Sunday, June 7, 2009
IN
MEMORY
OF,
Dr. Joe M. Boyd, Evangelist
May 5, 1917 – June 1, 2009
(click here for funeral information)
The
ole-time religion has produced many evangelists.
When one reflects upon the history of America’s
great preachers, Evangelist Dr. Joe M. Boyd will be
ranked among the greatest. He was a statesman of
the sermon and a scholar of the Scriptures. His
biblical knowledge made him a theologian; his
delivery made him a legend. Dr. Boyd was always on
the soul winner’s trail. He tangled with the devil
and wrestled against sin while preaching as an
evangelist for almost 70 years. Dr. Boyd trained
hundreds of young evangelists, held thousands of
revivals, and saw millions saved. Those who heard
him speak savored the taste of his endless southern
colloquialisms. Whether you met him at home or in
public, you would always find him dressed in his
best as one of the last of the aristocrats. Nothing
ever slowed him down. After the home-going of his
wife of 62 years, Edith Boyd on July 6, 2000, and
Dr. Jack Hyles, his pastor of over 50 years on
February 6, 2001, his travels at the age of 84
increased. He began to travel worldwide with less
time at home than ever before in his ministry.
Opposition was never broad enough to make him less
loyal to his call or his Saviour. Even at his age,
he began to learn Spanish by attending a three month
language school in Mexico and then continuing
personal tutoring for several years. His goal was
to preach under tent revivals to the Latin American
world. He would have his sermons written out in
Spanish trying to preach without an interpreter. In
Dr. Boyd’s life-time, he preached in every state of
the Union and several foreign countries. His life
was fascinating, and was most recognized by his
brilliant character and the presence of the power of
God.
Revival was Dr. Boyd’s language, lamp, and
landmark. Revival is the latchet that tied his
preaching shoes and the lattice through which he
viewed the Saviour. Revival was his laughter and
his law of life. Revival was what he learned and
what he leaned on. He believed that revival was the
right letter to the liberal. Revival was his
license to preach and his liberty in Christ.
Revival was his life, light, and likeness. He
believed that revival revealed the scarlet line of
salvation and the linen that makes the best robe.
Revival was his labor, his love, and his life. If
someone were to look for Dr. Boyd to locate him,
they would probably find him somewhere conducting a
revival. Revival is how Evangelist Joe Boyd ended
his life.
Dr.
Boyd’s life and legacy before preaching was that he
was the son of a preacher born in Jacksonville,
Texas and raised in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. He
was saved at the age of 12 and called to preach at
the age of 27.
Dr. Boyd was also a natural born athlete and became
a great college football hero. He was an
All-American tackle on the Texas A & M National
Championship team of 1939 and the 1940 Sugar Bowl.
Today, his name is inscribed in the Texas A & M Hall
of Fame, and he is listed in the Sports Illustrated
25th
Silver Anniversary Hall of Fame.
After
college, Dr. Boyd was a successful businessman
working as a chief assistant accountant at Todd
Galveston Shipyard in Texas. He pastored three
churches, served as president of a preacher’s
training school, and operated both a Christian grade
school and high school. He also started the Baptist
Evangelistic Schools of Texas, better known as
B.E.S.T. of Dallas, TX. He has authored several
books and was also a Bible scholar teaching both
Greek and Hebrew.
Quite
possibly one of his greatest achievements occurred
in 1975, in his mid sixties, Dr. Joe Boyd founded
the Mt. Salem Revival Grounds in West Union, WV.
Thanks to Dr. Boyd’s vision, which God used, there
are now hundreds and thousands of full-time
servants, pastors, evangelists, and missionaries
worldwide. We all thank God for the wonderful
memories and the legacy of Evangelist Dr. Joe M.
Boyd.
I want
to thank you all for your faithful prayers and
financial support to Dr. Boyd these many years. He
loved you and was grateful for how you helped him in
the ministry.
With
kind regard,
Dr.
Randy E. Taylor
Evangelist/President
Viewing:
Friday morning, June 12, 2009 from 9:00 a.m. to
11:00 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of
Hammond, IN.
Funeral
Services: June 12, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. at the
First Baptist Church of Hammond, IN.
Memorial
Service: June 16, 2009 at 10:30 a.m. at the
Mt. Salem Revival Grounds, West Union, WV, in
the Joe Boyd Tabernacle.
The Joe Boyd
Foundation: If you would like to give a gift
in memory of Dr. Boyd, you may do so by sending
your gift to:
Joe Boyd Foundation
P.O. Box 177
West Union, WV 26456
April
- May 2009
Letters From Dr. Randy Taylor
Dear
Supporter:
Revival is a revealing look at the ebb and flow
of how spiritually things really are in the churches
of our country. As I travel our homeland and
abroad, I have been able to observe a 35 year look
of the diverse circumstances and character that
surrounds our local New Testament Bible believing
Baptist churches. There has been a trend of
modernism and liberalism creeping in and taking over
and literally strangling the life of revival from
the pews of our churches. We have left out
practical, fundamental, Biblical doctrines and
practices of our faith. There is a dark secret
concerning worldly change in some of our Fundamental
Baptist churches today. The King James Bible is
being excused away as just another version and not
God’s Word. There is more preaching on being
devoted and consecrated to the church policy than
there is Biblical separation and godly standards
that few preach about anymore. Most of our churches
look no different than the American culture that has
been changed by Hollywood and has affected our
pulpits. Many churches no longer schedule revival
meetings, but social programs to pay off their debt
and to fill up their bank accounts. Often church
memberships are no longer being increased by soul
winning and the baptistry, but rather has become a
microcosm of everybody’s church members moving their
memberships through proselyte programs.
I
thank God for churches that still believe in
revivals and the old time religion, and for
preachers who preach from the King James Bible as
the Word of God instead of philosophy. I thank God
for those who keep the faith instead of compromise,
and for those who rely more on soul winning, than
swapping church members. My prayer for today’s
churches is that of Habakkuk 3:2, “O Lord, I have
heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive
thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of
the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.”
Since
I last reported to you about our revival meetings, I
have been in three churches in Ohio, two churches in
West Virginia, and I preached at churches in
Wisconsin, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and in Texas.
God has been gracious and we have seen results with
His power and blessing. In one revival on a Friday
night, it took an hour and half for the altar
workers to finish with the people who walked down
the aisle resulting in many salvations, baptisms and
full-time service commitments. Recently on the last
night of the meeting, I was preaching on Ruth and
Naomi. A lady walked forward holding her
mother-in-law by the hand as she came forward to be
saved. I thought to myself, “Here comes Naomi and
Ruth”! Praise God for how He tends to the needs of
everyone under the sound of the Gospel. What a
privilege it is to hold revival meetings week after
week, and seeing people saved and baptized in the
local churches.
I want to ask you to continue praying for our
National
God Save
America
Revival Conference
to be held November 9-12, 2009, at the Mount Pisgah
Baptist Church in Oliver Springs, TN, with Pastor
Garvan Walls as the host pastor. The guest
speakers are: Dr. Larry Brown, Dr. Jeff Fugate, Dr.
Clyde Gilman, Dr. Matt Jarrell, Dr. Bobby Roberson,
Dr. Clarence Sexton and I. The youth speakers are:
Dr. Oliver Araiza, Dr. Gary Lovens, and Pastor Randy
Taylor, Jr. There will be various area churches to
conduct their choirs at the
God Save America
Conference and also at the
Next Generation
Youth Conference
such as: Liberty Baptist Church, Pastor Randy
Griffis; Salem Baptist Church, Pastor Ted Clower;
Mount Pisgah Baptist Church, Pastor Garvan Walls;
North Rockwood Baptist Church, Pastor Benny
Whittenbarger; and the Harriman Baptist Tabernacle
Youth Choir, Pastor James Jones. I hope you will
mark your calendar and make plans to come. We will
be sending out a brochure soon and advertising in
the Revival Fires! paper.
Thank
you and please pray for us as we strive to continue
holding revivals in churches across America.
Because He lives,
Dr. Randy E. Taylor
Evangelist