BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

the offering. We got into agreement that we would get $100 and send it to KCM. "That Sunday after church, a man chased us down and stuck something in J.B.'s pocket. It was a check for $100! We immediately sent it to KCM. During that time, we learned how to put the Word of God to work in our lives. "This was October 1981. While J.B. made sales calls in his territory, I prayed the Word over them. Then I commanded those pianos and organs to sell. Within 90 days, J.B.'s territory was first in the nation in sales. By December, he'd made $11,000. J.B. always said he wished he'd had $1,000 faith. "The following year, in 1982, we started Agape Faith Church in a little storefront. We didn't know if anybody would show up. But the first Sunday we had 44 people, and from there it kept growing." In 1983, a man moved to town who was a great teacher of the Word, J.B. recalled. He said he had come to help J.B. and Susan with their church. But it wasn't long before the relationship began to sour. First, the man started spreading lies about J.B. Then he called a meeting of the board, without the pastor. In the meeting, he tried to take over the church. When that didn't work, he caused a church split—taking 34 members from the congregation—and started a church a few miles away. The Love Walk You've got to walk in love, the Lord told J.B. And you've got to forgive him. J.B. and Susan decided to pay the man a visit at his home. "We want you to know that we love you and we forgive you," they told him. "If you need help in any way, let us know." The man didn't know what to think. Soon afterward, J.B. was at the post office when the man walked in. J.B. ducked, hoping not to be seen. But the Lord saw him. Go hug his neck and tell him you love him. "The whole time I hugged him and told him I loved him, I wanted to knee him," J.B. admits. "I wanted to hit him. I wanted to hurt him. I forgave him by faith, but my emotions hadn't gotten the message. B V O V : 1 7 "Over about the next eight months, every time I went to the post office he came in. Each time, the Lord told me to hug him and tell him I loved him. It happened so often that I changed the day and time I went. But it didn't matter. He was always there. After months of this, when I hugged him and told him I loved him, I meant it. I no longer wanted to hurt him. I realized that you must forgive instantly. But learning to forget takes time." Mandate From God One day in 1985, God gave J.B. a mandate from Isaiah 58. They were to feed the hungry and help the lonely wanderer. Starting that week, every Saturday the church fed the hungry in the nearby city of Winston-Salem. They also gave out toiletries and clothes to the homeless. Each Sunday, they sent buses to bring them to church. The story got such traction that the local newspaper sent a reporter and a photographer to document it. "I was honest with the reporter," J.B. remembers. "I told them what a mess my life It's not so much where you start out in life. It's where you finish that matters."

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