Pastor Taylor is a native of Pine Bluff and a graduate of Pine Bluff High School. He attended Ouachita Baptist University and received his B.A. in 1967. He did graduate Work at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, California. He received his Master of Divinity degree from there in 1970 and the Doctor of Ministry degree in 1980. While attending Seminary, Pastor Taylor served as a Student Chaplain at San Quentin State Prison for two years. He has served as Pastor in Arkansas, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay area. Pastor Taylor and his wife JoAnne have two grown children and twelve grandchildren.
I first read the following story in The Sword of the Lord newsmagazine sometime in the mid 1990. It was written by Shelton Smith. This is what he wrote:
As I think about the matter of winning others to Christ, the word “unusual” keeps popping up. It seems to me that every time you think you’ve seen or heard it all, something “unusual” pops up. Although I do not recommend that you ever wrap your hand around a beer can or a whiskey bottle (even if it’s empty), here is an “unusual” soul-winning approach as told by Dr. Curtis Hutson, my dear friend and predecessor as editor here at the Sword of the Lord.
Jewell T. Pierce lives in the state of Alabama. Forty years ago, he began collecting empty whiskey bottles. Mr. Pierce thought, These bottles have been used for wrong purposes, and I will use them for good. He put several gospel tracts into each bottle, sealed each one with a cork and covered the cork with a cap. The bottles were then cast into creeks and rivers. Mr. Pierce thought, These gospel tracts will reach people whom I’ll never see. According to Mr. Pierce, a bottle floats approximately four miles a day. In the last forty years 2,700 bottles have been stuffed with gospel tracts and “cast upon the waters.” Mr. Pierce has received replies from 2,436 people. Letters have come from twenty-nine states and eight countries. The farthest reply, according to Mr. Pierce, came from Salonica, Greece. It took the bottle thirteen-and-a-half years to float there. A man went fishing, found a bottle and carried it home to his wife. After reading the tracts, the lady carried them to every house and read them to every person in the community. They lived in a small farming community of 117 people. They organized a church in a home and now have a church as a direct result of finding the gospel tracts in the bottle. A twenty-one year old boy surveying land for Alabama Power found one of the bottles on dry ground. He read the tracts and accepted Christ as Saviour. The tracts were placed into the bottle four years before the boy was born. A lady from Ohio went to Florida for a vacation, found one of the messages and wrote to Mr. Pierce stating, “It was for me. I accept Jesus Christ as my Saviour. I’m afraid not to. This could be my last chance.” Mr. Pierce has many other interesting letters and says that the entire project has cost him approximately $5,000 for the corks, tracts and postage. What an “unusual” way to get the Gospel out! And yet God honors His Word, even when found in a whiskey bottle.
Let’s share the Gospel. Who knows what might happen as we do.
As I think about the matter of winning others to Christ, the word “unusual” keeps popping up. It seems to me that every time you think you’ve seen or heard it all, something “unusual” pops up. Although I do not recommend that you ever wrap your hand around a beer can or a whiskey bottle (even if it’s empty), here is an “unusual” soul-winning approach as told by Dr. Curtis Hutson, my dear friend and predecessor as editor here at the Sword of the Lord.
Jewell T. Pierce lives in the state of Alabama. Forty years ago, he began collecting empty whiskey bottles. Mr. Pierce thought, These bottles have been used for wrong purposes, and I will use them for good. He put several gospel tracts into each bottle, sealed each one with a cork and covered the cork with a cap. The bottles were then cast into creeks and rivers. Mr. Pierce thought, These gospel tracts will reach people whom I’ll never see. According to Mr. Pierce, a bottle floats approximately four miles a day. In the last forty years 2,700 bottles have been stuffed with gospel tracts and “cast upon the waters.” Mr. Pierce has received replies from 2,436 people. Letters have come from twenty-nine states and eight countries. The farthest reply, according to Mr. Pierce, came from Salonica, Greece. It took the bottle thirteen-and-a-half years to float there. A man went fishing, found a bottle and carried it home to his wife. After reading the tracts, the lady carried them to every house and read them to every person in the community. They lived in a small farming community of 117 people. They organized a church in a home and now have a church as a direct result of finding the gospel tracts in the bottle. A twenty-one year old boy surveying land for Alabama Power found one of the bottles on dry ground. He read the tracts and accepted Christ as Saviour. The tracts were placed into the bottle four years before the boy was born. A lady from Ohio went to Florida for a vacation, found one of the messages and wrote to Mr. Pierce stating, “It was for me. I accept Jesus Christ as my Saviour. I’m afraid not to. This could be my last chance.” Mr. Pierce has many other interesting letters and says that the entire project has cost him approximately $5,000 for the corks, tracts and postage. What an “unusual” way to get the Gospel out! And yet God honors His Word, even when found in a whiskey bottle.
Let’s share the Gospel. Who knows what might happen as we do.