My Pastor, My Friend

Meet my pastor!  Reverend Noble Ballew was our pastor when Frances and I were teenagers.  His son, Reverend Ron Ballew, who stands with him in this picture, has recently accepted the pastorate of the Hillmar Assembly of God Church along with his wife, Karol.  
As youth, Frances and I were so privileged to have this great man of God as our pastor.  He was only 24 years old then.  Now at 90 years old he is still a vibrant active Christian, and always has a word of encouragment on his lips.

You may click on the picture to enlarge it.

We met together yesterday, Wednesday morning at our monthly sectional minister's breakfast and enjoyed recalling our early days when old fashioned revival struck Southeast Assembly of God in the Lents District of Portland, Oregon.  Our youth leader, Ron Bunn, who later married Frances' sister Florence, requested permission to have Friday night youth prayer meetings right after our street meetings which we held on 92nd street in front of a liquor bar. 

 

Pastor Ballew not only gave his permission, but never missed a meeting himself and soon our youth prayer meetings were lasting until midnight and longer.  Our friends from other churches became curious and many of them attended and were subsiquently filled with the Holy Spirit.  Some nights I didn't leave the sanctuary until 4 AM to take a bus home.  It was there that at 17 years old, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit and experienced for the first time the gift of a new language with which to praise my God.  This sovereign move of God resulted in a sudden explosion of new faces in our little church held in the old Grange Hall.  We were forced to buy property and build a nice new church with room for hundreds. 

 

Pastor Noble Ballew performed our wedding ceremony in 1951. We were the first couple to get married in our new sanctuary.  He must have tied a good knot because it lasted 58 1/2 years... until my Frances was carried into the arms of Jesus.

 

Ralph