Faith Walk / William Carroll
Faith Walk / William Carroll
Ep 46 Faith, Community, and Borderless Compassion: from Texas to North Carolina
What happens when you follow a divine calling to an unknown land? Join me on this episode of the Faith Walk Podcast as I share my extraordinary journey from East Texas to North Carolina, spurred by a mission that was rooted in faith. With the unwavering support of my pastor, a local radio station, and our generous East Texas community, we managed to fill two trailers with essential supplies, ready to serve those in need. This story showcases the incredible power of faith and community, and how stepping outside our comfort zones can lead to remarkable acts of service and compassion.
In times of crisis, the spirit of generosity shines brightly. Meet Shelby and her mother, whose selflessness and determination to help others despite facing their own struggles are nothing short of inspiring. As volunteers from South Carolina joined our cause, providing not just supplies but spiritual encouragement, we faced challenges like rumors of FEMA involvement and logistical hurdles. Yet, our faith-driven mission persevered, underlining the importance of community preparedness and support through organizations like Love and Mercy Ministries International.
Faith is a journey of overcoming doubt and embracing abundance, illustrated by the shield of faith from Ephesians chapter six. Discover how recent mission trips have rekindled my spirit and reinforced the idea that different approaches can be equally effective. Whether it's the organized planning of Brian and Susan or my own chaotic yet productive style, the teamwork and blessings were undeniable. As I return to podcasting after technical challenges, I invite you to join me in spreading this impactful message and consider supporting the podcast through sharing, subscribing, or donating. Let the stories of faith, miracles, and community inspire you to embrace the abundant joy that faith in Jesus can bring.
Well, welcome to Faith Walk Podcast with William Carroll. I know it's been a little while since I've been on here and you know what we do on here. I encourage you, I talk about my faith walk, how I've seen God move in signs, wonders, miracles, and His hand moving me and showing me things. And you know, I always say on here we got to take God out of the box. Religion puts God in the box, but, but relationship with Jesus Christ takes God out of the box and so, uh, it's been a while. I've been trying to move some of my episodes over on YouTube. You can find it on YouTube Faith Walk 1960, william Carroll. If you want to watch it or if you just want to listen. It's everywhere, it's all over. It's Spotify, it's iHeart. You know, wherever you listen, you can find it. But if you do listen, hit a like, hit a share and you know, just share it with somebody.
Speaker 1:But today I wanted to talk about what happened this weekend. Last week God dropped it in my heart that hey, you need to go to North Carolina. Well, I didn't know nobody in North Carolina, I didn't think, and when God said, hey, you got to go, it was a God 1-1. 9-1-1 is an emergency and a God 1-1 is a God emergency and God's going to make a way. So when he did that, I I started uh, that was Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday I reached out to my pastor and I said, pastor, I said, uh, can I use the church van and the church trailer to go? And pastor uh sent me a thumbs up on the text I sent him and I started running and I talked to some of the men in the church and and they said you know, go. You know let's get it done. We can't go with you, we got already got plans and but but you know we can help you get there, we can help you send you. And so I reached up to the local East Texas radio station, kgas, k gas radio, and I talked to the owner, jerry Hansen, and I said, jerry, this is what I'm gonna do. I said we're gonna get some stuff together, it's a quick deal and we're gonna go and we're gonna help this weekend. And so Jerry said I'll help you any way I can. Mark Bounds announcer well, all the ladies up there too, I gotta mention them too, because anytime I called in they said, hey, hang on, let me get Mark, and they would put me through to him as he was broadcasting and they would put it out as a news release.
Speaker 1:I had a lady call me this morning or yesterday morning and say, hey, I'm from Dallas, texas, churched churches that's doing mission work in Asheville, north Carolina, and taking stuff up there. And she said, hey, do you know? You're the only one that pops up in the state of Texas. You're right up there in front and you pop up and your name's there and it gives the name of the Gary School where my wife worked and she says they did a. Fox 51 did a podcast I mean not a podcast but a news story on it and then underneath you can look and it puts the whole thing about pick up times and everything.
Speaker 1:Well, we picked up from 3 to 4 on Thursday at the school and so many people showed up at Gary and if you don't know where Gary Texas is, let me tell you. If you blink you'll pass through there. The school has a little less than 400 people and that's more than the whole town. But anyway, the school wanted us to be there and people just showed up. I mean, we got a trailer Actually we took two trailers down there, a flatbed and we took the closed trailer and we got a load right there and then we got some water from. Tatum at Brookshire Brothers Said, hey, let me give you a pallet of water. Well, a pallet of water, with the weight in it, just, you know, it almost loaded my trailer out by weight so we could only take a lot of lighter stuff after that.
Speaker 1:And we showed up at Walmart and Carthage at 5 pm and from 5 to 8. And let me tell you there was a steady roll of people, steady roll of people. They just coming in, you know they just coming in with donations. And you know people would call me what do we need? I said canned goods. I said canned goods, good, but make it a pop top because a lot of them don't have openers. Well, somebody brought openers, you know, and but it was. We had baby food, diapers, everything, everything that somebody might need when they've lost everything. And it was so good.
Speaker 1:The community. I tell you what it was a God deal, god orchestrated it all. He just happened to. You know, let me be the name and the number to call or to contact, and people would call me. What do we need? And you know I would thank and then they would give their own suggestion. You know well how about adult diapers, and you know I wouldn't have thought of that. Hey, that's good, let's suggestion. You know well how about, uh, adult diapers, and you know I wouldn't have thought of that. Hey, that's good, let's go. You know, and we got formula.
Speaker 1:We got so much stuff and so many people rolled in there and said I want to go, but I can't go. But I can send you here some money. Y'all going to need money. It's going to cost going up there and it's going to cost coming back and we want to help you, we want to send you. You know that you can be our feet and our hands and we're going to send you that way. And it was such a blessing to be a part of that, to see, and you know, and of course Mount Zion Baptist Church is my church Well, I used the van and I used the trailer and they were so, but you know it wasn't a Baptist thing, it wasn't a Methodist thing, it wasn't a Baptist thing, it wasn't a Methodist thing.
Speaker 1:It wasn't a, it wasn't a, it wasn't a. It was a church thing, it was a God thing, it was a Jesus thing. See, there's things that we can all agree on, and that's Jesus Christ. You know, he died for our sins, he was buried, he was raised the third day, he ascended into heaven and he sits at the right hand of God. Boom, that's the gospel. You tell people that Jesus paid for your sins. I'm going to tell you something, you know We've got to quit focusing on what we disagree about with traditions of the church and go back to the foundation of the gospel and agree what we all agree on. That's how the church is going to come together. And you know, jesus is coming back for one church, one bride, so we've got to come together.
Speaker 1:I saw that happen. I got to see that happen with my own eyes this last week and when we pulled up there in Asheville, I had a ride for the Chariots of Light Motorcycle Ministry and I reached out to the national president because I thought he lived in North Carolina and he did, but he wasn't in the part that was affected and I asked him. I said do you know anybody? He said I just got off the phone with one of our brothers and he lives right there in Asheville, asheville, north Carolina. And I and I got in contact with him and I said, hey, man, can you do this? Get us a place, get us a place to be there, get us a parking lot. Reach out to the local churches. He reached out to.
Speaker 1:Oh, there was like seven churches there where we were uh, harvest time church, asheville. Uh, they, they, they do a lot of work with the, the homeless, and a lot of work downtown. And and uh, pastor sandy there, I'm going to tell you what. She was such a blessing and she helped orchestrate some of it too. But they were running out of stuff when we pulled in at 10 Saturday morning and they looked and they said Mount Zion, baptist, bedford, texas. They said how did they get here from Texas? And I told them, god sent us.
Speaker 1:And a lot of those churches up there that we were in with, you know, were churches that had come up from South Carolina, churches or what was there, and it was Assembly God churches. See, god don't care what's on the door, he don't care what's on the name, he puts people together whose hearts and minds are the same and who are focused on him. And I'm going to tell you, those people were fired up full of the fire of God and the Holy Ghost of God and they loved on us. We loved on them because it wasn't about names, it wasn't about denominations, it was about Jesus. You know, it was about a God one one, a God emergency and, um, it was so good to just peek out to the people. You can go to my Facebook page if you want to. It's William Alton Carroll. On Facebook, william Alton Carroll, and you can see some of the videos.
Speaker 1:I started making some of the videos of some of the people there, some of the people helping, some of the people that came up to get things. But I want to share one story with you that I hadn't really shared with anybody but me and my brother, steve Allman. He was there and he's the one that orchestrated everything on the ground, even though he lost his whole business. It was just devastated, you know, but he was on fire for God. He wanted to be the hands and feet of God and that's kind of what we are with the Chariots of Light. And he stepped up, man, and we're standing there and we had just done a little recording together. You know to put on, just done a little, a little um recording together. You know to put on facebook a little video, and this, this guy came up and I mean he, you know, uh, he looked like he'd been through a storm.
Speaker 1:You know, he had some dirty clothes on. He had, you know, some short and shirt. Of course, you know, uh, there ain't no electricity. You could tell he had been hot. And he walked up there and he had this little box of stuff it wasn't a great big box, it was a tiny box of stuff there and he had this little box of stuff it wasn't a great big box, it was a tiny box of stuff and he came up and he walked up and he kind of, you know, he was kind of shy and kind of standoffish and I said what can we help you for? And he said, oh, I got this box of stuff. I said, oh well, do you need more than that? I said do you need water? Do you need, you know, more supply? You can get more. And he goes no, he said you don't understand. I said, well, what's that he says? He says, you know, he says I just got my electricity back. He said I don't have water, but got electricity back.
Speaker 1:And he said I wanted to gather up what I could at the house and bring up here, and it had assorted stuff in it, you know, some canned stuff and different stuff, and I, well, what do you need? And he said I'm all right. He said I got electricity. A lot of people don't. And he said what I have I want to give some of. And he said I'm going to come back and I'm going to gather up some stuff. And he said I want to give that. And I'm going to tell you that, just that, that, just uh, man, it spoke to my heart. You know, here's a man that has nothing, that's had a loss of a lot of stuff at his house I mean, he's got a wreck out there, you know and he gathered up stuff, a little bit of stuff of what he had, and he brought it up there to give to somebody else who had less. See, that's the heart of God right there. And, uh, man, I'm gonna tell you it really blessed me and I just, you know, and steve was, he was, we just looked at each other and I told him are you sure, do you need some more water? Do you need some water bottles? And so many times, you know, you always have.
Speaker 1:Somebody takes advantage of situations like this, but there wasn't very many there that did that at all. In a lady, a precious lady named Shelby, and her mother come up and they drove up and and you know, she's, she's, she's giving us a, she's giving us a fit for our money. You know, she says, oh, you two boys. She said you two men are handsome y'all. Oh, you're handsome, you got a wife, she said to me I. I said yes, ma'am, that's that little one right over there. She said, ooh, she better hold on to you. And uh, I asked her. I said uh. I said ma'am. I said uh, I said what? What would you like and what do you need? She said I just need a case of water. I mean, my mama, and her mama was there. Her mama had retired from Chicago Police Department after 30 years and she had also worked after that.
Speaker 1:And then precious, precious lady, and I got to visit with her and I said I said are you sure? She said yeah, we'll split this case of water. You know, we don't have water, we don't have electricity right now, but we've got everything else. So I told her. I said you know. I said I said, well, let's get you a case for you and a case for her, you know, so that y'all have them and listen, this is the heart of the people.
Speaker 1:They said we don't really want to do that. You know we don't, you know we could use it, but you know we want. We want there to be enough for everybody, because there's some people a lot worse than we are. And man, that was just the heart of God again, you know, and I saw it all day long. I saw it in the people that were there, that worked. I saw people that came up from South Carolina, the churches that sent people up there, their heart and their love. I saw them praying for people, talking to people, leading people to the Lord, leading people to a closer walk with Jesus, leading people to a closer walk with Jesus. And it just blessed my heart, you know.
Speaker 1:And my wife Janie, I'm telling you what when I said I got to go, she said I'm going to, I'm going to see about taking off, and she took off work, you know, one and a half days to go up there, listen, but it's not over. It's going to be a long thing. It's going to be a long thing. It's going to be a long ordeal for them. They've got a lot of cleanup right now. We got to get supplies in. Listen if you feel like going. Don't listen to any of the the uh, if you hear fema is going to take your stuff. You know fema. You know they work for us. That's what FEMA you know. They work for us. That's what I'm going to tell you. They work for us.
Speaker 1:My friend, steve, got an official paper up there that FEMA was handing out and it said that they were going to stop any trailers and they were going to confiscate the goods so that they can give it out how they see fit. And you know, if anybody brought money that they would take that up and see that it got to where it needed to be. And he called me, you know, because he said man, I see this thing, I don't know they might stop you. And I said no, they're not. I said we're on a God mission, brother. I said we're not going to give the enemy a seat at our table Because in Psalm 23, it says that Jesus prepares. It says God prepares us a table in the midst of our enemy. Our enemies are still there, they're still around us, but they can't speak to us. See, if you let your enemy speak to you, that's doubt and unbelief. Where doubt and unbelief is faith can't work. But I'm gonna tell you what I told him. I said, listen, we're coming, they're not gonna get it, we'll be there. I said God will provide a way. And God provided a way and it was just so, so awesome and it was just an amazing, amazing time. We fed over 3,000 people in two days. Of course I was coming home on Sunday, because that's a long ride, man, 20 hours up there, 20 hours back. I thought it would be a little sooner without the trailer load, but no, it's not, and that's just getting gas and stopping one time to eat, you know, at a sit-down meal. But we were so blessed to be able to go. And if you're here in Texas and you want to reach out, there's a ministry that's in Lindale, texas, it's called Love and Mercy Love and Mercy Ministries International and they're gathering stuff up. They're gathering stuff up in Tyler, texas, and they're partnering with another ministry that has some semis and next week they're going to take two semi loads full if they gather up enough, and I know they will, and they may have to take more, but they got people on the ground, so reach out to them. They also take donations to help what they can Listen.
Speaker 1:There's no electricity, so there's no internet, so there's no credit card. Listen, this is a lesson for every one of us. There's no electricity, so there's no internet, so there's no credit card. Listen, this is a lesson for every one of us. There's no credit card. It doesn't take debit cards. It doesn't take credit cards. So if you find a gas station that has electricity, that has gas, they only take cash. Well, you can't get cash if you use your debit card all the time. Listen, this is a learning lesson for everybody.
Speaker 1:You know, we better go back to keeping more cash than card. We better go back to that because in times of trouble which trouble's coming it's promised to us in the Bible you're not going to be able to get cash if you don't have it, and there's things you can't do. See the people, even if they had cash, they can't get to it. So you know, and you just got to. That's just a word of advice. You take it as you is. You know, I shared that with one person down here today and they said well, they said you know, they said you can't keep enough cash to be prepared for a situation like this and I said, well, maybe not, I said, unless you start using cash again all the time instead of trusting that little card, because that little card can be cut off any time when there's trouble. And anyway, I'm going to get off of that because I just want to say praise God, praise God that I was able to bless people. God, praise God that I was able to bless people. I was able to bless some of the pastors with some cash so that they could buy gas for a generator that was donated and so that they could.
Speaker 1:You know, listen, those people up there still got bills. They still got to pay staff. The churches have to pay staff. The churches have to pay their bills, even though you know they have no money. The bills are racking up. And that's the same way with the people there at the that lived there. You know they still got bills, even though their house is wiped off, even the whole. They don't have no place to live, even though they're doubling up with other families and friends. That they know. They still got bills. They still got needs. They still need gas. They need propane for their for gas grills to cook, you know so.
Speaker 1:So I'm just telling you, you know, do what you can, you know if God lays it on your heart, to do what you can. But if God lays it on your heart and say go, hey, be bold, be bold, step out there and said Lord, what do I do? Pray and he'll show you. He guided you, he'll guide you. He guided me because I never could have done this by myself. He just knows I'm one of them ADHD persons. I don't like to plan nothing, I like to just make up my mind and go, and I don't have to plan my vacation. I don't have to plan where I'm going to stay tomorrow night and what I'm going to do tomorrow and what I'm going to do tomorrow night. You know I'm just one of them that, hey, I'm just going to go and we'll see. We'll go by the seat of our pants and you know it'll work out. And so he just dropped that on me because he knows I'm that kind of person.
Speaker 1:You might be that kind of person that wants to plan something out. Well, love and Mercy Ministries International is a ministry that plans those things out. That you know. Start, this is what we need, this is where we're going to go, this is how we do it, and you know it's a process that they do until it's time to send the stuff. You know, and we need both kinds of ministries. So reach out to them if you need to and if you will.
Speaker 1:And you know, if you haven't started your faith walk, you need to start your faith walk. And how has God blessed you in your faith walk? You know we've got to have a faith walk that we say our God is bigger than any problem, Our God's able to provide a table in the midst of our enemy. Our enemy is still there. They're still around us. Well, what does the enemy speak?
Speaker 1:Doubt and unbelief, doubt and unbelief. Where doubt and unbelief is, faith can't work. So you got to quench the fiery darts of the wicked, and that's in Ephesians, chapter six, and I believe it's in verse 11, but it starts there and it says take the shield of faith, quenching the fiery darts of the wicked. Well, that was a leather shield. A lot of times they dip it in water and when the archers, who always shot first, would a lot of times have fiery archers, you know, they would sit there, they would have something that would have fire and they'd shoot it. Well, the shield of faith would quench the fiery darts of the wicked.
Speaker 1:Anyway, listen, don't let the devil steal your joy. Don't let him say because when you're at the table with the master, when you're at the table with Jesus, doubt and unbelief can't be there. You know, doubt and unbelief can't be there when you're at his table. In anything you need, he's provides right there on that table and you can have it all and you can do it all because of his presence and his love in your life. So if you don't know Jesus, I'm going to tell you right now you need to ask him into your heart. Just if you've never trusted him, never surrendered your life to him, you know, you just need to do that. You know.
Speaker 1:If you feel a tugging, you know and people know what I'm talking about. And if you don't know but you feel a stirring in your heart, you feel, hey, he's speaking something in my heart, then all you have to do is pray this prayer after me. All you have to do is say Lord Jesus, I believe that you are the son of God, that you paid the price on the cross for my sins and I asked you to come into my life. I surrender my life to you. Be the Lord of my life, send your Holy Spirit to lead me, to guide me, to be my teacher, and, lord, make me a man after your own heart or woman after your own heart, in Jesus's name.
Speaker 1:Now, if you've been away from him, you know, then you, you hadn't, uh, uh, all you got to do is repent. You don't have to go to church to get saved. You don't have to go to church to repent of your sins. You can be. You can be, you know, or repent for not following him like you should. You know, just repent, just ask him where you are and say it in your own words Lord, I repent, set me on fire.
Speaker 1:You know, john Wesley said, said you know, if I set myself on fire, people will come to see Well, set yourself on fire with the Holy Ghost, because the Holy Ghost, you know, is one of the symbols of the Holy Spirit. He is fire. So, set yourself on fire. Say Holy Ghost, set me on fire, let me be on fire. I want to be on fire, man, I want to be on fire, like God, you know, and I want people to say there's something wrong with that guy over there. What is it, though? There's something different, there's something different. He's not weird? A little weirder than me because I am. I'm a peculiar person. That's what it says in the Bible. I'm a peculiar person, you know, but that's okay. You know. I just want to be a man of God, I just want to serve him. Listen, I'm going to get off of here.
Speaker 1:This is my first podcast in a while. Like I said, I've been working, I've been trying to get some things right. I couldn't get them on YouTube and then, all of a sudden, it just started downloading. I think it was the timing of God. I think God was fixing to stir something else up and stir something new in my heart. But we're still going to talk about the things that he does and the things that he did.
Speaker 1:See, that was a miracle this weekend. He allowed a miracle to happen last week to load two trailers and listen. A shout out to Brian and Susan, who drove the other truck and trailer. It was such a blessing to have them with us and you know what? I don't think they were. They're not like me. I don't think I felt like they were more organized people.
Speaker 1:And when they asked me, well, what are we going to do? And I said I don't know. You know, we're just going to. We're going to do this and and then plans changes, you know, and I could just kind of feel like a, I mean, and you know, in the air, like you know, you know wanting uh, something in, in, but they were such a blessing and they blessed me and I and I know he sent me a text and he said, wow, that first mission trip was a blessing.
Speaker 1:So you know, so we're all different. We're all different and neither one of us is better than the other. You know, being organized is no better than being chaos. Like I operate, I love chaos because I get stuff done. If I'm organized, I make so many notes I lose track of what I want and my mind loses track, you know. But listen, god bless you.
Speaker 1:If you like this, hit the share button, you know, and the subscribe button. And if you want to donate, you know there's a donate button on there. You know it starts out at $3. You know it just helps to buy more, better equipment. But you know what? The little old, meager equipment that I have I've listened to some podcasts that has these big microphones and this stuff. You know, god bless them. But God makes this sound just as good. I had a guy said when I showed him what I use, he said are you kidding me? I said no, I said but you know what God's able to bless me and God's able to make it happen with the smallest thing. God bless you. I love y'all. Uh, keep walking your faith, walk Amen.
