Great Soul-Winning Churches - Elmer Towns

analyze what was happening. First, he began having a fear of dying and went to see several
doctors. Each one mentioned the Lord or the church. Charles quit smoking and drinking,
although he was not going to church. On one occasion he even went through an Oral Roberts
healing line, but felt at once it was not for him. Thompson called his mother-in-law to send the
pastor to visit him, and two days later the Methodist pastor led Thompson to Jesus Christ. But
the Methodist church did not meet his spiritual needs. God led him to the Molten Heights Baptist
Church, where pastor Milford Walker took Thompson under his wing and began giving him
daily Bible instruction. The Baptist church was experiencing days of revival from which 15
young boys went into the ministry. Thompson began serving the Lord by giving testimony in
street meetings and visiting door to door.
Charles Thompson was 28 at the time and along with his wife Doris he had stopped
attending parties. He knew that Doris was not saved but also felt he could not lead her to the
Lord, so he got his wife in the car and drove to see Pastor Walker, who led Mrs. Thompson to
the Lord in the front seat of the car, parked in front of the Molten Heights Baptist Church.
Two months later Charles went to Tennessee Temple Schools, and the only job he could
find in Chattanooga was packing meat at $.60 an hour, part time, ($10.59 a week) which was
quite a come-down from his $100-a-week job plus expenses. His wife had to wait several months
before coming to Chattanooga, and even when she came, finances ran out; they didn’t have
enough money to pay their rent on the little house. Charles and Doris were on their knees; she
was crying because she had to return home to Decatur to allow Thompson to finish school. A
knock came at the door and a 78-year-old man came over to ask if they would live in his
furnished houses free, eat the eggs from his chickens and vegetables from his garden. Thompson
declares, “I know God sent me through Bible school, knowing my age and lack of money.” He
went to school year-round and graduated to serve a small country church out of Chattanooga for
eight years. There, Thompson had the third largest number of baptisms in the association; but he
continued to pray, “Lord, give me a field where I’ll never run out of opportunities.”
Thompson left that church and came to Chattanooga with a burden for a broad, limitless
ministry.
In downtown Chattanooga Thompson met a man who suggested Lake Vista subdivision,
about 13 miles northeast of the city. On the first Wednesday of July, 1962, nine people gathered
in a home. Charles preached, “What will it take to begin a church?” He mentioned it would take
soul winning. . . prayer . . . hard work . . . and sacrificial giving. The following Sunday he was
not too sure that he had preached the right message. Seven out of the original nine people sent
him word that they would not be coming for the first service, which was held at 7730 Jocelyn
Drive. But all that week Thompson canvassed the neighborhood, putting handbills in mailboxes.
Thompson grew discouraged, thinking the church was not the will of God, but to his surprise he
found 29 people present on Sunday morning. They borrowed chairs from the neighbors. One
Sunday School class met under a pine tree, another in a lawn swing, and a third in the house. The
adults assembled on the carport. Trinity Baptist Church met in the carport for the next four
weeks while they were looking for a permanent building. Half a block away there were seven
houses for sale, and the owners let Thompson meet in one of the houses there while he searched
for property. After looking all over the area, he finally bought three lots across the street from
there, and since the church had no money, he took out a personal loan for $1,500 from a local