BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

* * * * article from p.16 continues * * * * Walking into the kitchen he told his wife what had happened. “Don’t spend another dime,” he warned. The sequence of events that followed seemed like a row of dominoes falling. Tom lost his business, his wealth and his home. His son moved away, and his wife filed for divorce—leaving him with a 4-year-old child to raise on his own. Worse, five other builders in the area solved their financial problems by committing suicide, Tom said. “I am so thankful for John Copeland and a few of my close friends through KCM for rallying around me and encouraging my faith.” No Going Back “I knew all five of those men; three were good friends,” Tom recalls. “I suspect that I was leveraged heavier than some of them. The banks just stopped lending money and people stopped buying homes.” It was a very dark time in Tom’s life, but he never considered giving up. “Faith had been planted in me from a young age, and it was inconceivable to stop believing God’s promises,” Tom said. “In 1973, when I was 3, my parents were born again. We moved to New Orleans where my dad attended a Baptist seminary. While there, he discovered Word of Faith Temple. The pastor was Brother Charles Green. He was, and is, close to Kenneth Copeland. We were always Partners with KCM. I grew up listening to, and later watching, the broadcasts. “Something happened to my mother a year after we arrived. Almost overnight, she went from being normal to being unable to sit up or walk. She suffered excruciating pain. One Sunday morning we were at church with Dad when Pastor Green announced that if anyone needed healing to bring them to church that evening, because God said, 'I am going to heal them.' A Harvest of Miracles “I ran up three flights of stairs and down a catwalk to get to our apartment and tell my mother that she was going to be healed. Dad, my aunt and uncle were able to get her into a wheelchair and to church. There was an altar call where Pastor Green and the associate pastor, Garland Pemberton, laid hands on her. “I remember watching my mother stand up out of the wheelchair. Then she started walking. The next thing I knew, she was running to us. From that day forward, a seed of faith was planted in my heart. I’ve never doubted that God was real or that He healed. “Sometime later, Dad went to China with Nora Lam who wrote China Cry. He came back with story after story of miracles. I couldn’t get enough. Once, my sister and I went with Dad to Alabama where he was to preach. When we left to return to New Orleans, Dad said, ‘Thomas, I want you and your sister to get on the floorboard on your knees and pray. They didn’t give us a love offering and the gas tank is almost empty. We need gas for the trip.’ We prayed and drove all night to get home. We never stopped for gas. “I’ve seen my dad drive through a flood. We had water up to the hood. ‘Thomas,’ he said, ‘I need you kids to pray.’ Water seeped in through the doors and filled the floorboards. A man in a canoe rowed up and Dad rolled down his window and talked to him. The engine never stuttered or stopped. “These are just a few stories from my early childhood. You can’t witness those kinds of things without knowing God will always bring you through hard times.” One of the hardest times in his life happened when Tom was 14 and his parents divorced. “Although I knew Dad was hard on me and had contributed to the divorce, I also knew I needed to stay close to the anointing on his life,” Tom recalled. “While my three siblings moved to California with my mother, I stayed with Dad. It wasn’t easy, but I never regretted it. To this day, I don’t know anyone who has had more people healed in his ministry than my dad.” By the time Tom was 14, college scouts were already circling. A gifted athlete, he was a fast runner. There were hints at college scholarships and high hopes he would compete in the 1988 Olympics. That dream fell apart when Tom’s dad moved to Long Beach, Miss., and later took a church in Indiana. Without the support of his team or his coach, he didn’t have the help he needed. That’s when he changed his life’s goal and joined the Marines. 18 : BVOV

• Cover