A Tribute to My (Spiritual) Father
For years, I have been saying things about a man behind his back. I would now like to say them to his face in print. Since most who read this do not know the story, I’ll have to begin by explaining a few things.
I grew up in Pensacola, Florida. Since my father was an immigrant from Greece, I was christened in the Greek Orthodox Church. When I was six years old, my parents were divorced. My mother, who did not attend church, reared me. When I started dating, a girlfriend took me to a Baptist church, where I went forward in an evangelistic meeting, but did not get saved. Within a few months of graduating from high school, I attended a service at the Central Baptist Church. The teenagers were so friendly I went back.
On April 8, 1958, the pastor of that church, C. Sumner Wemp, led me to Christ. I’m sure I had heard the gospel before, but that night, for the first time in my life, I understood that Christ died for me. I had a dramatic conversion. At that point, in my life, I thought there were only two people in the world who understood the gospel, my pastor and me! I felt it was my responsibility to see to it that everyone in the world heard the gospel. I at least tried to let everyone in my world know the good news that Christ paid it all.
For five short months, I sat in a pew at the Central Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida. The place was ablaze for the Lord. People were coming to Christ. Young people were being called to ministry. “Brother Wemp,” as everyone affectionately called the pastor, was not only a zealous evangelist, he was also an expositor of the Word. He taught the Bible, book-by-book and verse-by-verse.
In September of 1958, at the advice of “Brother Wemp,” I enrolled in a Christian college with the goal of attending the same seminary from which my spiritual father had graduated. I had the privilege of sitting under his ministry for five brief months. Several years later, I came back home for one summer, but it was the minister and his ministry during those first five months that modeled my life.
I owe a great deal to C. Sumner Wemp, my spiritual father. He led me to Christ. By his personal example and his pulpit exhortations, he impressed upon me the thrill of evangelism. He modeled zeal for evangelism that I have never seen equaled. By his personal example and his pulpit expositions, he implanted in me a deep desire to expound the Word of God. His ministry of the Word produced in me a hunger to know and teach the Word that is with me to this day. As if all that were not enough, he gave me many practical insights into life that I have used and passed on to others.
Thanks, my spiritual father, for just being you and for all that you taught me by your example and by your exhortations.
© G. Michael Cocoris, 6/18/2006
I grew up in Pensacola, Florida. Since my father was an immigrant from Greece, I was christened in the Greek Orthodox Church. When I was six years old, my parents were divorced. My mother, who did not attend church, reared me. When I started dating, a girlfriend took me to a Baptist church, where I went forward in an evangelistic meeting, but did not get saved. Within a few months of graduating from high school, I attended a service at the Central Baptist Church. The teenagers were so friendly I went back.
On April 8, 1958, the pastor of that church, C. Sumner Wemp, led me to Christ. I’m sure I had heard the gospel before, but that night, for the first time in my life, I understood that Christ died for me. I had a dramatic conversion. At that point, in my life, I thought there were only two people in the world who understood the gospel, my pastor and me! I felt it was my responsibility to see to it that everyone in the world heard the gospel. I at least tried to let everyone in my world know the good news that Christ paid it all.
For five short months, I sat in a pew at the Central Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida. The place was ablaze for the Lord. People were coming to Christ. Young people were being called to ministry. “Brother Wemp,” as everyone affectionately called the pastor, was not only a zealous evangelist, he was also an expositor of the Word. He taught the Bible, book-by-book and verse-by-verse.
In September of 1958, at the advice of “Brother Wemp,” I enrolled in a Christian college with the goal of attending the same seminary from which my spiritual father had graduated. I had the privilege of sitting under his ministry for five brief months. Several years later, I came back home for one summer, but it was the minister and his ministry during those first five months that modeled my life.
I owe a great deal to C. Sumner Wemp, my spiritual father. He led me to Christ. By his personal example and his pulpit exhortations, he impressed upon me the thrill of evangelism. He modeled zeal for evangelism that I have never seen equaled. By his personal example and his pulpit expositions, he implanted in me a deep desire to expound the Word of God. His ministry of the Word produced in me a hunger to know and teach the Word that is with me to this day. As if all that were not enough, he gave me many practical insights into life that I have used and passed on to others.
Thanks, my spiritual father, for just being you and for all that you taught me by your example and by your exhortations.
© G. Michael Cocoris, 6/18/2006