Tribute to Dr. Joe M. Boyd - My Hero!
Dr. Joe M. Boyd, Evangelist - Taken the May 2009 - just a week before he went to heaven.
Today, May 5, 2018 would be Dr. Joe Boyd's 101st birthday. Dr. Boyd, or "Brother Joe," as he is know to many, was my mentor and has been my hero since I the first time I met him in July of 1971 under a big tent set up at my home church, Troy Baptist Temple, in Troy, Ohio. Many people were saved that week. Many were baptized. Saints were encouraged and backsliders were reclaimed. Dr. Boyd took time to meet personally with my father, Carl Brandenburg, who was just getting starting in evangelism, to give him advice and help on the ministry of an evangelist. Our church was changed that week, my father's ministry as an evangelist was helped, and my life was forever altered. To me, Dr. Boyd was a real, live, hero! I remember him in his white three-piece suit and white patent leather shoes as he preached under the tent. I don't remember his message, as I was only 10 years old, but I do remember the man! I remember his passion. I remember that he pounded the pulpit and then as he picked up the pulpit and pounded on the platform with the pulpit! I remember leaning over to my dad and saying, "He's mad!" And he was! He was mad at the devil. He was mad at sin! From that moment on, Dr. Joe Boyd was, and is, the model of an evangelist for me.
This article is from the Troy Daily News, Troy, Ohio, Friday, July 16, 1971. I met Dr. Boyd that week.
As I grew older and grew in the faith I began serving the Lord. God began to stir in my heart as I worked with my dad in his Kid's Krusades (children's revivals/VBS). At the age of 14 I surrendered to preach the Gospel. I began preaching on my bus route while in high school, as well as during youth rallies. I was invited to preach my first revival meeting when I was 16.
During my first year in college I was invited to attend the "Joe Boyd Banquet" at Hyles-Anderson College. During that meeting I was introduced to the Joe Boyd Summer Seminars of Evangelism. These seminars provided an opportunity for young preachers to "go on the road" with Dr. Boyd and participate in his revival meetings. Every morning Dr. Boyd would teach us in the areas of ministry, evangelistic meetings, and soulwinning. Every afternoon we would go soulwinning. We then would get the church vans and buses and pick-up our converts and bring them to church. We would participate in the services. Some of us would conduct the children's meeting, others would conduct the teen services. We were learning, first hand, how to be an evangelist. We sat at the feet of a man who was totally committed to Christ and was passionate about winning sinners to Christ and helping local churches. I learned more by watching this man preach, pray and prepare (study) during that summer than all of the classroom time of the rest of my ministry training at college. This was raw. This was focused. This was practical. This was REAL!
In 1980, as newlyweds, my wife and I would have the privilege of living at the Camp and working for Dr. Boyd. We lived in the famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) lime green Superior motor home at the camp. Many years later we would return to the camp with our children. I was serving as an evangelist out of the camp and Rhonda worked as a secretary for Dr. Boyd. My children grew up around Dr. & Mrs. Boyd. They both became heroes to my children!
Dr. Boyd's famous "Yellow Tract" Thousands were saved as a result of this simple tract.
My view of the ministry, and the Christian life, was changed because of the influence of this sincere man of God. From him I learned to have a passion for souls, to organize my soulwinning, follow-up, and discipleship, to be detailed in my ministry planning, to be sincere in my prayer life, and to attempt big things for God. Truly, he was a giant for God. I miss him!
The following is an article I wrote in 1997 for the Mt. Salem Revival Grounds Leadership Conference
Dr. Joe M. Boyd
Missionary – Evangelist – Hero
Dr. Boyd was born on May 5, 1917 in Jacksonville, Texas. He was reared in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He was saved at the age of twelve.
Dr. Boyd has been outstanding in every area of endeavor that he has undertaken.
The first area of endeavor was that of sports. Dr. Boyd is a natural athlete. His accomplishments in the world of sports are legendary. As a youngster he joined a gang, a rough gang, just so that he could play football. (That made his preacher daddy REAL happy.)
Dr. Boyd excelled on the football field. In college he became an All-America tackle at Texas A&M. He played on the 1939 National Championship Team. He also played in the 1940 Sugar Bowl. His name is inscribed in the Texas A&M Hall of Fame.
He was a championship boxer at Texas A&M. He was a championship wrestler at Texas A&M. He was the first round draft pick of the Washington Redskins in the 1940 NFL Draft.
. . .But sports are not Dr. Boyd’s legacy.
The second area of endeavor was that of the business world. Dr. Boyd graduated from Texas A&M with a Bachelor of Science Degree. After graduation he went to the Todd Galveston Shipyard in Galveston, Texas. His position was that of Assistant Chief Accountant.
. . .But the business world does not possess Dr. Boyd’s legacy,
The third area of endeavor is that of the Revival Trail. At the age of 27 at the Hillcrest Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas Dr. Boyd surrendered to preach the Gospel.
In 1947 Dr. Boyd graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas with a Master of Theology degree. In 1976 he received an honorary Doctor of Divinity
degree from Hyles-Anderson College in Crown Point, Indiana.
While the world thought Joe Boyd’s large strong body was built for football,We Fundamentalists know that God built him for PREACHING.
(Who else could stay on the road after sinners for over 50 years?)
We know Dr. Boyd not as a FOOTBALL HERO,
But as FUNDAMENTALISM’S HERO.
We know him not as a FOOTBALL STAR,
But as a godly Christian pointing sinners to THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR.
We know him not as a GREAT BOXER,
But as a GOOD SOLDIER OF JESUS CHRIST WHO HAS FOUGHT A GOOD FIGHT.
We know him not as a GREAT WRESTLER in the ring,
But as one who WRESTLES NOT WITH FLESH AND BLOOD, BUT AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS.
Dr. Joe M. Boyd’s legacy is not in football trophies, but rather in countless TROPHIES OF GRACE — Sinners that he has won to Christ.
His legacy is the three churches he pastored.
His legacy is the churches he started.
His legacy is the over 3000 revivals he has held.
(More local church revivals than any man in history.)
His legacy is the Baptist Evangelistic Schools of Texas (B.E.S.T.) that he started.
His legacy is the six books he has authored.
His legacy is the Mt. Salem Revival Grounds in West Union, West Virginia.
His legacy is the countless Preacher Boys he has trained; the Randy Taylor’s, the Oliver Araiza’s, the Dennis Corle’s, the Gary Lovens’, the Jay Hubbard’s, the Doug Brandenburg’s and many more that we could not name.
Yes Dr. Joe Boyd is a hero,
THE HERO OF FUNDAMENTALISM.
Audio sermons by Dr. Joe Boyd may be found on our "Heroes of My Faith" page.