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Ken Still

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Elder Still was born on February 27, 1962. He joined Bethany PB Church, Tucker, GA in June 1995. He was ordained May 31, 1998 at Bethany PB Church, Tucker, GA. He and his wife, Leigh Ann, have four children: Mary Helen, David, Noah, and Josiah. He is currently the pastor of the Shiloh PB Church, in Loganville, GA. .

I was born the fourth and last child into the family of William L. Still who was the son of Caille D. Still; a sharecropping farmer in southern Gwinnett County, Georgia. I grew up in Ozora Missionary Baptist Church. My father grew up there. My grandfather actually helped build the church building itself.

Ozora is part of an association of similar churches called the Pleasant Grove Baptist Association. The association was formed in 1910, and at that time was made up of about four churches. Ozora later joined the association, as did many others in the area of Walton, Gwinnett, Rockdale, DeKalb, Newton, and Barrow counties.

As I grew up, I didn't really know there was anything else to compare with. It wasn't until I went away to college that I had the opportunity to visit other denominations. Some things I liked, some things I did not. However, in general, all of them basically preached that if you want to go to heaven, here's what you do.

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Some years later I visited a little church called Shiloh Primitive Baptist about three miles from our house. My only knowledge of "Primitive Baptist" was based on what people had told me, all of whom were not Primitive Baptist themselves. The standard response I would get always referred to what they don't have. They don't have Sunday schools. The first time I attended services there, I heard a sermon from the book of Romans regarding election. I greatly enjoyed it, but there was something I could not really put my finger on that was different from what I had been taught. Chit chat in the parking lot and an overall warm reception led me to attend services there the next month and the next. This was about September 1994 as I recall.

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At the next meeting, a visiting preacher, Elder Randall Cagle, gave a sermon from the books of Ephesians and Romans along with many other supporting references. I remember hardly looking at the man, but rather diligently paging through my Bible to keep up with him. I was hearing something that excited me that I had never heard before, but was plainly there in black and white in God's Word.
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Well, I set out to prove this guy he was wrong, or at least that is what I started out to do. I made a list all right. I went through the Bible and found every reference I could regarding our "choices" in salvation. In the meanwhile, I went and spoke with our pastor at Ozora, I spoke with a couple deacons, and I even went to see the clerk and treasurer of the Pleasant Grove Association. None of the people I spoke with could tell me where the articles of faith came from, who wrote them, or how they are scripturally defended. During this several month period, I also wanted to give the Primitive Baptists the benefit of the doubt by visiting several of their churches around the Atlanta area to see if they were all singing from the same sheet of music. They were. Elder Cagle met with me on several occasions over a period of several months. I would ask questions, and he would give answers. Not just opinion, but right out of the Bible, chapter and verse, so that it was not what I thought versus what he thought, but what I thought versus what "thus saith the Lord." In addition, he gave me a number of historical references that covered church history, Baptist history, Protestant history, and more. It was all so incredible. For once in my life I actually had a hunger for God's Word and Truth in general.

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The month passed and I am sure that plenty of folks were talking about how I had been "missing church" and visiting those "Hard-shell Baptists." None of that talk ever came to me directly, however. By the time the next conference came around I could not hold out any longer; I had to leave. There was no anger, hard feelings, nothing; I simply had to leave.

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After leaving Ozora and joining Bethany, I enjoyed wonderful season of fellowship among the Atlanta area Primitive Baptist churches. They all just loved me into the church. Elder Gus Harter and his loving wife were and remain a constant source of encouragement and guidance. About a month after joining Bethany, Elder Harter asked me if I had ever "exercised" among the Missionary Baptists. The next Sunday night Elder Harter called on me to introduce services. I was afraid and scared beyond words, but I was also at the same time very excited. It seemed I had so much to tell even though I said so very little that night.

This sort of exercise continued for several months at Bethany and Elder Harvey D. Fulmer also began to call on me to speak at Shiloh on Sunday afternoons. That spring Elder Fulmer expressed his feeling that his work there was done and that he would be moving on. He told us there at Shiloh plainly one Sunday that we should call for the ordination of Brother Ken Still.

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The church at Bethany was packed. Elder Glenn Blanchard examined me from our Articles of Faith in a way that left me with no room to wiggle whatsoever. In fact, he bluntly asked me if I was willing to give up my life, that is to die for what I believe in the service of the church. The service lasted all afternoon; was extremely tiring, but a day I rejoice in and shall never forget. . In the years since I have enjoyed beyond words living among God's people in the Old Baptist Church. I have preached in churches in AL, GA, SC, TN, FL, LA, MS, IN, TX, AR, VA and CA. In all those places I have found experientially the Love of Christ from young and old alike.


larry heldman  

Elder James Compton (1905 - 2007)
Elder James Compton was the original founder of the 'Gospel of Grace Tape Supply.' His collection of tapes began as he traveled to Church meetings and Associations recording sermons on Reel to Reel. He has maintained this library of sermons faithfully over the years and are now the foundation of PB Sermons. org. This web site is dedicated to Elder James Compton (1905 - 2007)