Stephen L. Cloud
THE STEPHEN L. CLOUD STORY
THE BEGINNING
I was born November 15, 1915, in Revere, Pennsylvania. My mother was Emma Amenda Deihl and my father was Stephen Cloud. Dad had three daughters by his first wife,and my mother had three sons by a first marriage. Two of my mother’s sons died as infants but the third son, Warren Hinkle, lived to be 93. Emma and Stephen had 5 sons and two daughters. George and Frank died as infants; but Mary Emma, William, Edwin, Stella, and Stephen all enjoyed along life.
We lived on a seven horse farm. All the children began to work on the farm at a very young age having daily chores to do. We had to gather wood chips for the stove, gather the eggs, and feed the chickens, in addition to all the other animals. We did all of the milking as well as the cleaning the stalls. We were up early, to bed late, and always grateful for meal times. Dad was active in his trade as a carpenter. Every season there were different jobs to be done, such as hay to gather in the barns, the cutting of corn for the cows, and the thrashing of wheat and barley. We had to also cut the silage to fill the silo.
We went to a two room school with grades one through eight in one room and nine through twelve in another. We walked about 2 1/2 miles to school after milking the cows.Mother sold to the creamery every day. We lived in a nice three story house which Stella, Mary Emma, and I were able to visit a few years ago. A nice family who was living there let us go through the house which brought back many memories.
FIRST TRIP TO FLORIDA
In 1922, during the Florida boom, Dad sold the newer farm equipment and the animals and so we could move to Florida. My older brother Bill, who had never driven before this, drove a one ton enclosed panel truck. Stella rode with Warren, his wife Florence and daughter, Edna, in a pick up truck. Many main roads were unpaved. There were only clay roads through much of the Carolinas and Georgia. Paved roads were made of brick, usually one lane, and sometimes there were just planks across the streams. We camped out at night.
We finally stopped in Tampa, Florida, at Edgewood Tourist Camp, where we stayed quite a while living in a tent. Dad got a job building a house, and I worked with him. Bill and Ed worked with Western Union delivering telegrams. We almost lost Mary Emma with pneumonia when she was about 15 years old. Dad bought land in Seffner, Florida, where we lived in the tent which was used over a wood floor. There we started going to school. Dad left and bought property in the Grant Park section of Tampa to build a two story house for us. When I was about 12 years old Dad went to the store and never came back. We didn’t know where he was. I got a job digging graves; Mary Emma worked at HavATampa Cigar Co., and Stella at a canning factory. I quit school in the 4th grade to make a living. When I was about 13 years old, Mother, Mary Emma, Stella, and I went to PA. for a year. Bill and Ed had already moved back to Pennsylvania which is where Dad had also gone. Our home and farm had been sold for taxes for just $1500.00. Dad was allowed to live there in one room while he worked at his trade. I worked with him and some times with the highway department. My mother's son, Warren, had also moved back to Pennsylvania with his family, and we stayed with them. When we came back to Tampa, I was about 14. I got a job with the Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store as delivery and stock boy. At about 15, I was made manager of the produce department and cashier. When they opened a new store, they sent me there as cashier because I was fast.
A.P. Gathey was holding a revival in Tampa Gospel Center in April of 1932. I attended this church and worked with the young people. God showed me that I was not saved through Matthew 22:37, 38, “Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment". I gave my life to the Lord during that revival service.
After that revival the head man from Miami came by the store where I worked. He took God’s name in vain, and I said, “Mr. Marshall, you said something that hurt me. You took God’s name in vain and I love Him". He replied, “I’m sorry, son. I’ll try not to do it again in your presence." From then on when he came to Tampa, he would talk with me and spoke to the local manager on my behalf.
One day the supervisor asked me how old I was, and I told him, “About 18," although I was 17. He said, “Can’t you say 21 just as well". He gave me the keys to a new store at Nebraska and Buffalo Avenue and said, “Go stock the store and become manager." I had been working a long time and looked older than I was but only had a 4th grade education. I was later transferred to St. Petersburg to a store that was not doing well. I began putting gospel tracts in the grocery bags and the business grew. I found out, after I resigned and went to Bible school, that a lady at a Baptist church encouraged people to trade with us because of the tracts.
GOD’S CALL
During a service at our church, I talked to a young man about becoming a Christian. I walked the aisle, and knelt with him at the altar. God began to deal with me about becoming a minister. The pastor recognized my conviction and had the associate pastor, Ralph Keene, take me to his office. The pastor talked with me after the service. I surrendered to God’s call, resigned my job in the fall, and went to Florida Bible Institute. I gave my furniture to my sister, Stella, who had married Loren Jones. They were taking care of my mother. I worked my way through three years of Bible school washing dishes, firing the furnace, and any other odd jobs I could find. I was busy on week ends as a Sunday school teacher, working with young people on Sunday nights, and head of the County Christian Endeavor. I still attended and worked at Tampa Gospel Center.
I entered Bible School very ill prepared, but the Lord blessed me with some great teachers and students who helped me. Dr. W.T. Watson, the president of the school, had a big tabernacle in St. Petersburg, and Dr. A.A. Smith had one in Tampa. Together they reached many people for the Lord. The Bible school greatly benefited from the outstanding world speakers who came to the tabernacle. The speaker would come to the Bible school to speak for a week at a time. They truly enriched our lives. After three years and graduation, I went to Bob Jones College.
BOB JONES COLLEGE
I went to Bob Jones College strictly on faith. I had only a few dollars in my pocket, and holes in my shoes! The Lord sent money a little at a time as I waited on tables to help pay my way. One time I was told to leave school in order to get more money. As I started to my room, I was told a man was looking for me. He was from the Presbyterian Church where I had preached a few weeks before. He said they had just discovered they had not paid me, and he handed me a check. I praised the Lord and went back to the office to pay my bill. When I left, I was debt free. After graduating I started my evangelism career.
Bob Jones College is where I met Corinne Bynum. After a couple of years, we were convinced that the Lord meant us for each other. We were married at her brother’s church in Montgomery, Alabama, on April 16, 1939. I had been in full time evangelism for a year. We continued the evangelistic work the first year of our marriage.
MENLO, GEORGIA and PLEASANT GROVE
In the spring of 1940, the Baptist church in Menlo, GA. called me as their pastor. Menlo, 50 miles south of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was in a rural area. It was a half time church, with Pleasant Grove one Sunday and Menlo the next. The trial sermon was on a very cold Easter morning that was white with snow. After we began our ministry there, Corinne taught Bible in the 5 county high schools, one each day of the week. I went to the elementary schools and used flannel graphs to teach the Bible stories. I also had an article published every week in the county paper. Pleasant Grove church was nearly 100 years old and had never had a midweek service. We started one on Thursday nights with 35 people, and it grew to 75 in regular attendance. It was a wonderful country church with really great people.
WEST ANNISTON BAPTIST CHURCH
West Anniston Baptist Church in Anniston, Alabama called us in 1941. The church had had 9 preachers in 11 years. It was a disturbed church, but the Lord blessed it, and it grew. After 18 months, a small group brought in a number of inactive church members that we had never seen. At the close of the service, a conference was called, and they tried to vote us out. Not one of the people they had brought in stood, and only a very few men with their wives stood to their feet to vote. The wives said the only reason they stood was that they would be in trouble with their husbands when they got home if they didn't stand. The next Sunday, the chairman of deacons and Sunday school Superintendent recommended all deacons be dismissed from all jobs and for the church to seek qualified deacons. All voted for it except the same few deacons who had stood before. It was soon discovered that the disgruntled deacons were each living in sin. After we left, the next preacher stayed 11 or 12 years.
FAIRFIELD HIGHLAND – BIRMINGHAM
We moved to Birmingham when Charlotte, born November 1943, was 5 weeks old. We were in World War II, and it was difficult to get gas and tires for the car. We had to have war ration stamps to buy such things as shoes, groceries, and clothes. Their pastor had gone to the war as a Chaplain. When our troops landed on Normandy all people were urged to go to their churches and pray at 2 AM. It was a very difficult time for our country.
SOUTHERN SEMINARY - LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
When Charlotte was almost 2 years old we went to Southern Seminary. It was just after the war and a very difficult time to find a place to live. The first year we stored our furniture, as we lived in one room, sharing the kitchen and bathroom with another family. There were many students seeking churches. Just as our money gave out, we received a check from Fairfield Highland Church. It held us over until the Lord opened a good county church about 35 miles away. It was Mount Vernon Baptist in Shelby County. We thoroughly enjoyed our ministry there. Because of the three years of Bible school, I finished seminary in 2 years. Stephen McCoy was born 3 weeks before I graduated from seminary.
GRADUATION – FLOMATON, ALABAMA Dec. 1948
We moved to Flomaton, Alabama in December of 1947. We started a daily radio broadcast with a theme song, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus". We did a lot of visiting as we built a pastorium and a church. We made many dear friends, and still keep in touch with two families.
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
Four years later we went to Corpus Christi, Texas for a revival. Before I left another church called me as pastor. We did not want to move to Texas, but did want the Lord’s will. After much prayer and waiting on the Lord, we finally accepted the call six weeks later to Gardendale Baptist Church. The first week we were there Corinne killed a black widow spider in the house, there was a small rattle snake in the drive way, and we had a hurricane. (Thank the Lord, not a major one.) Corpus Christi is a beautiful city on the Gulf of Mexico. We started our first Christian day school, and did a lot of work renovating the old education building as well as making plans to start on a new education building.
SAN BENITO, TEXAS
We were then called to First Baptist Church of San Benito, 17 miles north of Brownsville, Texas, on the boarder of Mexico. Our new home had a small bricked in area built for a dog, Son, Steve, thought he now had a place for the horse he had always wanted. The lower Rio Grande Valley was a prosperous farming area for cotton, with many kinds of crops and orchards. I preached every morning on the radio. The Lord blessed the work. Five Mexican missions were started, along with two other missions. Our Sunday morning service was broadcast on the radio every week. We also started a Christian Day School which went thru the 4th grade.
LAKELAND, FLORIDA, CENTRAL AVE. BAPTIST CHURCH
In 1956 our next move was to Central Avenue Baptist Church in Lakeland, Florida. We had to wait about 3 months for our furniture to get there because they were remodeling the pastorium. The work took off in a good way. Publix Grocery was a young company and many of their workers were in the church. We had to make more space for Sunday school and did a lot of renovating and redecorating. A new organ had just been installed when our church caught fire. My mother had recently gone to be with the Lord, and we were visiting in Tampa to comfort Mary Emma with whom she had lived for many years. No doubt that kept me from harm as the church and my entire library burned. I would have probably tried to save my books if at all possible. The church met under a tent and had Sunday classes in buses while another building was being built. I had drawn the plans for the new building. The Lord blessed and the work continued to grow. We had really enjoyed our years in Lakeland. Charlotte and Steve had very special friends who lived out in the county, so they were not at all happy with a move to Tampa. Son Steve’s heart’s desire for most of his life was to have a horse. The Lord met this desire before we left Lakeland.
TAMPA, FLORIDA NORTHGATE BAPTIST CHURCH
When Charlotte was a junior in high school, a new church in Tampa called me as pastor. They had just recently changed from a mission to a full time church. Again there was much building to be done for an auditorium and education space was needed. I drew the plans and a pastor friend got his contractor to approve the plans. We drew up the bonds and sold them, saving the church much money. From Tampa, both Charlotte and Steve went to college, where they met their mates.
FIRST CHURCH BELLE GLADE
After eight years in Tampa a search committee from First Baptist Church, Belle Glade, Florida asked me to come preach for them. The Southern Baptist Convention was meeting in Miami, so on the way I stopped there and preached. For the first time in the history of the church they gave us a unanimous call. After being there for about a year we started another Christian Day School. Later we added the upper grades and soon we had 600 students with 12 grades using all degreed teachers. We enjoyed our time in Belle Glade immensely. We had a daily radio program, plus the Sunday broadcast. We sponsored a Spanish mission and worked with the many Jamaicans who came to cut sugar cane. The Glades was the largest winter vegetable garden in America for the soil was all black muck. Many truck loads of produce went out every day. We served there eight years before we went back to Tampa.
NEW ORLEANS BAPTIST CHURCH
We came to New Orleans Baptist Church in 1975. The pastor before had served the church for 37 years. Although he said he was leaving Tampa to go out west to start a new mission church, he never moved his office out of the church. I was their preacher but not their pastor for two years. I went back to the Palm Beach area for 2 1/2 years before I retired from the active pastorate.
INTERIM AND BEYOND
We came back to Tampa and stayed very busy and happy doing interim work. I also taught at Trinity College for three years. Teaching and the interim work together was too heavy, so I resigned from teaching. The twenty years spent in Tampa with family and friends was rewarding and very fulfilling.
We enlarged Mary Emma and Fred’s house, living happily together at their request. I made an apartment for Mildred, Corinne’s sister, when she moved to Tampa. She was with us for 8 years before we three moved to South Carolina. We did not move until after Fred and Mary Emma went home to be with the Lord. For many years I kept up 10 lots belonging to us and a neighbor. We had a lot of citrus and papaya trees along with blackberry bushes, pineapples,
and bananas.
THE LAST MOVE
God has blessed us beyond measure. We praised the Lord for His blessings in selling the house and property in Tampa as we prepared to move to West Columbia, SC. This move has been a wonderful blessing. We’ve never been with a more loving church family and being close to our son and daughter has been wonderful.
It has been a marvelous journey from beginning to end. When God calls and you, in obedience, answer His divine call, you never know what your assignment will be or where it will lead you. God always gives the strength and the ability when we are willing to let Him lead, asking that His will be done. You do not choose your assignment. God has many different jobs for all who will let Him lead them. There are many kinds of churches and people with many different personalities. God does the choosing, and we just make ourselves available, saying, “Here I am. Send me, Lord". I started out as an evangelist and helped start missions. I very much wanted to see people come to know the Lord and to grow in the knowledge of the Word of God. I felt the Lord leading me into the pastorate, and I was best known as a pastor- evangelist. Often the Lord seemed to use Corinne and I in churches that needed help. I didn’t stay long at any church, but each church was stronger and more organized, with a greater desire for missions, when I moved to another church. Eight years was my longest time at any one church. We are so grateful to God and His faithfulness as we have trusted Him to guide and direct our lives. My 20 years of interim work was tremendously rewarding and fulfilling. It has been a wonderful journey, and I have enjoyed working in God’s vineyard for these 70 plus years.
On March 29, 2004, I had conducted a graveside funeral service on a rainy day. I had been diagnosis with pulmonary fibrosis for about ten years, but had not experienced its ill effects. For several months prior to that March date, I had used oxygen at night due to the shortness of breath. (Pulmonary fibrosis is the inflammation and stiffening of the lung tissue. The reason is not known and there is no cure,) On April 1, 2004, I had to go back to the doctor to be put on oxygen 24 hours a day. These days with Corinne, my precious soul-mate, have been some of the sweetest in our life together. We never take a day for granted and are so grateful to God for giving us this time. Most every day there are people who come in to share their love with us as well as what ever fruit or vegetable might be in season. The health care personnel have been wonderful, and we have daily been grateful for their care. Our children and grandchildren have been loving and a constant source of support. Each day we have the opportunity to trust Jesus for His all sufficient grace and strength as we depend on His wisdom and protection. He is our faithful God who is Sovereign and is Love. It is wonderful to be able to trust Him with our days knowing He does all things well. He has a purpose and a plan to use the “all things" that He allows for our good and His glory as He conforms us to His image. (Romans 8:28-29) It is our desire for Him to have His perfect will and way in our lives and for us to finish well!!
LOOKING FORWARD
This world is not our “home". We are only here for a very brief time when we consider all of Eternity. Only what is done for Christ is all that will last, so it is important to consider where we are making our investment. God’s love for us is unconditional. When He comes into our life, He comes to stay, promising to never leave us. As all powerful as our God is, He only has as much of our life as we choose to give Him. His desire for us is to walk in a total dependence on Him with a humble heart and a grateful spirit. Every day life is about the choices we make, knowing these choices will determine our tomorrows. God is the Great Giver, but we must choose to be good receivers. I pray each of us will daily choose to let Jesus be the Lord of our lives so we can consistently experience His Love, Joy, and Peace, As we live in the Light of His Word and walk in the Liberty of His Spirit, we will know the fullness of His Life!
