june 2012
CityLight.org 29
CityLight Coalition Inc.
The Embryo
By Joe Grimaud
on the Carolina Noonday show on WIS-TV,
where one day, I went home for lunch and
saw him. I was impressed with the wisdom
I heard coming from this, otherwise, street
looking character. The following day I ran
into this speaker at the Columbia Airport
while waiting for a plane to Salt Lake City
with my wife and son. I introduced myself
and this meeting resulted in Precision Tune,
Inc, sponsoring him as he toured the country
speaking in many schools. It also resulted in
Gladys and me getting involved in the inner
city school system in Washington, DC.
Or it might have started when Jimmy Jones
went through a devastating bankruptcy with
his business such that he came to the end of
himself and turned his life over to God as the
only answer to his life's problems. Jimmy had
heard God speak to him through a dream
about a city wide revival coming to Columbia
and that it was going to start through a hand
full of people down by the river.
Or it might have started when WMHK Radio
hired Linda White as the manager of Colum-
bia's Christian radio station. Linda needed a
keynote speaker for a celebration event for
WMHK's twentieth anniversary. She invited
Gladys and me to breakfast to see if we had any
suggestions on a special speaker for the event.
Or it might have started when Pete cannon
was called into ministry in the Presbyterian
Church, and later along with his wife, Pat,
became instrumental in a number of minis-
tries in Columbia. That interest led him to
contact me because he heard I was instru-
mental in getting Dr. Tony Evans as the key-
note speaker for the WMHK event.
Or it might have started in Baltimore with a
black dockworker named Evans. This man
received Christ and it changed his life. Not
only did it change his life but it also changed
the lives of the whole family, including his
young son, Tony.
Or it might have started in the Bahamas Is-
lands with a feisty young Bahamian boy named
Henry Cleare who grew up doing things his
praying Mama would not agree with. Prayer is
powerful and God got hold of this young man
and turned him into a feisty preacher.
And then again, maybe it started over 2,000
years ago on a hill called Calvary, where the Son
of God gave his life on a cross as a sacrifice for
the sins of all of the above, as well as mankind.
These diverse persons and elements began to
come together after I resigned the position of
President of Precision Tune, Inc., in Leesburg,
Virginia, and returned to my home in Chapin.
As soon as arrived back home my wife, Gladys,
received a call from Linda White inviting us to
breakfast. Every Sunday evening when we left
church and headed to Winnsboro Airport to
fly back to Virginia, we heard Dr. Tony Evans
preaching on WMHK and his message was
just what we felt our nation needed.
Gladys and I both agreed that Dr. Evans
would be the ideal speaker for Linda, but we
thought she should move the event to the
Carolina Coliseum instead of the Township
Auditorium. When Linda expressed concern
about being embarrassed in not having enough
attendance for the Coliseum, I impulsively re-
acted. "My vision for Dr. Tony Evans is the
Carolina Stadium, not the Coliseum! He's
that good!"
With that statement, the germination of a
regional revival in a stadium event started
taking shape.
Continued from page 4