“Pastor, evangelist, educator, and lifelong seeker after truth. His message of excellence in scholarship and piety challenged young and old. His earnest cry for Godliness in thought and deed rang from conventions, camp meetings, and the classroom. A study in intensity and purpose listen to the cry of a burning heart.” – William Snider
Click here to listen to Stephen D. Herron preach
I met Dr. Herron in the summer of 1961. We were coworkers at a camp meeting in Pennsylvania. I had served on the administration of a conservative Bible College, and was extremely interested in the vision and concern that he relayed to me about a new Bible Institute at Hobe Sound, a small Florida town where I had established a mission headquarters for my organization about a half mile north of Seabreeze Camp.
It was during that camp meeting that he asked me to come to Hobe Sound to teach in the new institute. I had meetings scheduled during the fall, so he asked if I could come for the second semester in January, to relieve him of his teaching so he would have more time organizing the school.
I arrived in January, 1962, with a travel trailer and my books. All of the school’s activities were conducted in a newly-constructed cement block building. Shortly after I arrived, Brother and Sister French pulled in with their pickup truck with a camper in the truck bed-a method of travel they used when out in evangelistic work.
That year I especially remember three other persons. Raymond Shreve and Bob Whittaker were students. Bob was like a son to Brother Herron, and later became school. president. On the teaching staff (of three) was Rev. C J Goodspeed, a legendary pioneer missionary.
Brother Herron became a father-figure to several of us on campus. He was a man of unquestioned integrity, of genuine compassion, and he possessed a genuine sense of humor.
But a change came over this southern gentleman when he came to the pulpit. Most memorable was a service at the Wesleyan Methodist Camp Meeting in Stoneboro, Pennsylvania, where I served with Brother Herron as youth evangelist.
In one evening service,after he was introduced by Brother Van Wormer, he stood in the pulpit silently and statuesque. He started to sing the chorus, “Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome;. Holy Ghost, we welcome Thee; Come in power, and fill this temple; Holy Ghost, we welcome Thee.”
A hush fell over the congregation, as they softly joined in singing. There was profound anointing falling upon the crowd, and I clearly sensed a strong presence of the Holy Spirit on Brother Herron. An aura of God’s presence engulfed him.
Standing in stunned awareness of God’s presence, the congregation began moving towards the altar. At first, people feeing a conviction for their sins were running to the altar, sobbing,, and eyes brimming with tears. Then hundreds stood up and slowly moved to the altar, as if there was a magnetic attraction that was pulling them.
The entire tabernacle became an altar, where the power and fire of the Holy Spirit descended. Hundreds received life-changing experiences. Many were filled with God’s sanctifying power.
Brother Herron continued to stand in the pulpit, extremely eloquent in his silence. This anointing was his finest sermon. There was no need for words, as the Lord replaced his speech with a down pouring of His Spirit.
This scene was repeated many times as we worked together in subsequent years. A phrase he often repeated as he softly began his message was taken from a sermon preached by John Wesley on the occasion of the death of John Fletcher, where Wesley spoke of Fletcher, “For his last months, he scarce ever lay down or rose up without these words in his mouth: — I nothing have, I nothing am; My treasure’s in the bleeding Lamb.”
Almost 50 years later, my memory of Brother Herron is vivid and clear. I can see him moving to the pulpit, white-haired, dignified, and serious. As he would repeat Wesley’s words, a silence would come over the congregation, and a cloud saturated with the presence of the Lord would descend. I can still hear him quoting this profound phrase. This treasure possessed by John Fletcher was also the most valued treasure of my beloved brother, colleague and friend, the late Rev. Steve Herron.
Thanks Dr. Maas for sharing such treasured memories of Dr. Herron! I never had the privilege of knowing him, but I enjoy listening to his messages and learning more about him.
Thank you for sharing this fine moment when the Holy Spirit took over and used Bro Herron as an instrument for Gods spirit to flow so freely. I was a high school student at Hobe Sound in 1963. I graduated in 1965 and returned for 1 year of College. Mrs Herron was from my home town. I came from a non Christian home and credit Hobe Sounds great teachers Dr Herron, Dr Whitaker and Rev Rob French and his precious wife for helping me to become an established Christian as a teen. I can see in my minds eye the Frenches scooting across the campus, always in a hurry to get to their next task. I went to prayer meeting whenever I could at the French’s tiny, little cottage. Robert Whitaker and Raymond Shreeve graduated from college the same night I graduated from High School. I was in ministry for 23 years and credit my desire to help hurting women and children to the ministry influience that I had at Hobe Sound and to the fact that I came from an abusive home where my mother was often battered as was my brothers and me by my dad. I was director of Hannah Homes, a long term residential program for abused women and children So nice to go down memory lane. Again Thank you!
Dr. S. D. Herron had a major impact on my life at a critical time. I was attending HSBA and was a rebellious young man in High School. One day, my behavior landed me in the principal’s office. Mrs. Connie Palm was the principal and she forgot she’d sent me to her office so I was there all day. Dr. Herron’s office was nearby and he walked by the door and saw me sitting there and after a couple of hours he asked about it. I told him I had been sent there and not told how long to stay. Dr. Herron asked if I like to read and actually loved to read and told him so. He invited me into his office and pulled a book off the shelf by an author I had never heard of: C. S. Lewis. I had never before read a logical, rational treatment of Christianity before and as I sat there waiting for the day to end, I read Mere Christianity. Mrs. Palm did come back to her office that afternoon and the look on her face when she saw me sitting there was worth the hours spent. A few years later I came to personal faith in Christ and my very first act of contrition was to go to Mrs. Palm to request her forgiveness of the many ways I made her life as miserable as I knew how. She was gracious. Dr. Herron was one of those rare people whose seriousness magnified their love rather than diminishing it. There was something deeply authentic about him that made even a rebellious teen know he was in the presence of someone whose recommendation about a book should be followed. No extra-Biblical author has shaped my faith more than Lewis over the past 40 years. God bless Dr. Herron for his faithful example and love.
So many typos! Should have proofread it. 🙂