Admin | Randy Taylor Revivals, Inc.

In Memory of Dr. Joe Boyd

Date: June 7, 2009 Author: Admin Category: From the Desk of Dr. Randy Taylor

Sunday, June 7, 2009

IN MEMORY OF,

Dr. Joe M. Boyd, Evangelist
May 5, 1917 – June 1, 2009

The ole-time religion has produced many evangelists. When one reflects upon the history of America’s great preachers, Evangelist Dr. Joe M. Boyd will be ranked among the greatest. He was a statesman of the sermon and a scholar of the Scriptures. His biblical knowledge made him a theologian; his delivery made him a legend. Dr. Boyd was always on the soul winner’s trail. He tangled with the devil and wrestled against sin while preaching as an evangelist for almost 70 years. Dr. Boyd trained hundreds of young evangelists, held thousands of revivals, and saw millions saved. Those who heard him speak savored the taste of his endless southern colloquialisms. Whether you met him at home or in public, you would always find him dressed in his best as one of the last of the aristocrats. Nothing ever slowed him down. After the home-going of his wife of 62 years, Edith Boyd on July 6, 2000, and Dr. Jack Hyles, his pastor of over 50 years on February 6, 2001, his travels at the age of 84 increased. He began to travel worldwide with less time at home than ever before in his ministry. Opposition was never broad enough to make him less loyal to his call or his Saviour. Even at his age, he began to learn Spanish by attending a three month language school in Mexico and then continuing personal tutoring for several years. His goal was to preach under tent revivals to the Latin American world. He would have his sermons written out in Spanish trying to preach without an interpreter. In Dr. Boyd’s life-time, he preached in every state of the Union and several foreign countries. His life was fascinating, and was most recognized by his brilliant character and the presence of the power of God.

Revival was Dr. Boyd’s language, lamp, and landmark. Revival is the latchet that tied his preaching shoes and the lattice through which he viewed the Saviour. Revival was his laughter and his law of life. Revival was what he learned and what he leaned on. He believed that revival was the right letter to the liberal. Revival was his license to preach and his liberty in Christ. Revival was his life, light, and likeness. He believed that revival revealed the scarlet line of salvation and the linen that makes the best robe. Revival was his labor, his love, and his life. If someone were to look for Dr. Boyd to locate him, they would probably find him somewhere conducting a revival. Revival is how Evangelist Joe Boyd ended his life.

Dr. Boyd’s life and legacy before preaching was that he was the son of a preacher born in Jacksonville, Texas and raised in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. He was saved at the age of 12 and called to preach at the age of 27.

Dr. Boyd was also a natural born athlete and became a great college football hero. He was an All-American tackle on the Texas A & M National Championship team of 1939 and the 1940 Sugar Bowl. Today, his name is inscribed in the Texas A & M Hall of Fame, and he is listed in the Sports Illustrated 25^th Silver Anniversary Hall of Fame.

After college, Dr. Boyd was a successful businessman working as a chief assistant accountant at Todd Galveston Shipyard in Texas. He pastored three churches, served as president of a preacher’s training school, and operated both a Christian grade school and high school. He also started the Baptist Evangelistic Schools of Texas, better known as B.E.S.T. of Dallas, TX. He has authored several books and was also a Bible scholar teaching both Greek and Hebrew.

Quite possibly one of his greatest achievements occurred in 1975, in his mid sixties, Dr. Joe Boyd founded the Mt. Salem Revival Grounds in West Union, WV. Thanks to Dr. Boyd’s vision, which God used, there are now hundreds and thousands of full-time servants, pastors, evangelists, and missionaries worldwide. We all thank God for the wonderful memories and the legacy of Evangelist Dr. Joe M. Boyd.

I want to thank you all for your faithful prayers and financial support to Dr. Boyd these many years. He loved you and was grateful for how you helped him in the ministry.

With kind regard,

Dr. Randy E. Taylor
Evangelist/President

The Joe Boyd Foundation: If you would like to give a gift in memory of Dr. Boyd, you may do so by sending your gift to:

Joe Boyd Foundation
P.O. Box 177
West Union, WV 26456

www.joeboydfoundation.com

Support Letter April – May 2009

Date: April 19, 2009 Author: Admin Category: Letters to Supporters

Dear Supporter:

Revival is a revealing look at the ebb and flow of how spiritually things really are in the churches of our country. As I travel our homeland and abroad, I have been able to observe a 35 year look of the diverse circumstances and character that surrounds our local New Testament Bible believing Baptist churches. There has been a trend of modernism and liberalism creeping in and taking over and literally strangling the life of revival from the pews of our churches. We have left out practical, fundamental, Biblical doctrines and practices of our faith. There is a dark secret concerning worldly change in some of our Fundamental Baptist churches today. The King James Bible is being excused away as just another version and not God’s Word. There is more preaching on being devoted and consecrated to the church policy than there is Biblical separation and godly standards that few preach about anymore. Most of our churches look no different than the American culture that has been changed by Hollywood and has affected our pulpits. Many churches no longer schedule revival meetings, but social programs to pay off their debt and to fill up their bank accounts. Often church memberships are no longer being increased by soul winning and the baptistry, but rather has become a microcosm of everybody’s church members moving their memberships through proselyte programs.

I thank God for churches that still believe in revivals and the old time religion, and for preachers who preach from the King James Bible as the Word of God instead of philosophy. I thank God for those who keep the faith instead of compromise, and for those who rely more on soul winning, than swapping church members. My prayer for today’s churches is that of Habakkuk 3:2, “O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.”

Since I last reported to you about our revival meetings, I have been in three churches in Ohio, two churches in West Virginia, and I preached at churches in Wisconsin, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and in Texas. God has been gracious and we have seen results with His power and blessing. In one revival on a Friday night, it took an hour and half for the altar workers to finish with the people who walked down the aisle resulting in many salvations, baptisms and full-time service commitments. Recently on the last night of the meeting, I was preaching on Ruth and Naomi. A lady walked forward holding her mother-in-law by the hand as she came forward to be saved. I thought to myself, “Here comes Naomi and Ruth”! Praise God for how He tends to the needs of everyone under the sound of the Gospel. What a privilege it is to hold revival meetings week after week, and seeing people saved and baptized in the local churches.

I want to ask you to continue praying for our National God Save America Revival Conference to be held November 9-12, 2009, at the Mount Pisgah Baptist Church in Oliver Springs, TN, with Pastor Garvan Walls as the host pastor. The guest speakers are: Dr. Larry Brown, Dr. Jeff Fugate, Dr. Clyde Gilman, Dr. Bobby Roberson, Dr. Clarence Sexton and I. The youth speakers are: Dr. Oliver Araiza, Dr. Gary Lovens, and Pastor Randy Taylor, Jr. There will be various area churches to conduct their choirs at the God Save America Conference and also at the Next Generation Youth Conference such as: Liberty Baptist Church, Pastor Randy Griffis; Salem Baptist Church, Pastor Ted Clower; Mount Pisgah Baptist Church, Pastor Garvan Walls; North Rockwood Baptist Church, Pastor Benny Whittenbarger; and the Harriman Baptist Tabernacle Youth Choir, Pastor James Jones. I hope you will mark your calendar and make plans to come. We will be sending out a brochure soon and advertising in the Revival Fires! paper.

Thank you and please pray for us as we strive to continue holding revivals in churches across America.

Because He lives,
Dr. Randy E. Taylor

Evangelist

Randy Taylor Revivals, Inc.

P.O. Box 215 West Union, WV 26456 • (304) 873-2315

Articles Written By: Admin

In Memory of Dr. Joe Boyd

Support Letter April – May 2009