The story of Abilene Bible Church is essentially the story of a man and his ministry and the faithfulness of God in providing for and expanding that ministry. With that thought in mind, we begin our story with that man.
Arthur Joseph Temple was born on October 14, 1917, in East McKeesport, Pennsylvania, into a middle class family. His parents were hard-working people who struggled through the years of the Great Depression to provide for their family. The children, though taught to be honest and law-abiding, had no real spiritual emphasis in the home, and Joe Temple had not yet met the Lord.
When Joe was in his teens, he attended a revival meeting in a Methodist church in his home town. He went there with several other young men for the purpose of making light of the people there and their beliefs, but God had other ideas: He came under deep conviction of sin at that meeting, and he found himself at the front of the church in response to an invitation to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior. He left that church that night with a desire that has never waned--a desire to tell people about Christ, to tell them what the Bible says.
By what he believes to be divine intervention, Joe Temple was led to go to school at Bob Jones College in Cleveland, Tennessee (now Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina). He credits that institution with setting him right theologically and grounding him in the Word of God.
There he was taught another lesson which was to become the mainstay of his ministry, and that was to live by faith. Since he had no money, he had to trust God by faith to send the money to pay tuition and board, and during that time he made a covenant with God to live by faith. He made a decision never to let salary be the determining factor in his ministry, never to tell anyone what his needs were, and never to question how God met his needs. We emphasize this because the ministry of Abilene Bible Church from the very beginning was and still is a ministry of faith.
Joe Temple graduated from Bob Jones College in 1939 and began his work in evangelism and Bible conference work while waiting on the Lord to show him what his ministry was to be. It was this work in evangelism that brought him, at the invitation of evangelist T. Perry Brannon, to Sanco, Texas, in Coke County, for an old-fashioned cowboy camp meeting. People came from all around the area to hear the preaching. They camped in tents, cooked outdoors, and enjoyed fellowshipping together.
At that meeting, there were several people from Abilene, Texas, who were impressed with Joe's preaching, and they asked him to come to Abilene to preach. He told them that he was already committed to preach in Nashville, Tennessee, and would be unable to come to Abilene. However, once again the Lord intervened, and his meeting in Nashville was canceled, enabling him to accept the invitation to come with them to Abilene. | |
Abilene Bible Church
3125 Oldham Lane
Abilene, Texas 79602
325-677-8653
(at Loop 322 & Potosi Road Exit)
Sunday School 9:30 AM*
Worship Service 10:35 AM*
Children's Church 11:15 AM
Church Office Hours 9 AM
to 5 PM
*Nursery is provided for
these times.
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