Written by Dixie Phillips

 

Do not despise small beginnings....... Zechariah 4:10 (Living Bible)

But you, Bethlehem ~ though you were little among thousands of Judah yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be ruler in Israel. Micah 5:2

How often in my mind's eye do I see my beloved grandmother, Hazel Leora Meyer, clanging sudsy pots and pans in the kitchen of 710 Maywood Avenue singing at the top of her lungs:

"Little is much when God is in it.

Labor not for wealth or fame.

There's a crown and you can win it.

If you go in JESUS' Name!"

Grandma only had a fifth grade education, but she taught me more about life and what is important in this life than any classroom. Grandma had attended the most prestigious university of all ~ the School of Adversity.

It was the spring of 1981. Paul and I were settled in a beautiful three-bedroom apartment in Pine Bluff, Arkansas with a precious two-year-old daughter, Rachel Michelle, and our adorable baby boy, John Drake. The telephone rang and it was Grandma Meyer.

"Dixie, could you and Paul move here and Paul pastor the Gospel Lighthouse?" she asked.

I told her that we were very happy in Arkansas, where Paul was serving

as the youth pastor. She said that she felt we were to come to Floyd.

Not wanting to disappoint my beloved grandmother. I assured her that we would pray, and even have our church pray that they would find a pastor soon. A couple of weeks later Grandma called again. Same conversation. Same response. Paul and I weren't really even "open" to the suggestion of coming to Floyd. We knew how "small" the church was. We certainly knew how "small" the town was, and most of all we knew how "small" the salary was. After all, we reasoned, God wanted us to be good parents to our children and provide for them the best that we could and Floyd just wasn't part of our plan. Another month went by and Grandma called again. This time there was great urgency in her voice.

"Dixie, I had a dream. It was from the Lord. I know it was. I saw this young man. He had blonde hair, and he was walking toward me. I asked the Lord, “Who is that man?” The Lord spoke told me, 'That's the next pastor of the Gospel Lighthouse Church.' Dixie, I couldn't get a real good look at his face but when he came closer I saw his blue eyes and saw that it was Paul. Dixie, Paul is to be the next pastor of the church here."

I rolled my eyes and thought how am I going to tell my grandma, whom I love with all my heart that we weren't coming to Floyd. Paul and I had absolutely NO DESIRE to starve too death. Eating was just too high a priority for us.

Grandma pleaded, "Dixie, will you promise me just ONE THING? Will you at least make it a matter of prayer?"

"We can do that.” I assured her. “But Grandma please don't get your hopes up. We have two babies now and you know the Bible says, (quoting the Bible seem to always help with Grandma) that if a we don't take care of our own we are worse than infidels."

The Wednesday night following that phone conversation Paul was preaching at our home church in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The Holy Spirit was so sweetly in the service. Suddenly these words rang in the depths of my soul, “You are going to be sent out.”

We went home and I didn't share with Paul what had happened. I took John and was rocking him to sleep. I had my Bible in one hand and held John with the other. My Bible fell open to Matthew 6:25-34.

Therefore I say unto you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin: and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the over, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

The words rang again in my soul, "You are going to be sent out. You are going to Floyd." I started to cry and said, "Lord, we can't go to Floyd. It's so......... so little...."

Jesus came again to my heart and let me know that the work would grow slowly. It would not be easy but He would add a family here and family there. He would take care of us. It was His will for our lives.

Suddenly, a song that I had learned in the Church of Oak Park began to well up in heart.

"Jesus, use me and oh Lord, don't refuse me.

For surely there's a work that I can do.

And even though it's humble

Lord, help my will to crumble.

Though the cost be great I'll work for Thee."

Something had been settled in my heart. I told the Lord that I would do whatever He wanted, but He better tell Paul Franklin. We were in this adventure together.

The next day Paul came home for lunch. We sat at our dining room table, each holding a little one in our arms. Paul said, "Honey, I need to tell you something."

I added, "Well, I have something to tell you, too. You go first."

He told me that he felt JESUS was asking our family to go to Floyd and serve the Gospel Lighthouse. I told him I felt the same "call."

We had a moving sale and packed up everything we owned. After a tearful goodbye to Paul's mama and daddy, we set out to Floyd, Iowa.

We arrived in August of 1981 on a Sunday afternoon. There to greet us at the parsonage of 901 Montgomery Street was my dear mother, Bonnie Holtz, and faithful Grandma & Grandpa Meyer. It was Grandma who said, "We better hurry and get washed up and get ready for the service tonight. We've got a new preacher!" There we were a "wee lot" and once again Grandma reassured us, "Where two or three are gathered in My Name -- there am I in the midst." That night we committed the future of the Gospel Lighthouse Church into the Lord's hands.

There have been so many miracles of God's provision along the way. God, in His wisdom sent us a wonderful support system through, Greg and Lucy Robbins, Richard and Vickie Peyton and Mike and Cindy Zelenak. They have been such faithful friends through the thick and the thin.

In 1983, the growing congregation added a 25' X 50' educational wing & basement. Then, in August of 1988 Lighthouse Academy opened its doors. A parsonage was purchased in August of 1989. The two-day, all-day Floyd Gospel Sing was started in September of 1995. A new 40' X 80' sanctuary was built & dedicated in May of 1999. In March of 2005 the congregation added a much-needed 25' X 40' narthex. At the present time Pastor Paul and the Board of Trustees are looking to the Lord about a West Wing. So, the journey continues......

When the move from Oak Park to rural Floyd was made by Grandma and Grandpa Meyer, it was told to us that the neighbors all gathered together. One of those neighbors gruffly spoke, “Why, our neighborhood will NEVER be the same if we let those Oak Parkers move out here!” At Grandma's funeral one of the neighbors that was there and heard that statement with tears in his eyes said, “They were right. Our neighborhood was never the same after Hazel and John moved out there. Hazel won our neighborhood to the Lord one neighbor at a time.”

A simple, unknown, uneducated lady made a difference in her neighborhood. JESUS loves little people....... He passed by Zachaeus. JESUS loves little towns..... HE was born in Bethlehem. JESUS loves little boys' lunches.... HE multiplies it and feeds the multitudes. JESUS loves to take small, little boys and uses them to defeat giants. You were so right, Grandma, LITTLE IS MUCH WHEN GOD IS IN IT!

The Phillips Kids (Rachel, John, Beka, Libby)