"At once Andrew found his brother Simon and told him, 'We have found the Messiah.' Then he brought him to Jesus." John 1:41-42.

Alfred Aaron Brian told me the following story about soul winning and the man he won to the Lord.

Levi Clements lived in Levelland, Texas. He had a large family and was not a Christian. The Lord laid this man on Alfred Is heart. Alfred would go to see him and Levi would go out the back door and not return until after Alfred left. One day Alfred found out that he was out in a corn patch gathering roasting ears to can. Alfred caught him out in the cornfield. It was real hot. Alfred got Levi down on his knees and there they stayed talking to the Lord, taking a sweat bath for some time. Levi gave his heart to the Lord there. He came on and joined the First Baptist Church. His family also were saved and joined. A short time later, the Lord called Levi Clements to preach the Gospel. He was the pastor of churches in different parts of the high plains and some down under the caprock, before the Lord called him home. Alfred would say, "Levi was sure hard to win, but, Ted, there is nothing too hard for the Lord.

Walter Lee Brian -- 'It is difficult for me to say which is the most outstanding conversion during my ministry, as I have seen hundreds saved. The one that comes to my mind is Long John Burson, commonly called Long John of Silverton, Texas. Mr. Burson came to Silverton in the early days to ranch and to have the best ranch in West Texas, and that he did, with twenty-two sections of level land and the best cattle that I had ever seen. I was warned to stay away from Mr. Burson, as he wouldn't give me a very warm reception. As I had worked for several ranchers in New Mexico, I felt like that I could speak his language. I drove out one morning nine miles east of Silverton, mind you, I didn't leave until after 11 o'clock, the reason to eat a meal with him. No rancher ever turns a man away at mealtime. This is the law of the ranchers. We had the finest meal together. Our conversation during the meal was cattle. When I got ready to go I asked him about coming to church, and he gave me his promise to come and he did. One Sunday morning, Long John walked the aisle and accepted Christ. Crying, he turned to me and said, "I have a boy and a wife in this service, and they are lost. I want you to go and bring them to the Lord." I said, "Mr. Burson, the boy is your boy, you go and bring him to Jesus. " He went back to where they were standing and in just a few minutes both of them came forward, taking Christ as Lord. I will never forget three outstanding statements he made to me that night I baptized him.

1. "Preacher, I would give all my property that I have if someone had won me to the Lord when a junior boy.

2. "I am 79 years and 6 months old and don't have many more years to live, but I am going to do my best while I do live."

3. "Preacher, who gives the most in this church? " (I had to tell him I didn't know.) "Well, here is a check for $1,500.00 for the church." He didn't live too many months after this, but he was always at church, rain or sunshine. His favorite song was "Heavenly Sunshine" and he would always ask the song director to sing it. God called him home just a few days past his eightieth birthday, and the choir sang for the family and for Long John, one more time, "Heavenly Sunshine! "

William Preston (Ted) Brian -- I suppose I will have to say like Walter Lee Brian, I have seen so many people saved that it is hard for me to tell you the most outstanding. Will you read this about Joe Woodard? Joe was a junior boy about eleven years old. His father was the superintendent of the rice mill, some two miles south of Dos Palos, California. One of Joe's teachers, John Ray, a Christian, asked Joe where he went to church. Joe didn't know anything about church, as his folks had never taken the family. He gave him a Gideon New Testament, and made a date to come and get him and take him to Sunday school and the Church service. In some two or three months Joe accepted the Lord. On that Sunday afternoon, Mrs. Brian and I went out to the Woodard home to meet them and talk to them about Joe's profession of faith, and see if he could be baptized. Mr. Woodard was out at the mill shooting rats with a twenty-two rifle. When I told him who I was, he got angry and told me his boy couldn't be baptized, and for me to get myself off his property. In leaving, I shouted to him, "Don't stand in the way of your boy. He had several girls but only this one son. As I drove back to Dos Palos, I was talking to the Lord and saying, - "Please, Lord, Please don't let that man stand in the way of that boy."

About seven o'clock on Monday morning my doorbell rang and as I opened the door, there stood Mr. Woodard. I asked him to come in and be seated. He wouldn't sit down but continued to stand and twist his hat around with both hands all the time that he was there. He began the conversation by saying, "Preacher, I want my son baptized." I asked him why. This was his answer. "I suppose I saw a vision from the Lord last night and it scared me. I saw my boy playing baseball with some other boys and he chased the ball across the street. A car hit him and ran over him. I ran out in the street and grabbed him up in my arms and his blood ran all over my clothes and he died in my clasp. I awakened and was wet with cold sweat and trembling all over. I don't want to stand in the way of my boy."

I asked him if he would come and see his son baptized the next Lord's day. He promised and was there. I baptized the boy and he viewed this beautiful Bible ordinance; then he heard me preach and when the invitation was given, his intermediate girl, about 14, was saved. That gave me another opportunity of going into the home and talking to the mother about Dorothy being baptized. Mrs. Brian and I went and Mrs. Woodard trusted the Lord and wanted to be baptized that night with her daughter. I talked to Mr. Woodard and he promised me he would be in the services that night. He came and watched his wife and daughter buried with Christ in beautiful baptism. He really listened as I preached God's message that night and when the invitation was given he came and gave his heart to the Lord.

He waited some six months and would not be baptized into the church. He came to every service and even gave his tithe, but he would only shake his head when I would talk to him about being baptized. One Sunday morning he came and said that he was ready. After I baptized him on Sunday night I asked him why he had waited six months. "I suppose that you have heard people call me King Woodard, haven't you? You don't know why they call me that. I am the King of sinners. I would beat my wife when I would get drunk and slap my kids down. I could drink more liquor than any man living and stand up under it. I would drink with men, get them drunk,

and win all their money. Even this house in which I live, the money to buy it was won in a crap game. Preacher, since I have been saved, I have been reading my Bible, and found where Paul said that he was the "chief of sinners." I also was the chief of sinners. Now, why did I wait? I just wanted to be sure that God could save me and keep me saved. In the six months that I have waited I have found Him able to keep me, so when I proved this to myself I was ready. I just didn't want to start something and not go all the way. You know, Preacher, God is bigger than what I thought."

I was his pastor for some two or three years after this and saw him grow as a Christian and, bring several families who worked at the mill to the church and they would find the Lord. The last time I was in Dos Palos for a revival, I was asking about him and found out that he had moved back to Arkansas, his home state. Well, what about his walk with the Lord, I asked. The answer made me happy. "He is the Sunday school Superintendent in the little rural church where they live."

Dalton Delmont Brian says: The one, out of the many soul-winning experiences, happened while I was pastor of Fairview Baptist Church, Levelland, Texas. I had won Edison and Margaret May to the Lord and baptized them. Several months later our church was in a revival with my brother, William Preston Brian, pastor of First Baptist Church, Plains, Texas, as the evangelist. After a night service, as Edison and Margaret were having their devotional Bible reading and prayer, Margaret got under conviction for Edison's parents, Mr. and Mrs. May. Edison refused to go with her and she called my home, asking us to come over to the May, Sr.'s home. Margaret went on over to the home and got them out of bed and told them why she was there.

When my wife Joy and my brother arrived, they were seated in their chairs dressed in their night clothes. We received a poor and cold reception. My brother talked to Mr. May and I would talk to Mrs. May while the others prayed. This went on for some time, then I saw tears running down the face of Mr. May. This was the first indication of any response and I knew that the Holy Spirit was working. All at once Mr. May said out loud, "I can't be saved! I was saved when I was nineteen years of age." He re-dedicated his life to the Lord and Mrs. May accepted the Lord as her savior. Next morning in the morning service they both came for baptism. This was a great surprise for the whole church.

Men and women who read this, remember, Jesus said, "But who shall offend one of these little ones which believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." Matthew 18:6.

Dear Reader, this statement was so important that it is recorded in Mark 9:42 and Luke 17:2.