Herb Paynter

Herb Paynter was one of the most faithful and honorable men I have ever known.

And one of the most important things he ever did was to be my precious wife Kathy's Dad.  You can read a previous blog entry about how I first met Herb HERE.

Herb immediately impressed me as a man who cared about others more than himself.  I had never had that trait in my life.  Everything had always been about me and what I wanted.  I saw in Herb something radically different and it had a profound influence on me.

I really liked Herb from the beginning because he was a true entrepreneur. He thought of things and then tried to make them a reality.  Didn't matter if the idea was virtually impossible.  Herb would give it his best shot.

He was a carpenter and a painter.  Actually very good at both.  I knew nothing about either but Herb patiently taught me those trades and we later spent hundreds of hours working together on various jobs to put food on our tables.  I had a blast.

I had never seen a happy marriage or a loving family. Until Herb and Doris allowed me into theirs.  I still don't get how they had the guts to accept me.  I was really rough and not just around the edges.  Herb and Doris taught me that you could have a great marriage and a lot about how to do just that.

Herb never had much materially and he taught me what really mattered in life.  He "showed" me how to love my wife as Christ loved the church.  His actions were so loud he didn't have to say much.

When Herb came up with the idea for a ministry called Tel-Evangelism in the early 1960s, he ran with it.  It was way before voice mail and he thought that if you had a clear and short recorded presentation of the Gospel that people could call on the phone, lots of people could hear about Christ. He also thought that there could be a phone number given at the end of the recording for people to call and talk personally to someone about what they had heard.

The idea was genius.  Anyone who was not interested did not get to the end of the message so only those who listened to the entire Gospel presentation even knew about the live person who they could talk. Over the years that Herb and Doris headed up this ministry, literally thousands of people around the world accepted Christ as their savior. I was blessed to be a part of this ministry.

Herb loved dogs.  Cats, not so much. He and Doris had a little Beagle they named "Snooper." Snooper would wait until they opened the door a couple inches and gave it her all to get out and run wild rolling in unmentionable things.  Many a time I watched Herb running down the street after Snooper yelling "Put you head down! Put you head down!".... She rarely did :-)

Herb loved all our dogs and they sure loved him.  Ruffy (the best dog to have ever lived) would sneak out of our back yard, run down our street about 7 houses, make a left, run down that street 6 houses and scratch on Herb & Doris' door. The phone would ring and Herb would say "We have Ruffy". Ruffy knew how good he'd have at at Herb's.

Even our bizzare and nutso dog KC won Herb over.  KC actually bit Herb a couple of times.  Once KC grabbed Herb's pants and ripped them while snarling.  Herb's response was always the same.... "Aww, he didn't really mean it."

I remember when Herb was in failing health, he was at a reunion in 2002 we put on for those who were involved in the church and youth ministry he was a part of in the 50s and 60s.  Herb was a fabulous song leader and loved to do it. So, when he had the chance to lead these people, who he loved, once again, he jumped at the chance.  When he was done he lost strength rapidly and our friend Lee Stanford noticed that and wheeled him out of the room.

We put him on a couch in the lobby while we called for an ambulance.  We turned around when we heard singing and over 100 people had come out, surrounding Herb, and were singing to him.  What a precious scene that was.

Not long after that we had to come to grips with the fact that God was calling Herb home. He was getting weaker but never lost his desire to see people come to Christ and to teach others how to share the Gospel.  We actually had over 25 people in Herb's hospital room at one time!!

Herb's grandson Ken was in a singing group and the group made a special trip to the hospital to sing for Herb.  Herb was almost in heaven.  What a super treat for him and we'll forever be grateful for these young men who gave of their time and talent to honor one who had served Christ for most of his life.

Go here to see the guys sing to Herb in his hospital room:
Hospital Singing

I sure do miss you Herb. See you real soon.
The Buzzard

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