While attending Lee College and starting in the fall of…

While attending Lee College and starting in the fall of 1969, I had the call of God to preach upon my life. It was difficult to get to preach in any of the local CoGs because there were a lot of us CoG preacher boys even though there were a lot of CoGs in the area. But when a door opened for me, I always went. Four or five of us were all scheduled to preach one Sunday for Bro Cornwell, pastor of the Grasshopper Church of God. We were each given five minutes to preach. Most of the others walked slowly to the pulpit, read a bunch of scriptures, all which took up a good sum of their time, often leaving them with a couple of minutes to preach. They could never get into their sermon because they spent the their time on their introduction. A person can learn a lot from watching others. I know I did. When it came my turn to preach, as soon as I stood to my feet, I quoted a scripture verse. By the time I was in the pulpit, I was in high gear. After the service, Bro Cornwell asked me why I did not continue preaching. I reminded him that had only gave us five minutes. Here is a pic of me getting ready to walk out the door and preach while I was a student at Lee College. Back in those days, I played the guitar and sang and preached wearing my black suit and carrying my Bible.