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The Rev. Frank Logue
A Tale of Two Town’s This is a tale of two towns destined for eternity and that one that made it. Not a tale of two cities. Not only is that title taken, but these are town’s at best. And the stories I will tell are true. It is the story of what happened in Jacksonborough, Georgia in 1820 and in Pine Log, Georgia in August of 1886. First was Jacksonborough, which was north of present day Statesboro in Screven County. The book Statistics of the State of Georgia, described Jacksonborough as a place known for its hard drinking and hard fighting residents. The book says, “that in the morning after drunken frolics and fights you could see children picking up eyeballs with tea saucers.”
When the famed Methodist preacher showed up in Jacksonborough, the rowdies in the town were pretty sure they didn’t want his tea-totalin’ ways taking root in the town. The local Methodist Church offered Dow its pulpit for the night. While a crowd gathered at the church to hear Dow, a second crowd gathered at a whiskey store. Soon after Lorenzo Dow launched into his fire and brimstone sermon, a group stormed up to the church and broke up the meeting by pelting the preacher with rotten eggs. People left in fear of the fight that was sure to follow. The mob returned to the whiskey store to celebrate their victory. Though covered with the stink of rotten eggs, Dow was unbowed. The evangelist followed the angry mob back to the whiskey store where he took up a fireplace tool and broke open a barrel of whiskey, dumping its contents across the floor. Anger flashed through the crowd, whose next item of business was to find an appropriate tree from which to hang Dow. That’s when Seaborn Goodall broke in through the crowd. The Methodist church goer was a fellow Mason with many of the men in the angry mob and he persuaded them to hand Dow over for the night. Goodall promised that he would see that Dow left in the morning, if the mob would leave him alone. The rowdies stayed up drinking through the night. By morning the unappeased and well pickled mob gathered at the Goodall home with a supply of eggs and tomatoes. Dow walked out of town in a barrage of produce. When Lorenzo Dow got to the edge of town at the Beaver Dam Creek Bridge, he stopped. Taking the words of this morning’s Gospel quite literally, the preacher took of his shoes and shook the dust of Jacksonborough from his feet. The mob listened as Crazy Dow cursed all of Jacksonborough save the Seaborn Goodall home where he had been offered peace. The men of the mob had a good hard laugh at the evangelist.
The second town is Pine Log, Georgia where in August of 1886, the Reverend J.N. Sullivan preached a revival during a sweltering week-long series of meetings. He preached fervently, but the congregation just did respond. The people there that last day later remembered well how the preacher fell to his knees and prayed, “Lord, if it takes it to move the hearts of these people, shake the ground on which this old building stands.” The words were barely out of his mouth—I did tell y’all these two stories are true, right. Anyway, Sullivan had barely finished his prayer when the building shook so forcefully that all inside felt it. The congregation remembers seeing the preacher’s water pitcher and glass of water shake on the pulpit.
So now we have the twin tales. Two Georgia heard the fervent preaching of Methodist ministers. One was moved to run the preacher out of town, the second was moved to lasting conversion. What was the difference? It could have been the preachers. But we are told that Dow was a persuasive evangelist who preached to crowds as large as 5,000 and had a thriving ministry. The second minister by his own admission could not affect the crowd until the Earth shook beneath their seats. But one is left with the impression that an earthquake in Jacksonborough would have had the populace packing the pubs before they packed the pews. So maybe the difference was in the people themselves. One answer many Christians have given through history, especially those within the tradition of Reformer John Calvin, is that some persons are destined for heaven and some persons are destined for hell and there is nothing any preacher can do to change that eternal destiny. Where do they get an idea like that? You may ask. Why from this morning’s reading from Ephesians and some similar passages in the New Testament. After all, Paul wrote, He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will…that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. He chose us, we didn’t choose him. It was our destiny before the foundation of the world. That’s what the text says. Some read the text and decide that that means that everyone is destined to end up in heaven. Known as universalism, this is a lovely idea, but doesn’t fit with Jesus own teaching about judgment. An alternative is that doctrine known as double predestination—as some are destined for heaven and some for hell. I can tell you that these two doctrines—universalism and double predestination—leave a lot to be desired from a preacher’s perspective. If universalism is true, then all y’all are just fine right like you are and I probably ought to just leave you alone. And if double predestination is true then you are either on the team or not and nothing I do will either get you into heaven or push you off toward hell. Either way, it’s a waste of sermon preparation time as your destiny is fixed. In Matthew 7:24, Jesus said, “Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.” And in Matthew 10:32, “If anyone acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will openly acknowledge that person before my Father in heaven.” In Mark 3:35, Jesus says, “For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.” Then in Luke 12:8, Jesus said, “And I assure you of this: If anyone acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I, the Son of Man, will openly acknowledge that person in the presence of God's angels.” Jesus said in John 10:9, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” And finally, in John 3:16, Jesus does not say, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that those who were predestined to believe in him will have eternal life.” No, that famous verse says “whoever” or in the storied words of the Kings James Version, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” I believe that means that whosoever will may come, and anyone who comes to him in faith, Jesus will welcome with open arms. Despite the words about “the elect” and “predestination” I find in scripture, I know that the consistent witness of God’s word is that God wills all be reconciled. You were destined to be adopted as God’s child. Likewise the people of Pine Long, Georgia who gathered that last day of August in 1886 for revival were destined to be adopted as God’s children. And so the rough and rowdy folks of Jacksonborough who ran Lorenzo Dow out of town were also destined to be adopted as God’s children. This is not a universalist sermon. The clear witness of sermon is also that Sin is very real and our sins separate us from God. We are the ones who do the separating. And so, I believe that the people of Jacksonborough had a choice and some of them never made the choice toward God. So the question is not your destiny. Jesus wants you to be one with his Father by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is God’s will, God’s desire, God’s own heart. We know this not from a verse taken here or there, but from the consistent theme of love woven through scripture from the “In the beginning” which starts the book of Genesis to the “amen” which is the last word of the last verse of Revelation. This is why our reading for this morning can say, “He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.” In the beginning God loves you, at the last amen God loves you. In between God gives you a choice. And what God wants is for you is for you to choose to live into your eternal destiny to be adopted as his son or daughter. This happens in a moment when you give your life to God by praying that Jesus will come into your heart and become the Lord of your life. And if you haven’t given your life to God, then there is no place like this place and no time no time like the present for that prayer. But notice how for those of us who have given our lives to God, the challenge is not a one time one, but an ongoing call to live to become increasingly holy and more and more blameless before him in love. This is your destiny. Amen.
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In 1820, an itinerant Methodist preacher
Lorenzo Dow wandered into town using his chosen method of evangelism which was
to go into a town, hand out handbills, gather a crowd and preach. Dow usually
stayed no more than a night or two in a town before moving on. The 43-year old
was an odd character who already was such a well-known evagleist that he had
preached to the Georgia General Assembly at their request. Dow was tall and
slightly humpbacked with long hair and a beard. He often referred to himself
as “Crazy Dow.” 
Jacksonborough was a thriving county seat
town that wasn’t going anywhere. However, it was Dow who got the last laugh.
Within a generation, Jacksonborough was no more. The rough and rowdy town got
such a bad reputation that the county seat was moved to Sylvania. Within 30
years of Dow’s visit, the only home left standing in Jacksonborough, Georgia
was the Goodall home. Victoria, Griffin, and I have seen the house for
ourselves. The white clapboard house sits alone on a dirt road. The ruined
foundations of Jacksonborough dot the woods around Seaborn Goodall’s house to
this day. 
The
reaction was immediate, intense and sustained. The congregation rushed to the
altar to pray. A few fanned out to spread the word and others from nearby
homes joined those already in the church. The worshippers prayed through the
night. The next day, news reached Pine Log of a major earthquake in
Charleston, South Carolina. It was shock waves from that earthquake that shook
Pine Log Methodist. But knowing the cause did not shake the faith of those
awakened by the revival. The church remained filled with religious fervor.
Attendance and contributions gained and stayed up, camp meetings resumed and a
new, larger church was built, which Victoria, Griffin and I have visited. The
zeal reawakened by the earthquake remained strong.
