One of my most treasured possessions is a letter that I started to write to the televangelist that day, probably right after my mother stopped crying (although I don't remember). I didn't finish the letter, apparently because I made a mistake and the letter was written in pen. My mother rescued this fragment of the torn page out of the wastepaper basket and gave it to me some years later. Click on the letter to enlarge and read."
The Evergreen MP3 Audio - 1,582 Kb Click to Listen |
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Thank You Lord for Christmas MP3 Audio - 1,172 Kb Click to Listen |
In this church, I was introduced to the concept of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and to spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1-11). At this point in my life, I was very much like the men in Ephesus (described in the Bible) whom Paul asked, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?' They answered, 'No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.' (Acts 19:1-7). These concepts are simply not taught in most Baptist churches, and I was unaware of them because I grew up attending a Baptist church. To me, the term full-gospel can be applied to any church that teaches these concepts as things that accompany salvation (Hebrews 6:1-9).
There are three memories I have from the time I attended this church that stick out in my mind. First, I remember how Pastor Kyle spoke before the offering was taken. He would always say the same thing. He would inform the congregation that the money collected would first be used to pay the church's bills and upkeep of the church buliding. Then, whatever amount was left over was for the pastor and his family. This, to me, is the Biblical model for how tithes and offerings are supposed to be used. What impressed me so much about the pastor's words was the open honesty and his humble demeanor, both of which are extremely lacking in the majority of preachers I have heard since this time.
The second memory from this church that sticks out in my mind is that of an elderly man who sat across the aisle from us on most Sundays. At times during the service, he whispered to himself words that I did not understand. One look on his face told me that he was bubbling over with joy at these times. I understand now that he was praying in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:12-15,28) and doing so specifically as the Bible directs. There were times in this church when tongues would be spoken aloud, and then an interpreter would reveal the message God was speaking to the congregation in that instance. However, when this elderly man spoke, there was no interpreter, so he spoke quietly to himself.
The third memory I have from this church is the first time I ever lifted my hands in praise to God. The Bible speaks about lifting hands in Psalms 134:2 and 1 Timothy 2:8. At South Harriman Baptist Church, I never saw anyone lift their hands during a church service, but at Victory Temple this was a common occurrence. The first time I tried, my arm seemed SO heavy. My heart was pounding. Finally, I mustered my courage and lifted one arm heavenward. Looking back, it is hard for me to imagine why this was so difficult to do, except that I know that by embracing this new expression of praise, I was also breaking away from a silent and still method of worship that I had been taught by example in the Baptist church.
The pictures below show the Victory Temple Church building and sign in Baytown, Texas. The last picture is a high school class photo of me that shows how I looked during the time we attended this Victory Temple Church."
I had been praying for a long time about the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. I wanted to experience what I had seen in the Victory Temple church that I had previously attended, and on the day of God's choosing, I did receive Him. I was attending Roane State Community College at the time, and after classes were over for the day, I drove along Highway 70 to my grandmother's apartment in Kingston. I was praying as I was driving, and suddenly I felt an overwhelming wave of emotion come over me. Tears began to well up in my eyes, and the feeling of joy and love in my heart at that moment was so intense, it was all I could do to take my pickup truck out of gear and come to a stop on the side of the road. I sat there perhaps ten minutes barely able speak because I was crying uncontrollably and my lower jaw was vibrating intensely. I could only say 'Hallelujah!'
There are some full-gospel believers who would say that it is not possible to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit without the evidence of speaking in other tongues. There are some full-gospel believers who would say that my vibrating jaw was a form of speaking in other tongues. In my heart, I believe that I did receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit there in my pickup truck on the side of the road, but on that day I did not speak with other tongues. For several months after this, I prayed that would be able speak with other tongues just as I had witnessed the elderly man do in the Victory Temple church that I had previously attended.
During the week of November 30, 1988, we attended a revival at the Victory Temple church in Lenoir City, Tennessee. The guest speaker was Elaine Holmer, and there came a point during the service when she asked for anyone who desired to speak in other tongues to come forward. I responded to her summons, and she laid her hands on me to receive this gift from the Lord. Doctrinally, I don't agree with her method, because she spoke aloud in other tongues with no interpreter present while she ministered to me. However, I can not deny that on that day I did receive the gift.
A video recording was made of the revival service that night, and I have below a link to the clip during which I received the gift of speaking with other tongues. Two frames of that video are shown below. In the first frame, after the evangelist had walked across the sanctuary (right circle), I followed her across to the other side (left circle). The second frame shows the evangelist with her hands on me ministering the gift (2 Timothy 1:5-7)."
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 Gift of Tongues Elaine Holmer to David Spakes WMV Video - 1,356 Kb Click to Watch |
I had no idea what I was supposed to do with the tape after I had made the recording, so I took it to my pastor and told him what God had told me. The church I was attending at that time had a daily half-hour radio program, and I thought perhaps that after the pastor had listened to the tape, he might play my little sermonette on on the radio. This did not happen, but a few weeks later, the pastor announced from the pulpit that I had been called to preach. I wasn't sure at first if what he said was true. After much prayer, however, I began to feel that the pastor was correct and that God was calling me to preach.
Not long after this, the Assistant Pastor, Jeff Schrimsher, spoke a prophetic word to me during the course of a sermon he was preaching. I received the word with gladness, because it confirmed what I already felt in my heart. Here is a picture of Jeff and a recording of the prophetic message that he spoke to me."
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Prophetic Message Jeff Schrimsher to David Spakes MP3 Audio - 305 Kb Click to Listen |
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April 1, 1989 MP3 Audio - 221 Kb Click to Listen |
July 1, 1989 MP3 Audio - 804 Kb Click to Listen |
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| Revelation | |||
| Perfection | |||
| Marathon | |||
| Live the Wisdom of God | |||
| Defender of the Faith | |||
| Heaven | |||
| The Secret Place | |||
| The Body of Christ | |||
| Good Ground | |||
During one of my early visits, I learned that my grandmother was an ordained full-gospel minister, and for twenty years she had been active in prison ministry. Pictured last (below), her ordination certificate hung on their living room wall. Her life and testimony were an inspiration for me then and now, and I was pleased to be able to have her certificate after she passed away.
I spent the Christmas of 1989 with my grandparents at their duplex in Cocoa Beach. They attended a church called Beach Christian Fellowship that met in the Freedom 7 School building. I enjoyed very much attending church there, partly because they sang beautiful praise and worship songs, and I had never heard 'Praise and Worship' music until that time. The first picture below is one of me from about this time wearing a Beach Christian Fellowship hat. Next to it is a picture of the duplex where my grandparents lived.
After my grandparents would go to sleep about 8:00 or 9:00 o'clock, I spent several hours each night reading my Bible and praying, usually past midnight. I wrestled with the decision about whether I should continue to attend the Victory Temple church after I returned home to Tennessee, because my mother had already decided that she was going to look for another church to attend closer to our house in Harriman. During one of these nights, the Lord gave me a sermon to preach called 'Redigging the Wells of Abraham' (based on Genesis 26:17-18)."
