by Flavil Nichols<\/p>\n
During the War Between the States, a young woman learned the truth and obeyed the Gospel. Her sweetheart, J. H. Halbrook, was a Confederate soldier. He was captured by the Union Army and kept a prisoner in Michigan until the war was over. He was given a ticket to Nashville and $2.50, and from there he returned to Centerville. Tennessee, and found what was left of his home and family. He was reunited with his girlfriend. Then, they were married.<\/p>\n
Mr. Halbrook’s new wife studied the Bible with him, and he soon became a Christian. He thought the truth was so good and so simple that he began to teach and baptize many of his friends and neighbors. Then he began to preach, but he recognized his need for further training, so he enrolled in Mars Hill Bible School and was taught by T. B. Larimore.<\/p>\n
Upon completing his studies at Mars Hill, Mr. Halbrook and his wife chose to move farther south rather than return to Tennessee, and they settled in the counties of Walker, Marion, Fayette, and Lamar in Alabama. Among his many converts were Charley Alexander Wheeler and his wife. Mr. Wheeler, after obeying the Gospel, soon began preaching to others. He started more than 100 congregations and baptized more than 6,000 people.<\/p>\n
But wait, the story does not end here! One of those 6000 baptisms was my father, the late Gus Nichols. And under my father’s preaching, 12,000 people were converted to Christ!<\/p>\n
And how many of those 12,000 began to preach \u05bethe glorious Gospel of Christ?\u05be No one can know the exact number, but I personally know several who did. I am one whom he baptized and whom he encouraged to preach. And under my preaching, about 3000 have been baptized. Among that number, a few have gone on to preach the Gospel.<\/p>\n
Only eternity will reveal the total results of the teaching of that one girl nearly 150 years ago. But at least 21,000 people have already become Christians through this single thread in the fabric of her influence.<\/p>\n
“Go, and do likewise<\/em>” (Luke 10:37), for you <\/b>are important too! Dear reader, if you go to heaven, others probably will be saved because of you! “What knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? Or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?<\/em>” (I Corinthians 7:16).<\/p>\n “Let your Light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven<\/em>” (Matthew 6:16). One <\/b>can be very influential.<\/p>\n\t I find this old article fascinating because my own mother was taught by Gus Nichols.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Flavil Nichols During the War Between the States, a young woman learned the truth and obeyed the Gospel. Her sweetheart, J. H. Halbrook, was a Confederate soldier. He was captured by the Union Army and kept a prisoner in Michigan until the war was over. He was given a ticket to Nashville and $2.50,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[353,451],"class_list":["post-96320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-influence","tag-teaching"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":57722,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/just-your-average-joe\/","url_meta":{"origin":96320,"position":0},"title":"Just Your Average Joe","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 6, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Steven Harper Joe was born in a small town in the Midwest and was welcomed into the family by his parents, both of whom were committed, believing disciples who had come out of denominationalism and a long family history of following religious beliefs, not in accord with New Testament\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58435,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/one-sinner-destroys-much-good\/","url_meta":{"origin":96320,"position":1},"title":"One Sinner Destroys Much Good","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ron Daly Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good. Ecclesiates 9:18 The title of this article comes from a statement of the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes in chapter 9, verse 18. It conveys a thought that each of us must consider.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58574,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/on-offending-others\/","url_meta":{"origin":96320,"position":2},"title":"On Offending Others","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 29, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant Did you ever offend someone? Have you ever been offended? I am quite sure we can all answer \"Yes\" to both of those questions. And while it should never be our intent to offend others, we know it does happen. Sometimes it is done unintentionally, while\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45134,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/augustus-h-f-payne\/","url_meta":{"origin":96320,"position":3},"title":"Augustus H. F. Payne","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Earl Kimbrough via\u00a0Biblical Insights When the dark and angry clouds of war gathered over the nation in 1860, some pacifist gospel preachers in Missouri drew up a document pleading with their brethren to refuse to take up arms in the conflict. Entitled\u00a0Circular from Preachers in Missouri, the paper was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Augustus-H-F-Payne-228x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":58093,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/mcgarvey-as-a-preacher-and-teacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":96320,"position":4},"title":"McGarvey as a Preacher and Teacher","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Henry S. Ficklin via\u00a0Gospel Guardian, Vol. 10, No. 39, Feb. 5, 1959 In 1902, when I began as a student at Transylvania University, in Lexington, Kentucky, McGarvey was President of the College Of The Bible. These two institutions were on the same campus, but they were separately organized. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20234,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/alexander-campbell-as-a-preacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":96320,"position":5},"title":"Alexander Campbell as a Preacher","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Theories on Preaching by Carroll Elis via\u00a0The Preceptor, Vol. 1, No. 11, September 1952. Preaching is not for a lazy man, a sick man, or a tired man. Preaching the gospel is work. The greatest use which can be made of the human tongue is in the proclamation of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/Alexander_Campbell_young-263x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96320\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Side Note:<\/h2>\n