Chapters: 1. Why Don't Men Obey God?
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15 OUR FIRST PASTORATE
When I was twenty-one, my wife and I went with our pastor to
speak with the District Elder about taking a pastorate while
attending Taylor University. He had informed me prior to this
time that there were three pastorates available. I was to make
my choice at this time.
As I listened to my Elder describe the opportunities, I was
trusting Jesus to help me know which one to choose. "You may
have this one particular pastorate," he explained, "which is
close to Taylor University and pays eight hundred dollars a year.
This other one is farther away and has two parsonages. You may
rent one and have a little more income. It also pays eight
hundred dollars."
He paused, as if waiting for my answer, and I said, "Sir,
you told me that there would be a choice of three pastorates."
A bit reluctantly he replied, "The third one is Redkey
Circuit. It pays only seven hundred dollars a year."
The moment he said "Redkey Circuit," I knew that was where
God wanted us. I could tell in my heart. "Redkey Circuit is
where we are to be," I informed him.
This man was many years my senior and had preached for a
long while; but when I told him my decision, he asked, "Why
didn't you choose this pastorate near Taylor University? It is
much more convenient and pays a hundred dollars more a year?"
(Of course, one hundred dollars was a sizable sum at that time.)
"You have answered too quickly," he suggested. "Give it some
thought for twenty-four hours."
143 "It will never change," I assured him. "What God tells me
never changes."
He replied, "You call back in twenty-four hours to give me
your final decision."
The following day I phoned the District Elder to tell him,
"We will go to Redkey Circuit." This charge consisted of two
congregations, and the parsonage had neither a bathroom nor a
furnace. In terms of human comfort and strength of membership,
it could have been considered one of the least desirable
pastorates of the district, if not the least. But this is where
God witnessed that we were to be. We began our work there in
April of 1937.
After we had been there six weeks, one of the dear praying
women told my wife, "I have prayed for your husband's ministry in
this church for thirty years." That meant that eight-and-a-half
years before I was born, she had been praying for the work which
God was doing through me. What if I had failed to seek God's
will, had not gone where He had directed, and had missed this
sacred appointment for which this dear one had prayed these many
years?
When Florence and I started, we had little with which to
furnish a parsonage. My father had bought us a small green couch
which pulled out at the bottom and made into twin beds. Florence
slept on the soft side and I slept on the hard side. That was
our bed from 1934 to 1936. In 1937 we purchased our first
regular bed with the $17.50 I had saved since childhood.
Unfortunately, it was not a very good one, and before too long
neither of us was sleeping well: the mattress gave way and both
of us ended up in the middle. But we were thankful for it.
While praying beside this old couch in December of that
year, God revealed to me: "I want you to have a meeting with your
Board of Evangelism. Tell them that you are going to have a
revival." When I spoke to the board, however, the two leading
men told me, "We can't have revival. We don't have
144 the money. We couldn't raise ten dollars from the entire
congregation."
I hadn't thought of that. "Well," I informed them, "God
tells me to have revival."
The precious mother who had prayed for my ministry, the only
woman on the board, spoke up: "Rev. Helm is right. God wants
revival." The other two men expressed themselves by saying, "We
are on the fence," meaning--I could have revival if I wanted, and
if I didn't, that was alright, too.
Returning home, I went to prayer. I was only twenty-one in
my first assignment as pastor. I didn't want to do anything that
I shouldn't. My Board of Evangelism was not in agreement: one
thought we should have revival, two were definitely opposed, and
two were undecided. "Jesus," I prayed, "what will I do?"
As I sought the Lord's guidance, He clearly directed me to
call an evangelist in Richmond, Indiana. I was to ask him to
arrive early Sunday morning for prayer, after which he could
preach for me as guest speaker. Jesus said, "You leave it all to
Me,"--which I did.
Early Sunday morning the evangelist and I had a little
prayer meeting before he preached. When the altar call was
given, down the aisle came Arthur and Mrs. Brown. They prayed
through, were converted, and the entire congregation agreed,
"This is revival!" (Less than one year later, Mrs. Brown lay in
her casket. How important God's guidance for revival was to this
precious soul!)
Those special services lasted three weeks, the Lord guiding
and helping. Forty-five were saved or sanctified, and bodies
were healed. God did miracles among us. My wife still recalls
that as one of the most wonderful revivals she has ever been in.
We had twenty-five to twenty-eight in Sunday School at that time.
When the power fell on that small congregation, the attendance
soon doubled and continued to increase. Jesus had told me,
"You leave it all to me." He was the One who performed it.
145 At this young beginning, I did not believe in divine
healing. The evangelist, on the other hand, declared, "God heals
today just like He always did."
"Is that right?" I remarked. I had heard about my father
being healed when he was a boy, but I was still a young man and
had no experience with healing.
"God is still the same!" the evangelist assured me.
"That's wonderful," I told him. When he shared that God
still healed as He did in Bible times, I began to believe him.
As it happened, one of the women in our congregation, Edna
C., had been in a very serious accident and suffered severe pain
almost constantly. Because of a fractured pelvis and some
fractured vertebrae, she had to be turned in a sheet for three
weeks. The evangelist learned of it and said to me one day,
"Let's go out to the home of these folks and have a little
meeting. We'll anoint this woman with oil and ask God to heal
her. It will stir the countryside for Jesus." When I asked Edna
for her permission to come, she gladly consented.
About a dozen of my laymen accompanied us there that day.
After singing "Amazing Grace" and a few other
hymns, the evangelist and I moved to the side of the bed,
anointed the suffering woman with oil, and began to call to our
Heavenly Father to come down and heal her.
In the midst of prayer, I saw a ray of light descend from
Heaven and the glory of God fell all over the room in great
sweetness. I looked over at Edna's husband, a man weighing two
hundred pounds or more, and God was moving so upon him that he
was literally shaking. The power of God hit my wife, and she
shouted. I never saw her rejoice like that before or since. She
had no idea she was going to do it, but when the power of God
came, it simply brought the shout right out of her.
(We are so unaccustomed to God's Spirit in evidence today
that few of us know how great His power actually is. When He
comes in a mighty Awakening one of these days,
146 everyone will know it. He will move everybody, whether they want
to be moved or not.)
Oh, the glory of God that filled that room! Jesus went into
Edna's body, immediately healing the fractured pelvis and the
injured vertebrae. In an instant, God performed a miracle!
When we all left, her elderly aunt came into the room.
"Will you please get my clothes?" Edna asked her.
"Oh Edna," she cautioned, "you are a sick woman. You
wouldn't want to try getting up."
"You mean I was sick," Edna told her. "Please go get my
clothes, because I am going to get dressed and come help you
prepare the evening meal."
"Oh, child! You aren't well! You are sick!"
"You mean I was. I want to get up out of this bed. I want
to go to church tomorrow night."
"But Edna," the aunt insisted, "you are in bad shape!"
"I WAS in bad shape, Auntie," she explained
again. "I am not now. I am well." and she got up out of bed!
The dear relative was so startled. After Edna dressed, she
helped her aunt prepare the evening meal, and the next night came
to church. When this woman, who had been painfully confined to a
turning sheet for three weeks, stood up and witnessed to the
miracle of Jesus healing her--people were moved for God in that
community.
This was my first experience in divine healing, and God made
it unmistakably clear to me that He is just the same today as He
was when Jesus walked this earth. By God's grace I shall never
forget it.
God also performed a miracle for Mabel P., who had been
unable to lie down because of a certain infection in her
respiratory system. Upon occasions, a bloody mucous would start
up out of her lungs and choke her; so she was forced to try to
rest sitting up. We took a few of our laymen to pray for her.
As we started to pray, somehow God helped me to know
147 that everything was not quite right. "Something is hindering
prayer," I said. "There is something in the way. People are not
right with God." I then asked the people to pray for themselves.
"Get right with God!" I would plead. Still, I could not pray for
Sister P.'s healing. I cried out some more. "There is something
in somebody's heart that is holding back the power."
Isn't it amazing that God could show a young and
inexperienced pastor the need of the moment? I continued to
plead with the people to get right in their hearts. It was not
an easy place. Finally, after about three or four exhortations,
two women came across that living room and asked one another's
forgiveness. The channels of love were unblocked and the glory
fell. We began to pray, and Mabel said that she saw Jesus
standing in the gate of Heaven. As we were interceding for her,
she saw Jesus reach His hand down from Heaven, put it on her
head, and heal her.
But as soon as she was healed, this thick, bloody mucous
began to flow out of her mouth. Quickly we had to get a
container. All my people were alarmed. I could see by their
faces that they doubted.
"Have faith!" I encouraged them. "This is the unclean
coming out!" It was a terrible sight. I have never seen such a
substance pouring out of a person's mouth and throat. "Don't
disbelieve," I kept telling them. "Just have faith and say,
`Thank you Jesus!'" (Why, who told me that? What made me so
certain that this was of God when the older people were fearful
that she wasn't healed? It had to be Jesus helping me, I know.)
When she visited the doctor for x-rays, he said, "This is
wonderful. All that infection is gone from your lungs." Jesus
had healed her for His glory.
These are but a few of the marvelous things we would have
missed in our first pastorate if we had made our own choice
rather than God's choice. My District Elder had been thinking of
my finances when he recommended the better-paying
148 positions. But look at the power of God which was able to
operate once we arrived where God ordained us to be (and the Holy
Ghost is moving through my body now as I share this with you!)
This was only the beginning of what God was going to accomplish
for His glory, because it was His beginning, not mine.
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