My family's spiritual leader, Pastor Billy Joe Daugherty, went on to be with the Lord on Nov. 22, 2009. The following is a letter I recently wrote to our VFM Members that I sensed to share with those outside VFM/VCC. Please send me your comments.

Dear VFM Member,

I pray you are walking in the grace, mercy, and compassion of God today! The Holy Spirit is with you right now wherever you are. He is extending God’s love to you! Receive His love now in Jesus name!!

 

Pastor Billy Joe loved you so much! He believed in you! He prayed for you! He would always encourage you when you were in his presence. He was gentle but yet strong in his spirit.  He imparted to you the compassion and character of God!

 

Having spent the last 26 years with Pastor, I can witness to several things about him. One, he was after God’s heart.  His daily devotion to God was real! He wanted to obey God at all costs!

 

 I remember years ago before Camp Victory, we were at another camp where I and a few other staff men shared a tent with Pastor.  I woke up around 5:15 am and turned to find at my amazement Pastor was gone!  I thought where is he? I got up and looked around and there he was, walking, praying, and talking with God! While most of us were still sleeping, there he was, alone with God.

 

Secondly, Pastor was a soul winner!  Another time I remember was when he asked me to travel with him on a ministry trip to Texas.  As we waited for our commercial flight, I turned to speak to him and he was gone!! I thought great, I’ve lost Pastor. I could see the headlines in the paper the next day declaring how I, Jere Peterson, had lost one of the leading pastors in the nation.

 

I anxiously started looking for Pastor, he was not in the restroom, not in the bookstore, not in the waiting area, where was he? Then I looked about 50 feet from where we were sitting and there he was, over in a corner, away from everyone else, talking to a young man who was in his early twenties.  The soul winner in Pastor had kicked in full throttle as he led that young man to the Lord!!

 

Thirdly, Pastor Billy Joe loved people!  He would always take the time to help those he knew, those he had never met, and even those who were in some way different from him.  He would look into your eyes and you could see the love of Jesus! Because of his love for people, he had a supernatural ability to recall people’s names.  People he had met only one time, years ago, he would walk up to and greet on a first name basis.  He noticed who people were!

 

Fourthly, he showed us what a minister’s family should look like, as he openly loved his family in front of us! He would stop meetings, phone calls, to take a call from Sharon or the kids.  They could knock on his door and come in to his office and stop all of the business of ministry, and crawl up in his lap, get a hug, talk, and leave with their father’s love.  His love for his family was strong and can still be seen in their lives today!

 

Fifthly, he had a vision for the world! From the crusades in North Tulsa to the far reaches of every continent, Pastor was driven to reach as many as he could with the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Today, thousands of people are now born-again, saved, delivered, restored, and healed because of his obedience to the call of God that was upon his life!!

 

I know each one of us misses him deeply! I know you and I cannot believe he is no longer with us.  How we would love to hear that laugh one more time!!

 

Now, Pastor Billy Joe is cheering us on to finish the work! He wants us to reach every person with the Gospel of Jesus Christ! He wants us to love God, love people, win souls, and love our families.

 

Let us be more determined than ever, and inspired by his life, that one person can make a difference and change the world!

 

In Memory of Pastor Billy Joe,

 

 

Jere Peterson

Director

 

P.S. If you would like to purchase Pastor’s Memorial Service DVD, contact the VCC/Bookstore at 918-491-7710 or go online at: www.victory.com.