Great Soul-Winning Churches - Elmer Towns

The miracle of the pastor’s birth.—Lonnie Graves was born in Tennessee in a gypsy tenthe
doesn’t know the place or the date. He was born in an old iron bed with the help of “some old
granny.” For two years he slept in bed with his parents, but when the next child came along, he
was pushed out to sleep on the dirt floor on a quilt, until his teen-age years, when he slept in the
front seat of the car.
God’s supernatural preservation.—As a boy, he helped his father repair stoves; but,
since gypsies made a business of “gypping” people, young Lonnie learned well. When they got
into a home, the father convinced the lady that rust would ruin her cookstove and he guaranteed
its prevention by “graphiting” the whole stove for $12.95—at the cost to him of a ten-cent bottle
of stove polish. Throughout childhood young Graves did not learn to read or write, spending
only three days in school in his life.
By age 10 he drank his first beer, learned to play cards, shoot dice; by age 15 he owned
his first pistol and the following year, robbed his first store.
Deep within his heart, the young gypsy yearned for a better life and, at age 18, joined the
army, thinking that the uniform would make him like all the other young men. There he was
given his first pair of underwear, and for the first time he slept between white sheets, which
made him feel like he was sleeping in a hospital.
In the Second World War he saw front lines and, without any scruples, he “killed
everything that got in front of me without any mercy whatsoever.” According to his testimony, “I
shot men down while they were begging for mercy to get them a doctor; I robbed them of their
possessions while they were dying.” Graves was the most decorated man in his outfit, reaching
the rank of platoon sergeant, and was wounded one time.
After the war, he settled in North Carolina, married and began to work for a living. He
wanted a house, but didn’t have credit or finances, so he decided to build his own, first going out
and watching how other men did it. Of course, young Graves worked on Sunday, until a
neighbor told him, “If you will not, I will come over and help you.” The following Monday, that
Christian neighbor was there. Other neighbors came to work on the house, the men inviting him
to church. During this time Graves lived with his mother-in-law, who took his young daughter to
Sunday School every week. After he moved into the house, his daughter requested, “I want to go
to Sunday School.” His wife reminded him of his obligation to the men who had helped him
build his home. He decided to go, even though he did not like the idea of “school.” He had been
beaten two of the three days he had attended. At 26 years of age, he took a tablet, pencil, and
decided to fake writing; he still could not read or write. He thought to himself, “If anybody asks
me for my paper, I’ll bust’ em in the teeth.” According to his testimony, he sat on the back row
and a lady Sunday School teacher poured, the gospel into him. “I didn’t like it,” but he went back
for several weeks.
Then the church had a revival, and when he attended he was “mad enough to fight,
because the preacher talked about me like I was a dog.” His Sunday School teacher fasted four
days and nights for his salvation. During the second week of revival, the evangelist showed up at
his home and asked, “Son, do you want to be saved?” To which Graves replied, “More than
anything else in the world.”