Greenville SC Harold Sightler Israel Sermon Christian Vinyl LP Record VG+

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Greenville SC South Carolina Harold Sightler Israel Sermon Christian Vinyl LP Record VG+
Vinyl / Jacket Grade per Goldmine Standard: VG+ / VG+
Saturday, August 1, 1970 THE COLUMBIA RECORD 3-A Baptist Church In Greenville ISRAEL: Her preservation through the years Her present condition Proud Of Incredible Growth "THE BUDDING OF THE FIG TREE" Ezekial 37 This sermon was preached August 9, 1970 on Sunday By CARLTON W. TRUAX Record Staff Writer “Incredible,” is the word often used by those who hear for the first time of the record made in 15 years by Taber- nacle Baptist Church in Green- ville. In that time it has grown from an empty lot on White Horse Road to the largest Sun- day School in South Carolina, a day school enrolling about 600, an orphanage caring for 97 homeless children, and a Bible institute. But what makes knowl- edgeable church leaders do a “double take” when they hear about Tabernacle’s achieve- ments is the fact that it now supports 80 missionaries. Where did all this come from? From 20 weeks of prayer and from the death of an 11 year old girl, the church now has property and buildings worth more than SI million, says Dr. Harold Sightier, church pastor. In the late 1940’s the Rev. Mr. Sightier was pastor of a Southern Baptist Church in Pelham, a small industrial town near Greenville. He had had a radio program on a Greenville station since 1943 and was doing the regular work of pastor. In 1947 he “spent every night on my knees for 20 weeks. “The Lord did something for me. The Spirit of God took hold of me,” he recalls, “and the Lord gave us five years of continuous revival in that church.” In 1951 his ministry almost ended. While conducting a series of meetings in a city 200 miles from Columbia his 11-year-old daughter, Carolyn Grace, was killed in an acci- dent involving a drunken driver. “We buried her on Friday and I preached on Sunday, he said, “but there was a time there when I did not see how I could preach the grace of God after something like that hap- pened. I even tried to think of I some way I could get out of the ministry without bringing reproach on the cause of Christ.” But he continued in prayer and preaching, and in the year that followed, “the Lord opened the way for the church in Greenville. “I was impressed of the Lord to build a church at this location,” he says. Because of his radio minis- try, 18 Greenville families reg- ularly attended his services in Pelham. These encouraged him to make the move and four men mortgaged their auto- mobiles to buy the two lots on White Horse Road. “We built the building be- fore we ever organized,” Dr. Sightier said. “We started with 168 charter members. In six or eight weeks we had to build a temporary Sunday School building. The enrollment was already about 400.” Within a year the enroll- ment was about 1,000, which was all the original warehouse- like auditorium could accom- modate. In 1957, the church built a new sanctuary seating 1,500. It is often filled with the overflow in the “chapel,” which was cut out of the first auditorium. “The missionary program is really the secret of our church,” Dr. Sightier said. Al- most 50 per cent of the church budget goes directly to support missionaries in 20 foreign countries and in the United States. “Every time we get into a financial pinch, we take on a new missionary and the Lord provides, not only enough for the missionary but for our needs as well,” the earnest minister reports. During September of this year the church received $3,900 for the work of the church and $3,700 for foreign missions. In the fall of 1960, im- pressed with the need for edu- cation with a Christian empha- sis, Dr. Sightier asked the church to approve a day school. It opened that year with an enrollment of 104 in the first four grades. Now, with a faculty of 43, the church school teaches 574 children in grades one through 12. In 1962 they opened a Bible School at night to give working men an opportunity to prepare for the ministry. A student in this school must attend four nights a week for three years. The church has averaged ordaining more than one member each year to the gospel ministry. That year they also opened the orphanage with four child- ren from broken homes. Now they have 97. “It’s all by faith, none from the government, and we’ve never turned a child down,” he said. One unusual requirement is that the guardian of each child must agree to leave the child in the orphanage for three years. “If we get them in our church, our day school and this is their home for three years, we can put something into their lives that will be lasting,” Dr. Sightier says. “We have never had one come that was old enough to understand, who was not won for Christ and Baptized.” The budget of the or- phanage is $1,000 a week. About $400 of this comes from other churches through the continuing radio broadcast and through the many con- tacts Dr. Sightier makes in meetings all over the South- east. The rest comes from the members of Tabernacle. Last month, Dr. Sightier told the church that the or- phanage needed a new dormi- tory. Cost, $25,000. “We tried to get the money in advance, but because of the light money situation, we couldn’t. So we just started building. The money has come in to keep the workmen busy. “Those men are out there today pouring cement. I don’t know where the money is go- ing to come from to pay them, but it will be here when we need it.” Today Tabernacle is not affiliated with any church or- ganization. “We tried several times to join the Greenville Associa- tion,” Dr. Sightier recalls, “but the missionary said they did not have plans for a church at this location. Now they have three churches all around us and that same mis- sionary helped to organize them.” Dr. Sightier considers this the work of God. He feels that the ministry would have been limited if he had been success- ful in affiliating with the as- sociation. “Show me another church in South Carolina which sup- ports 80 missionaries,” he says. “We have more than any church in the association has.” The building goes on. They are now planning a two story, 50 by 100 foot building to house the church offices, and laboratories and library for the high school. This will be built next spring. Beyond that is a $100,000 Bible Institute building. * * * night in the 1500 seat auditorium of Tabernacle Bap- tist Church, Greenville, South Carolina. I feel that the content of this sermon in relation to the state of Israel and the second coming of Christ is vital. I pray it shall be of help to you. Sincerely, Harold B. Sightier Dr. Harold B. Sightier Tabernacle Baptist Church


lp3305 RL- lp4140-AQ