Topic(s): Bible Study

As to reading the Bible, let me suggest that you begin by reading five pages of your Bible each morning. Page numbers are much easier to keep up with than chapters and verses. Five pages are always the same length. Take whatever time you need to read five pages. It may take you 15 or 20 minutes, or even 30 minutes. But if you read five pages a day, you will read the Bible in less than one year. If you can, read 10 pages a day. I read 10 pages in my Bible in about 30 minutes every morning.

The largest Bible I have is a Dickson New Analytical Study Bible, which is the King James Version and has the American Standard Version embedded in the text. Reading five pages a day, I can finish in 289 days. That includes reading the helps offered, including summaries and outlines of every book. One New King James Version that I read had 1,128 pages, and at five pages a day I finished in 219 days. At 10 pages a day, the Dickson Bible can be read two times in a year, and the New King James three times in a year. Imagine reading the Bible two to three times a year, year after year, for several years!

I can’t think of anything the church today needs more than members who read and know the Bible thoroughly. And I know of no way for that to happen without reading the Scriptures again and again, “for precept must be upon precept . . . line upon line, here a little, and there a little” (Isaiah 28:10).

Hugging to Life

Topic(s): Jesus, Love

A business executive became depressed. Things were not going well at work, and he was bringing his problems home with him every night. Every evening he would eat his dinner in silence, shutting out his wife and five-year-old daughter. Then he would go into the den and read the paper—using the newspaper to wall his family out of his life.

After several nights of this, his daughter took her hand and pushed the newspaper down. She then jumped into her father’s lap, wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him strongly. The father said abruptly, “Honey, you are hugging me to death!” “No, Daddy,” she said, “I’m hugging you to life!”

Jesus took people where they were and hugged them to life. —eSermons.com “He took them up in his arms . . .” —Mark 10:16

Leroy Brownlow (1914-2002): Part 2

Preacher, Author, Writer, Publisher, Businessman

By Noble Patterson

Topic(s): Christian Life, Evangelism

Links to this entire series:

• Leroy Brownlow: Part 1
• Leroy Brownlow: Part 2
• Leroy Brownlow: Part 3
• Leroy Brownlow: Part 4
• Leroy Brownlow: Part 5

Editor’s Note: Few men have influenced the church more in our lifetime than Leroy Brownlow. I came across his biography this week, and thought there were spiritual lessons to learn from one who “being dead yet speaketh” (Hebrews 11:4).

Leroy worked and paid all his college expenses, and this was in the midst of the Great Depression. He left Abilene Christian College as an honor graduate, with a new car paid for and a substantial bank account.

On November 22, 1937, Leroy married Miss Ferne Amran of Norman, Oklahoma. She was also a student at Abilene Christian College, having attended for one year. Later she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Oklahoma. She died in 1994 in Fort Worth.

Leroy’s interest and ability in business was apparent, as he was successful through the years in various secular pursuits including finance, investments, real estate, oil, and publishing. Leroy never preached for a paycheck; he preached because of conviction. Preaching the gospel always occupied first place in his life. As a result, he never made any money preaching, but God blessed his businesses to more than make up for the low salaries from the brethren. His endeavors, both spiritual and secular, were always crowned with success.

Upon graduation from Abilene Christian College in 1937, Leroy began the pivotal period that would produce his book Why I Am a Member of the Church of Christ. He not only preached full time in local church work but also held many meetings in the summer. During the summer of 1941, Leroy held meetings all over Alabama, with Marion Davis, of Fayette, Alabama, as his song leader.

Marion was greatly impressed at Leroy’s power and conviction and encouraged him to write a book on the subject. During 1941–42, Leroy wrote most of Why I Am a Member of the Church of Christ while he preached in Ennis, Texas.

After moving to the Polytechnic congregation in Fort Worth in 1943, he began searching for a publisher. The Gospel Advocate Company in Nashville, Tennessee, offered him a modest sum for the copyright, but he decided he would personally publish the book. In 1945, two thousand copies of the book were printed.

They sold out in a few months, and more were printed. Since then, more than one million copies have been sold worldwide. He was a writer of unusual ability, and eventually wrote over thirty books. Leroy’s interest in writing and self-publishing books eventually became Brownlow Publishing Company, which he started with his son, Paul, in 1974.

In addition to being an accomplished and original writer, Leroy, as a gospel preacher, shares a place in the church attained by only a few. He preached in some of the greatest and most fruitful gospel meetings, including the cooperative meeting of 27 congregations in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which marked the opening of the Tulsa Civic Center and averaged 8,500 in attendance per night. There were 190 responses, including 83 baptisms. L. O. Sanderson directed the singing.

In San Angelo, Texas, the Fair Grounds Center was filled to over flowing as Leroy preached the unsearchable riches of Christ in a very forceful manner. The meeting was reported to be the largest religious gathering in the history of the city.

At the 5th and Highland church in Abilene, during the time E. R. Harper was the preacher, Leroy conducted a great gospel meeting, in which there were a record number of conversions. Some individuals who were at Highland at that time still recall the meeting with Leroy, in sincere and genuine expressions of appreciation.