Thank you, Bro Harris

Last night I began to think about the statement of Paul, This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. As I was contemplating this, I naturally began to remember Bro. Harris.

I became a believer through the ministry of First Baptist Church Donelson when I lived in Nashville, TN. When I first began attending First Baptist, the pastor was Bro. Baker. He retired and the next pastor was Bro. Harris. I don’t know that I ever knew his first name. As far as I know, he had no first name, that even his wife called him Bro. Harris!

Anyway, back to what I was remembering….

Those were the “old days.” Bro. Harris went “visiting” every Saturday. I was interested in entering the ministry, so I asked him if I could go with him. And he let me! We visited prospects and folks who had recently attended church and probably even made “cold calls” (folks who friends had said could use a visit from the preacher). Every once in a while, he would drop me off and tell me he had to make “a pastoral visit.”

This was a wonderful experience and was my model for pastoral ministry. It is the only way I knew how to shepherd. I know that today, generally speaking, pastors don’t visit like this anymore, but enough of that….

I don’t remember a lot of verbal instruction, we just did the work. But this was when I gained my first experience of real time “spiritual warfare.” We were visiting a family and just as Bro. Harris got serious with the mom, her baby began to scream. Right away I discerned this was not normal but was an attack of the enemy, an attempt to keep this woman from hearing the gospel. So, as Bro. Harris was speaking to the woman, I began beseeching the Lord to deliver this child from this spiritual attack. Silently, of course. And the child stopped crying! I don’t remember much else of the visit, but I learned a practical lesson on the power of the name of Jesus.

So how did I get from contemplating This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh? One day, while we were out visiting, I asked Bro. Harris, “What does it mean to walk in the Spirit?” Maybe I will write about that next. Anyway, Thank you, Bro. Harris, for your example, your ministry, and for letting me follow you as you followed the Lord.