I was born in Montgomery, Alabama on May 22, 1952 in the home of Reynolds White Thrasher and Carolyn Mullins Thrasher. Dad was a fun loving and accepting father. He spent time with me, and I knew that he loved me. My mom was and is a very disciplined and dedicated mother and wife. Her example instilled in me a sense of “duty.” My brother David was a good model and while we had our share of brotherly squabbles, I can also remember some tender moments of his love for me. One such memory is when I was walking the aisle in the church service to light the candles, and I fell down. I was so embarrassed! My brother spent special time with me that afternoon to comfort me.
I enjoyed friends in the neighborhood and at the elementary school I attended one mile from our home. Our family attended a denominational church and faithfully went each Sunday. I viewed God as a righteous God and my conscious was aware that I needed to be in a right relationship with Him. I would pray most every night, “Lord if tonight is the night of my death, help me to go to heaven.” The reality of some kind of judgment after this life was a part of my belief system.
The church I attended was full of “upright” people, but the communication of Biblical truth was not always clear. I remember one day in a Sunday school class where each boy was to express one wish in his life. My “wish” was for eternal life, but I really did not have the courage to share it since the other boys were sharing totally different things. The teacher did share that his “wish” was to have eternal life, but we left it in the “wish” category. There was nothing communicated about how this wish could become a reality.
At the age of thirteen, I attended an evangelistic crusade with my family. It was held in the local high school football stadium that held twenty-five thousand people. On that night I clearly heard the good news of Jesus Christ who had died for my sins and expressed His personal love for me when I was in my ungodly and helpless condition as His enemy (Rom. 5:6-10). The Spirit of God convinced me of the truthfulness of this message and I responded in faith. I expressed this faith by asking my mother if I could go forward and she accompanied me to the field of the football stadium where I was met by a counselor. The counselor reviewed the gospel message with me, prayed with me, and gave some relevant literature about beginning the Christian life.
One obvious change in my life was a thirst to read the Bible. My parents tell me that I would read it every day—even at night when I would come in and the lights would be off in the bedroom at our little lake cabin. I would take out the flashlight, find my Bible, and read a chapter or two before going to bed. I also began to share my life with the Lord and talk to Him about all of my concerns. While I certainly did not understand all I was reading and my prayer life was not deeply mature, I was developing a genuine personal relationship.
The denominational church that we continued to attend was full of kind people, and many of the ones of my parent’s generation probably knew the Lord in a saving way. The message simply was not being communicated down to my generation and this resulted in more of the negative peer influence than a positive one. As the years began to go on, I did not take a positive stand for Christ in high school. I chose rather to blend in rather than stand out as a genuine Christian. While I sought to live a moral life and work hard at school and at my job, the lack of a positive witness for Christ resulted in spiritual stagnation.
I joined the Air Force Reserve and had six months active duty. After this period, I went off to college planning my own life. I attended Auburn University and made the Dean’s list and was elected President of the School of Business my freshman year. In the midst of this external “success” my life starved for the inward peace that I knew only Jesus could give.
One day I walked into the room of an “unusual” fraternity brother. Buster had pledged the social fraternity with the motivation to lead people to Jesus Christ. As I entered his room, he began to share with me how to live under the control of the Holy Spirit. I walked away from the conversation with the conviction that this was the resource I needed to live the Christian life. I studied about the Person and work of the Holy Spirit over Christmas recess and returned the next quarter and arranged to room with Buster.
During the year of rooming with Buster Holme, I was drawn into a surrender of my life to the Lord. I began to get discipled and to be involved in ministry. The stagnation that had occurred in high school due to my lack of a stance for Jesus was now replaced with genuine Christian growth. I finished my degree in Business and God greatly blessed my years of study as He enabled me to graduate first in my class. However, He had won my heart and I sensed clear guidance to go into vocational Christian ministry. I did a summer pastoral internship under Ben Haden of Chattanooga, Tennessee and then attended Dallas Theological Seminary where I studied for seven years. After completing my seminary training, God opened the door to teach at the Moody Bible Institute in 1980. I taught in the Undergraduate School for ten wonderful years and I am currently teaching in the Graduate School.
I praise God for the gospel message that I heard at thirteen and for the many people He has sent into my life to aid my Christian growth.