n 1935, after the long and hot summer ended and school began, a revival began at Caney Fork Baptist Church on Sunday night, September 1. The fourth day of next month I would be twelve years old. Services were conducted twice daily, at eleven o’clock in the mornings and then again at night. Elder Paul Wilburn was the pastor and doing the preaching.
The revival continued and on Thursday I took my usual seat in the Amen corner. At the end of his sermon, Bro. Wilburn gave an invitation for sinners to come to the altar of prayer to seek the Lord. During the services I had been at ease with no feeling of conviction. But when the invitation song began I had a feeling in my heart that I had never had before in my life. It was terrible. I realized that I had become accountable before God and felt I was condemned. I was lost and spiritually separated from God.
I knew then that Dad certainly knew what he was speaking of when he told me I would know when I became accountable. I almost ran to the altar. There I began to pray. Christian people prayed with me and for me. I was instructed to be submissive to the Lord and His will, and to repent and put my faith with all my heart in Jesus, who died for my sins. After some altar prayers and a number of songs, the service was dismissed.
I left church and went home in that condemnation, remorse and sorrow. I had known for a number of years what it meant to be poor, but, oh, how poor I felt now. Not only was I without many things of the world, but I was without God! We went home and Mom prepared dinner but I didn’t want anything to eat. I left the house and went up into an apple orchard behind the house and there spent the afternoon. How terrible to be in this condition, only one breath from hell.
“That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” -Ephesians 2:12
I remembered what Dad said to me when we were out in the field, that if one died in that condition that hell would be his eternal home. Not on the basis that one was rich, mean, drunkard, gambler, thief or some other criminal, but simply failing to trust in the Lord for salvation.
“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” – John 3:18
I was poor, poor, poor. I had enjoyed our humble environment of the hills with my family during those hard years, but now I began to wonder if it had been better had I never been born. That afternoon in the apple orchard passed and as the sun was going down and it began to get dark, my burdens and troubles got worse. I still wasn’t hungry at supper time. We got ready and went to church for services that night. I wore a little white shirt that Mom had made for me out of bleached flour sacks and a pair of black pants which were hand-me-downs from an uncle a little older than me. The skies were clear that autumn night, but to me the whole world was dark. Services began that night with singing.
After the song service the preacher read some scripture and preached with power and demonstration of the power of God. At the close of his sermon he gave an invitation for sinners to come to the altar of prayer.
I do not know if others were on the altar that night. I stopped at the bench in front of me and fell down on the floor on my knees and began to call upon the Lord. Many people in the world today would laugh and make fun of this but here is what the Bible says:
“For whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved.” – Romans 10:13
“Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: – Isaiah 55:6
The services continued. Christians would testify of their being saved by the grace of God, and speak of the eternal hope within their hearts. Shouts of praise would rise from the congregation. While all of this was going on, we who were lost were admonished by the saved to continue in prayer and to place our faith with all our hearts in the Lord for salvation. This was right because we read the following in the Bible when a lost man asked about what to do to be saved:
“. . .Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved—.” Acts 16:31
On that Thursday night, September 5, 1935, services were dismissed. People began to leave the church building and I could hear the wagons, buggies and a very few cars leaving the church yard. The people were then on their way home along the hills and hollows. The congregation became smaller and smaller, but a few stayed. Those faithful few continued to sing, pray and talk to us about our lost souls. I had tried to trust in loved ones and friends, or what I thought they could do for me, but this brought no relief. I realized that I could die and go to hell in that condition. I finally reached the place that I was determined I would never leave the church building until I made peace with the Lord. I said in my heart that if the Lord didn’t save me that night, that they could put out all the old “coal-oil lamps” and everyone could go home, but I would be there praying when the sun came up the next morning over Mr. Charlie Perkins’ hill.
With this desire in my heart and a complete submission to the Lord and trust in Him with all my heart, God saved my soul! I shouted aloud in that little church house thanking the Lord for what he had done for me. “Oh, Precious Memories, how they linger.”
My burden, sorrow, contrition, remorse and all my troubles had vanished. My soul was washed in the blood of the Lamb. Then I could sing with God’s people, “I’m A Happy, Happy Millionaire.”
After a long time of shouting and rejoicing by my family and others, we left church to go home. Oh, how beautiful the moon and stars were. The whole world seemed to be changed, but in reality the change was in me.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away: behold all things are become new.” – II Corinthians 5:17
That was seventy-one years ago. There is no way I could list the thousands of blessings that my family and I have enjoyed all these many years. The years following this great experience when I became a husband and the life that God has given to Alta and me and our family with 58 years in the ministry, will be given in other chapters. As you have already read, I was reared a poor country boy on a farm during the great depression, yet, on this September 5, 1935, I became a Millionaire!
“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet, for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be made rich.” – II Corinthians 8:9
The next night I united with Caney Fork Seminary Missionary Baptist Church by “experience an
d baptism.” Then two days later on Sunday afternoon, September 8, 1935, I was baptized in Caney Fork River by Elder Paul Wilburn into the fellowship of Caney Fork Church. Sister Dollie Mae Thompson who was saved the year before, but had not united with the church, united with the church during the revival and was baptized at the same time I was.
Pictured to the Left: Elder H. C. Vanderpool seated at Caney Fork Seminary Missionary Baptist Church, Smith County, Tennessee, where he was saved on Thursday Night, September 5, 1935 at age 12
From: “My Earthly Pilgrimage” Chapter 3, pp 17-19, Herbert C. Vanderpool Autobiography, 2006
