There was no national or local celebration during the last weekend of October 2023, but for me, it was life-changing.

It’s been sixty years, but I still remember it like it was yesterday. I had just graduated from high school, having put all my efforts into basketball and baseball and very little in academics. At the end of the summer, I went to summer church camp at Lake Murry Oklahoma with the hopes of doing my post-graduate work in “girls.” To my shock and disappointment, I was told I could no longer be a regular camper but had to be a counselor for a group of boys whose ages were around ten. Despite my lack of genuine spirituality, God allowed me to lead four or five of them to Christ that week. I didn’t hear any audible voice from God, but I got a clear impression from the Lord, “Jerry, if I had all your life, we could be doing this for the rest of your life.” 

JERRY, IF I HAD ALL YOUR LIFE, WE COULD BE DOING THIS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.” 

Almost as soon as camp was over, I headed off to North Texas State University trying to put that camp week in my rearview mirror. During my short time at North Texas, I tried to live differently to see if I could silence the voice I had heard during the summer. Eventually, I was even somewhat open to whatever God wanted from me, but I made a big mistake. I wanted to know God’s will, so I could decide if I wanted to do it or not. Do you know what happened? Nothing! God didn’t let me in on what He wanted while I had that kind of attitude. 

In the meanwhile, I was doing horribly in college. I had negotiated a passing grade from my high school algebra teacher, Mrs. Grubbs, which had allowed me to graduate. Boy did that show up quickly. On my first college algebra test I made a minus 10. I found out you could do that by getting one problem correct but putting your name on the paper incorrectly. After that test, I quickly dropped college algebra. I knew something big-time bad was going on, but I never mentioned it to a single person. I was playing it like most eighteen-year-olds do – being cool, man, cool [and stupid, man, stupid]. 

That same fall was also marked as the most radical three days of my life, Oct. 25-27, 1963. It was a Friday night, and my old high school was playing a football game against one of our big rivals. It was the Lake Worth Bullfrogs [you have to be tough to be a “bullfrog”] versus the Azle Hornets. At the game, an old girlfriend, Judy, was the majorette for the Azle High School band. We had dated for a couple of years but hadn’t seen each other for months. I asked her for a date on Saturday and she accepted.

Saturday night came and we drove to the Corral Drive-In, in Lake Worth, Texas, an outdoor movie theater. Within just a few minutes we were catching up on what each of us was doing and out of nowhere I spilled my guts to my old girlfriend! I was as surprised as anyone, but that night I came to the place in my heart where I said, “God, the war is over. I surrender. Whatever you want me to do for the rest of my life, I’ll do it.” I told the young lady I knew my college experience had crashed and burned because I had refused to surrender myself to God and that He wanted me to be…a preacher. Really! I had never used the “p” word to anyone before. Here is some good advice for any young guys who may be reading this blot. If you want to mess up a good date have an eighteen-year-old Baptist boy tell a Methodist girl he is going to be a preacher! 

…THAT NIGHT I CAME TO THE PLACE IN MY HEART WHERE I SAID, “GOD, THE WAR IS OVER. I SURRENDER. WHATEVER YOU WANT ME TO DO FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE, I’LL DO IT.”

We immediately left the drive-in to tell my dad and mom what I had just done. I was sure they would want to know. My dad was a Baptist pastor, and it must have been around nine o’clock. They were in their pajamas having prepared themselves early that night for Sunday, as they always did. I knocked on my dad and mom’s bedroom door and said, “I’m here with Judy. We have something we want to tell you.” Boy, were they ever relieved I was just surrendering my life to God and had not made some kind of bone-headed youthful mistake! I drove my old girlfriend home, totally stunned and not sure what had actually happened. The next morning I got up, went to Sunday School and church and when the invitation was given at the end of the service, around 12 o’clock I stepped a and told everyone at the church that morning that I had surrendered myself to God and that I was going to be a preacher. 

That afternoon I drove back to Denton in my slick 1951 Chevy, walked into Quad II, Room 223, and told all the guys on my floor that I was going to be a preacher. The news was greeted by some with a few laughs of unbelief and stunned silence by others. That all happened when I was 18-years-young. 

It’s been sixty years since that night I said an irrevocable “yes” to Jesus Christ. Jesus marked my life that night. I was His because He had paid my debt at first. But, I became His that night because of love—His love for me and my love for Him. In some ways, it cost me everything. I had big plans to be an architect. Remember, I’m the guy who couldn’t pass college freshman algebra. My plans were all about me but God had bigger and better plans. The final irony to this event is that I had the privilege to pastor for 33 years the very church where I made known that I had surrendered my life to Christ. That evening of surrender has given me everything – my joy, my ministry, my wife, my children, my friends, my ministry. My life, when it has been right, has no longer been about me, but it’s been all about Jesus Christ.

I WAS HIS BECAUSE HE HAD PAID MY DEBT AT FIRST. BUT, I BECAME HIS THAT NIGHT BECAUSE OF LOVE—HIS LOVE FOR ME AND MY LOVE FOR HIM

Dr. Jerry D. Locke