BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

B V O V : 1 5 1977. Then, in 1978, Brother Copeland held his first Believers' Convention in Long Beach, Calif. Besides Kenneth and Gloria, the speakers included Jerry Savelle, Charles Capps and Kenneth Hagin. Not only did Jerry preach with Kenneth during that first Believers' Convention, but he has preached every Believers' Convention since, both national and international. Kenneth and Gloria also asked Jerry to serve on the board of directors of Kenneth Copeland Ministries. "In 1981 we held a Believers' Convention in Charlotte, N.C.," Jerry remembers. "I had preached all my sermons and settled back to listen to Kenneth on the last night when he suddenly closed his Bible and announced that God wanted me to preach. Then, he just sat down. "I walked to the podium without a flicker of sermon to preach. I looked over at Kenneth and asked if perhaps God had told him what I was to preach. He said he didn't know. "My Bible fell open to Hebrews 11, and I heard myself announce that I was going to preach a sermon I'd first heard from Oral Roberts when I was 12 years old. I had never attempted to preach 'The Fourth Man,' but that night the Holy Spirit brought it up out of the recesses of my heart." Kenneth Copeland aired the sermon on his television program the following Sunday night. The next morning, Jerry received a phone call from Oral Roberts' secretary. "Brother Roberts wants to know if you could meet with him at his o'ce in Tulsa tomorrow afternoon," she asked. Hands shaking, Jerry agreed. He'd never met Oral Roberts. What if he heard the sermon Jerry preached and thought he'd slaughtered it? What if he was going to sue him for using his work? The following afternoon, Jerry stepped into Oral Roberts' o'ce. Brother Roberts looked up from his desk and said, "I heard you preach 'The Fourth Man' Sunday night." Jerry stood still, heart pounding, while Brother Roberts walked around his desk and stepped in front of him. In one movement he wrapped his arms around Jerry and said, "Son, I never heard it preached better. You remind me of myself when I was young." Jerry Savelle had come full circle. Only now the man who had preached Jesus and set a fire in his heart wasn't just a face on a television screen. He was a friend. "I heard the call of God watching Oral Roberts," Jerry explains. "It took Kenneth Copeland, a man who'd been trained by Brother Roberts, to get me to fulfill it." It's been more than 51 years since Jerry Savelle stopped running and stepped up to the plate to play ball on God's team. In those years, he has traveled the earth preaching the fire of God into the hearts of men. In a time when competition reigned, Jerry Savelle and Kenneth Copeland have demonstrated friendship, faithfulness and loyalty—not just to one another, but to God as well. In 1994, Jerry started the Jerry Savelle Ministries International Bible Institute and School of World Evangelism. Like his father and grandfather of the faith, Jerry is committed to raising up the next generation of men and women for God. Just like the Lord told Carolyn when she was 8 years old, Jerry Savelle has gone to Africa. He has established 40 churches in Kenya; has ministry headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya; the United Kingdom; and South Wales; and has o'ces in Johannesburg, South Africa; and Tanzania. The lives he has won for the Lord number in the hundreds of thousands. The bases were loaded when Jerry accepted his mantle and stepped up to bat to wage war on the kingdom of darkness. He didn't just hit a home run. He hit a grand slam. Someday, Jerry Savelle will finish his race by sliding into home along with all the souls he has won. The Umpire's call already echoes throughout eternity. "Safe!"

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