If all has gone as planned, while you are reading this, Amy, the kids and I are in Tennessee for the Freed-Hardeman Lectureship.  Each year, during our travels, I have thought about the early Restoration preachers who made trips from the Tennessee/ Kentucky area into this general part of the country to preach the Gospel of Christ.  Their trips were similar in the approximate distance traveled; but, beyond that, there are few similarities.  I have traveled that distance in heated/air-conditioned vehicles on nice roads.  The creeks/rivers that I cross over on bridges, those men crossed by wading, swimming or constructing their own rafts - unless it was in the bitterness of winter when they sometimes crossed over on the ice.  Each time that I have crossed the Mighty Mississippi I have wondered what it must have been like for those men to stand on its banks with the daunting task of reaching the other side.  Those men traveled not knowing where they would lay their heads.  They left their families and their incomes at home to preach the Gospel for little or nothing.  I am deeply humbled by their diligent efforts.

     Several years ago, I participated in a study on Restoration History taught by Don Deffenbaugh of Neosho, MO.  While working on a paper entitled “Early Preachers in Missouri” I stumbled across a fabulous book by T.P. Haley that contained a goldmine on the subject.  Even though the book is overflowing with outstanding information, there is one account in particular that I would like to share with you regarding Allen Wright:  “He was at the time of which I have spoken still a young man, and quite poor, with a growing family around him.  He toiled in the field during the week, and preached on Saturday night and Sunday, at such points as were accessible, and returned to his labor on Monday morning.  He often yielded, however, to the entreaties of the people and preached the unsearchable riches of Christ to them while the plow stood still in the field.  He preached without salary, and for the most part in those days without compensation.  I recall one scene which deeply touched my heart, young as I then was.  He had preached for several days and was about to take leave of us.  We had followed him out to the style-blocks to bid him good-by.  My father drew out his pocket-book and divided the scanty purse with the dear preacher, whom we all loved devotedly.  The great tears came into the preacher’s eyes; his voice was husky with emotion, as he said: ‘I thank you, Brother Ben; this will be a great comfort to my dear wife.’  Then, somewhat recovered, he said almost gleefully, ‘I think if anybody on this earth deserves to go to heaven, it is my wife, who remains at home and cares for the children while I am away preaching, and Bally (pointing to his horse) who carries me to my appointments.’” (Haley, T.P.  Historical and Biographical Sketches of the Early Churches and Pioneer Preachers of the Christian Church in Missouri.  Christian Publishing Co., 1888, pgs 102-103).

     Let us be motivated by those who have gone on before us and let us serve diligently in their wake with diligence and zealousness for the saving of souls to the glory of God!