Steve Harper

I have been in church all my life including the nine months before I was born. My paternal grandmother was a great Christian lady, both my parents were saved, and my dad was a preacher. He pastored at Victory Baptist Church in Palmetto, GA., for twenty-seven years. When I was eight years old I realized that just because my family was saved that did not mean that I was saved (Romans 3:23). The church where we attended, Cherokee Avenue Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA., was in revival with Evangelist Maze Jackson when on Thursday night, September 16, 1968, I came and asked God to forgive me of my sin and to save me (Romans 10:9-10) and He did. Romans 10:13 states, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”; and John 6:37, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” God saved me. And I have been serving God to the best of my ability since that time.

I was called to preach at Vacation Bible School when I was twelve years old. After giving the Bible lesson the teacher said that God may be dealing with someone concerning working for Him as a pastor, evangelist, or a missionary. During that invitation I felt the moving of the Holy Spirit in my heart and as I prayed He clearly called me to preach. I went and told the teacher who praised the Lord and prayed with me.

After I got home I went and told my dad about what had happened in Vacation Bible School. His response was that just because he was called to preach did not mean that God had called me to preach. I know that the Scriptures do not teach apostolic succession or pastoral succession. The call to preach is a personal calling the same as salvation is personal. It is who God calls and not momma or daddy. In Gen. 12:1 God called Abram personally. In Gen 17:19 God confirmed His promises with Isaac personally. In Gen. 32:28 God called Jacob personally and changed his name to Israel. In Isaiah 6:8 God called Isaiah personally. In Hebrews 1:7 the Scripture teaches us that God calls His ministers and makes them a flaming fire to preach the Word of God.

The second thing that my dad told me really surprised me. He said, “Don’t do it…” I didn’t know what to say to that, but he finished the sentence with, “…but if you are truly called you will do it.” Then he asked me, “If you were going to preach a sermon what would you preach?” I told him, “I would preach on the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.” He then told me to take a pencil and paper and write out my sermon for him to read. After I wrote out the sermon using the text of Genesis, chapter three, he told me that I would be preaching that sermon the next Wednesday night. That was in 1969 and I have been preaching ever since.

Since God called me to preach there has been “a fire shut up in my bones” (Jer. 20:9) that I could not “forebear”. God has given me the greatest privilege in the world, which is to preach His Word.