Vanderbilt Baptist Church

Since a number of brethren have chosen to complain about the ministry of Marvin Gardner, and one brother railed against him on the floor of the MBA of Texas meeting about something that had nothing to do with him, I thought I'd share my story to clear things up about his ministry.

In January 2005, I was the youth director at Rocky Springs MBC of Jacksonville. The pastor at that time (Bo Norris) basically suspended me without notice, basically accusing me of trying to steal the church from him. To avoid causing an uproar in the church, I quietly left.

I visited Vanderbilt in Tyler, where Bro. Harold Davis was filling in for Bro. Gardner, who had just had another stint put into his heart (He has had several). My wife and I enjoyed the preaching, so we returned the following Wednesday evening. I walked in wearing a red checkerboard shirt with no sermon outlines because I was not expecting to preach. Bro. Gardner met me at the door and asked me to preach (checkerboard shirt and all!). I quickly built an outline on John 5:24 because we had built a sermon on that verse during Bro. Darrell Owens' homiletics class that day. I preached and it turned out great. Bro. Gardner told the congregation, "That's good preaching!"

Bro. Gardner, prior to my having shown up on Wed. Evening, called Bro. Jim Slocumb, who gave me a good recomendation. So Bro. Gardner involved me at Vanderbilt, allowing me to preach when his health prevented him. He also allowed me to work with the youth group, starting the Discovery Club on Wednesday evenings. He both encouraged me in these efforts and publicly praised me for my work, both in the sanctuary and in the state missions reports.

He also encouraged me to follow my call to the pastoral ministry (something my former pastor had discouraged). He celebrated with me when I accepted the call to Denson Springs and preached my ordination message.

God did (and is still doing) marvelous things at Vanderbilt. In that one summer I was there, 20 were added to Vanderbilt, most of whom were by baptism.

He works as a barber and a missionary, despite his recurring heart problems. He follows up with his visitors. He knows how to evangelize and he does. The members at Vanderbilt actively participate in the ministry and are very welcoming of newcomers.

When I arrived at Vanderbilt, I had been kicked in the teeth, metaphorically speaking. Bro. Gardner picked me up out of the dirt, dusted me off, and got me back into the ministry. When he gets promoted, the Kingdom work on earth will suffer a set back.

And for me to hear people rail against this man really bothers me.

Thank you, and God bless you all.