In 1999, I was in Montego Bay, Jamaica with a team of youth and met a young pastor who was still in Bible School. LeRoy Blackwood was 25 years old at the time and had a vision to reach the young men and women of his country for Christ. He shared with us his dream and frankly, I was a little skeptical. After all, he was 25, in Bible School, didn't have a penny to his name, wasn't even really in ministry yet, but had this enormous plan to reach the island with the Gospel! Thank goodness, he didn't wait for people around him to tell him he could do it, he just started doing it the best way he knew how.

Let me give you a little background on LeRoy. He was raised in a very poor family and didn't even own a pair of shoes. He went barefoot most of his childhood and walked every where he went. You know how some folks talk about walking to school in the snow, up hill both ways? Well, LeRoy walked two miles to school each way, barefoot, in the heat! His family did not have the money to buy his school lunch, so most days he would go without eating only to get home to find they had no food for dinner, either. At 12 years old, LeRoy became the sole provider for his family. He recently told me that he'd thought many times that life was just too hard and he didn't know how he was going to make it, but chose to trust God and lean and rely on His promises and provision.

Well, it's been 10 years since we met Pastor LeRoy Blackwood! He is now married to a wonderful lady named Teresa, and has one son and three daughters. LeRoy is pastoring a congregation that he began in the community of Barrett Hall, plus another congregation in the community of Spot Mountain. He started with a handful of people, an open aired facility that consisted of four poles and a tin roof and now has a beautiful church facility with several hundred people and a school in his church with over 100 children attending . Everything he told us he was going to do, he has done! But Pastor Blackwood is quick to let you know that it is not by his power and might that these things were accomplished, but by His Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God has blessed and is continuing to bless his obedience.

Pastor Blackwood was just at our home for a few days and I was reminded of his wonderful testimony. His life has been far from easy, yet he keeps his eyes upward and his focus fixed on what the Lord is calling him to do! What an inspiration to all of us! I pray that his story has uplifted you and caused you to shout as I do, "To God Be The Glory, Great Things He Has Done."