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The Life and Ministry of Billy and Shirley Cole: A True Story That Reads Like the Book of Acts
This small-town-USA couple was led of God to evangelize Thailand and all across the Orient. Eventually God led Billy and Shirley Cole into a global ministry of Holy Ghost rallies and crusades. Usually funny and often very touching, their true-life tales of drama will amuse and inspire, while their testimonies of miracles that God did along the way will amaze and empower.
256 pages, Paperback
First published July 23, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 11, 2023
This book is a quick read. It is not long, but I enjoy reading about heroes of faith. Bro Cole would come through our home church on occasion so I grew up influenced by his great ministry. It is nice to read their memoirs of how they loved each other well and supported each other at home and within the church. I enjoyed the nuggets of wisdom shared and the faith built reading of all the Lord did through their ministry.
July 8, 2017
I had been wanting to read this for about five years and was excited to finally do so, only to be let down a bit.
Although I truly appreciate the love, prayers, and persistence of faith that the Coles have given to many people through their love for Christ, I had a hard time with much of this book.
Shirley Cole had opened this book up with the upbringing she had, which was pretty brief. She had her heart set out on marrying Billy when she was a teenager, which she did marry him while still in her late teen years. She expresses some of the hardships they faced in making ends meet. This portion of the story was really good and I enjoyed it so much.
Billy Cole starts talking about how they didn't really receive a genuine call to go to Thailand as missionaries until Shirley explained a vision she had when she was nine that had come to her as they saw her vision before her now years later.
I really loved learning about the Coles' time in Thailand. It was pretty intense to learn of some of the miracles that they saw.
My problem with this book is more in line with the Pentecostal Assemblies of God way of being obsessed with the Holy Spirit. I was raised in this environment myself for the first portion of my life until going to a CMA church (the Coles were CMA missionaries but were Pentecostals). I know what all of that entails. It hurts my heart to think how much numbers matter to them, truly. They are so into crusades and having a lot of people being filled with the Holy Spirit, that my question is, "But who will teach them how to live afterwards? How will they grow now that you say that they were filled with the Holy Spirit?" Perhaps this is just the Anabaptist Mennonite that I am now crying out....because we are into building relationships with those we minister to and helping teach them so that their faith grows. Billy Cole was so into the numbers that he has the list of al the crusades and amounts of people who stated they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Also, I get bothered that people make it seem like you are only a true Christian IF you are able to speak in tongues, forgetting that the gifts of the Spirit spread out further than that. What about the Fruits of the Spirit? Shouldn't we be more concerned to distinguish our growth in how the Spirit works through us rather than His presence being put on us? I just really really had a hard time reading about all that.
Maybe my bad taste left in my mouth from my Pentecostal Assemblies of God church were clawing into my mind too much while reading this book. There were quite a lot of portions though that I did like in this book. I just feel like my waiting to read it for so long have been slightly wasted.
There are loads of photographs included in this book, in case you are interested in seeing those. I felt like there were far too many photos, but I did like seeing some of them.
Although I truly appreciate the love, prayers, and persistence of faith that the Coles have given to many people through their love for Christ, I had a hard time with much of this book.
Shirley Cole had opened this book up with the upbringing she had, which was pretty brief. She had her heart set out on marrying Billy when she was a teenager, which she did marry him while still in her late teen years. She expresses some of the hardships they faced in making ends meet. This portion of the story was really good and I enjoyed it so much.
Billy Cole starts talking about how they didn't really receive a genuine call to go to Thailand as missionaries until Shirley explained a vision she had when she was nine that had come to her as they saw her vision before her now years later.
I really loved learning about the Coles' time in Thailand. It was pretty intense to learn of some of the miracles that they saw.
My problem with this book is more in line with the Pentecostal Assemblies of God way of being obsessed with the Holy Spirit. I was raised in this environment myself for the first portion of my life until going to a CMA church (the Coles were CMA missionaries but were Pentecostals). I know what all of that entails. It hurts my heart to think how much numbers matter to them, truly. They are so into crusades and having a lot of people being filled with the Holy Spirit, that my question is, "But who will teach them how to live afterwards? How will they grow now that you say that they were filled with the Holy Spirit?" Perhaps this is just the Anabaptist Mennonite that I am now crying out....because we are into building relationships with those we minister to and helping teach them so that their faith grows. Billy Cole was so into the numbers that he has the list of al the crusades and amounts of people who stated they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Also, I get bothered that people make it seem like you are only a true Christian IF you are able to speak in tongues, forgetting that the gifts of the Spirit spread out further than that. What about the Fruits of the Spirit? Shouldn't we be more concerned to distinguish our growth in how the Spirit works through us rather than His presence being put on us? I just really really had a hard time reading about all that.
Maybe my bad taste left in my mouth from my Pentecostal Assemblies of God church were clawing into my mind too much while reading this book. There were quite a lot of portions though that I did like in this book. I just feel like my waiting to read it for so long have been slightly wasted.
There are loads of photographs included in this book, in case you are interested in seeing those. I felt like there were far too many photos, but I did like seeing some of them.
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October 28, 2017pienso que es un gran libro
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews