4Winds

As I've gotten older, family has come to mean a lot more to me than it did when I was a kid or even a young man.

The picture on the left is my Grandpa and Grandma on my Dad's side - James A. Rutherford (although everyone called him "Brother Jim") and Millie Rutherford.

My grandpa did not become a Christian till he was in his thirties, but when he did give his life to the Lord, he was serious about it! It was not too long after he became a Christian that he felt there needed to be a church in Tulsa that was just interested in following the Biblical example of what church was like. No denominational affiliation, no man-made doctrine. He got a few other people together (about 14, I think) and they started a church in an old barber shop.

They had a part-time preacher, who was also a part-time school teacher, but it was not long before the part-time preacher got an offer of a full time teaching position in another town.

The church looked for a preacher, but wasn't having an success and as a few of the member left, the remaining men came to my grandpa and told him that since he was the one who really got the church going, that he would have to preach till they found a real preacher. He agreed on the condition that they would keep looking for a preacher. He was the "fill-in" preacher for the next 26 years at what became Cincinnati Avenue Christian Church in Tulsa, OK. By the mid-50s the church was running 800+ people and 100+ were being saved and baptized every year.

The picture on the right is of the church in the early days on a church picnic/camping trip to Missouri. My grandpa and another man from the church spent all night catching frogs and then woke everyone else up about 6:30 a.m., gave everyone a frog (or two) and took this picture. My grandpa is the dark haired man in the upper right and my grandma is the young woman who is the third from the left. The three kids in front are (l to r) my dad, Jim, my uncle, Dean and my aunt Ann.

I've had a lot of people tell me what a great preacher my grandpa was and how there has never been another preacher like him. And, he must have had a great influence on a lot of people - especially his own family. My Dad and both his brothers, Dean and Shan, became preachers. They all three were/are great soul winners and church builders. Between my brother and me and my cousins, there are 6 more preachers. My uncle Shan, preaches in Greenwood, Indiana at a church of 2000+, my cousin David preaches in Clovis, California at a church of 3000+ (and my Uncle Dean is one of his associate pastors) and my cousin Dudley preaches at a 10,000 member church in the northwest part of Los Angeles. One minister friend of mine referred to our family as a legacy of preaching.

My dad and I were talking not long ago and he said that by most standards that my grandpa was not really that great of preacher - that he really just stood and read his sermons. Dad said that if just judged on speaking ability, eloquence, etc. that grandpa was not really all that good at preaching.

So - what was it that caused him to be such a great soul winner and such a great church builder? Why do so many people remember him as being such a great preacher?

It was because when he became a Christian, he was serious about it. When he gave his heart to God, he gave 100%. When he became a Christian, he took the great commission as his personal calling. Everything else became secondary. Because he had given his heart so completely to Jesus, his heart became like the heart of Jesus - especially concerning the lost. He had a great compassion for the lost and a great passion for winning them to Jesus Christ. And, that came through in his preaching. It came through one on one. It came thorough in the way he lived. And, it touched people. He would cry over people. He would stay up all night praying about someone. He'd get mad at people. He'd even tell them off (in love and truth), if that is what it took. His purpose in life became telling others about Jesus. And, he was relentless. A man told me that he gave his heart to Jesus during a service my grandpa was preaching and he came on the 23rd verse of Just As I Am! My dad tells me that if grandpa knew there was someone in the service who needed to make a decision, he'd just keep singing the invitation till they came. He'd even stop in-between verses and plead with that person, doing every thing but calling them out by name.

When was the last time you even gave any thought to the condition of someone's soul, let alone wept about it or stayed up all night praying about it? How seriously do you take the work of Christ?

Roy Lessin wrote:
God in not looking for those who are clever,
But for those in whom He can be wise;
He is not looking for those who are talented,
But for those to whom He can be all sufficient;
he is not looking for those who are powerful,
But for those through whom He can be almighty!

If you want to be really used by God - used to a far greater measure then you could ever imagine - all you have to do is to give your heart to Him 100% - live as holy a life as you can - pray that God will lay upon your heart the same compassion that Jesus had for the lost - and then just be ready and willing to be used! AND GOD WILL USE YOU!

Love in Christ Jesus,

Jim