If you’ve driven in the area around Fayetteville’s Cross Creek Mall recently, you’ve probably noticed William McLaurin’s truck. It’s hard to miss. The white pick-up has big placards with Bible verses on its sides, along with a seven-foot cross and American and POW flags in the flat bed.
"Ministry on Wheels" in Fayetteville photo courtesy McLaurin Family
“Some of the people look at me, and I think some of them think I'm crazy,” he told me. “They probably say, who's that nut out there? But I have a sole purpose, and the purpose is pointing people to Christ.”
McLaurin, you see, is a retired pastor. After 29 years in the pulpit (in Sampson County’s St. James Church of Christ), McLaurin is now taking his message on the road. His attention-grabbing truck is the lure.
“I'm not out to make money, I'm not selling anything,” he says. “I love to stop and talk to people. I carry my Bible, and I'm ready to talk and pray with people.”
At 69, he’s at an age when many people are taking it easy – or at least thinking about it. But McLaurin says he was inspired upon hearing the story of Joni Eareckson Tada, a California-based evangelist and ministry leader who’s a quadriplegic.
“She’s ministering in a wheel chair! She’s a soul winner in a wheelchair. And she gets on flights, she flies to different parts of the world, different states. She speaks at different assemblies. I mean, she’s just busy!”
And so, William McLaurin decided to get busy. He set up a “ministry on wheels,” started a Facebook page, and began driving around Fayetteville preaching the Gospel. He says he has a special heart for the military community in the All-American City, having once been a soldier stationed at Ft. Bragg. But he’ll talk to anyone who will stop and to talk to him.
“I don't bash the different religions but I do hold up Jesus Christ,” he says. “It's the Bible, and that's what I'm gonna stand on. I'm not gonna ridicule all the other folks but it's about showing people Christ. Because he is the one that, as John 3:16 tells us, that died for everybody.”
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The president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest calls it "one of the most significant events in SBC history since the convention’s founding in 1845.” Dr. Daniel Akin is referring to the election last week of New Orleans pastor Fred Luter to become president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the first African-American to hold the title in the conservative denomination. More reaction from Akin and other North Carolina Baptist leaders in this article from the Biblical Recorder.
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A Johnston County teenager has gotten a precious gift, courtesy of his church. Here's Eyewitness News reporter Steve Dorsey's story of how the Selma congregation is helping out 17-year-old Charlie Humphries.
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Lots of buzz in western North Carolina, after a mysterious (and apparently wealthy) donor came forward at the last minute to save a church from foreclosure. Here's a link to the story.
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