Phil
I was born on a little farm in Iowa. I was raised in a good Christian home. When I was about 20, I wanted to get away from all the rules of the Christian life. I got married, and for 23 years, I was away from the Lord. The marriage started deteriorating, and we ended up getting a divorce.
The first words out of my new wife’s mouth were, “I want to go to church. I want to go to the church where your mom and dad go.” I thought, “Oh no, back to the rules and regulations.” I didn’t want to go, but Tina is a really sweet gal. The Lord slowly started working on me, and pretty soon, it wasn’t much of a chore to go to church. I started enjoying it. Jesus brought me back through my wife. We actually grew quite a bit in that church. It was like I started over in my experience with Jesus. There are always times in a marriage when you have ups and downs. We had an argument about something. I remember praying, saying, “Lord, I know I’m right here, but on the outside chance I’m wrong, can You change my heart?” He did. It was an aha moment, a very emotional one. We don’t have as many arguments anymore.
I ended up getting involved with Joni Eareckson Tada’s Wheels for the World ministry. They restore wheelchairs in prisons all over the United States. I was asked to take a job in a federal prison in California, so we ended up moving there. I was able to start a shop that had a lot of space. The Lord grew that shop. It was great! A lot of souls came to the Lord because the wheelchairs restored by the inmates were shipped all over the world in container loads. We grew to become the largest shop in the United States. I went to West Africa eight different times. Jokingly, I tell people that I was in and out of prison every day for 15 years.
Within two years of retirement, we moved to Kingman, Arizona. We knew we needed to find a church—a good, Bible-preaching and Bible-believing church. I told my wife I had seen a sign that said Kingman First Southern Baptist Church. We saw so much going on in this church and thought it was awesome! The church we came from in California didn’t have that. That was about seven years ago. One day, the pastor asked me if I would take over the food bank ministry. I didn’t really want to. I thought, “Food bank? I don’t know anything about food.” It was totally foreign to me. I told him I’d pray about it. That was my way of stalling because I didn’t want to say no. I figured God probably heard me say that, so I’d better keep my word. So, I prayed about it, and just like before, He changed my heart. I told the pastor that I would give it a try. I ran into a guy who was new at the church, and we started talking. He mentioned that he used to work in a food bank. I thought, “Wow, maybe this is another thing from God.” I’m sure that played a part in it.
Today, we’re feeding over 2,000 people a month. God really does great work. It’s amazing to watch how He does it. We have someone from our prayer team go with people out to their cars. About 98% of the people want prayer for something. We are currently working with St. Mary’s on a backpack program for school kids. A lot of the kids in lower-income areas literally don’t have enough food to get through the weekend. Kingman has a tremendous need for helping these kids. We have our eye on a 3½-acre lot in town to build a new food bank and children’s center. The food bank has increased by 500%. Jesus changes your heart. God changed me inside. He softened me. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” — Proverbs 3:5–6. I’m Phil. I’m human, and I surrender.
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