This afternoon I got the word from my dad. Bro. Ray had entered into his heavenly rest, had gone to be with the Jesus to whom he had introduced so many. My dad had had the privilege of sitting with him during part of his stay in the hospital, and my dad was glad to do it because of how much Bro. Ray has meant to our family.
I am very grateful to have been a recipient of Ray Newcomb’s ministry. As I’ve visited various churches around West Tennessee over the last 30 years, I have been proud to say that I came from First Baptist Church in Millington and was one of Bro. Ray’s boys. As I consider what I received from Bro. Ray, I am particularly grateful for several things.
First, I received a bedrock certainty in the absolute truthfulness of God’s word. My family showed up at FBC Millington believing this truth and then Bro. Ray hammered this point home. When I went on to college I realized what a gift it is to have been nurtured in confident reliance on the Word of God as I encountered others who lacked such confidence. Bro. Ray told us the Bible was inerrant, showed us how it proved true and then preached and lived like it was true.
Second, I learned the absolute necessity of evangelism. Bro. Ray faithfully stressed that all people are lost and under the judgement of God apart from Jesus and that it is our responsibility to share the gospel with them. Thus, I grew up knowing clearly that we are sinful and that God is willing to save. These are basic truths that too many people today do not realize. In this sort of ministry we teenagers were taught how to share the gospel and were given regular opportunities to do so. I am so grateful for being taken as a group to various subdivisons and being dropped off at one end of the street in order to go door to door at each house endeavoring to share the gospel. There is no better way to learn. At that time I had no idea there were countless people in churches who had never been taught to share the gospel and had never taken the opportunity to do so. I am grateful to have been brought up in a setting where we were taught and sent out.
I am grateful to have heard the saving message of the gospel on a regular basis. Years later I met a friend who grew up in another church nearby. He shared how although he grew up in the church and attended regularly he had never heard the gospel until he went to a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting at his high school one day. Thankfully, he did hear the gospel, and he was converted. I remember how shocked I was to hear his story, and how grateful I was that the gospel had been the center of the preaching I had heard.
Third, Bro. Ray preached through the Bible. After I went to college and then on to seminary I was in countless settings where other preachers would say to me or to a group I was in, “I bet you’ve never heard a sermon on ____.” Every time- every time– I had to spoil the point by saying, “Yes, I actually have.” Once while I was serving at a church during college the visiting preacher for our revival said he was going to preach on the unpardonable sin. Then he looked at me and a fellow college student and said, “I bet you’ve never heard anyone preach on that before have you!” I felt bad for him to have to say, “Yes, sir, I have and I remember the sermon well.” Others would say, “When was the last time you heard a sermon on hell?” Quite recently. Bro. Ray hit all these points. It really was later as I listened to others that I realized what a rare introduction to the Bible I had received by sitting under his preaching three times a week.
Lastly, Bro. Ray loved people. That, of course, is why he spent so much time on Navy Road talking to whomever he could in order to share the gospel with them. It is also why he called my mom, my dad, or my grandmother at various times to check on them. It is why he took the time to come have dinner with us the last time my parents, brother and our families all gathered at Pickwick and why he lingered around the table to talk to and share wisdom with two of us who’d surrendered to ministry under him. I remember him telling us about a turning point in his ministry early on in dealing with criticism. Rather than taking offense when people came to tell him what they were dissatisfied with, he began taking out a pad of paper and asking them in all genuineness to tell him everything they felt he was doing wrong. He would not interrupt or defend himself. Once they were finished he would say, “Thank you for sharing these with me. I will work on them. Will you pray with me now and pray for me to improve in these areas.” He said this made all the difference, and I can imagine it did.
No man and no ministry is perfect. Bro. Ray would be the first to say that. But I am deeply grateful I had the privilege of growing up under the ministry of Ray Newcomb. I count myself among the many who were richly blessed by God through him.
