In 1988, Willis, my husband, traveled to North Athens Baptist Church to teach a week-long youth leadership seminar. He used the Trinity and Company youth material that he developed during the years we attended Bible college in Pineville, Kentucky. Although Willis had already been a church pastor before attending the college, he welcomed the opportunity to be part of a large church staff. As a youth director, this material was developed to help youth be active in ministry efforts by using and developing their gifts and talents. I remember him saying that as he thought back on his own youth, he remembered the feeling of being left out of the youth choir because he couldn’t sing. During his teen years, that was about the only way youth served.

As a pastor, he struggled with ideas of how to involve young Christians. Since their energy and talent is going to be harnessed by the secular world, why not utilize those same talents to further the gospel of Christ.

At the conclusion of the workshop in Tennessee and visiting with some of the men of the church, one of them asked him what he needed at the camp. (This campground was a development of Small Church Support Ministries, a non-profit organization designed to assist leaders in a small membership church setting.) He answered, “Normally, I would say money to buy materials for buildings, but today I need a sawmill.” What a strange answer! You see, Bob Pack, a member of the board of directors, had just given the organization the timber to be cleared off a hundred and fifty acres of his land. He wanted it cleared for his cattle and we needed building materials for the lodge.

The deacon from North Athens replied, “Willis, I have a sawmill and it is not being used. You can borrow it for as long as needed.” Can you believe that? God already knew, but aren’t we surprised at the when and how that God answers? Who would have thought, in a million years, that the very thing the deacon had to offer was the very thing that Willis needed?

When Willis arrived home after the week at North Athens, he called Norman Brandon in Gassville, Arkansas. Norman owned a pallet mill where most of his family worked. He asked Norman if he could use some of the boys and a big truck to pick up the sawmill but, Norman was in a busy season and couldn’t let any of the men go. He did, however, loan Willis a big truck that Willis and his brother used to haul the sawmill back from Tennessee. Now, neither one of them had ever seen a sawmill up close and sure didn’t know how to run one but, they went to work and dismantled it piece by piece. Just the saw blade alone was six feet across. They put it all back together a couple of days later when they arrived at the Pack’s farm.

Most of the next year was spent cutting trees and sawing them into 4” x 4” square logs. When a load was finished, it would then be hauled to the camp. Slowly, but surely, the walls began to go up, but not before many hours of labor were invested by Willis and a few other men who had volunteered. During the time Willis was cutting trees and milling, the work was also being done on the campground like the concrete being poured for the floor as well as the framework for the square logs.

Eventually, the day came when the owner of the sawmill called to see if the project was finished because he had another use for it. So, the last week before the return of the sawmill, Willis concentrated on getting as many logs cut as possible. He enlisted many volunteers for a big push. One of the men that volunteered that week was Joe Simmons. He asked Willis if it was okay for him to make an adjustment on the clutch. I can tell you that there were more logs milled in that one week than all of the past years’ work combined!

This story has several miracles: the donation of logs; the unusual way in which a sawmill was available; the ability to borrow a large truck to haul the equipment; the volunteer workers, and the man who knew about adjusting the clutch. These were no accidental happenings. God’s hand was at work in all of this; It is amazing how God uses ordinary people in unusual circumstances to show His miracles to others.

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might.” Ephesians 1:18-19a