Glenn E. Kunkel

Keeping the Promises Glenn E. Kunkel

This book seeks to glorify God in concrete ways by discussing miracles and other answers to prayer with their contexts in Bebe (Harrison) Patten's life. The text should interest both young and older Christians as it confirms the truths of Scripture. As Bebe is being filled with the Holy Spirit at age 16, she hears God's promise to use her to build a school for ministers and other Christian workers. A central event in the book sets the usual "runaway" story on it head. In leaving home to prepare for her ministry, she is running toward the Father and to the truth. Her unbelieving parents, unable to understand her new-found love in her religious experience ("craziness" to them), are ultimately converted to Christ. The 16-year-old girl evangelist exemplifies courage and conviction, with natural and spiritual gifts, the latter being motivational springs from God that keeps her all her life. The book is filled with other conflicts, as Bebe must believe God for everything, sometimes even food and rent. She becomes an example not only of faith but of great perseverance in faith, as she continues to believe God's promise for the rest of her life. having no other financial support. Bebe Patten predated the feminist revolution in the U. S. by at least 30 years, proclaiming women's rights, including the right to preach in the early 1930s. And with that message, she spoke out against racial segregation. Her ministry takes the reader back to a pre-television, pre-technology-gadget era when many more people went to church and believed in God and the Bible. The persecutions she suffered are also reminiscent of an earlier age; yet she never lost sight of her mission to establish a school. That school is now Patten University. She experienced the value that all things are possible with God. The book will appeal to a wide range of Christians.