Why Preacher Pulliam
Returned
George W. Truett
"He can beat anybody at gettin' music from folks at a singing bee," the mountain people declared. "And you ought to hear how he tamed the twenty-year-old bullies at Crooked Creek School where he's schoolmaster," they usually added.
Youthful George Truett, handy with plow, rifle, and books, was easily the most popular boy in Clay County, North Carolina. But though he was a regular church-goer, all his admirers knew well enough that he was not a Christian.
Now it was Sunday morning preaching time at Clay County Baptist Church. George was squirming on his bench, eagerly waiting for the visiting evangelist to finish his sermon and close the revival. George knew that the persuasive Preacher Pulliam had almost roped him into the Lord's corral.
Finally the evangelist finished his sermon and, to George's relief, said his good-byes. The pastor announced the customary evening services, and George and his family filed out with the other worshipers.
That evening, George Truett was back at the church his family had attended for as long as he could remember. But when it came time for the sermon, the revival preacher unexpectedly returned.
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After a short whispered conversation, the pastor said, "Brother Pulliam feels compelled of the Lord to continue the meetings here for another week." A solemn hush fell over the congregation.
Preacher Pulliam took Hebrews 10:38 for his text, "The just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him."
George Truett, the young mountain teacher, sat as though pegged to the hard church seat. As the preacher spoke, he was remembering the times God had spoken to him.
When he was only six, he had felt a deep need for God's forgiveness while listening to a country preacher. That night in his little bed he yearned for someone to tell him how his sins could be forgiven.
There had been the time he was looking for his father's cows and was almost bitten by a deadly rattle-snake. On the way home, a mountaineer told him, "You were lucky to get out of that cave alive. Three years ago I helped kill seventy-two rattlers up there." George had breathed a prayer of thankfulness and hurried on home.
At age eleven the Spirit had called him again during a revival meeting in the mountain church house. But there was "time enough yet," he had assured himself.
Now George Truett had entered young manhood. He sat tensely, listening to Preacher Pulliam warn of the peril of trifling with Christ's call. When the sermon was over and the invitation hymn begun, George was one of the stream of people who went forward to surrender publicly to the Saviour.
The next morning at the breakfast table, George and his mother talked about the great decision he had made.
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"Last night, after coming home from the meeting, I put myself to a test," he told the one who had prayed for him since before he was born. "I said to myself, What if Christ should now come visibly to me and ask: 'Are you willing from this time on to let Me have My way with your life? Are you willing to trust My way as always being best?' "
"How did you answer, son?"
"I answered yes without any reservations," he said. "Afterward, my heart was filled with great peace."
Wednesday night of the extended week of revival came, and the pastor spoke to George. "There are many people here who are near to becoming Christians, but they are hesitating. Will you say a word of exhortation?"
George's knees were shaking when he got up and gave an appeal. But a moment after he started, he was out in the aisle pleading personally with friends and neighbors. Then suddenly he thought, What a fool I am making of myself! Feeling humiliated, he sat down, but not before many of the hill folks had sought God's mercy.
Later when George W. Truett had become one of America's greatest preachers, he said, "From that hour, people began telling me, 'Shouldn't you give your life to the gospel ministry?' "
Not long after George's conversion, the Truett family moved to Whiteright, Texas. George's talents were soon recognized, and he was elected superintendent of the Baptist Sunday school. George often conducted services himself, always standing in front of the pulpit because he felt unworthy to stand behind it.
Many times he was urged to enter the ministry. Each time
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he solemnly answered, "I will speak for Christ, but I am not worthy to be His minister." Finally the congregation called a special meeting.
At the Saturday night meeting, the oldest deacon rose to say, "We feel that this church has a duty to perform. We have waited far too long already." Then while the young superintendent listened with amazement, the deacon stated his motion, "I move that this church ordain Brother George W. Truett to the full work of the gospel ministry."
George Truett rose to his feet in protest. But the members' pleadings forced him to relent. The following morning he was ordained.
The wisdom of the church's decision was proven in the years ahead. A few weeks after his ordination, the persuasive young Truett, at only twenty-three was appointed to lead the fund-raising drive that lifted Baylor University from crushing debt. When he graduated from Baylor he was offered its presidency, but he declined in favor of the pastoral ministry.
For over forty years he served as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, becoming the best-known Texan of his time. During his ministry the church grew to become the largest church in Texas and in the Southern Baptist Convention. Three times he was elected president of his denomination, and in 1934, he was elected to the highest office in the worldwide Baptist fellowship, President of the Baptist World Alliance.
This was the mountain boy who became a Christian because Preacher Pulliam was responsive to the Spirit and extended his revival.
