Dr. Bill Stafford

Called to preach at the age of 19, Bill Stafford surrendered after a time of rebellion in his teenage years. In an interview with The Christian View, he said of his early years, “My Mom and Dad kept me in church. I got saved when I was 12. I was raised in a Christian atmosphere. I went through a time of rebellion, but the whole time I was rebelling, I still knew that God had His hand on me and that He was not going to let me go. But I still put it off until I was 19. I got tired of running, and I surrendered to preach. 

“I had a lot of physical problems. I was born anemic. I have passed out many times in my life. When God called me, I had to work hard to get over things people might say. ‘You’re a preacher? You don’t look like a preacher. Preachers are healthy. You don’t look like you’re going to make it.’ Just remarks. All of that was purposely from God, to teach me that ‘any old bush will do.’ It drove me to dependence solely on the Lord Jesus.

“When I was called to preach, I believe God called me for my whole life. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t times I wanted to quit. I would have quit, in a minute, because of the storms, the darkness, the disappointments, the trials. I ‘threw in the towel’, but God threw it back. That’s the truth. I’m here, not because I’m a good man or a good preacher. I’m here because God wouldn’t let me go.”

Stafford has fond memories of his Pastor, Rev. Frank Craton. “When I was called to preach, he started me preaching immediately,” he said. “We would preach every Saturday on the street. That was back in the days when you didn’t just stand and holler. You had meetings, and would set up for it, and they liked it, in those days. And he would take me to meetings with him, and he would let me preach. He shared the pulpit, and I preached in our church. He was a gracious man, a great man of God.”

A later Pastor, Rev. Frank Franz, whom he called a ‘super preacher’, was also an encouragement to him. “These were country preachers, who wanted to help somebody, pour into them,” he said.

Stafford has had many positive influences in his life, first of all his parents, William Roy Stafford, Sr. and Lottie Stafford. “My Mom lost her right leg to cancer when she was 28,” he said. “She was on crutches until she died at 81. She worked all of her life. We were raised very poorly, in an 800-square-foot house with no inside plumbing. But we had a close relationship with Mom and Dad, who loved God, and that was a heritage.”

Men of God who impacted his life included the late Manley Beasley, whom he called “a great preacher on faith, trusting God, and incorporating the promises of how to let God be your sufficiency, living in His ability, not yours, and letting Him ‘kick the doors open’ for your ministry, because your ministry is not yours, it’s the Lord Jesus’.

“He taught me all of those principles that you trust God, because we belong to Him, and, all of that faith and trust molded my life so that, wherever I go, no matter if it’s a big church or a little church, I know that God is my supply and that He’ll take care of me. All of the promises of the Word are activated by the resurrection of Jesus, which means I can trust everything He says.”

Another encourager, he said, has been Dr. Ron Lynch, an evangelist and also Pastor of Siloam Baptist Church in Easley, South Carolina. “Ron Lynch is one of the greatest preachers of Christ’s life that I have ever heard,” said Stafford. “His preaching fills my soul with truth and has helped me a lot. He has sent me books and has helped me to read more.”

Other preachers he has been blessed by hearing include Dr. Johnny Hunt, Dr. Junior Hill, Dr. Jerry Vines, and Dr. Bob Pittman. “I love to hear preaching,” he said. “I really do.”

Other preachers influenced him in the past. “When I was in meetings with Jack Taylor in the Congress on Revival across America, when we got into some meetings that were really an outbreak of revival, he had an impact on my life,” he said. “In preaching with Manley in Switzerland or in Austria or in Hungary, I got to be with the greatest worldwide preachers, and so many of them have had a great impact on my life.

“J. Harold Smith, renowned in this country, impacted my life in two ways. Number one – preach with boldness, but make sure it’s God’s boldness, not yours, because, if it’s your boldness, you’ll get in trouble, and then, hold the line on landmarks that have made your ministry what it is, and things that are established that will never change, and those convictions that are God’s convictions.  And don’t allow the culture to dominate your life, but Jesus Christ dominate your life, because the culture will never understand the mystery of the Gospel. Those who are convicted of the Holy Spirit are awakened to their lostness and will run to the cross. I learned that in my early days.

“I just heard the right men. God put me with the right people. I don’t say this with false humility. I say it with truth. I was always with preachers that I felt were so far above me. I couldn’t believe God would let me preach with such great men. I had such admiration for them that I listened to them. When we were in crowds, I didn’t talk. I listened. Those were the things that developed my life in ministry.

“The late Roy Hession, who wrote Calvary Road, was from England. I was so blessed when I met with him, in Bristol, England, after he had his stroke. The only word he could say was ‘yes.’ We were sitting there, talking about the Bible and Jesus. He couldn’t talk, except, when you would start talking about the Bible, he would say, ‘Yes.’ Still, in that 82-year-old brain, after a stroke, you saw Jesus coming through. That ministers to people.

“God wonderfully blessed me to be around some of the greatest men of God in the world, and I’m so grateful.”

Stafford was born in Rossville, Georgia, just across the state line from Chattanooga, Tennessee.

As a youngster, from the ages of 11 to 13, he often sang in church with his mother, whom he described as a great singer. A little older, he wanted to be a comedian. “I would study Red Skelton,” he said. “I could do anything he did. I wanted to be cute. I entertained the high school two times a week.” He graduated from elementary school two years ahead, so, in high school, his peers were older than he was. He graduated at age 16. “I got to rambling, running around, just sinning,” he said. “That was a tough time. I wasn’t a very good Christian. Those years wasted really grieve me, but God restored me, and I knew what I was going to have to do, and I surrendered to the ministry.”

He married Sue, his wife of 57 years, when he was 17. “She has been a very faithful, very loving wife,” he said. “She came down with rheumatoid arthritis, and it hurts so bad. She can wake up at 2:00 in the morning and start walking the floor, just crying. I walk the floor with her, and we cry awhile. What God has shown me is a love for her, deeper than any I’ve ever known. And that’s why now we’re closer, because I pray for her every morning and trust God for her.”

The Staffords have five grown children, Bill, Steve, Karen, Brenda, and Bobby, and 17 grandchildren. “Three of them are adopted,” he said of his grandchildren. “One daughter couldn’t have children. She took in three brothers, as foster children, and then decided she wanted to keep them. She has had them for five years. Those three boys have become very special. You wouldn’t believe how far they’ve come. They know they’re loved. They’re precious, loving boys. My daughter is doing great with them, and helped us to see the number of kids out there who have never been loved, who have been pushed from house to house, who have never been hugged or appreciated. Probably, the reason why we have so many problems in the world is there are so many kids who have never been loved. I wish there was a ministry I could start to get these kids in a spiritual atmosphere. It burdens my heart.”

His son Bill Stafford III pastors CelebrationChurch in Virginia Beach, Virginia. “He started the church three years ago,” said Stafford. “He started totally from nothing, and God has blessed him. He’s winning people to Jesus. He loves God, and preaches the Word. I’m a blessed man.”

His nephew is also in the ministry. Bill Henderson, the son of Stafford’s sister, Frances, is a preacher who can also sing. “He’s got a great ministry,” said Stafford. “He’s a super young man.”

Stafford’s first church, not far from where he was born, was Clearview Baptist Church in the Burning Bush community near Ringgold, Georgia, where he stayed for three and a half years, before being called to Lupton Drive Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1958. He entered full-time evangelism in 1970.

When he was first called to preach, at the age of 19, he was married with two children, and attended TennesseeTempleUniversity, in Chattanooga. “I’m grateful that TennesseeTemple specifically grounded me in the Word,” he said. “I didn’t get to finish seminary. It got so hard on my wife. I was working at Combustion Engineering in Chattanooga from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., and going to school from 8 a.m. to noon or 1:00 p.m. I was gone 15 hours a day for four years. It took a toll on her.” He was later presented with an honorary doctorate from Florida Baptist Seminary. “I am grateful they thought enough of me to give me a doctorate degree,” he said. “But it is totally honorary; I didn’t earn it.”

He remembers the first sermon he ever preached, about Jehovah’s Witnesses. The title was Neither Jehovah, nor a Witness. “I never will forget it,” he said.

His favorite sermon he has preached over the years is on the topic of giving. “It is not about money,” he said. “It is about an attitude of generosity. I use Matthew 6:19-24 and II Corinthians 8.”

His years as a pastor prepared him for evangelism, he said, in learning how to relate to people. “In the pastorate, I have learned that you have to allow Jesus to teach you how to be personable with people,” he said. “That means that, when they’re talking to you about a need that they really hurt about, you listen, and you’re concerned. We’re the body of Christ. You only minister to people in being real. You don’t minister to people if you’re aloof, if you don’t have the time, if you’re too busy, if you’re too important. Ministry is about being real. I have a tremendous ministry with young people, because I’m so honest about my own life, and they relate. They taught me, as a Pastor, that, if I was going to be an evangelist, I could not minister from the pulpit to those people, unless they saw in me transparency and reality.”

The past 37 years of evangelism he described as ‘phenomenal.’ “I can’t tell you about it without weeping,” he said. “It is unbelievable, preaching in churches I couldn’t imagine, and had no reason why I was there except that He said, ‘I will open the door that no man will shut.’ Manley Beasley said, ‘Let Him kick the doors open, and walk through them.’ That’s what I did, and He ‘shocked the daylights’ out of me. If I were to die today, I’ve had one glorious journey.

“I’m busier than I’ve ever been. Last year was my greatest year in ministry, as far as souls, as far as finances, as far as revival meetings extended, where we had it through Wednesday and it would go through Thursday or Friday, because people came, and God just ‘broke out.’ I’m seeing that happen more and more.”

As President of International Congress on Revival, Stafford has preached overseas and has brought pastors to countries such as South Africa, Australia, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Austria, and Hungary for the past 24 years.

He describes the ministry of preaching the Gospel as ‘battles and blessings.’ “That’s the two words I always use,” he said. “I can’t avoid battles. The demons of hell don’t like what I preach. I battle myself. The blessing is when He delivers and helps you overcome these things. Battles and blessings, hating everything I am without Jesus, loving everything when He’s running my life.”

He advises young preachers to not run from storms, from which they can learn to trust and believe God and resist the devil. “If you run every time you have a storm, you’ll never be anything for God, because He’s never teaching you anything.”

He advises Christians to remove anything from their lives that is not godly or holy. “When bitterness comes up, deal with it,” he said. “Don’t act like it’s all right. Deal with it. Forgiveness is very necessary. Don’t have grudges or be self-centered or conceited. Give yourself to bless others. God said it would come back to you. God says that’s the whole process of how giving works.”

He believes preachers should preach the cross from the viewpoint of God, not man. “God loves you. He does, but look what it cost Him. God was angry at the cross toward His Son, because He became sin for us. Tell me how much He loved me. Let’s get it God-centered. If I get a glimpse of the cross and see how much God did love me, I’ll want to be faithful, I’ll want to be like Him, and there will be a desire for holiness in my life. If we don’t tell people what the cross really is, they’re going to leave bound for judgment.”

Stafford said that the Lord has changed him by trying to make him more like God. “The only way God can really make me is to keep chipping on me, to knock me out of me,” he said. “He is my ability, but I don’t know that if I’ve got self-reliance and self-sufficiency. He has to drive me to where I don’t have self-sufficiency. It’s His sufficiency. That means I’m adequate for anything that He wants as long as He is my adequacy and I’m dependent on Him. God is going to put in my life whatever is necessary to drive me to nothingness, so He can be everything. To me, that’s the whole truth of ministry. I’m still learning. But I wouldn’t take anything for my journey. It’s been worth it all.”

A new book, Just a Vessel, on Stafford’s life story, will be his third. His first two were, respectively, a book on spiritual giving and a book about his son’s struggle with addictions before his salvation.

Referring to the new book, Stafford said, “I never would have considered it unless it could be a book that gets across the message that, in the Christian journey, we’re never out of the process. Whatever God has to do to keep me at His feet, that’s the most important thing. I don’t want it written what I’ve accomplished. I just want to help young preachers to stay true to the Gospel and not run every time they have a storm. I’m just a vessel. I’m just a ‘garbage pail.’ But I’ve got a person in me who is Jesus Christ.”

His favorite verse of scripture is II Corinthians 5:21: For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. “That’s the truth of the Gospel,” he said. “That’s the whole in the nutshell. And that’s the message that we need to preach.”

His favorite hymns include No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus; Sweet Jesus, What a Wonder You Are; and He Came to Me.

He enjoys reading commentaries from the past by “men who so faithfully expounded the Word of God.” He also reads A.W. Tozer, David Jeremiah, and Ravi Zacharias. “God has given me a wonderful library,” he said. “Even as an evangelist, you still study and stay fresh in the Word.”

One of his favorite characters from the Bible is Joseph and his “message of persecution and victory.” Other favorites include Jacob, who was broken but given a fresh touch from God; Paul; and Peter, who failed but was still used of God at Pentecost, offering “tremendous encouragement to us through our failure at times.”

Special memories of his being in the ministry for so long include “watching God use people to bless your own personal life,” he said. “People who love you, send you letters and cards that they love you, pastors that take care of you because they love you and want to bless you. You leave churches knowing you’ve been loved. I’m amazed at how much people love us.”

Stafford encourages those who have not yet given their heart and life to the Lord to do so before meeting a holy God.

“Everyone who is not saved is a sinner, alienated, distanced from God,” he said. “God will not deal with them in love. The only place God can deal with me in love is at the cross, where He showed His love, where He treated His Son like He was me. I deserved that, not Jesus. And anybody who won’t go to the cross, God will have to turn into hell, because He can’t let sin into heaven. That’s why we can go to the cross and say, ‘God, be merciful. I’m a sinner. Don’t give me what I deserve.’”

Link: www.billstaffordministries.org