BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

I’m not hoping He’ll send me somewhere easy, either. I’m hoping He’ll give me an assignment that takes some guts. Granted, I didn’t develop that attitude overnight, and neither will you. But if you stick with Jesus and keep feeding on His WORD, there will come a time when you know that the tougher the place is where He sends you, the bigger the miracles will be when you get there. Two Thumbs Up Many years ago, one of our ministry Partners experienced this truth in a most remarkable way when she followed the Good Shepherd right into the toughest place you can imagine: in a face-to-face confrontation with a serial killer. The day she crossed paths with him, he was running from the police and he needed a car. So he stole hers—with her in it. At the time, he’d already murdered 21 women and he didn’t think killing her would be a problem for him. He figured if he wanted to he’d just do it. He soon realized, however, this woman was unusual. She was no easy mark. She didn’t cry and quiver with fear at his threats. Instead she looked him straight in the eye and said the words The LORD dropped in her heart: “You’re not going to kill me because I love you.” He could hardly believe his ears. “Lady, shut up!” he said. “You don’t know who I am.” “I don’t care who you are,” she replied. “I love you and I’m going to tell you about Jesus.” “I don’t want to hear about Jesus. I just want you to be quiet!” he told her. She agreed on one condition: She wanted to continue listening to the tape she’d been playing in the car that morning, which happened to be a recording of me preaching a message about the love of God. After the tape had played a while, he suddenly stopped the car and looked at her. “Who said that?” he asked. “Who is in here with us?” “There’s no one here but you and me,” she assured him. “Yes, there is, because I just heard someone call me by name. I heard a man say, ‘This is your last chance. I love you. You can receive Me today and be saved.’” On the side of a country road, he accepted Jesus’ invitation that day. He prayed the prayer of salvation with his heaven-sent hostage and was born again. Then he turned himself in to the police and she went home unharmed. A week later, I got a call from the Bexar County Jail in San Antonio, Texas, asking if I would come and baptize him in water. I agreed with joy. When I arrived, I was escorted into a room full of policemen who watched the baptism with their hands on their guns. In the months that followed, he was tried for his crimes, found guilty and sentenced to death. He refused any kind of appeal. Although some tried to talk him into it, he wasn’t open to the idea. “No, I want to go home to be with Jesus,” he said, “and I want to go the first chance I get.” I was there with him the day they carried out his sentence. He preached the gospel to everyone in the execution chamber. Just before they took him in, I asked him to give me a signal. “Right before they pull the switch, let me know if God’s grace really is sufficient, OK?” A few minutes later, just before they pulled the switch, with a smile on his face that stretched from ear to ear, he put both thumbs up. More than enough! Although he has been in heaven for many years now, if he were here he’d be the first to tell you, the Christian life isn’t hard. What’s hard is running away from the Shepherd who loves you. When you’re following Jesus, wherever He leads you, His yoke is easy and His burden is light. V ********************************** A Champion Has Gone Home. Mac Gober was founder and director of Canaan Land Ministries in Autaugaville, Ala., and originator and founder of the Elite CX Team at Kenneth Copeland Ministries. He fought a good fight, ran a good race, finished his course and went home to be with his Savior on May 5, 2014. I can tell you, there’s no question about the crown of glory and reward coming to this man of faith. I’ve known and ministered with Mac for many years. He and I prayed together, rode motorcycles together and won souls together. At one time, while ministering with Mac, we saw over a thousand people come to the Lord in one service. As Mac gave his testimony, we saw thousands more come to the Lord in other services. Mac, Ben Priest, Jerry Savelle, Dennis Burke and I baptized over a thousand people in one day in Eagle Mountain Lake. It was magnificent! It was the most wonderful “tired” I have ever experienced. There’s just story after story after story about Mac’s faith. Mac and Sandra stood together in every kind of spiritual storm the devil was able to throw at them. We give the Lord praise and thanksgiving for his life, his testimony, his family and for the many, many, many people who Mac helped. People who everybody else had given up on. People who, in some cases, were literally found helpless, homeless and at death’s door—literally in the street gutter. Mac and Sandra took them in. In the early days, they took them into their home—and they only lived in a little place. In the nighttime, if you had to go to the bathroom, you had to get the guy out who was sleeping in the tub. But anybody who knows Mac knows heaven is his kind of place. Praise God! All of the people who have come into the kingdom of God through his and Sandra’s ministry, what a time they are having there. What a rejoicing! I want to remind you this is what we all live for, why we do what we do. This is our hope beyond the grave—our VICTORY OVER DEATH! What a rejoicing time it is. Jesus has manifested Himself in Mac’s life, and also in his departure. We give God the praise and glory for everything He’s given to us through Mac and Sandra Gober. JESUS IS LORD! Ken JULY '14 : 9

• Cover