Bright Raven
Well-known member
I hope this does not offend. It is a story from my life experiences. Just enjoy it or ignore it.
My comment on another thread about whisky and indians reminded me of someone I knew a long time ago. His name was Denzel Lewis. I met Denzel in the late 1960's. Like me, he was from a poor family but his smarts landed him a scholarship to college. That is where I met him. We both started college in 1968. His scholarship was for tuition and housing only and since he was from a poor family, he had to earn his own spending money and in a college town, jobs can be scarce.
Denzel thought he could make some easy money performing as an evangelist preacher and hold revivals in the mountains of Kentucky. The revivals were in summer. Denzel would use the copy machine to make fliers of the upcoming revival. He would post these in the town where he was holding the revival. Then he would load up in his 1959 Impala and head to the target town and erect an old army surplus tent and fill it with rented chairs. Denzel was good and the word got out. His tent was filled to the point of standing room only. Sometimes his revivals would go on all weekend and his inspirational message made people very generous when he passed the plate.
This went on for about two years till late one summer Sunday afternoon, he had just finished one of his performances. A couple ask where he was preaching next. He took them to his old Impala to give them a flier for the next gig. When he unlocked the trunk of his car to get the fliers, they saw a trunk full of beer cases. (This was a dry county). That ended his ministry. You see, he also made a few bucks buying beer in Mt Sterling and selling to college kids.
I went with Denzel on a couple of these performances. He was good! My maternal grandfather was an eastern Kentucky evangelist in Lewis County. I have no idea what happened to Denzel. He grew bored with college and dropped out. I wonder if he is still preaching.
My comment on another thread about whisky and indians reminded me of someone I knew a long time ago. His name was Denzel Lewis. I met Denzel in the late 1960's. Like me, he was from a poor family but his smarts landed him a scholarship to college. That is where I met him. We both started college in 1968. His scholarship was for tuition and housing only and since he was from a poor family, he had to earn his own spending money and in a college town, jobs can be scarce.
Denzel thought he could make some easy money performing as an evangelist preacher and hold revivals in the mountains of Kentucky. The revivals were in summer. Denzel would use the copy machine to make fliers of the upcoming revival. He would post these in the town where he was holding the revival. Then he would load up in his 1959 Impala and head to the target town and erect an old army surplus tent and fill it with rented chairs. Denzel was good and the word got out. His tent was filled to the point of standing room only. Sometimes his revivals would go on all weekend and his inspirational message made people very generous when he passed the plate.
This went on for about two years till late one summer Sunday afternoon, he had just finished one of his performances. A couple ask where he was preaching next. He took them to his old Impala to give them a flier for the next gig. When he unlocked the trunk of his car to get the fliers, they saw a trunk full of beer cases. (This was a dry county). That ended his ministry. You see, he also made a few bucks buying beer in Mt Sterling and selling to college kids.
I went with Denzel on a couple of these performances. He was good! My maternal grandfather was an eastern Kentucky evangelist in Lewis County. I have no idea what happened to Denzel. He grew bored with college and dropped out. I wonder if he is still preaching.