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            Cleon Lyles preached at 6th and Izzard twenty-three years.

            John Gibson has been there thirty years.

            How?

            “The elders were committed.  ‘We want you to come for the rest of your life.’  They supported that.”

            After two or three years, two men took the associate preacher, Larry Roberts, to lunch.  They said, “We don’t like John’s preaching.  We like you.  Stick with us and you will be our preacher.”

            Larry Roberts:  “You have two choices — you can tell John and the elders what you just told me or I will tell him.”

            They went (Larry and one of the men) to tell John of their conversation (“A most unusual conversation” - John Gibson).

            They told the elders.  The elders called each man in.  “John is our preacher.  If you can’t support him, you may want to go somewhere else.”

            They called the associate in and gave him a check for $1,000.00. - John Gibson

Preachers’ Forum, Centerville, Tennessee, 4-27-98