Pastor Otis Gaines - Unity in the Community: One God, One Lord, One Church

Unity in the Community

One God, One Lord, One Church

Pastor Otis Gaines Sr

iUniverse, Inc.

Bloomington

Unity in the Community

One God, One Lord, One Church

Copyright 2010 by Pastor Otis Gaines Sr

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ISBN: 978-1-4502-7866-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4502-7867-6 (ebook)

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date: 12/08/2010

Contents

Autobiography

My life began in the backwoods of Louisiana. I was born in Lake Providence Louisiana September 26, 1945, and I was called to preach at an early age, but due to the scrutiny of the elders of the day I would not declare my calling. It was as though I had a real life vision in a dream where the Lord spoke to me and told me I was to preach the gospel. And even after that I knew I was an unusual person taking up for the weakling and loving those who spitefully would use me. The most awesome witness I could give of this is that one year at the annual fair there was a fight with the white kids that we were raised with us and were our friends on the farm. However, when we were off the farm we became enemies. Even at this I did not hold it against them.

At the age of nineteen (19) feeling there was no other way off the plantation I joined the army. I spent three years in the Airborne Infantry and faced many acts of prejudice and was not affected by it. In those days when we went places we could not go where the whites went and even had to eat in back room, sit on the back of buses. I dont believe there has ever been a prejudice bone in my body. Periodically I would be reminded of my calling and I would just dismiss it. After my time was up I was discharged from the army and moved to Grand Prairie Texas

March 1968 I was released from the military and moved to Grand Prairie Texas where I resided until September 1975. While in Grand Prairie Texas I worked in construction, mobile home building, and as a quality control technician. As a quality control technician I was salaried and made quite a living. With the raise in our quality of living came many wasteful moments and moral failure. Seeing what others did and following them I did some things that were less than honorable. This weighed on me very heavily until I felt that I had to do something about it. The only thing I saw at that moment to get away from the mess in my life was to go back into the military. It took almost a year to get thing in order for me to re-enter the Army.

It was a hardship to go back into the Army because the difference in pay was vast. I hope you can visualize making $1100-1200 a month going down to $350 monthly. That did not matter at the time because I just and need change in my life. Things were fine for a while, until I was transferred from Ft. Sill, Ok to Neu-Ulm, Germany for three years. There was a period from 1977-1990, where I had no fulfillment and was just wasting time. It was during this time that God got my attention through several visitations. The first was about me being in church, the Holy Spirit let me know that I was to be in church because my presence would be the cause for many to come to Jesus. Second visitation was about my giving, because I had seen so much wrong done with the church money I wasnt giving as I should. The Holy Spirit let me know that I was to give and not worry where it was going, that God would take care of the miss use of money given to the Church. Third visitation was a call, I was home and my family was at church I heard a voice calling my name and there was no one home but me, I searched the house, but could find no one. This happened a second and third time, and on the third time I realized that God was calling me. I was reminded of my calling to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I made a commitment to God then and there that if He would allow me to retire from the military I would preach His word. I begin to look forward to that time, when I would do His will. October 1992 I retired from the Army, moved back to the Dallas area, went back to the church where I had joined when me and my family had originally moved to Grand Prairie, Texas.

Upon retiring from the military it took me four months to find suitable work. The job that had been promised to me was rescinded and it was a long hard road finding a job because the majority of them said that I was over qualified and would not even consider me for a job. After four months I got the first job that I saw available which was security at Parkland Memorial Hospital. This was not my job of choice because I had made a choice not to do security work, but God had decided this was to be a part of my experiences. 1994 I was sent to the Sheriffs Academy to be a Parkland Memorial Hospital Police. My wife and mother did not like me being a Police so I left Parkland for the United States Postal Service.

While employed at the Postal service I worked at the main Post Office in Dallas, Texas until I was told by the Lord to retire in June 2003. I had spent all my saving during my three surgerys between 1999 and 2003. During my recuperation periods the post office did not pay and I even had to use up most of my accrued leave. In June 2003 I had my final surgery and while recuperating I heard from the Lord, and He said I want you to retire, this was a hard thing to do and I thought that I needed some extra money so I decided to go back to work for a month, but I had to learn the hard way. I worked three days and the last day I almost crawled out of the Postal Office, lessons learned, follow the commands of the Lord.

Other lessons learned, lean not to my own understanding, I could not look at my circumstances from my own eyes. I could not see how I was going to make it with only my Army retirement. I learned that when the Lord says that He shall supply all our needs according to His riches in glory. I depended on Him totally and I did not lose my new car, nor my house, nor did I lose any sleep worrying about what I did not have, but trusted the Lord and He showed out, but came through on time every time. We came close to foreclosure but the Lord made a way for all things.

I originally began the book in 2004 and it was an ongoing process up until now. During this time I had to be reminded and this task I did not feel capable of doing is one way God proves Himself. I felt like Jeremiah because this thing caused pressure in me that could not be released until the thing that God wanted done had been completed. The best thing about this is that I believe that my blessings are tied up in the release of this book. My hope is that this book would cause the great heads of the Churches to take a close look at them-selves and realize that the Church isnt there yet. I wish many blessings to all believers who shall read this book.

Preface

This book is not written for my own desire, but, because God put this in my spirit as such that it became a weight that I could not be relieved of until it is finished. I did everything that I know, not to do it. I used every excuse, just as I did all the men called of God to do a great work. I have found that all men have the same or similar problem when it comes to doing the thing that we do not feel qualified to do.