Summer
1993
A Personal
Testimony
Wade E Taylor
Pinecrest Bible Training Center has just finished its 25th
year of operation. Looking back on my life, and all that brought
us to this time is a miracle of the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Truly, all the glory and praise can be given to Him.
During 1944, while stationed in an Army camp near Savannah
Georgia, I entered a small Chapel and when I was sure no one
was there, I knelt down and told the Lord that I would go
into the ministry if He would get me through the war alive.
I was discharged from the Army in the Fall of 1945 and hardly
went to Church for the next five years.
In 1950, I attended a service in an Assembly of God Church,
and was saved. Gradually, the Lord worked in my life until
in 1956, I sold the businesses I owned and enrolled as a student
in Eastern Bible Institute, an Assembly of God Bible School.
The year I graduated, the Italian branch of the Assemblies
of God opened a Bible College known as Pinecrest Bible Institute.
I knew this but was planning to go to Philadelphia and begin
a ministry there. On July 4th 1959, along with my family,
I began a trip to Philadelphia with the thought of renting
a building to use as a Church, and finding a place to live.
The Lord sovereignly stopped me from going and clearly told
me that I was to go to Pinecrest. A short time after we arrived
at Pinecrest, the Lord again spoke to me that I was to enroll
as a student, which I did the next day.
While praying in a room at Pinecrest during October of 1959,
I was taken up into a very clear visitation of the Lord, into
the area of the Throne of God. During this time, an understanding
of my calling was imparted into my being and somehow I knew
that I would be the president of a Bible School at Pinecrest.
Also, I came to understand that I would have a part in the
preparation of a people for the end-time visitation of the
Lord and for His intervention in the affairs of man. I left
Pinecrest in the Spring of 1962 and shortly after that, the
school closed and the property remained vacant for the next
six years.
In the Fall of 1962, the Lord in a very unusual way led me
to another Bible School where I became a teacher. I was there
until the Spring of 1968 when the Lord again began to stir
me concerning Pinecrest.
Pinecrest had been purchased by a land developer in Virginia.
He, in turn, donated the property to Pat Robertson who was
just beginning his Television ministry. Through a leading
of the Lord, I wrote to Pat Robertson, telling him that I
had a burden for Pinecrest. He later contacted me and I was
given a one year lease on the property, and began the present
ministry of Pinecrest. Later, through a very unusual set of
circumstances, the property was donated to Pinecrest Bible
Training Center.
The present ministry of Pinecrest began with a convention
over the Labor Day weekend of 1968. The Bible School began
shortly after this with 40 students enrolled for classes.
The Banner gradually evolved and was distributed on an irregular
basis for several years, until it took its present form. This
present issue of the Banner is the 80th Banner to be printed
and mailed.
During 1964, I received a very clear prophetic word through
Costa Deir about my having a writing ministry. I wondered
what this meant as I had never written anything. A short time
later, as a result of this word, I wrote the article on prayer
that follows this testimony.
In looking back over the years since 1959, when I received
the vision and calling for Pinecrest, I can rejoice in the
goodness of our Lord, and in all that He had done within my
life and ministry, and in and through Pinecrest as a ministry.
I wish to thank each one of you who, in numerous ways, have
been a part of the development and success of this ministry
over the past 25 years.
Should the Lord tarry, it is my prayer, desire, and intention,
that Pinecrest will yet see another 25 years of ministry to
those who seek a closer relationship and walk with their Lord.