BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

After he married Tiki in 2002, she’d joined him in the ministry. They’d begun with one service a month, adding inmate Bible studies and outreaches. By the time they had grown to 87 services a month, they had a team of 120 volunteers. In 2010, Mike Barber had asked them to come on staff with his ministry. In Houston, Mike had been given the position as director of chaplains at the Harris County Jail. Harris County wasn’t just any jail. It was the biggest jail in America with 8,000 to 10,000 prisoners any given day. Mike had asked Tom and Tiki to move to Houston, and model there what they’d done in Tennessee. After the move in January 2011, Tom and Tiki spent three weeks a month working in Houston and one week in Chattanooga. Outreaches like this one were like icing on the cake of a wonderful life and ministry. The phone rang at 9:30 that night in July 2011. “Tiki,” her brother said, “Dad was in a bad wreck just as he rode into Chattanooga. They don’t expect him to make it through the night.” Tom and Tiki prayed as they packed. 'Fast and pray.' Was that the Lord? Tiki didn’t do well without food. She tended to pass out without warning. “God, are You sure?” she asked. 'Fast and pray.' Standing on God’s Word “We left Houston at 10:30 and drove all Tuesday night and half of Wednesday, praying the entire time,” Tiki recalls. “Dad was in a coma in ICU. He had a severe brain injury. The wreck had been caused by negligence. Someone had a gas grill that wasn’t tied down in the back of a truck. It tumbled out of the truck, causing a multiple vehicle crash. “When they allowed me in the ICU, I said, ‘Dad, you will recover. I’m not eating until you wake up, and I won’t leave the hospital.’ I slept in a chair in the ICU waiting room. There was no change in his condition until Friday evening. My brother and I were asking him to squeeze our hands, when he opened his eyes. The first thing I thought was, I get to eat! I heard the Lord say, 'Not yet.' ” Tiki knew how to pray in faith. Her grandmother had learned about faith from Kenneth E. Hagin and Kenneth Copeland. She’d grown up cutting her spiritual teeth on the Word of Faith. Her two sons, Derek and Kevin, both now in their 20s, had been raised in faith as well. When their parents had moved to Houston they’d both stayed in Chattanooga—Derek putting together plans to live in California, and Kevin saving money to start his own gaming café close to home. Kevin loved the prison ministry and often called in the early morning hours asking if Tiki and Tom would pray for one of his friends. “When we got the call about Tiki’s dad,” Tom remembers, “we knew how to take our stand on the Word of God. Early Sunday morning, I left to drive back to Houston. I’d reached Birmingham, Ala., when Derek called. He said one of Kevin’s friends had driven past the site of a terrible wreck and recognized Kevin’s mangled van. He’d called Kevin’s phone and someone from the hospital answered. “The phone reception in the ICU waiting room was bad. People had been trying to reach Tiki, but the calls were dropped. I got through and told her that Kevin was somewhere in the hospital. Then I turned around and headed back.” Tiki ran to the ICU. He wasn’t there. She ran to the ER where two officers met her. “Are you the mom?” “Yes, where’s Kevin? I need to see him.” Kevin was in surgery. Tiki took her place in faith, picturing Kevin’s sparkling eyes, awash with good humor and his long, beautiful hair, which he’d grown to donate to children with hair loss. 12 : BVOV

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