J. Wilbur Chapman was a great preacher of the past but he wasn’t always that way
When he started preaching in one church, the leaders got together and said, “This man can’t preach for sour grapes. We’re going to have to fire him.”
The chairman of the board asked who would go tell him that he was fired. All were reluctant. The chairman then said, “I won’t tell him either, but I will be down in the basement next Sunday at 8 a.m. to pray for him. All those who wish to join me are welcome.”
Eight men came that first Sunday. That prayer meeting began to grow and saw J. Wilbur Chapman become one of the more powerful preachers of his time.
When asked how his church seemed to always have a good preacher, one of the members said, “We make our preacher a good preacher. All we ask is that we have a man who is earnest and then we’ll make him good. We pay him a good salary, furnish him a good place to live, and look after his physical needs so he has no worry about those matters. THEN WE PRAY HARD FOR HIM. We keep him encouraged. We boost him. He is our man and his success is our success. We make him a good preacher by praying for him.”