What can God do when you are willing to put your faith to work and see his hand move in your life? Starting out in a family home with just eight people, Pastor Hagee had the vision for what would eventually become Hagee Ministries. Recently he celebrated 65 years in ministry with no plan to slow down. God has given Pastor a bold purpose for his life. What a blessing it is to join together with ministry partners from around the world to see God’s hand move in a mighty way. He is so faithful!
today pastor heggy and I are going to be
talking about what God can do when
you’re willing to put your faith to work
and see his hand move in your life I
know you’re going to be encouraged as
you continue to hear his testimony of
God’s faithfulness in 65 years of
ministry welcome to the difference today
I get to continue listening to more of
God’s faithfulness upon the life and
Ministry of my father pastor John heggy
65 years is a long time and there are
many details to cover but some of them
you may not have ever heard before for
example what was it like the night that
gunshots rang out in church and how do
you grow a church when there’s just no
room to grow dad you took us from your
childhood to your conversion the
beginning of ministry in ‘ 66 you’re
here in San Antonio to begin what might
be a church it’s not a a church at this
point it’s just a gathering yes exactly
and so you started meeting where we had
our first meeting in a home about a mile
from here we had um eight adults and
about 10 children so you were a young
church we were a young church we were a
broke church not broken but broke
financially you were a church in name
and more like a Bible study I will
guarantee you that that’s exactly
true lots of vision and then uh
I said we need to get a facility that’s
more Centric to the city so we can have
a broader base of because at this point
in time a mile from this location would
have been out of town yes San Antonio
you were you were meeting outside of the
city of San Antonio San Antonio was 10
miles the other direction that’s exactly
true so we met two weeks there and then
I found a uh Shopping Center that had a
storefront and I rented that for six
months we lost our lease but there we
grew to attendance of over a 100 and uh
when we lost our lease I went to the
President of trenty University and told
him I was starting a church he knew me
because he was the president and knew
was a football player from there he
obviously thought I was a presbyterian
because we were calling the church
Trinity Church and they let us use the
beautiful Margaret Parker Chapel at
Trinity it is beautiful to this day and
uh free God bless the
Presbyterians and while this was going
on we were building this
church uh we couldn’t get a loan from A
bank because Banks want to know how long
have you been doing this how long as
your pastor been a pastor what’s your
financial statements for the last three
years so what we would do was take up
the tithe and the offering to pay for
the light bill and so forth and then we
take up an offering called the building
fund and we would go on Monday morning
down to the lumber company and buy all
the lumber that money would make and
bring it back and myself and five or six
other men for a period of one year built
that church and when we got done with it
it was it was beautiful but brother it
was one uphill struggle uh we got the
church built and dedicated it it was
full not that I was there in that
building I didn’t show up until 78
but you have never looked at full as the
finished work anytime from my life with
you that something was full we needed to
expand because there was always more to
be reached yeah and and so I assume when
you saw that full building there was
some gratification but there was also a
a yearning desire to see what else you
could do yes we we it was a maturation
process it was here that uh I had a
collision
theologically uh because I was taught in
Bible school that demons didn’t function
in America you had to go to a country
where there was ignorance and
Superstition and well God knows there’s
no ignorance superstition people in this
country one Wednesday night Wednesday
night December in December of
71 uh I was teaching and um a man walked
in the door with a loaded gun and I saw
him while I was preaching
and I um was mentally distracted and as
he walked down the aisle he roared like
a lion I mean
just and people thought I was giving an
illustrated
sermon and at that point in time that
man used uh some curse words they knew
it wasn’t about it wasn’t knew was an
outsider yeah and he walked up to the
front of the church with a gun he was
about as far as I am from you right now
about 8 to 10 ft away he said I’ve come
to kill you to prove that Satan has more
power than Jesus Christ and I held my
Bible open I said no weapon formed
against me shall prosper and he said I’m
going to K I’m going to kill you on the
count of three he started counting he
lied he started shooting on the count of
two that particular Wednesday night one
of the members of your congregation was
making recordings for her own study
right and she happened to capture the
audio of that moment we actually have
that audio take a listen at this as
evidence of God’s faithfulness to
protect the righteous when he said no
weapon formed against you would Prosper
he means
[Music]
[Music]
it
what we have there in that audio clip is
the event that you just described where
this man walks into the church and he
had been sent by a warlock to kill you
yes he emptied that six shooter is a 38
pistol from a distance of 10 ft and
never touched me it was a miracle of God
that he uh that those bullets didn’t go
right straight through my body A8 ft is
just a little longer than this table
yeah the police came the next day and
put up a two before and traced where the
bullets went into the wall and if they
went just in a perfect V and where my
body would be standing which meant the
angel of God was there just deflecting
those bullets because there was just no
way he could miss me uh this man was
running out of the church the church men
of the church stopped him and the he was
arrested taken downtown booked uh sent
to an asylum for the criminally insane
was there for 90 days and three
psychiatrist uh deemed him fit to take
his place in society and he went went
home and climbed a tree and hung himself
what did the church do because you know
I would
imagine there was probably a little bit
of of concern about the safety of our of
our future here what was the response
the the response of the
congregation was that I immediately
started to do biblical research I found
Derek Prince and with his guidance
I began to teach the principles of
demonology to a church that had never
heard it from a pastor who had never
experienced it uh and from that the
church had a growth spurt uh people
recognize that we are in a spiritual
warfare against a very real devil and
that our objective is to win the lost to
Christ and be the light Salt and Light
of the earth uh our church was full I I
should have gone to two services but I’d
never been around anyone who ever did so
I said we’re going to build a larger
church so we built the second church
that hold 750 people uh and it was a
huge leap of faith because one of my
deacons went over and talked to a
Baptist pastor in that neighborhood and
he said I moved my congregation out here
and lost half my
congregation uh I said don’t look at the
failures of other people to judge our
potential we are going to fill that
church and within two months that church
was full 750 people and it continued to
grow so we went into two services and
and within 12 to 14 months we were
running uh 1,400 people 1500 people I
was which was the biggest church you’d
ever seen at biggest church I’d ever
preached in was this one and the people
were coming so quickly being saved in
such numbers that
um I felt like a guest speaker I I could
only find people here there and Yonder
that I knew and so what I did was to
take one of the principles that Moses
used with the children of Israel and I
took men in my church who I knew had
leadership ability most of them were
military people and I taught them the
principles of leadership and I gave each
one of them 12 families to take care of
and
uh it worked like a charm my father said
you destroying your church I said no I’m
not destroying my church I said every
sheep needs someone they can go to that
can help them if they go to the hospital
they need someone they can call
immediately and I said now they have
someone I said I am doing all I can do
to preach now two services and our two
Services were full that’s when we had
Derek Prince come and he gave a
wonderful teaching one night the night
that he had the Deliverance Service uh
in one particular moment he got up and
he started praying for the manifestation
of the Holy Spirit to drive out demon
spirits and he uh started
praying uh and about 12 against the
spirit of Witchcraft about 12 women
jumped to their feet and started to
screaming like a fire truck I mean it
was
electrifying at that exact time about a
24 year old man came running down the
aisle and went over to the communion set
and knocked it off came came up on the
platform he was coming after Derek and
three of the biggest ushers we have
knocked him on the on the floor of the
platform and they are having a wrestling
match that looks like the wide world of
wrestling at that point in time about a
dozen of a Pentecostal friends started
running out the back door because they
were terrified that was
all I’m on the platform laughing until
I’m crying I said I’ve I’ve got a
wrestling match going here I said I’ve
got this screaming feature over here and
I’ve got people running out the back
door and U trying to figure out what key
the organist is playing in
yeah so the
church uh grew and multiplied said we we
need to build a larger church so we
built the Third Church uh Castle Hills
Church on Luke
410 Castle Hills Church would hold 18 00
people and it filled it filled up with
the people who were coming already so we
went to a second Church a second service
and then we started having services on
Saturday night and I was preaching twice
on Sunday morning and Sunday night and
we had a midweek service I should have
stopped that one but that’s a that’s not
what I did so I was preaching 1 two 3
four five times a week and
um it was uh it was a treadmill but our
church our church doubled in size and I
calibrated how many people were coming
now we hadn’t been in this church uh but
just a few months and the parking lot
was so packed that the chief of police
was calling me telling me I was calling
a causing a traffic jam when my people
were getting out on the freeway to go
home if you thought that was amazing
you’re not going to believe what you get
to hear
next sometimes we get so caught up in
the busyness of the day today that we
forget to do the simple things in life
such as exchanging a friendly greeting
with our neighbors it is time to be
God’s love in action like the Good
Samaritan we are called to love our
neighbors as ourselves does your life
reflect his truth we are called to be
Salt and Light our actions and
Lifestyles need to reflect the light of
Jesus to those around us we are a living
testimony of God’s goodness if we are
not shining God’s love on those around
us then who will they turn to this month
with a special gift of any amount to the
ministry we’ll send you a special not by
bread alone salt box for your generous
gift of $250 or more we’ll also send you
a signed copy of Diana hagg’s
commemorative cookbook not by bread
alone accompanied by an apron cookbook
stand dish towel and salt box this set
makes a special gift for a loved one we
are called to love our neighbors as
ourselves called the number on the
screen or go to jhm.org
bread I’m so grateful that I chose
differently I’m so happy that I chose
you I get to see you become the person
God intended you to be thank you heggy
Ministry Legacy Partners there has never
been a better time to share the love of
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right now when you partner with hegy
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partner I’ve had the privilege of
hearing the story of God’s faithfulness
and Pastor Heggy’s 65 years of full-time
Ministry dad with God’s favor and your
faithfulness you never turned to the
right or the left once you felt you had
his Direction you were just going to
keep going in that straight path and see
what happened because if you felt God
said it you believed he was going to
going to do it uh I traced this piece of
property for 5 years it was sold to
people in Chicago the people in Chicago
sold it back to people here I knew the
man who was the leader of the people who
were buying it on the third Go Round And
I went to him and called him by name and
I said I want this for church and there
is going to be a church here he laughed
and said there is going to be one of the
most beautiful malls in all of San
Antonio here I said no way I am going to
build a church here I called him by name
and I said you are going to sell me this
property at a price that I like and
you’re going to be thrilled to sell it
he laughed till he almost cried 6 months
later those five businessmen were in a
financial crunch for cash he came to me
and said how quickly can you act on this
property I said instantly
I had been saving money on the side and
had it in the
bank
and he said okay I’ll sell it to you I
said I need a contract he got the
contract my attorney approved with
contract I wrote him a check I had I
didn’t I hadn’t told a soul in the
church I didn’t tell any of the board
members he didn’t tell me I that was
about it I knew they would just go crazy
and uh so we own property and that night
I had a board meeting with our church
members and I said here’s where we are
we are going to build a new church for
we’re not here to vote something has
been
done I said we are going to build a
fourth
Church we’re going to call it
Cornerstone
Church and we’re going to it’s going to
seat 5,000 people you know if I had
cursed I don’t think they would have
been any more upset I won’t tell you
what they said but it wasn’t pleasant
and I said this is something we must do
H after about uh 90 days a large
Construction Company came to me and said
we would like to buy that property from
you I said uh write me a contract for it
and I had no intention of selling it I
just want to show my board that
contract they offered me three times
what we had paid for the property and I
called a board meeting and I passed that
contract out to them I said this is what
we have been offered for this property I
just want you to know what a good deal
that this is so I went from a donkey to
a genius in about 30 seconds there and
when we built this church the
newspaper trashed us to one just to high
heaven because they said it’s it’s it’s
the vain imagination of a man whose
vision is beyond the bounds of San
Antonio said there’s no no church in San
Antonio of that size and magnitude but I
was just simply taking care of the fruit
that God had already sent and when we
had our dedication Service uh the media
was there in force and the headlines the
next day is 6,000 attend the dedication
service of Cornerstone Church it was
just God saying keep on going keep on
going and the church uh has grown and
to right now we have over 22,000 active
members and God has always
rewarded the courage to do what other
people say you can’t possibly do
almost never did I have anyone to say
this next building program is a
wonderful thing they were all or it’s a
lay down CCH every one of them was a
stretch yeah every one of them was a
stretch and they they were naysayers
until the church filled up and then wow
wasn’t that wonderful and every time it
was this is where we’re going to stay
for the rest of our life I was said oh
know it’s
not heaven is going to be the place
where you stay for eternity down here
you just keep moving MH and I say this
all to the glory of God Amen he made a
way where there seemed to be no
way there were people who certifiably
thought I had lost my mind but every
Venture of faith God helped us to do
what people called impossible amen when
we come back we’re going to continue to
talk about God’s faithfulness but take a
look at some of the evidence of God’s
favor on this congregation
if I’d saved all the letters that said
no one will ever live out there it would
fill a bush of basket no one will drive
that far to go to church and I told my
people the day will come when you will
look north south east and west and see
nothing but
rooftops and every day when I drive to
work and see those cars bump Bumper to
Bumper north south east and west that
has all come to
pass it all came
true it wasn’t a spontaneous you know
why don’t we just do this it was it it
wasn’t a master plan it was just one
piece at a time it was one piece at a
time and it was fasting and it was
prayer I he would be in his you know
prayer time at home for hours and I’d
say honey what are you doing he said
said I’m just praying this is a big step
and I just need to make sure that it’s
God’s will it wasn’t U willy-nilly let’s
just do this it was fasting prayer
agonizing yeah that’s exactly right
because he knew as the The Shepherd of
the sheep that the direction he was
taking them was extremely important
never took it lightly and so Not only
was their planning and research but lots
of fasting and lots of prayer in
2019 in that fall
we began something we called Vision
2020 and by God’s grace this is what is
happening right now on this campus I
want to take a look at this video and
then I want to hear what you have to say
about what you think the future of this
organization
holds almost 45 years ago Pastor heggy
began a journey that would transform his
church and Usher forth a television
Ministry that would broadcast all the
gospel to all the world and to every
generation
television is the tool that makes us
successful without television we’re just
another Neighborhood Church that
wouldn’t impact Texas America the
nations of the world today our vision
2020 campaign is having the same effect
the sanctuary has undergone an
impressive Remodel and soon our campus
will become a destination for
congregants to visit 7 days a week just
as Pastor heggy once used television to
share the gospel gei is leveraging
today’s Technologies to continue to
preach the gospel to the
world you know you have often talked to
me about how your mother was Forward
Thinking and Visionary when she would
take bed sheets and paint murals of
prophetic chart so that she could teach
the word of God for many years you
utilized the same type of resources in
having artists do on canvas what she
would do on a bed sheet now you walk
into our sanctuary and there’s
technology in that environment that can
make Moses and the Red Sea come to life
oh tell you the
truth Graphics where where are we headed
next you know the the Bible is a book of
generational
succession God gave to every every
significant spiritual leader
generational succession Abraham had
Isaac Isaac had Jacob Jacob produced 12
sons and the blessing that God gave to
his 12 sons determined the destiny of
Israel for a thousand years Jesus Christ
was born he had 12 disciples Paul had
Timothy and Titus so generational
success
is a Biblical
principle uh the first boatload of
haggies who came to America in
Pennsylvania in
1743 Arabians on a ship called Spirit
they were moravians moravians were
fundamentalist Bible
Believers and uh the first group went to
Pennsylvania the next group went to
Salem and but then they came to as
missionaries to this country there has
always been someone in that family to
carry the message to the next family as
far back as I can trace which is over
150 years it has always been the Second
Son of the second son who carries the
torch my father is the second son I am
the Second Son of my family you are the
second son I I see in this generational
succession a blessing that comes
ancestrally down from men who have been
faithful to preach the word of God and
that anointing is now on you for the
torch to be carried to your next
generation and to your family will come
someone who can preach the Gospel of
Jesus Christ with the power and
anointing of our
forefathers and when we were at the wall
with our first visit uh to Israel and
and I was carrying you and at that time
we didn’t know if you were a girl or a
boy because they didn’t do
sonograms uh but Pastor laid hands on my
belly and an I on his hands and we
prayed a double blessing we prayed a
double
blessing uh we didn’t know but it was
your life obviously and um and I believe
that that double blessing is on your
life without a shadow of a doubt does
not come without hardships does not come
without opposition does not come without
challenges all of which we have
experienced in our own lives but because
of God’s
faithfulness this will keep going well
the Bible says that God is faithful from
generation to generation amen that’s
right and I believe based on the
evidence of your 65 years of ministry
that if we are willing to give him the
opportunity he will do more than we
could ever think imaginable absolutely
amen so absolutely for your faithfulness
and dedication to fulfill the calling in
your life and the consistency and the
commitment for which you still continue
to put towards that effort God bless you
and thank you thank you
thank you to those of you who are
watching I want you to remember that the
God we serve has something for each and
every one of us to do until you are
willing to give him the
opportunity put Faith and work together
God will show you that he is mighty he
is merciful and there isn’t anything
that he cannot accomplish with those who
are willing to believe in him God bless
you and thank you for watching the
difference