Dr. Tom Wallace to Speak at Banquet
Every year, one of the special events of Graduation Week is the Alumni/Graduation Banquet. Dr. Tom Wallace, author, evangelist, and Vice President of the Sword of the Lord is scheduled to speak at the Tuesday night, May 2nd event. Dr. Wallace has pastored three great churches, where the Lord blessed with many souls saved. Dr. Wallace willspiritually feed your heart and soul.
This year, we will again host the Alumni/Graduation Banquet on the Hopewell Campus, and the food will be catered by Gray Brother’s Cafeteria.
Come and enjoy Dr. Wallace’s message, along with a night of good food, Christian music, and great fellowship. Please call Heritage Baptist College to make a reservation. (317) 738-3791 or (317) 833-0172.
Dr. Dave Martin to Preach During Graduation Week
On May 2 - 4 we will hold the Graduation Week activities for Heritage Baptist College. A great line up of 12 preachers is planned, and one of the week’s highlights will be the combined meeting of local churches on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. Dr. Dave Martin of Cincinnati will be speaking that night. Brother Martin has been in Gospel ministry for over 50 years, with 38 years being a senior pastor. After many years shepherding the Lighthouse Baptist Church of Winchester, VA, Dr. Martin now serves as a representative for First Bible in Milford, OH. He also taught this year at Heritage.
Dr. Dave Martin is a friend to Christians and his messages are relevant and helpful. This is our sixteenth year to host this combined service, and we look forward to a special evening filled with great enthusiasm, kindness, and Christian fellowship among the churches.
Dr. Gerald Stokes Home to Heaven
The words of Paul in II Timothy 4:7 could well be applied to Dr. Gerald Stokes: I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith. On February 14, 2023, Brother Stokes finished his course: closing his eyes, and waking up in heaven!
During his 89 years on this earth, Dr. Stokes impacted the world for Christ.
Dr. Stokes was saved shortly after his service in the Korean War. He felt God’s call to the ministry, and he attended Bible College. He was a classmate of Jack Van Impe, and he told me of the teacher that challenged them to memorize scripture.
Ordained in 1966, Dr. Gerald Stokes pastored churches in Michigan, Indiana, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.
After his retirement, he continued to be active in witnessing for the Lord. After his move to Florida, he taught a Sunday School class, and he became the unofficial chaplain at the famous TPC Sawgrass Golf Course. A top flight golfer himself, he would often be seen at the course, and he was instrumental in leading a number of people to the Lord. I marveled at the high respect the members held for him, calling him “doc.” I will never forget the chilly day that he gave me a tour of the TPC including the famous hole #17.
Dr. Gerald Stokes used some of his last days in sharing his knowledge by writing commentaries. He was a true friend and lover of Christian Education.
I Owe Gerald Stokes a Little More
The first time I can remember meeting Dr. Stokes was as a sophomore in Bible College. He entered midyear to teach our History of Civilization class in 1979. At that time he was pastoring the Northline Baptist Church in Taylor (Detroit), Michigan. Dr. Stokes loved college young people, and he would travel 160 miles (one way), once a week, to teach at Heritage when the college was located in Northeast Ohio.
I always appreciated his sacrifice, as he taught me classes through my senior year. Dr. Stokes eventually became a Director of Heritage Baptist College, a position he still held when he graduated to heaven.
After he moved to Florida, Dr. Stokes often took part speaking and helping Heritage Baptist College. He continued to be a great encouragement to students, and eventually he donated much of his large library to the college.
His giving and love will long be remembered, including the library annex room that was named in his honor.
“The Radium Water Worked Fine Until His Jaw Came Off”
This was the headlines in the Wallstreet Journal following the March 31, 1932 death of millionaire Eben Byers. Byers had become famous years earlier as a golf star, winning the 1906 U.S. Amateur Golf Championship at Englewood Golf Club (NJ).
Because of a later arm injury, Byer’s physician prescribed a new patent medicine called Radithor, which was basically Radium powder mixed in water. Eben Byers became the spokesman for the new medicine, and over the next three years ingested 1400 bottles of the slow radiation poison.
What Byers thought was relieving his pain, was radium eating holes in his bones and skull. His body eventually assimilated three times the lethal dosage of the radiation poison.
Such also are the slow, hidden ways of sin.
