y'allare much loving grandparents
(10:52):
anyone could have.
I, um there's a lot of peoplethat didn't grow up with the
amount of love and support thatyou two gave us well, we feel
like that.
Evelyn (11:08):
Our grandchildren and our great grandchildren are
god's gifts and treasures and welove all of you all very, very
deeply.
It's very your.
All of us are.
All of you are important to us.
We want you to be happy.
We want you to be successfuland that's just how we are well,
(11:30):
you're important.
You're important to me fromfrom the minute we first laid
eyes on chris when he was born.
That's how the grandparentslove started and it's never
ended.
And it it never will, will ithoney?
Don (11:46):
Never will.
Oh, I'd like to add somethingelse to my childhood.
Yeah, you can add anything,okay, something that was very,
very important to me growing upthere was a little small
Pentecostal holiness churchwithin walking distance of our
home and we would go there everySunday.
(12:10):
We would walk.
This was a very spiritualchurch.
By spiritual I mean there was alot of emotion.
The singing was very spiritual.
There was a lot of emotion, thesinging was very spiritual.
There was a lot of shouting inthe church and it really made a
(12:34):
lifelong until this very dayimpression on my life and that
impression will always be there.
And did your mom take you tochurch?
Growing up?
My mom would go to church withus and, like most families, we
wouldn't be there every Sunday,but most Sundays we would be
(12:57):
there and we looked forward toit.
And words can't express theimpression that those
old-fashioned Pentecostalservices had on my young heart.
Conviction would get on me, andby conviction I mean a strong,
(13:17):
pulling desire that I needed tomake my way to the altar and
pray, even as a child growing upI'm talking about eight and 10
years old and that is somethingthat I always remember.
Josh (13:34):
Yeah, how about you?
You went to church growing uptoo, didn't you?
Evelyn (13:38):
I went to church at St Paul's Church.
Josh (13:40):
Yeah.
Evelyn (13:41):
Right above.
We walked to church there,right, my mom and dad didn't go
to church with us.
We went by ourselves to Sundayschool and then, later on, daddy
started going to Liberty HillChurch and, matter of fact,
that's where Donna and I bothgot saved.
What year?
1964.
(14:02):
Okay, both of us and we lovedgoing up to that church.
They had I love good music andthey are known for their
beautiful singing.
Josh (14:16):
I get even back then they were what?
Oh yes, always beautiful now Iknow when I've talked to you
before.
It's precious to me you alwaysbring up the flannel grafts.
Evelyn (14:28):
Yeah, there was when we were going to school, Don, too.
There was a Mrs Hess and MrsLoffers, and they were Bible
school teachers.
Yes, and they were with theMethodist Church, I believe.
They funded them.
But every so often they wouldcome around to the schools and
(14:50):
they had flannel grass and theywould tell Bible scores and they
would use these littlecharacters and it was precious.
All the school children lookedforward to that and we loved it.
And every Christmas they wouldgive us some big manila envelope
and it would have Christmascards and poems and things that
(15:11):
they had made and that wasprecious to us too.
We loved that and while we werein school, most all the times
we we had morning devotions andwe said the pledge of allegiance
to the flag, and I think thatneeds to be done today yeah um,
we uh.
(15:32):
When don and I got married, oneof my goals, and don's too, was
that we wanted to have apermanent home when jimmy got in
first grade, because we didn'twant to be moving here and
yonder to take him in school andout of school.
So some property becameavailable.
We were able to buy a lot andso we had my uncle built us a
(16:01):
house and we moved in it in Juneof 1966.
So we've been here ever since,yeah, and we started going back
to St Paul's Church, my homechurch, and we're very, very
happy there, very involved in it, in everything.
(16:21):
And that's when God called Donto preach.
And you can take it from there,don.
Don (16:29):
I would just like also to add to what Evelyn said a moment
ago about these two ladies.
We referred to them as theBible teachers and they also
made a great impression on mylife.
They were outstanding teachersand I think it is awful that in
(16:53):
today's world that they can't domore of that in our schools
today.
It's my understanding that ourgovernment won't allow that, but
I think at a tender young age,little children need that type
of teaching and in the eye of mymind I can still see these two
(17:16):
Bible teachers.
Josh (17:17):
I can still see what they look like they would come to
your school.
Don (17:20):
Yes, they would come to the school and they would teach a
Bible lesson, and they were veryskilled.
For example, if she wasteaching about David and Goliath
, you could almost see Davidwith the sling and you could
almost see the stone hittingGoliath in the head.
They were that good.
(17:44):
It made you feel like that youwere actually there watching
this take place.
Evelyn (17:50):
You went into the library, the class each you know
they would take up like thesixth grade in the elementary
school.
Of course, now, back then therewas only one first grade, one
second and so forth.
Schools weren't as large asthey were, and so they would
take them a grade at a time andspend about a half an hour or 15
(18:15):
minutes in order for them toget the whole school yeah but
they would come, I think, maybeonce every six weeks okay and
they were called the BibleSchool Teachers.
Yeah, and that's what they were.
Josh (18:29):
Okay, and they.
Evelyn (18:30):
And everybody loved them .
Josh (18:32):
They went to different schools.
Evelyn (18:34):
Yes, In Wythe County they went to the.
Josh (18:37):
Yeah.
Evelyn (18:37):
I know they went to all the elementary schools.
Josh (18:40):
Okay, because y'all didn't go to the same elementary
school.
Evelyn (18:43):
No, I don't think okay because y'all didn't go to the
same elementary school.
No, thank you.
Uh, I went to salome for threeyears and then I went to sheffy
for the last four years.
Then you went to jackson hewent to jackson and no, he went
to austinville elementary schoolthe little small building that
he took me to.
Josh (18:59):
It turned into a barn the little barn.
Evelyn (19:02):
He went to the first grade.
What?
Was the name of that school.
Don (19:05):
That was called the Matthews School.
I don't know how many years thatlittle school, that school
building, was there, but it wasvery small.
We had seven grades in one room.
I still remember the teacher'sname she was Mrs Humphrey.
I still remember the teacher'sname she was Mrs Humphrey.
(19:28):
I still remember we didn't havea school bus to pick us up, we
had to walk and we were kind oflike the little house on the
prairie when you see the littlechildren running down through
the field and they're finallyarriving at the school Right,
and I went there for one yearand then the school closed and I
had to transfer to theMaximillian Elementary School.
(19:51):
Okay, one more thing aboutthose Bible teachers that Evelyn
was elaborating on.
These were two ladies.
To my understanding, they werenever married.
They devoted their entire lifeto teaching the Bible in school.
So if anybody listens to thisinterview, it's important that
(20:14):
little children hear the Gospel,and I learned the Gospel from
the little church I attended andalso from these Bible school
teachers that came to the school.
Josh (20:31):
Well now, the laws were definitely different when I was
in school, but we did havesomething called the Bible bus
when I was in school and theywould take us.
The parents had to givepermission, and of course dad
did, and they would come pick usup on this bus and then they
(20:56):
would drive us to a church onthe hill right next to the
school because they had to beoff school property and they
taught us the Bible there.
And I know the lady really well, her name is Miss Finstemaker
very, very good lady.
Um, she didn't drive the busbut she taught the kids and, um,
(21:17):
that was a big, a big thing inour school system and they're
allowed to do it legally.
They're allowed to do it.
We did it.
I think we did it once a weekfor about 20 minutes, so during
gym class.
I think I can't remember ifit's the third or fifth grade,
but that we did do that.
But I think that's great and Ithink it's funny.
(21:41):
A lot of people have no ideawhat a flannel graph is.
I barely know what a flannelgraph is, because when Dad was
taking me, I think, to DraperValley and I know y'all know
Draper Valley I think they had aflannel graph, but um, it's
just a cardboard.
It's cardboard.
Evelyn (22:01):
You just put the cardboard character on there,
it's uh right, you had an easeland it was something like a
baby's blanket okay and it wason there and then the little
characters.
Josh (22:16):
It stuck to those okay, um , so you're back home.
You're from the marine corps,just from the out of the marine
corps.
You're, um, married.
You have a kid.
Um, you know you feel called toministry pretty early on.
You know you feel called toministry pretty early on back
(22:38):
home, after you're saved, justwalk me through being called to
ministry and being a father anda husband.
Don (22:47):
Okay, first of all, me being called into the ministry.
This is the last thing thatI've ever thought that I would
ever do in life was to be aminister of the gospel.
I didn't have the educationalbackground, I didn't have the
Bible knowledge to do that.
I have to back up a little bit,I think, probably to the little
(23:11):
church I attended.
The things that I learned there, the impression that the little
church made on my heart.
It stayed with me.
We went to church one night.
There was an altar call.
I responded to the altar call.
I responded I mean, I got outof my church seat, went to the
(23:36):
old-fashioned altar, I got on myknees and I prayed the best
that I possibly could and myprayer probably went something
like God I want you to forgiveme of my sins.
And I accepted Christ into mylife and into my heart, christ
(23:58):
into my life and into my heart.
After that, evelyn and I werevery faithful to the church.
We dearly loved the church thatwe attended.
We got close to the people.
Eventually I was elected to thechurch board.
I became one of the deacons ofthe church.
Where was that at?
This was at St Paul, st Paul.
(24:19):
Now I accepted Christ at theLiberty Hill Church.
We transferred our membershipto the St Paul Church because we
moved to the St Paul communityand it was close.
This is nothing against thepeople of Liberty Hill.
We love the church, we love thepeople.
They made an impression on ourlife, but Evelyn had grown up in
(24:42):
the St Paul church.
We moved in the community whereSt Paul was located and we just
felt like that's where weneeded to be, that that's what
we needed to be.
So we transferred our membershipfrom Liberty Hill to St Paul
(25:07):
and they asked me to become aSunday School teacher and I
accepted that.
And, of course, being a SundaySchool teacher, you have to do a
lot of reading, a lot ofstudying, a lot of preparing, a
lot of studying, a lot ofpreparing.
And so I did that and in thecourse of my studying for Sunday
school and preparing my lessonfor Sunday school, the Bible
really came alive to me.
(25:27):
I could compare it, in allsincerity, like a fire that was
burning within my heart, in mymind, and so I began to pray,
teach Sunday school every Sundaymorning, and I suddenly began
(25:48):
to have this urge where I neededto declare the gospel to
everyone.
Yeah, and I called my pastorone day.
He came and I shared with himthat I felt like God was calling
me into the ministry, and Iguess the rest is history.
(26:10):
I went on a study course in mydenomination.
It took me about four years ofstudying, taking different tests
, studying for the ministry, andfinally I was licensed and
ordained and my denominationassigned me to a church and I've
(26:31):
been a pastor now for about 55years.
Josh (26:37):
So the majority of your life you've been a pastor?
It has, yes, yeah.
So, nate, do you mind me askingyou when, after you get both
get saved, pa starts teachingSunday school at St Paul?
He feels like he's led theministry and he tells you about
this.
Is there anything that'srunning through your head?
Evelyn (27:01):
Yes, I will never forget the first time he took me into
our children's the boys' bedroomand he was crying and he told
me that he felt like that Godwas calling him to preach, which
did not surprise me because Donis always good, being a good,
(27:26):
moral man.
He's always been good, always,even when he wasn't a Christian,
he was a good man.
And it didn't surprise me atall because he was so involved
in that church and he wanted tosee people saved and he wanted
(27:47):
them to have a good experiencewith the Lord.
And he said can you see mebeing a minister?
I said, yes, but I can't see mebeing a minister's wife.
But that's exactly what I havebeen all these 50-some years.
I may not have been the best,but I have tried my best to
(28:09):
support him At each and everychurch.
I've always been involved, I'vealways worked, I've always
participated, I've always worked, I've always participated.
Our children were alwaysinvolved.
They always went to church, wasinvolved in their activities
until they got married and wenton.
And there have been some badtimes, bad experiences with a
(28:33):
couple of churches, but the goodtimes are far so outshattered
the bad, and we have madewonderful, everlasting friends
at every church we've ever beento.
Now we're at one of thesmallest churches that we've
ever had, but it's also one ofthe very best.
(28:54):
The people are wonderful.
We love them, they love us.
And we're old now.
Both Don and I are both old,but I don't think that we've got
a lot of regrets.
We've been married 64 years andit's a good marriage.
We love each other very deeply.
(29:15):
We love our family.
We love God, we love each otherand that's most important and
we're happy.
Don is a very funny person andhe makes me laugh yeah.
And I'm very, very glad that Imarried your grandpa.
Josh (29:36):
I am am too.
I'm glad you married him too.
Evelyn (29:39):
I have some I have something else to add to my head
to add to my story.
Don (29:45):
Yeah, yeah, you know there is a lot of church denominations
that only teach a saved life.
By saved I mean your sins areforgiven, your name is written
in the Lamb's Book of Life, andwhen this life is over, of
(30:10):
course, you can go to heaven.
But the church that we attendedalways taught that the saved
life is wonderful and good, butthere is more to be had than
just a saved life, and I wastaught that you needed to seek
God.
(30:31):
By seeking God I mean pray andask God to fill you with the
power of the Holy Spirit in yourlife.
And so this happened to me.
This happened to me at theLiberty Hill Church.
I was kneeling at the altar,praying and suddenly there was
(30:51):
something like electricity cameupon me and I could feel my body
kind of slumping down at thealtar, and that was the baptism
of the Holy Spirit.
From time to time, from thatday to this, I have felt that
same power and that same spirit.
(31:12):
It might sound a little comicalto some people, but to begin
with it was just in my hands andthen later on, in my experience
, it moved from my hand here'sthe funny part and it got into
my feet, and it was likeelectricity that was just
vibrating within you, and whenthis electrifying power of the
(31:37):
Holy Spirit came into my life, Ifelt like this was something
that I needed to share with theworld, and so God called me, and
I answered the call, and herewe are today.
Josh (31:53):
That's something that's pretty special to you.
Don (31:55):
It is.
It's called the baptism of theHoly Spirit, and anybody that's
listening to this interview Ihave no reason to try to impress
anybody that's out there.
This isn't a story that I'vedecided to make up.
The power of God iselectrifying.
(32:16):
It is spirit.
It is the spirit of God.
It is like a fire that burnswithin you, and I would
encourage anyone to go beyondthe saved life and seek God for
deeper, more powerfulexperiences.
You know in the book of Actsone of the last things Jesus
(32:39):
told his disciples before hewent back to heaven.
He said Tarry in Jerusalemuntil you be endued with power
from on high and you shall bewitnesses unto me in Judea and
Samaria and the outermost partsof the earth.
And Judea and Samaria and theoutermost parts of the earth.
And in that verse it tells usthat there is a spiritual power
(33:02):
that God can clothe us with todo his work.
Josh (33:07):
Yeah, yeah, I understand.
So you're saying that beingsaved is great, but there's a
deeper relationship that you canhave, right?
Don (33:27):
That is well put.
That is what I'm saying.
There is more to the Christianlife than just being saved.
Now, I know I'm repeatingmyself a little bit, it's okay.
But you can be saved and go toheaven.
But there is a spiritual powerthat God can give to us to
(33:49):
empower us to go beyond thesaved life, and if anybody is
going to accomplish a whole lotfor God in this life, we need
that power.
It is a power to witness, it isa power to teach, a power to
save, a power to minister God'sWord, and this has been one of
(34:14):
the things that has kept megoing in a lot of discouraging
situations I've found myself inyeah, I understand that.
Josh (34:27):
So you know telling people , even still today someone asked
me if my grandparents are, ifyou're a minister, if I tell
them and they'll tell me whatyou know what church, and I tell
them and some, unless you'rePentecostal.
(34:49):
Every time I say Pentecostal,holiness, a lot of times their
eyes go up a little bit and Iunderstand why.
But it seems to me like myimpression with a lot of other
Christians is there's a lot offalse conceptions about being a
(35:12):
Pentecostal or a holiness ingeneral and you know they point
out to the speaking in tongues alot.
That's a big objection, thatand dancing in the spirit being
a spirit-led church, aspirit-led church.
(35:45):
But when I go to your church Igrew up around this.
My limit of comfortabilityaround a little bit of rowdiness
is pretty high.
So when I go to your church andI hadn't been there in a couple
years, but they're super nicepeople and it's very relaxed
it's not the majority of thetime you're very, very relaxed
and something that people wouldbe used to in a Baptist or a
(36:08):
Methodist service a lot of times.
But I guess you've been withthe Pentecostal holiness church,
iphc for what?
55 years as a minister longer asa christian, um, but I guess my
thing is, the majority ofservices you've been to and
(36:30):
administered under, people arejust not speaking in tongues and
dancing the entire service, arethey?
Don (36:37):
Oh, no, yeah, no.
That is a MisconceptionMisconception of a lot of people
about the Pentecostal OldenChurch.
It's not the intentions of thisinterview for me to give
everybody a Bible lesson onspeaking in tongues or the
(37:06):
baptism of the Holy Spirit, butif we stop to think about it,
every writer that wrote in theNew Testament, with the
exception maybe of Titus, spokewith tongues.
Matthew, mark, luke and Johnwas in the Upper Room.
The Apostle Paul wasn't in theUpper Room, but he said I thank
(37:29):
God, I speak in tongues morethan you all and all the
disciples was in the upper room.
The mother of Jesus, mary, wasin the upper room, and so it has
to be.
This has to be a biblicalteaching, a biblical doctrine
(37:51):
that we need to teach people.
And you don't have to speak intongues to go to heaven.
The Bible doesn't say that, butthe Bible does teach us that
when they were filled with theHoly Ghost, that they spoke with
other tongues.
Josh (38:08):
Yes, yeah, I agree, and you know I mean I'm very
charismatic, so I believe in thegifts of the Spirit for sure.
And, and you know I mean I'mvery charismatic, so I believe
in the gifts of the Spirit forsure, and it's not because I've
experienced them or have seenthem, because you know there are
(38:33):
people who have seen andexperienced things that don't
line up with the Bible, but whenI read the New Testament, I
definitely believe the gifts arefor today.
Now I think 1 Corinthians 13says that prophecy healing will
cease when the perfect comes,but that perfect means Jesus,
(38:53):
and he hasn't come back yet.
Am I right about that?
That's true, very good, yeah, Ithought so and I fought you to
prove.
But yeah, and your church isreally big on holiness, trying
to live a holy life.
Don (39:13):
It is.
Yeah, there's a verse ofscripture said follow peace with
all men and holiness, withoutwhich no man shall see the lord.
Or, in other words, we, we needto live a holy life and, uh, I
believe that.
Josh (39:34):
Yeah, but the thing is, no one, before they are saved,
lived a holy life without theHoly Spirit, and anyone can come
to Jesus.
Yes, it doesn't matter whatyou've done before does it?
(39:55):
It doesn't matter what you'vedone before does it?
Don (39:57):
It doesn't matter what you've done before.
We can give you some Bibleexamples if you want me to.
Yeah, if we read the story inthe Bible of David, he committed
adultery and then hadBathsheba's husband killed.
(40:19):
And later on in the book ofPsalms, where we read David's
prayer, he said.
He said there's another verseof Scripture in the book of
Romans that said where sinabounds, grace does much more
(40:40):
abound.
And so David, even though hecommitted those terrible sins,
there came a time when he gavehis life to Christ and he was
forgiven.
The apostle Paul on the road todamascus the bible tells us that
he was a persecutor of thechurch and he made havoc of the
(41:02):
church, but yet god saved himand he turned about, turned out
to be one of the greatestchristians that ever lived and
wrote 13 books of the NewTestament.
Yes, the woman at the well.
When Jesus met her, she was awoman that had five husbands and
(41:25):
she was already living withsomeone that she wasn't married
to, and Jesus saved her therethat day, at the well.
So it doesn't matter what we'veever done in life, if we will
confess our sins to him.
He is faithful and just toforgive us of our sins and to
cleanse us from allunrighteousness.
Josh (41:47):
Yeah, god is a God of love and forgiveness.
Yes, do you all both have aknee?
I'll ask you first.
Do you have a?
Do y'all both have a knee?
I'll ask you first.
Do you?
Do you have a favorite biblestory, a favorite bible passage,
or?
Um?
If not, I'll ask him mygrandmother is there a favorite
bible story you'd like to sharethat you have.
Evelyn (42:10):
That means my favorite Bible story that I have is the
story of Joseph and the lifethat he lived, the way he was
sold into captivity by hisbrothers, and how that he stayed
faithful and how he wasreunited with his father and his
(42:32):
brothers with his father andhis brothers and to me that's
the greatest example offorgiveness that is in the Bible
.
And, of course, we were alllike the brothers.
You know we were all guilty,but Jesus still loved us, even
though we weren't perfect, andhe saved us, and so that's my
(42:55):
favorite one in the Bible yeahof course, all of the ones in
the Bible is good.
Yeah, don't get me wrong, but tome that's my favorite yeah, and
you're.
Josh (43:08):
I think it's fun.
So one of the characters thataggravate you the most in the
Bible is King David, isn't it?
Yeah, that's all.
Evelyn (43:20):
Yeah, I just didn't Well .
In the first place, I neverunderstood why a woman would
want to carry a tub and water upon the rooftop to take a bath
in the first place.
Josh (43:30):
Yeah.
Evelyn (43:31):
It didn't make sense to me.
Never has, never will.
Josh (43:34):
You know, who aggravates me more than anybody in the
Bible is Samson.
Oh really, yeah, because hetells Delilah several things
that would make him lose hisstrength on multiple occasions,
and then he's surprised that shedoes the same thing that she
(43:55):
did multiple times.
Sometimes I really think thathe is probably the dumbest
person in the Bible, but Godstill used them at the end and
God still loves them, you know.
Evelyn (44:09):
That's true.
Josh (44:10):
Paul, do you have a favorite Bible story?
Don (44:16):
That is a very hard one, I would have to say, the story of
Jesus.
He was God that became a manand was born of a virgin, grew
up in a life of poverty, leftall of the greatness and the
(44:40):
riches of heaven, to come tothis world and to be ridiculed
like he was and eventually to goto the cross and suffer the
pain of the cross.
All of his disciples hadforsaken him and had left him,
and there he hangs by himself onthe cross for our sins, and to
(45:05):
me that's a beautiful story.
Josh (45:07):
Yeah then he raised from the dead.
Yeah and yeah.
The story of Jesus definitelymakes you wonder forever.
The incarnation, his life,death, burial and resurrection,
his ascension, and then you know.
(45:29):
But one of my favorite thingsis right before Jesus leaves, he
told us I'm not going to leaveyou alone and I'm going to give
you a great comforter.
Yes, and I think that's a bigthing.
The whole Pentecostals andcharismatics are very big, and
this isn't even talking aboutspeaking in tongues.
Y'all are very big.
(45:51):
We are very big on emphasizingthe Holy Spirit and I'm not all
Christian churches believe inthe Holy Spirit, but it's
Charismatics, pentecostals, someMethodists.
The Holy Spirit has a big, hugeemphasis in following his lead.
(46:13):
You don't have to answer that,it's just an observation.
Don (46:19):
I'm sorry I didn't hear the question.
Josh (46:20):
No, no, it's not a question.
I was just saying thatPentecostals and Charismatics
put a lot of emphasis on theHoly Spirit.
Following the Holy Spirit inhis lead today.
Don (46:41):
Spirit, following the Holy Spirit and his lead the day.
Well, he, there is a lot ofchurches today to teach that the
Holy Spirit failed on the dayof Pentecost in the second
chapter of the book of Acts.
But it was for that day onlyand for that moment only.
But if we read the entire bookof Acts, there is three other
(47:01):
times that the Holy Spiritfailed and each time they spoke
with other tongues.
If we read about somethingthat's happened in one time in
the Bible, it was for that onetime, but if it continues to
happen over and over again, thenwe take that to mean that it
(47:23):
wasn't just for the day ofPentecost, but it was for our
day and our time we live in.
And you know the prophet Joel.
He prophesied and said that inthe last days I'll pour out of
my spirit on all flesh Right andthe sons and daughters would
prophesy and old men would dreamdreams.
And that happened on the day ofPentecost and in the.
(47:47):
I think it's the 13th chapterof Acts, I think.
Is that the 11th chapter?
Yes, okay, the 12th chapter ofthe book of Acts?
I think it is.
Josh (48:03):
Well, the first, corinthians 13,.
Right, that's the love chapter.
Don (48:06):
Yeah, and you know, in the book of Corinthians, the Apostle
Paul is given the gifts of theSpirit, and one of those gifts
of the Spirit is speaking intongues, and so it would be no
reason for Paul to write aboutit if it stopped on the day of.
Josh (48:23):
Pentecost and when you read people that believe that
the gift of tongues is eitherceased or that it's just
speaking a foreign language forevangelism, they often cite 1
Corinthians 14, and I don'tthink they have a good argument,
because St Paul is correctingthe church that is enthusiastic
(48:50):
about the gifts, but they'repracticing them improperly.
And at the very end end he saysdo not forsake speaking in
tongues.
Don (48:59):
I thank god, I speak in tongues more than you all, but
what he was saying is throughoutthe worship service we need
instruction and in preaching andand he never condemns them, he
just corrects them okay, okay,anybody that in the future that
might be listening to thisinterview, they might be of the
(49:21):
opinion that they are fearful ofthe Pentecostal church because
they think that to go to aPentecostal church that you have
got a number of people sittingin church and a half a dozen of
them are speaking in tongues andyou can't understand what
(49:41):
they're saying, and so what'sthe benefit of it?
Yeah, but I've been at mychurch that I'm pastor now for
14 years and it's very little ofthat happens in my church.
We believe in it because it's aBible teaching and a Bible
doctrine, but it's a falseconcept that if you come to a
(50:06):
Pentecostal church that a dozenpeople is going to be speaking
in a language you can'tunderstand.
It very seldom happens in mychurch, but it does occasionally
.
Josh (50:16):
What was you going to say, Nhi?
What was?
Evelyn (50:19):
you going to say Nhi?
My understanding of speaking intongues is that it's not for
the people around them to hearand to understand what you're
saying, Because that is betweenyou and God and you are edifying
God.
It's not for the understandingof the other parishioners.
That is edifying God, yeah.
Josh (50:42):
When you're speaking that way.
Well, I know they go to Acts 2,because in Acts 2, everyone
speaks in tongues in the upperroom and then the average guy
can hear them speak in his ownlanguage.
That's true, that happens.
But then Peter, st Peter, givesa sermon in one common language
(51:02):
and in that day in Israel andin the Roman Empire they were
very bilingual.
Jesus probably spoke multiplelanguages.
He definitely spoke Hebrew.
I mean sorry, he definitelyspoke Aramaic.
He definitely spoke Greek.
He probably spoke a littleHebrew and a lot of, even a lot
(51:27):
of Israel.
Even a lot of the Israelites atthe time weren't speaking as
much Hebrew.
Only the Pharisees, only therabbis that were reading the
Torah, would be speaking Hebrewand a lot of them were reading
the Septuagint, which is theGreek Old Testament, and so a
(51:50):
lot of them were speaking Arabicat the time, and especially
Greek.
So they didn't.
I don't think this idea that itwas just an evangelistic tool.
I mean, I believe God can useit as that, but I I don't buy
the notion, because when youread first corinthians, chapter
14, it definitely seems likepeople are praying in tongues
(52:11):
and prophesying.
But um, you know, I do thinkit's a misconception.
I've heard a lot of snake jokesthat you're going to be holding
snakes in the church and there.
There are very few smallindependent Pentecostal churches
in West Virginia that holdsnakes, but we're talking about
(52:32):
a microscopic level.
I've never seen it and I don'twant to ever see it.
But that's not a huge deal to mebecause it's very easily
debunked.
Don (52:51):
If anyone comes to my church, what you will see
usually is we will take prayerrequests, yeah, and we will take
prayer requests, yeah.
Evelyn (53:00):
And we will have a congregational prayer.
Don (53:05):
We will have the choir to sing some songs.
Usually it's a couple of songs,and we have a very talented
lady in our church that singsbeautiful and she will usually
sing one or sometimes two songs.
Yeah, then I will preach thebest that I can, and we always
(53:26):
have an altar service and we'llall gather around the altar.
Anybody that has special needs,we invite them to come for
prayer, and usually abouteverybody in the church will
come forward Right, andbasically that's what our church
service consists of.
If God sees, and if it's God'swill and the Holy Spirit moves
(53:51):
upon someone, then at that pointthere will be some speaking in
tongues possibly, but it's veryrare in our church.
I wish to tell you the truth, Iwish it would happen more often
than what it does.
Yeah, but nobody has to come tomy church, which is a
pentecostal church, and feellike that you're going to,
something's going to happen, uh,that you need to be fearful of.
(54:14):
You don't have to be afraid.
Josh (54:15):
No, no, but um.
Before I let y'all say yourfinal words, whatever you want
to say, I do want to say this Ihave done a little reading on
Pentecostal history Not a ton,but a little.
And William Seymour?
He's African American.
He was born right after theCivil War in 1870.
(54:38):
His mom and dad were both borninto slaves in Louisiana.
He desires a gift more than justsalvation.
He goes to a Bible school inTopeka, kansas, where the Holy
(54:59):
Spirit outbreaks there.
They wouldn't even let him inthe school.
He has to sit outside andlisten through the doorway and
then he goes.
He doesn't let that harden hisheart.
It really impresses me becausehere he is, he's a man of God.
It really impresses me becausehere he is, he's a man of God.
(55:19):
He wants to seek more.
He wants to seek the baptism ofthe Holy Spirit.
He wants to know what that is.
He just has a Bible.
His parents were born intoslavery and the people that he's
going to school with won't evenlet him into school.
But he doesn't let that hardenhis heart and he goes to
(55:42):
Southern California Los Angeles,I think in a place called Azusa
Street.
It's like a.
What I've read is it's a whatI've read.
Azusa Street was basically abarn.
They are an old building.
They converted into a church.
That they are an old building.
(56:02):
They converted into a churchand the Holy Spirit works there
and gives birth to themodern-day Pentecostal and
charismatic movement.
Go ahead.
Don (56:13):
I really appreciate your knowledge in this, josh.
Yeah, you can tell by talkingto you that you have done some
reading Right.
You correct me if I'm wrong.
Josh (56:22):
Okay, I haven't done it.
Don (56:23):
If I'm not mistaken.
I think that when the HolySpirit fell on Azusa Street, am
I right that they made thechurch move because of tongues
and they had to move from thatlocation and maybe go to a
private home, I think?
Josh (56:42):
Okay.
So you're asking me somethingthat I have read, but it's been
a very long time and it wouldnot surprise me.
It does sound somewhat familiar.
But my point in this is there'sthis African-American man
Parents were slaves when he wasin Topeka.
They wouldn't even let him intoschool, but he didn't harden
his heart.
In this is there's thisAfrican-American man parents
were slaves.
What?
When he's in Topeka?
They wouldn't even let him inthe school, but he didn't harden
(57:04):
his heart, he still kept, hestill wanted God.
He's preaching, sermons, himand Charles Palmer, I think.
Am I right?
Okay, and they go to AzusaStreet, give birth to the
Pentecostal and charismaticmovement today, and tons of
(57:27):
missions come from it.
The Assembly of God forms prettyearly on.
The Pentecostal Holiness Churchthat you belong to started off
as a holiness church and thenaccepted the gifts of the spirit
, if I'm right.
Um, and then we have the churchof god, church of god and
prophecy, uh, calvary chapel,which is very similar,
(57:50):
charismatic, um and um.
God moves in a big way.
So this is, this is happening,and it's this revival is being
led by a black man in an erawhere blacks and whites don't go
to church together.
You don't see that there's a tonof racism, and I'm not picking
(58:14):
on anyone that belongs to theSouthern Baptist Convention, but
the Southern Baptist Convention.
They've repented for it andthey've apologized.
But they started off.
They split from the AmericanBaptist because of slavery,
because they wanted to keepslaves, and after that, after
(58:35):
slavery was abolished, there wasstill a huge, huge racial
divide and Pentecostalism,methodism, charismatics.
I'm not saying there's neverbeen any racism, but there they
have been very good aboutincluding everyone of all
(58:56):
different colors in the church.
Have you had a lot?
Have you had a lot of it?
We colors in the church, haveyou had a lot of?
We live in a very wide area.
Have you had a lot ofexperience with different races
in the PH church and differentministers?
I know you're aware of AzusaStreet.
I was just wondering, beingaround you, being around you.
Don (59:21):
I am not aware of any racism, if that was your
question.
Josh (59:26):
Well, not only that.
Just you know, african-americanministers.
That's not a, that might not benormal around here, because we
live in a pretty white part ofthe country, but there would be
no problem with a black manbeing a minister.
Oh, no, no absolutely not.
(59:46):
Yeah.
Don (59:48):
In the church that I pastor , we welcome everyone.
Sure, yeah, if they're rich orpoor, it doesn't matter to us if
they're black or white, we willwelcome them any of them, and I
think that I can speak forevery Pentecostal Lowlander's
church in our conference, andthere's somewhere around 150
(01:00:09):
churches in our conference, sothat's a pretty accurate number
and I think I could speak forevery one of them.
There's no racism and wewelcome everyone from every walk
of life and we will welcomethem as our brother and as our
sister.
Josh (01:00:25):
Yeah, and y'all guys have churches outside the United
States.
I know you've talked to me.
Y'all have some churches inUkraine, right?
Don (01:00:35):
We get into world missions of which I am not real familiar,
other than I think we havechurches in I think it's 120
other countries around the world.
We have Pentecostal holinesschurches.
Evelyn (01:00:52):
And missionaries.
Don (01:00:53):
Yeah, and missionaries.
Well, and listen in theassemblies of God which y'all
are close with Well and listenin the assemblies of God which
y'all are close with.
There is more Pentecostalholiness churches around the
world than there are in theUnited States.
Josh (01:01:12):
Outside the United.
Don (01:01:13):
States.
There's something like.
I heard figures this morning.
I would say that there'sprobably 10 or 15,000
Pentecostal churches around theworld.
Josh (01:01:28):
Well, it's really growing.
In Africa and South America,yes, and Brazil, a lot of the
Protestants are becomingPentecostals and a lot of the
Catholics are becomingPentecostals.
Now, y'all aren't part of theAssemblies of God, but you are
(01:01:48):
almost the same in doctrine.
There's no bad will.
Y'all love each other.
Oh, yes, and the Assemblies ofGod is huge.
It is absolutely huge aroundthe world.
Don (01:02:04):
If I'm not mistaken, that's the largest Pentecostal
denomination.
Josh (01:02:08):
Yeah, they are.
It's not even close and theyare absolutely huge.
I have a really good friendthat's in the Assemblies of God
but I'm going to let y'all go.
But I'm going to let y'all go,but before we leave I'll let
y'all say anything you want to,anything you would like future
(01:02:30):
Scots to hear that you might notbe able to meet and I might not
be able to meet.
That's a big reason I'm doingthis is for our family.
There's so many times when Iwas looking back at my ancestry
that I said I wish I could hearhim talk.
I wish I could hear her talk.
Is there anything you'd like totell your future, future
(01:02:56):
descendants, future family?
Don (01:03:00):
the biggest thing that I like to leave with everybody was
the depth of our love towardour family, all of our children,
grandchildren andgreat-grandchildren.
It is a little bit of troubling.
(01:03:20):
I don't know this for a fact,but I think that there are some
of our grandchildren that arenot involved in church now as I
speak, and I hope that I'm wrong, but I would like to encourage
all of our children andgrandchildren to take their
(01:03:45):
children to church.
It's vitally important thatthey hear the gospel, and that's
probably the biggest messageI'd like to leave behind for
everyone Our love for the family, our love for the church.
It's important that we becomeinvolved in the church of our
choice, preferably Pentecostal,because that's my church, yeah.
Josh (01:04:10):
And I will say before I let Nise say what she wants.
To anyone that's listening tome, it doesn't matter what
you've done before or how faryou've run away.
Everybody's made mistakes.
I've made a lot of mistakes.
I'm not really qualified to saysome of the things I've said,
(01:04:30):
but I'm trying to do better,trying to live a holier life.
You're never too far away.
You can always come back.
Don (01:04:40):
There's a verse of scripture, josh, that I'll give
to you.
I don't think I've quoted it inthis interview.
Yeah, and I think it's well.
I know it's in the book ofRomans.
I want to think.
Somewhere around chapter 13,somewhere it said where sin
abounds, grace does much moreabound.
Yes, sin abounds, grace doesmuch more abound, yes, and so,
(01:05:08):
uh, of course, that doesn't giveus the license to sin, right,
because we know that grace ofgod is great.
Uh, he expects us if we makeerrors.
He expects us to do better, yes, and to live a holy life, right
, but if we mess up in life I'lluse that term we can always go
(01:05:30):
to him, and we used, a while ago, the example of David, the
example of the Apostle Paul.
Peter is another example.
He failed God and God took himback, and so if you're out there
listening to this and you feellike you've gone too far to turn
around, you have it.
Amen.
All you have to do is repentand come to God.
(01:05:52):
God is love and His mercy isgreat and His grace is great.
Josh (01:05:59):
Amen.
So, trudy, is there anythingyou'd like to say to the future?
Evelyn (01:06:08):
Yeah, I just want to reiterate how thankful I am for
my family that consists of mychildren, my grandchildren, my
great-grandchildren.
They have brought so much joyto mine and Don's life.
We love them.
We love all of you.
We're very proud of all of youand we will always be there for
(01:06:32):
you if you ever need us at anytime.
Josh (01:06:36):
That's sweet.
Yeah, that's sweet.
Thank you all guys so much.
Okay, everybody, I wanted to interview my grandparents,
very two special people.
So Evelyn and Don Scott arehere.
If anyone's listening to this,when I'm older or anything, this
is what your grandparentssounded like.
So y'all want to say hi.
Evelyn (00:21):
Hello, I'm Evelyn, I'm the grandmother.
Don (00:25):
Okay, my name is Don.
I'm the grandfather, okay myname is don.
Okay, why don't y'all tell?
Me your story growing up andhow you met how we met.
Yeah, how just your story about you and how you met each
other and how y'all grew up.
(00:45):
This is a long, complicatedtype of a story.
Josh (00:48):
We're not timed, so I want to hear from you.
I want to be able to play thisback one day, okay.
Don (00:57):
Well, we had a.
My childhood in some ways wasvery good, and other things in
other ways it wasn't.
It wasn't in the fact that wewere a very poor family, and I
can remember going back so farwhere we didn't even have
(01:21):
electricity in our home.
Our light was an oil lamp, Ourheat was an old pot-bellied
stove.
We again, we were kind of poorgrowing up.
(01:46):
We had to kind of entertainourselves.
One of the things that reallykept us going was our close
friends.
When we were growing up aschildren, we would get together
and we would throw down fourrocks and we'd have a baseball
game, we would frog hunt atnight and things such as that.
(02:11):
We had to entertain ourselves.
So that is basically the waythat we grew up.
Okay, what about?
Josh (02:22):
very similar for you, Ne, growing up.
Evelyn (02:25):
Somewhat similar, but not quite that poor.
I was one of ten children.
I was the seventh.
We grew up.
My mom farmed, my dad had apublic job and she always put
out a big garden.
We always had to help do that.
My mom was a great cook.
(02:48):
We always had lots of good food.
We always had someone to playwith, not necessarily the
neighborhood kids.
Our cousins lived near to us.
We didn't have a lot richesmoney-wise, but we were a very
close family, still are, stillhave been.
(03:08):
And that's about it, you know.
Josh (03:13):
Right?
Well, both of y'all had a lotof siblings and a lot of
brothers and sisters.
Evelyn (03:18):
We did.
I had five brothers and foursisters, yeah.
Josh (03:24):
And I know Paul had a bunch of brothers and four
sisters.
Yeah, and I know Paul had abunch of brothers and sisters.
How many brothers and sistersdid you have?
Don (03:31):
I had one sister and I had five brothers you didn't have
five brothers.
Evelyn (03:39):
You had four brothers.
Don (03:39):
Four brothers.
I'm sorry.
Josh (03:42):
Well, that's why it's always good to have a good woman
to correct you.
So um did.
Now um.
So y'all got married when youwere in the Marine Corps, right,
yes, okay, how did?
How did y'all meet?
How was um?
If you want to walk us throughthat, if you want to talk about
(04:03):
being in the Marine Corps,because what you were in the
Marine Corps when you were 16,is that when you went, I went in
the Marine Corps when I was 17.
Don (04:10):
Okay, I first seen Evelyn at a local restaurant in the
community.
I was immediately attracted toher Very pretty.
(04:33):
Initially I was just too shy totalk to her and one night, as
she was on her way home, weoffered to give her and her
friend a ride.
(04:54):
They accepted.
As it happened, I think maybeEvelyn got in the vehicle with
me and sat beside of me and thatwas the beginning of our
courtship.
Evelyn (05:08):
Okay, Okay, don left out a very important thing.
One of his friends was madly inlove with my younger sister and
he wanted JC, another friend,to bring him over to see my
sister.
And that's why Don was withthem, and my neighbor and Helen
(05:33):
and I.
We were walking home fromchurch, from the tabernacle, and
we were almost home when theygot there.
So that's how we met, becauseone of his friends loved my
little sister.
That's how we met, because oneof his friends loved my little
sister.
That's how we met.
Josh (05:50):
Yeah.
Evelyn (05:50):
And he was in the Marines then.
Right, I'm glad it happened,because if it didn't and that
was in July of 1959, and we gotmarried in March, the 11th 1961.
Josh (06:08):
Okay, I got you.
Was it hard when y'all weredating each other when you were
in the Marine Corps?
Is that hard?
Don (06:16):
It was very difficult, very hard.
Words really can't describe thedepth of the love that I had
toward her, and it literallyhurt me to be away from her, and
I would usually, whateverchance that I had, of course, I
(06:40):
would come back home and visitwith her.
I was stationed at Camp Lejeune, which is somewhere around 300
miles.
I would get home in a way thatI could Sometime I would have
the money to come home in a bus.
Other times I would get a ridehome with someone that was
(07:01):
traveling to this part of thestate and I would ride with them
.
She and I would spend as muchtime together as we possibly
could, and always on a Sundayafternoon I would have to go
back to the base, because I hadto be back there on Monday
morning, and so it was verydifficult.
(07:23):
Sometimes I would have tohitchhike, oftentimes
practically no money in mypocket, and so it was a very
difficult time for me.
Josh (07:38):
I'm guessing you always made it back to base.
Don (07:41):
I was never late going back to base, but come Monday
morning and it was time to go towork in Marine Corps, you had
to be there, and a lot of timesI didn't get back, maybe to
about three o'clock in themorning, and then at 530 that
morning we had to, we had to beon the job, and so that was very
(08:04):
difficult, very hard.
I was usually pretty much beatevery Monday morning I got you.
Josh (08:10):
Was that hard for you, Ney , when he was in the Marine
Corps?
Evelyn (08:14):
I miss him very much, yeah, and I loved him.
I loved him very dearly and Ialways look forward to seeing
him.
And when he couldn't come home,I was very lonely.
I wrote him letters every day.
He got letters from me everyday that he needed to get to
(08:38):
come home, but it was worth it.
Don (08:44):
Can I intercept something here?
Yeah, you can jump in any timeyou want.
I really look forward to thoseletters and, as Evelyn said, she
would write to me practicallyevery day.
And someone that is away fromhome and the Marine Corps away
from the person you love verydearly.
Those letters meant so much tome.
(09:08):
After I met her I stayedhomesick.
I wanted to come home, but ofcourse in your military you
can't do that and I alwayslooked forward to the day when I
would get out.
I got out on October, the 20th1962.
And it was a very happy day forme.
(09:30):
Yeah.
Josh (09:32):
Well, so you had a kid before you were out of Marine
Corps, didn't you?
Don (09:35):
I did, yeah.
Jimmy was born and she waspregnant with Rhonda, our
daughter.
Okay, when I got out, Okay,yeah.
Josh (09:49):
Well, if I said then, dad was born in 64 and Phillip, how
old are we after?
Evelyn (09:53):
that 66.
Josh (09:55):
66.
And then he had four kids, manygrandkids and many great
grandkids.
Evelyn (10:02):
We have four children, eight grandchildren, we have
three grandsons, five great fivegranddaughters, and we have
three great grandsons and twogreat granddaughters and they're
the smartest and the mostbeautiful all of them are.
(10:23):
That's ever been, ever been, noquestion, and we love them all
that's true.
Josh (10:32):
I, I I've seen friends and other people be around their
grandparents and it reallytouches me because, um, there, I
mean there's some affectionthere.
But I, I really do think y'allare much loving grandparents
(10:52):
anyone could have.
I, um there's a lot of peoplethat didn't grow up with the
amount of love and support thatyou two gave us well, we feel
like that.
Evelyn (11:08):
Our grandchildren and our great grandchildren are
god's gifts and treasures and welove all of you all very, very
deeply.
It's very your.
All of us are.
All of you are important to us.
We want you to be happy.
We want you to be successfuland that's just how we are well,
(11:30):
you're important.
You're important to me fromfrom the minute we first laid
eyes on chris when he was born.
That's how the grandparentslove started and it's never
ended.
And it it never will, will ithoney?
Don (11:46):
Never will.
Oh, I'd like to add somethingelse to my childhood.
Yeah, you can add anything,okay, something that was very,
very important to me growing upthere was a little small
Pentecostal holiness churchwithin walking distance of our
home and we would go there everySunday.
(12:10):
We would walk.
This was a very spiritualchurch.
By spiritual I mean there was alot of emotion.
The singing was very spiritual.
There was a lot of emotion, thesinging was very spiritual.
There was a lot of shouting inthe church and it really made a
(12:34):
lifelong until this very dayimpression on my life and that
impression will always be there.
And did your mom take you tochurch?
Growing up?
My mom would go to church withus and, like most families, we
wouldn't be there every Sunday,but most Sundays we would be
(12:57):
there and we looked forward toit.
And words can't express theimpression that those
old-fashioned Pentecostalservices had on my young heart.
Conviction would get on me, andby conviction I mean a strong,
(13:17):
pulling desire that I needed tomake my way to the altar and
pray, even as a child growing upI'm talking about eight and 10
years old and that is somethingthat I always remember.
Josh (13:34):
Yeah, how about you?
You went to church growing uptoo, didn't you?
Evelyn (13:38):
I went to church at St Paul's Church.
Josh (13:40):
Yeah.
Evelyn (13:41):
Right above.
We walked to church there,right, my mom and dad didn't go
to church with us.
We went by ourselves to Sundayschool and then, later on, daddy
started going to Liberty HillChurch and, matter of fact,
that's where Donna and I bothgot saved.
What year?
1964.
(14:02):
Okay, both of us and we lovedgoing up to that church.
They had I love good music andthey are known for their
beautiful singing.
Josh (14:16):
I get even back then they were what?
Oh yes, always beautiful now Iknow when I've talked to you
before.
It's precious to me you alwaysbring up the flannel grafts.
Evelyn (14:28):
Yeah, there was when we were going to school, Don, too.
There was a Mrs Hess and MrsLoffers, and they were Bible
school teachers.
Yes, and they were with theMethodist Church, I believe.
They funded them.
But every so often they wouldcome around to the schools and
(14:50):
they had flannel grass and theywould tell Bible scores and they
would use these littlecharacters and it was precious.
All the school children lookedforward to that and we loved it.
And every Christmas they wouldgive us some big manila envelope
and it would have Christmascards and poems and things that
(15:11):
they had made and that wasprecious to us too.
We loved that and while we werein school, most all the times
we we had morning devotions andwe said the pledge of allegiance
to the flag, and I think thatneeds to be done today yeah um,
we uh.
(15:32):
When don and I got married, oneof my goals, and don's too, was
that we wanted to have apermanent home when jimmy got in
first grade, because we didn'twant to be moving here and
yonder to take him in school andout of school.
So some property becameavailable.
We were able to buy a lot andso we had my uncle built us a
(16:01):
house and we moved in it in Juneof 1966.
So we've been here ever since,yeah, and we started going back
to St Paul's Church, my homechurch, and we're very, very
happy there, very involved in it, in everything.
(16:21):
And that's when God called Donto preach.
And you can take it from there,don.
Don (16:29):
I would just like also to add to what Evelyn said a moment
ago about these two ladies.
We referred to them as theBible teachers and they also
made a great impression on mylife.
They were outstanding teachersand I think it is awful that in
(16:53):
today's world that they can't domore of that in our schools
today.
It's my understanding that ourgovernment won't allow that, but
I think at a tender young age,little children need that type
of teaching and in the eye of mymind I can still see these two
(17:16):
Bible teachers.
Josh (17:17):
I can still see what they look like they would come to
your school.
Don (17:20):
Yes, they would come to the school and they would teach a
Bible lesson, and they were veryskilled.
For example, if she wasteaching about David and Goliath
, you could almost see Davidwith the sling and you could
almost see the stone hittingGoliath in the head.
They were that good.
(17:44):
It made you feel like that youwere actually there watching
this take place.
Evelyn (17:50):
You went into the library, the class each you know
they would take up like thesixth grade in the elementary
school.
Of course, now, back then therewas only one first grade, one
second and so forth.
Schools weren't as large asthey were, and so they would
take them a grade at a time andspend about a half an hour or 15
(18:15):
minutes in order for them toget the whole school yeah but
they would come, I think, maybeonce every six weeks okay and
they were called the BibleSchool Teachers.
Yeah, and that's what they were.
Josh (18:29):
Okay, and they.
Evelyn (18:30):
And everybody loved them .
Josh (18:32):
They went to different schools.
Evelyn (18:34):
Yes, In Wythe County they went to the.
Josh (18:37):
Yeah.
Evelyn (18:37):
I know they went to all the elementary schools.
Josh (18:40):
Okay, because y'all didn't go to the same elementary
school.
Evelyn (18:43):
No, I don't think okay because y'all didn't go to the
same elementary school.
No, thank you.
Uh, I went to salome for threeyears and then I went to sheffy
for the last four years.
Then you went to jackson hewent to jackson and no, he went
to austinville elementary schoolthe little small building that
he took me to.
Josh (18:59):
It turned into a barn the little barn.
Evelyn (19:02):
He went to the first grade.
What?
Was the name of that school.
Don (19:05):
That was called the Matthews School.
I don't know how many years thatlittle school, that school
building, was there, but it wasvery small.
We had seven grades in one room.
I still remember the teacher'sname she was Mrs Humphrey.
I still remember the teacher'sname she was Mrs Humphrey.
(19:28):
I still remember we didn't havea school bus to pick us up, we
had to walk and we were kind oflike the little house on the
prairie when you see the littlechildren running down through
the field and they're finallyarriving at the school Right,
and I went there for one yearand then the school closed and I
had to transfer to theMaximillian Elementary School.
(19:51):
Okay, one more thing aboutthose Bible teachers that Evelyn
was elaborating on.
These were two ladies.
To my understanding, they werenever married.
They devoted their entire lifeto teaching the Bible in school.
So if anybody listens to thisinterview, it's important that
(20:14):
little children hear the Gospel,and I learned the Gospel from
the little church I attended andalso from these Bible school
teachers that came to the school.
Josh (20:31):
Well now, the laws were definitely different when I was
in school, but we did havesomething called the Bible bus
when I was in school and theywould take us.
The parents had to givepermission, and of course dad
did, and they would come pick usup on this bus and then they
(20:56):
would drive us to a church onthe hill right next to the
school because they had to beoff school property and they
taught us the Bible there.
And I know the lady really well, her name is Miss Finstemaker
very, very good lady.
Um, she didn't drive the busbut she taught the kids and, um,
(21:17):
that was a big, a big thing inour school system and they're
allowed to do it legally.
They're allowed to do it.
We did it.
I think we did it once a weekfor about 20 minutes, so during
gym class.
I think I can't remember ifit's the third or fifth grade,
but that we did do that.
But I think that's great and Ithink it's funny.
(21:41):
A lot of people have no ideawhat a flannel graph is.
I barely know what a flannelgraph is, because when Dad was
taking me, I think, to DraperValley and I know y'all know
Draper Valley I think they had aflannel graph, but um, it's
just a cardboard.
It's cardboard.
Evelyn (22:01):
You just put the cardboard character on there,
it's uh right, you had an easeland it was something like a
baby's blanket okay and it wason there and then the little
characters.
Josh (22:16):
It stuck to those okay, um , so you're back home.
You're from the marine corps,just from the out of the marine
corps.
You're, um, married.
You have a kid.
Um, you know you feel called toministry pretty early on.
You know you feel called toministry pretty early on back
(22:38):
home, after you're saved, justwalk me through being called to
ministry and being a father anda husband.
Don (22:47):
Okay, first of all, me being called into the ministry.
This is the last thing thatI've ever thought that I would
ever do in life was to be aminister of the gospel.
I didn't have the educationalbackground, I didn't have the
Bible knowledge to do that.
I have to back up a little bit,I think, probably to the little
(23:11):
church I attended.
The things that I learned there, the impression that the little
church made on my heart.
It stayed with me.
We went to church one night.
There was an altar call.
I responded to the altar call.
I responded I mean, I got outof my church seat, went to the
(23:36):
old-fashioned altar, I got on myknees and I prayed the best
that I possibly could and myprayer probably went something
like God I want you to forgiveme of my sins.
And I accepted Christ into mylife and into my heart, christ
(23:58):
into my life and into my heart.
After that, evelyn and I werevery faithful to the church.
We dearly loved the church thatwe attended.
We got close to the people.
Eventually I was elected to thechurch board.
I became one of the deacons ofthe church.
Where was that at?
This was at St Paul, st Paul.
(24:19):
Now I accepted Christ at theLiberty Hill Church.
We transferred our membershipto the St Paul Church because we
moved to the St Paul communityand it was close.
This is nothing against thepeople of Liberty Hill.
We love the church, we love thepeople.
They made an impression on ourlife, but Evelyn had grown up in
(24:42):
the St Paul church.
We moved in the community whereSt Paul was located and we just
felt like that's where weneeded to be, that that's what
we needed to be.
So we transferred our membershipfrom Liberty Hill to St Paul
(25:07):
and they asked me to become aSunday School teacher and I
accepted that.
And, of course, being a SundaySchool teacher, you have to do a
lot of reading, a lot ofstudying, a lot of preparing, a
lot of studying, a lot ofpreparing.
And so I did that and in thecourse of my studying for Sunday
school and preparing my lessonfor Sunday school, the Bible
really came alive to me.
(25:27):
I could compare it, in allsincerity, like a fire that was
burning within my heart, in mymind, and so I began to pray,
teach Sunday school every Sundaymorning, and I suddenly began
(25:48):
to have this urge where I neededto declare the gospel to
everyone.
Yeah, and I called my pastorone day.
He came and I shared with himthat I felt like God was calling
me into the ministry, and Iguess the rest is history.
(26:10):
I went on a study course in mydenomination.
It took me about four years ofstudying, taking different tests
, studying for the ministry, andfinally I was licensed and
ordained and my denominationassigned me to a church and I've
(26:31):
been a pastor now for about 55years.
Josh (26:37):
So the majority of your life you've been a pastor?
It has, yes, yeah.
So, nate, do you mind me askingyou when, after you get both
get saved, pa starts teachingSunday school at St Paul?
He feels like he's led theministry and he tells you about
this.
Is there anything that'srunning through your head?
Evelyn (27:01):
Yes, I will never forget the first time he took me into
our children's the boys' bedroomand he was crying and he told
me that he felt like that Godwas calling him to preach, which
did not surprise me because Donis always good, being a good,
(27:26):
moral man.
He's always been good, always,even when he wasn't a Christian,
he was a good man.
And it didn't surprise me atall because he was so involved
in that church and he wanted tosee people saved and he wanted
(27:47):
them to have a good experiencewith the Lord.
And he said can you see mebeing a minister?
I said, yes, but I can't see mebeing a minister's wife.
But that's exactly what I havebeen all these 50-some years.
I may not have been the best,but I have tried my best to
(28:09):
support him At each and everychurch.
I've always been involved, I'vealways worked, I've always
participated, I've always worked, I've always participated.
Our children were alwaysinvolved.
They always went to church, wasinvolved in their activities
until they got married and wenton.
And there have been some badtimes, bad experiences with a
(28:33):
couple of churches, but the goodtimes are far so outshattered
the bad, and we have madewonderful, everlasting friends
at every church we've ever beento.
Now we're at one of thesmallest churches that we've
ever had, but it's also one ofthe very best.
(28:54):
The people are wonderful.
We love them, they love us.
And we're old now.
Both Don and I are both old,but I don't think that we've got
a lot of regrets.
We've been married 64 years andit's a good marriage.
We love each other very deeply.
(29:15):
We love our family.
We love God, we love each otherand that's most important and
we're happy.
Don is a very funny person andhe makes me laugh yeah.
And I'm very, very glad that Imarried your grandpa.
Josh (29:36):
I am am too.
I'm glad you married him too.
Evelyn (29:39):
I have some I have something else to add to my head
to add to my story.
Don (29:45):
Yeah, yeah, you know there is a lot of church denominations
that only teach a saved life.
By saved I mean your sins areforgiven, your name is written
in the Lamb's Book of Life, andwhen this life is over, of
(30:10):
course, you can go to heaven.
But the church that we attendedalways taught that the saved
life is wonderful and good, butthere is more to be had than
just a saved life, and I wastaught that you needed to seek
God.
(30:31):
By seeking God I mean pray andask God to fill you with the
power of the Holy Spirit in yourlife.
And so this happened to me.
This happened to me at theLiberty Hill Church.
I was kneeling at the altar,praying and suddenly there was
(30:51):
something like electricity cameupon me and I could feel my body
kind of slumping down at thealtar, and that was the baptism
of the Holy Spirit.
From time to time, from thatday to this, I have felt that
same power and that same spirit.
(31:12):
It might sound a little comicalto some people, but to begin
with it was just in my hands andthen later on, in my experience
, it moved from my hand here'sthe funny part and it got into
my feet, and it was likeelectricity that was just
vibrating within you, and whenthis electrifying power of the
(31:37):
Holy Spirit came into my life, Ifelt like this was something
that I needed to share with theworld, and so God called me, and
I answered the call, and herewe are today.
Josh (31:53):
That's something that's pretty special to you.
Don (31:55):
It is.
It's called the baptism of theHoly Spirit, and anybody that's
listening to this interview Ihave no reason to try to impress
anybody that's out there.
This isn't a story that I'vedecided to make up.
The power of God iselectrifying.
(32:16):
It is spirit.
It is the spirit of God.
It is like a fire that burnswithin you, and I would
encourage anyone to go beyondthe saved life and seek God for
deeper, more powerfulexperiences.
You know in the book of Actsone of the last things Jesus
(32:39):
told his disciples before hewent back to heaven.
He said Tarry in Jerusalemuntil you be endued with power
from on high and you shall bewitnesses unto me in Judea and
Samaria and the outermost partsof the earth.
And Judea and Samaria and theoutermost parts of the earth.
And in that verse it tells usthat there is a spiritual power
(33:02):
that God can clothe us with todo his work.
Josh (33:07):
Yeah, yeah, I understand.
So you're saying that beingsaved is great, but there's a
deeper relationship that you canhave, right?
Don (33:27):
That is well put.
That is what I'm saying.
There is more to the Christianlife than just being saved.
Now, I know I'm repeatingmyself a little bit, it's okay.
But you can be saved and go toheaven.
But there is a spiritual powerthat God can give to us to
(33:49):
empower us to go beyond thesaved life, and if anybody is
going to accomplish a whole lotfor God in this life, we need
that power.
It is a power to witness, it isa power to teach, a power to
save, a power to minister God'sWord, and this has been one of
(34:14):
the things that has kept megoing in a lot of discouraging
situations I've found myself inyeah, I understand that.
Josh (34:27):
So you know telling people , even still today someone asked
me if my grandparents are, ifyou're a minister, if I tell
them and they'll tell me whatyou know what church, and I tell
them and some, unless you'rePentecostal.
(34:49):
Every time I say Pentecostal,holiness, a lot of times their
eyes go up a little bit and Iunderstand why.
But it seems to me like myimpression with a lot of other
Christians is there's a lot offalse conceptions about being a
(35:12):
Pentecostal or a holiness ingeneral and you know they point
out to the speaking in tongues alot.
That's a big objection, thatand dancing in the spirit being
a spirit-led church, aspirit-led church.
(35:45):
But when I go to your church Igrew up around this.
My limit of comfortabilityaround a little bit of rowdiness
is pretty high.
So when I go to your church andI hadn't been there in a couple
years, but they're super nicepeople and it's very relaxed
it's not the majority of thetime you're very, very relaxed
and something that people wouldbe used to in a Baptist or a
(36:08):
Methodist service a lot of times.
But I guess you've been withthe Pentecostal holiness church,
iphc for what?
55 years as a minister longer asa christian, um, but I guess my
thing is, the majority ofservices you've been to and
(36:30):
administered under, people arejust not speaking in tongues and
dancing the entire service, arethey?
Don (36:37):
Oh, no, yeah, no.
That is a MisconceptionMisconception of a lot of people
about the Pentecostal OldenChurch.
It's not the intentions of thisinterview for me to give
everybody a Bible lesson onspeaking in tongues or the
(37:06):
baptism of the Holy Spirit, butif we stop to think about it,
every writer that wrote in theNew Testament, with the
exception maybe of Titus, spokewith tongues.
Matthew, mark, luke and Johnwas in the Upper Room.
The Apostle Paul wasn't in theUpper Room, but he said I thank
(37:29):
God, I speak in tongues morethan you all and all the
disciples was in the upper room.
The mother of Jesus, mary, wasin the upper room, and so it has
to be.
This has to be a biblicalteaching, a biblical doctrine
(37:51):
that we need to teach people.
And you don't have to speak intongues to go to heaven.
The Bible doesn't say that, butthe Bible does teach us that
when they were filled with theHoly Ghost, that they spoke with
other tongues.
Josh (38:08):
Yes, yeah, I agree, and you know I mean I'm very
charismatic, so I believe in thegifts of the Spirit for sure.
And, and you know I mean I'mvery charismatic, so I believe
in the gifts of the Spirit forsure, and it's not because I've
experienced them or have seenthem, because you know there are
(38:33):
people who have seen andexperienced things that don't
line up with the Bible, but whenI read the New Testament, I
definitely believe the gifts arefor today.
Now I think 1 Corinthians 13says that prophecy healing will
cease when the perfect comes,but that perfect means Jesus,
(38:53):
and he hasn't come back yet.
Am I right about that?
That's true, very good, yeah, Ithought so and I fought you to
prove.
But yeah, and your church isreally big on holiness, trying
to live a holy life.
Don (39:13):
It is.
Yeah, there's a verse ofscripture said follow peace with
all men and holiness, withoutwhich no man shall see the lord.
Or, in other words, we, we needto live a holy life and, uh, I
believe that.
Josh (39:34):
Yeah, but the thing is, no one, before they are saved,
lived a holy life without theHoly Spirit, and anyone can come
to Jesus.
Yes, it doesn't matter whatyou've done before does it?
(39:55):
It doesn't matter what you'vedone before does it?
Don (39:57):
It doesn't matter what you've done before.
We can give you some Bibleexamples if you want me to.
Yeah, if we read the story inthe Bible of David, he committed
adultery and then hadBathsheba's husband killed.
(40:19):
And later on in the book ofPsalms, where we read David's
prayer, he said.
He said there's another verseof Scripture in the book of
Romans that said where sinabounds, grace does much more
(40:40):
abound.
And so David, even though hecommitted those terrible sins,
there came a time when he gavehis life to Christ and he was
forgiven.
The apostle Paul on the road todamascus the bible tells us that
he was a persecutor of thechurch and he made havoc of the
(41:02):
church, but yet god saved himand he turned about, turned out
to be one of the greatestchristians that ever lived and
wrote 13 books of the NewTestament.
Yes, the woman at the well.
When Jesus met her, she was awoman that had five husbands and
(41:25):
she was already living withsomeone that she wasn't married
to, and Jesus saved her therethat day, at the well.
So it doesn't matter what we'veever done in life, if we will
confess our sins to him.
He is faithful and just toforgive us of our sins and to
cleanse us from allunrighteousness.
Josh (41:47):
Yeah, god is a God of love and forgiveness.
Yes, do you all both have aknee?
I'll ask you first.
Do you have a?
Do y'all both have a knee?
I'll ask you first.
Do you?
Do you have a favorite biblestory, a favorite bible passage,
or?
Um?
If not, I'll ask him mygrandmother is there a favorite
bible story you'd like to sharethat you have.
Evelyn (42:10):
That means my favorite Bible story that I have is the
story of Joseph and the lifethat he lived, the way he was
sold into captivity by hisbrothers, and how that he stayed
faithful and how he wasreunited with his father and his
(42:32):
brothers with his father andhis brothers and to me that's
the greatest example offorgiveness that is in the Bible
.
And, of course, we were alllike the brothers.
You know we were all guilty,but Jesus still loved us, even
though we weren't perfect, andhe saved us, and so that's my
(42:55):
favorite one in the Bible yeahof course, all of the ones in
the Bible is good.
Yeah, don't get me wrong, but tome that's my favorite yeah, and
you're.
Josh (43:08):
I think it's fun.
So one of the characters thataggravate you the most in the
Bible is King David, isn't it?
Yeah, that's all.
Evelyn (43:20):
Yeah, I just didn't Well .
In the first place, I neverunderstood why a woman would
want to carry a tub and water upon the rooftop to take a bath
in the first place.
Josh (43:30):
Yeah.
Evelyn (43:31):
It didn't make sense to me.
Never has, never will.
Josh (43:34):
You know, who aggravates me more than anybody in the
Bible is Samson.
Oh really, yeah, because hetells Delilah several things
that would make him lose hisstrength on multiple occasions,
and then he's surprised that shedoes the same thing that she
(43:55):
did multiple times.
Sometimes I really think thathe is probably the dumbest
person in the Bible, but Godstill used them at the end and
God still loves them, you know.
Evelyn (44:09):
That's true.
Josh (44:10):
Paul, do you have a favorite Bible story?
Don (44:16):
That is a very hard one, I would have to say, the story of
Jesus.
He was God that became a manand was born of a virgin, grew
up in a life of poverty, leftall of the greatness and the
(44:40):
riches of heaven, to come tothis world and to be ridiculed
like he was and eventually to goto the cross and suffer the
pain of the cross.
All of his disciples hadforsaken him and had left him,
and there he hangs by himself onthe cross for our sins, and to
(45:05):
me that's a beautiful story.
Josh (45:07):
Yeah then he raised from the dead.
Yeah and yeah.
The story of Jesus definitelymakes you wonder forever.
The incarnation, his life,death, burial and resurrection,
his ascension, and then you know.
(45:29):
But one of my favorite thingsis right before Jesus leaves, he
told us I'm not going to leaveyou alone and I'm going to give
you a great comforter.
Yes, and I think that's a bigthing.
The whole Pentecostals andcharismatics are very big, and
this isn't even talking aboutspeaking in tongues.
Y'all are very big.
(45:51):
We are very big on emphasizingthe Holy Spirit and I'm not all
Christian churches believe inthe Holy Spirit, but it's
Charismatics, pentecostals, someMethodists.
The Holy Spirit has a big, hugeemphasis in following his lead.
(46:13):
You don't have to answer that,it's just an observation.
Don (46:19):
I'm sorry I didn't hear the question.
Josh (46:20):
No, no, it's not a question.
I was just saying thatPentecostals and Charismatics
put a lot of emphasis on theHoly Spirit.
Following the Holy Spirit inhis lead today.
Don (46:41):
Spirit, following the Holy Spirit and his lead the day.
Well, he, there is a lot ofchurches today to teach that the
Holy Spirit failed on the dayof Pentecost in the second
chapter of the book of Acts.
But it was for that day onlyand for that moment only.
But if we read the entire bookof Acts, there is three other
(47:01):
times that the Holy Spiritfailed and each time they spoke
with other tongues.
If we read about somethingthat's happened in one time in
the Bible, it was for that onetime, but if it continues to
happen over and over again, thenwe take that to mean that it
(47:23):
wasn't just for the day ofPentecost, but it was for our
day and our time we live in.
And you know the prophet Joel.
He prophesied and said that inthe last days I'll pour out of
my spirit on all flesh Right andthe sons and daughters would
prophesy and old men would dreamdreams.
And that happened on the day ofPentecost and in the.
(47:47):
I think it's the 13th chapterof Acts, I think.
Is that the 11th chapter?
Yes, okay, the 12th chapter ofthe book of Acts?
I think it is.
Josh (48:03):
Well, the first, corinthians 13,.
Right, that's the love chapter.
Don (48:06):
Yeah, and you know, in the book of Corinthians, the Apostle
Paul is given the gifts of theSpirit, and one of those gifts
of the Spirit is speaking intongues, and so it would be no
reason for Paul to write aboutit if it stopped on the day of.
Josh (48:23):
Pentecost and when you read people that believe that
the gift of tongues is eitherceased or that it's just
speaking a foreign language forevangelism, they often cite 1
Corinthians 14, and I don'tthink they have a good argument,
because St Paul is correctingthe church that is enthusiastic
(48:50):
about the gifts, but they'repracticing them improperly.
And at the very end end he saysdo not forsake speaking in
tongues.
Don (48:59):
I thank god, I speak in tongues more than you all, but
what he was saying is throughoutthe worship service we need
instruction and in preaching andand he never condemns them, he
just corrects them okay, okay,anybody that in the future that
might be listening to thisinterview, they might be of the
(49:21):
opinion that they are fearful ofthe Pentecostal church because
they think that to go to aPentecostal church that you have
got a number of people sittingin church and a half a dozen of
them are speaking in tongues andyou can't understand what
(49:41):
they're saying, and so what'sthe benefit of it?
Yeah, but I've been at mychurch that I'm pastor now for
14 years and it's very little ofthat happens in my church.
We believe in it because it's aBible teaching and a Bible
doctrine, but it's a falseconcept that if you come to a
(50:06):
Pentecostal church that a dozenpeople is going to be speaking
in a language you can'tunderstand.
It very seldom happens in mychurch, but it does occasionally
.
Josh (50:16):
What was you going to say, Nhi?
What was?
Evelyn (50:19):
you going to say Nhi?
My understanding of speaking intongues is that it's not for
the people around them to hearand to understand what you're
saying, Because that is betweenyou and God and you are edifying
God.
It's not for the understandingof the other parishioners.
That is edifying God, yeah.
Josh (50:42):
When you're speaking that way.
Well, I know they go to Acts 2,because in Acts 2, everyone
speaks in tongues in the upperroom and then the average guy
can hear them speak in his ownlanguage.
That's true, that happens.
But then Peter, st Peter, givesa sermon in one common language
(51:02):
and in that day in Israel andin the Roman Empire they were
very bilingual.
Jesus probably spoke multiplelanguages.
He definitely spoke Hebrew.
I mean sorry, he definitelyspoke Aramaic.
He definitely spoke Greek.
He probably spoke a littleHebrew and a lot of, even a lot
(51:27):
of Israel.
Even a lot of the Israelites atthe time weren't speaking as
much Hebrew.
Only the Pharisees, only therabbis that were reading the
Torah, would be speaking Hebrewand a lot of them were reading
the Septuagint, which is theGreek Old Testament, and so a
(51:50):
lot of them were speaking Arabicat the time, and especially
Greek.
So they didn't.
I don't think this idea that itwas just an evangelistic tool.
I mean, I believe God can useit as that, but I I don't buy
the notion, because when youread first corinthians, chapter
14, it definitely seems likepeople are praying in tongues
(52:11):
and prophesying.
But um, you know, I do thinkit's a misconception.
I've heard a lot of snake jokesthat you're going to be holding
snakes in the church and there.
There are very few smallindependent Pentecostal churches
in West Virginia that holdsnakes, but we're talking about
(52:32):
a microscopic level.
I've never seen it and I don'twant to ever see it.
But that's not a huge deal to mebecause it's very easily
debunked.
Don (52:51):
If anyone comes to my church, what you will see
usually is we will take prayerrequests, yeah, and we will take
prayer requests, yeah.
Evelyn (53:00):
And we will have a congregational prayer.
Don (53:05):
We will have the choir to sing some songs.
Usually it's a couple of songs,and we have a very talented
lady in our church that singsbeautiful and she will usually
sing one or sometimes two songs.
Yeah, then I will preach thebest that I can, and we always
(53:26):
have an altar service and we'llall gather around the altar.
Anybody that has special needs,we invite them to come for
prayer, and usually abouteverybody in the church will
come forward Right, andbasically that's what our church
service consists of.
If God sees, and if it's God'swill and the Holy Spirit moves
(53:51):
upon someone, then at that pointthere will be some speaking in
tongues possibly, but it's veryrare in our church.
I wish to tell you the truth, Iwish it would happen more often
than what it does.
Yeah, but nobody has to come tomy church, which is a
pentecostal church, and feellike that you're going to,
something's going to happen, uh,that you need to be fearful of.
(54:14):
You don't have to be afraid.
Josh (54:15):
No, no, but um.
Before I let y'all say yourfinal words, whatever you want
to say, I do want to say this Ihave done a little reading on
Pentecostal history Not a ton,but a little.
And William Seymour?
He's African American.
He was born right after theCivil War in 1870.
(54:38):
His mom and dad were both borninto slaves in Louisiana.
He desires a gift more than justsalvation.
He goes to a Bible school inTopeka, kansas, where the Holy
(54:59):
Spirit outbreaks there.
They wouldn't even let him inthe school.
He has to sit outside andlisten through the doorway and
then he goes.
He doesn't let that harden hisheart.
It really impresses me becausehere he is, he's a man of God.
It really impresses me becausehere he is, he's a man of God.
(55:19):
He wants to seek more.
He wants to seek the baptism ofthe Holy Spirit.
He wants to know what that is.
He just has a Bible.
His parents were born intoslavery and the people that he's
going to school with won't evenlet him into school.
But he doesn't let that hardenhis heart and he goes to
(55:42):
Southern California Los Angeles,I think in a place called Azusa
Street.
It's like a.
What I've read is it's a whatI've read.
Azusa Street was basically abarn.
They are an old building.
They converted into a church.
That they are an old building.
(56:02):
They converted into a churchand the Holy Spirit works there
and gives birth to themodern-day Pentecostal and
charismatic movement.
Go ahead.
Don (56:13):
I really appreciate your knowledge in this, josh.
Yeah, you can tell by talkingto you that you have done some
reading Right.
You correct me if I'm wrong.
Josh (56:22):
Okay, I haven't done it.
Don (56:23):
If I'm not mistaken.
I think that when the HolySpirit fell on Azusa Street, am
I right that they made thechurch move because of tongues
and they had to move from thatlocation and maybe go to a
private home, I think?
Josh (56:42):
Okay.
So you're asking me somethingthat I have read, but it's been
a very long time and it wouldnot surprise me.
It does sound somewhat familiar.
But my point in this is there'sthis African-American man
Parents were slaves when he wasin Topeka.
They wouldn't even let him intoschool, but he didn't harden
his heart.
In this is there's thisAfrican-American man parents
were slaves.
What?
When he's in Topeka?
They wouldn't even let him inthe school, but he didn't harden
(57:04):
his heart, he still kept, hestill wanted God.
He's preaching, sermons, himand Charles Palmer, I think.
Am I right?
Okay, and they go to AzusaStreet, give birth to the
Pentecostal and charismaticmovement today, and tons of
(57:27):
missions come from it.
The Assembly of God forms prettyearly on.
The Pentecostal Holiness Churchthat you belong to started off
as a holiness church and thenaccepted the gifts of the spirit
, if I'm right.
Um, and then we have the churchof god, church of god and
prophecy, uh, calvary chapel,which is very similar,
(57:50):
charismatic, um and um.
God moves in a big way.
So this is, this is happening,and it's this revival is being
led by a black man in an erawhere blacks and whites don't go
to church together.
You don't see that there's a tonof racism, and I'm not picking
(58:14):
on anyone that belongs to theSouthern Baptist Convention, but
the Southern Baptist Convention.
They've repented for it andthey've apologized.
But they started off.
They split from the AmericanBaptist because of slavery,
because they wanted to keepslaves, and after that, after
(58:35):
slavery was abolished, there wasstill a huge, huge racial
divide and Pentecostalism,methodism, charismatics.
I'm not saying there's neverbeen any racism, but there they
have been very good aboutincluding everyone of all
(58:56):
different colors in the church.
Have you had a lot?
Have you had a lot of it?
We colors in the church, haveyou had a lot of?
We live in a very wide area.
Have you had a lot ofexperience with different races
in the PH church and differentministers?
I know you're aware of AzusaStreet.
I was just wondering, beingaround you, being around you.
Don (59:21):
I am not aware of any racism, if that was your
question.
Josh (59:26):
Well, not only that.
Just you know, african-americanministers.
That's not a, that might not benormal around here, because we
live in a pretty white part ofthe country, but there would be
no problem with a black manbeing a minister.
Oh, no, no absolutely not.
(59:46):
Yeah.
Don (59:48):
In the church that I pastor , we welcome everyone.
Sure, yeah, if they're rich orpoor, it doesn't matter to us if
they're black or white, we willwelcome them any of them, and I
think that I can speak forevery Pentecostal Lowlander's
church in our conference, andthere's somewhere around 150
(01:00:09):
churches in our conference, sothat's a pretty accurate number
and I think I could speak forevery one of them.
There's no racism and wewelcome everyone from every walk
of life and we will welcomethem as our brother and as our
sister.
Josh (01:00:25):
Yeah, and y'all guys have churches outside the United
States.
I know you've talked to me.
Y'all have some churches inUkraine, right?
Don (01:00:35):
We get into world missions of which I am not real familiar,
other than I think we havechurches in I think it's 120
other countries around the world.
We have Pentecostal holinesschurches.
Evelyn (01:00:52):
And missionaries.
Don (01:00:53):
Yeah, and missionaries.
Well, and listen in theassemblies of God which y'all
are close with Well and listenin the assemblies of God which
y'all are close with.
There is more Pentecostalholiness churches around the
world than there are in theUnited States.
Josh (01:01:12):
Outside the United.
Don (01:01:13):
States.
There's something like.
I heard figures this morning.
I would say that there'sprobably 10 or 15,000
Pentecostal churches around theworld.
Josh (01:01:28):
Well, it's really growing.
In Africa and South America,yes, and Brazil, a lot of the
Protestants are becomingPentecostals and a lot of the
Catholics are becomingPentecostals.
Now, y'all aren't part of theAssemblies of God, but you are
(01:01:48):
almost the same in doctrine.
There's no bad will.
Y'all love each other.
Oh, yes, and the Assemblies ofGod is huge.
It is absolutely huge aroundthe world.
Don (01:02:04):
If I'm not mistaken, that's the largest Pentecostal
denomination.
Josh (01:02:08):
Yeah, they are.
It's not even close and theyare absolutely huge.
I have a really good friendthat's in the Assemblies of God
but I'm going to let y'all go.
But I'm going to let y'all go,but before we leave I'll let
y'all say anything you want to,anything you would like future
(01:02:30):
Scots to hear that you might notbe able to meet and I might not
be able to meet.
That's a big reason I'm doingthis is for our family.
There's so many times when Iwas looking back at my ancestry
that I said I wish I could hearhim talk.
I wish I could hear her talk.
Is there anything you'd like totell your future, future
(01:02:56):
descendants, future family?
Don (01:03:00):
the biggest thing that I like to leave with everybody was
the depth of our love towardour family, all of our children,
grandchildren andgreat-grandchildren.
It is a little bit of troubling.
(01:03:20):
I don't know this for a fact,but I think that there are some
of our grandchildren that arenot involved in church now as I
speak, and I hope that I'm wrong, but I would like to encourage
all of our children andgrandchildren to take their
(01:03:45):
children to church.
It's vitally important thatthey hear the gospel, and that's
probably the biggest messageI'd like to leave behind for
everyone Our love for the family, our love for the church.
It's important that we becomeinvolved in the church of our
choice, preferably Pentecostal,because that's my church, yeah.
Josh (01:04:10):
And I will say before I let Nise say what she wants.
To anyone that's listening tome, it doesn't matter what
you've done before or how faryou've run away.
Everybody's made mistakes.
I've made a lot of mistakes.
I'm not really qualified to saysome of the things I've said,
(01:04:30):
but I'm trying to do better,trying to live a holier life.
You're never too far away.
You can always come back.
Don (01:04:40):
There's a verse of scripture, josh, that I'll give
to you.
I don't think I've quoted it inthis interview.
Yeah, and I think it's well.
I know it's in the book ofRomans.
I want to think.
Somewhere around chapter 13,somewhere it said where sin
abounds, grace does much moreabound.
Yes, sin abounds, grace doesmuch more abound, yes, and so,
(01:05:08):
uh, of course, that doesn't giveus the license to sin, right,
because we know that grace ofgod is great.
Uh, he expects us if we makeerrors.
He expects us to do better, yes, and to live a holy life, right
, but if we mess up in life I'lluse that term we can always go
(01:05:30):
to him, and we used, a while ago, the example of David, the
example of the Apostle Paul.
Peter is another example.
He failed God and God took himback, and so if you're out there
listening to this and you feellike you've gone too far to turn
around, you have it.
Amen.
All you have to do is repentand come to God.
(01:05:52):
God is love and His mercy isgreat and His grace is great.
Josh (01:05:59):
Amen.
So, trudy, is there anythingyou'd like to say to the future?
Evelyn (01:06:08):
Yeah, I just want to reiterate how thankful I am for
my family that consists of mychildren, my grandchildren, my
great-grandchildren.
They have brought so much joyto mine and Don's life.
We love them.
We love all of you.
We're very proud of all of youand we will always be there for
(01:06:32):
you if you ever need us at anytime.
Josh (01:06:36):
That's sweet.
Yeah, that's sweet.
Thank you all guys so much.
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