Evangelist Phil Gabbard

I am Bro. Philip R. Gabbard, Evangelist, and this is my testimony. In 1962 I was 12 years old and in a revival meeting at the Smyrna Baptist Church in New Trenton, Indiana. Earl Davison was the visiting Evangelist for that meeting and there were 21 souls saved as I remember. I was saved at home at the hand of my mother who was able to show me the plan of salvation and cause me to understand that if I died without The Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour I would go to hell. Yes, it was the fear of hell that I remember so well. It seems like now it was all that was preached that week. Weeks later 21 of us were baptized. I was called to preach in 1975, at 25 years old. In June of 1976 I surrendered to the call that God had placed upon my life. I was a member of Mt. Hope Baptist Church and began taking Bible classes at their Institute under Pastor Jack Grigsby. In a year we moved to Texas and I finished two more years of Bible Institute, under Bro. Jack Grigsby, who had made the move to Texas also. I entered a full time ministry of evangelism (I felt my call was to be an evangelist) and worked five years with another evangelist, Bro. Bruce MacDowell. Then the Lord had me pastor for 18 years, three different churches. I have always believed that my call was evangelism and in the year 2000 I resigned my pastorate and went back to full time evangelism. At the time I did not know that the Lord was preparing me for this great ministry, but all those years of pastoring has given me knowledge that only a pastor could learn.
I was credited for the 3 years of Bible classes and given a Masters degree for life's work and then the opportunity to earn my doctorate in Theology at Liberty Baptist Bible Collage and Theological Seminary, in Romulus, Michigan. I finished in the year 2000 with my doctorate. On 3-23-10  I was voted in as the staff evangelist and assistant pastor at Hope Baptist Church in Dillsboro, Indiana. Since then, I have continued to travel around preaching but the majority of my time has been spent serving at Hope Baptist Church.