Godswordtooyou

PROFILE OF SHELTON TURNER

PLACE OF BIRTH: RURAL ROUTE; COLLINSVILLE, ALABAMA

DATE OF BIRTH: OCTOBER; 29, 1926

PARENTS: FATHER; REUBEN COLTON TURNER

MOTHER; VELMA YARBROUGH TURNER

CHILDHOOD: Grew up on a farm at Henagar, Alabama, My parents were school teacher, farmers. I attended school at Henagar through the third grade. The rest of my formal education was home school with tests and examinations taken under the supervision of the DeKalb County Superintendent of Education.

My parents were converted from the Baptist faith to Pentecostal when I was @ three years old. And shortly after my dad became a “Holiness Preacher” and I learned from an early age the persecution that came from being a “Holy Roller”. This early “Holiness” experience was a part of the Independent or “Free Holiness Movement” of the Lower Smoky Mountain Range of the S.E. U.S.A.

In 1942 at the age of 16 years I was called of God into the ministry, and I preached my first sermon from the front porch of the home of a Mr. Henderson on Lookout Mountain Al.

In 1944 I enrolled in the Church of God BTS Correspondence School. [Bible Training School; now Lee college] of Cleveland Tenn. In this study course I received the basics of Bible Study that led me to a lifetime of searching the Bible for knowledge of God’s plan for the salvation of fallen mankind. This included a deep desire to “search out” the truths of the Word of God that were “hidden” in the original Hebrew and Greek Languages of the Bible. I resolved this problem by obtaining Hebrew and Greek Lexicons of the Bible and also researching the History of the Hebrew people [Jews] Judaism, their religion, customs and lifestyle. To anyone that has a serious desire to know and understand the Bible I recommend a study of “The Works of Flavious Josephus”; Against Apion; to the Greek, Antiquities of the Jews, Life of Josephus and Wars of the Jews. Also “The Works of Alfred Edershiem”; The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Old Testament History, Sketches of Jewish Social Life and The Temple, Its Ministry and Services. A study of these books will open your mind to understanding the “Thought process” of the religious ideology at the time of the early church and to apply that knowledge to translate these principles to a useful purpose in our Christian Walk.

While involved in these studies I was blessed with a special anointing of the Holy Ghost in preaching and received invitations for revival meetings in a wide area; First at Trenton, Ga., Chattanooga Tn. and many other places in Alabama.

In @ 1941 my father saw a need for the organization of these Holiness People into a “body of believers” with a purpose and discipline, but with a distinct difference from other Pentecostal Churches in the Doctrine of Sanctification. This resulted in the organization and chartering of “True Holiness Church of God” an Alabama Corp. I was a part of the first Ordained and Licensed Preachers at 18 years of age. I also help draft the first Church Discipline, a small booklet of about 25 pages.

In 1946 I organized a church in Alexander City, Ala. With about 30 members and constructed a building on US Hwy. 280 West of the City. While there I was employed by the Russell Mfg. Co. a textile firm.

In 1948 I was invited to attend a revival in Sylacauga Al. at the Congregational Holiness Church, Pastured by Rev. Alvin Crews. Bishop B.L. Cox, the General Moderator of the church was the Evangelist. From this meeting I began a relationship with some of the greatest Holiness preachers of that time; Including Bishop Cox, Rev. Terry Crews, moderator of the Alabama conference of the C.H.C., Joe Martin, James Martin, Howard Shell and others. I resigned the church at Alexander City and joined the Sylacauga C.H. Church and received ordination license through the exchange process.

In 1951 I felt a leading of the Spirit to go to Leesville. La. to minister. Leesville was the home of the Army Base; Fort Polk. I did not have money for the trip; so with a suitcase and my Bible in hand I took to the road trusting my Lord to make the way for me. In the middle of my second night on the road I was on US Hwy. 90 in Mississippi a “Trailways Bus” stopped and the driver invited me to ride and talk with him. His route would take him through Leesville and he knew a Rev. Reese that Pastured a Pentecostal Church there. The driver called Brother Reese; who picked me up at the station and told me that the church had been praying for a revival. This church not only ministered to the Spiritual needs of the Service Men that attended, but they also ministered to their social needs by opening the church basement for dinners, singings, a place for Christian dating and phones for them to call home. Brother and Sister Reese provided Christian Counseling for the lonely boys away from home. I began a revival that continued for two weeks with many being saved and several Baptized in the Holy Ghost. From there I went to Deridder, and next I was invited to Calcasieu Tabernacle at Lake Charles, La. This was the largest “Full Gospel Church” in the SE USA at that time; with over 1500 members and was in a continuing Revival. They held worship services twice each day of the year with one Evangelist leaving and another beginning to keep the “Revival Spirit” moving. I followed Rev. Jimmy Swaggart and stayed for four months serving as interim Pastor, since their Pastor was on the “Mission Field” in Africa. From there I went to Moss Point Mississippi for a Tent Revival. The Alabama CH Church Judiciary Committee made up of Revs Terry Crews, Joe Martin, James Martin, and Howard Shell had paid me a visit at Lake Charles and presented me with a “Gospel Tent” to erect in remote places where we had no Churches. After a while I took the tent back to Alabama and set it up at Oak Ridge near Talladega Al. that resulted in a church being organized there.

At this time I left the full time Evangelistic Ministry to fulfill a marriage commitment and took employment with a Major Trucking Company and relocated first to Birmingham Ala, New Orleans La and Houston Tx. Since the C.H. Church had no congregations in these cities I attended and worked with the Assemblies of God and the Church of God in these areas. This marriage brought me much pain that ended with divorce.

On July 4^{th 1988 I suffered a major stroke that left me paralyzed in my left side. After four months of rehabilitation at Humana Hospital in Houston I was released able to walk some with a cane, but no use of my left arm. My brother Alton Turner owned a business in Green Cove Springs, Fl. And he came to Houston and brought me to Florida to live with.}

In this very trying time of my life I visited the C.H. Church that was Pastured by Rev. Ronny Surrency who proved to be special friend; he and the church family became the encouraging force to restore me to a place of “feeling useful” in the Kingdom of God again. Brother Surrency was a member of the Florida C.H.C. Judiciary and helped me greatly in returning to a useful place in ministry. I was soon elected to serve as “Home Mission Director” for the state of Florida and appointed as an assistant pastor of the GCS church.

In 1991 I met a fine lady, Betty Stewart a widow from Kentucky that was visiting family here. We were married August 17th 1991 and established a home together until she passed away from a Brain Tumor April 2, 2007. After her death I was unable to maintain the home and care for myself. The church had and the W.M. Department took charge of my needs, house cleaning, laundry, food and other things to help me to avoid nursing home care.

After moving to Green Cove Springs I became active in Bible Teaching at church, private groups at home and I also began to use the inter-net in this work. This Web-Site is an expansion of this Bible Teaching. My intent is to assist any who do not have the opportunity to attend a Bible School to study with me to learn the Basic Principles for Bible Study, including method, language, customs and also to examine the major doctrines of the Holiness and Pentecostal movements with a view of restoration of the “Faith that was once delivered unto the Saints”; see Jude :3.

God bless all that engage themselves in this “Honorable Endeavor” is my prayer.