Pastor Joe Henson just released an advent devotional called Dawn of Hope. We get an update from the Hensons as he and Pastor Walton discuss the book.
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Episode Transcript:
Chris Harper: Welcome to Harvest Time. My name is Chris Harper, and our host on this program is pastor Gary Walton, the lead pastor of Harvest Baptist Church. Every week, we spend these twenty five minutes together telling you the stories of our church by interviewing our members and other friends of the ministry. We’d invite you to join us at Harvest Baptist Church this week. We’re having a combined service, 10AM this week.
Just one service, 10AM. We’ll have Japanese and Korean translation during that service. We’ll also live stream at hbcguam.org, hbcguam.org. Today, we’ll begin Harvest Time by welcoming pastor Gary Walton. Hi, pastor.
Gary Walton: Hey. Hafe adai, Chris. Yeah. This is very unusual. I think a couple times a year well, in the summer, we’re able to do this and then just once in the school year.
We have a few people that will be gone for the Christmas season, and we’re gonna try to combine both services together. It will be full, in the auditorium, but it’ll be joy filled and, you’ll get to see all of your Harvest friends all at one time at the 10AM service. And so we wanna invite you to come. It’ll be a good way to come off the Christmas celebration and, make sure that we’re think thinking and focusing clearly on, on the scriptures and enjoying that fellowship together. So we want to invite you to join us, as Chris said, at 10AM this Sunday.
We have a very special Christmas privilege of a guest with us on harvest time today. We are welcoming all the way from North Carolina, pastor Joe Henson, former pastor associate pastor here at Harvest. Pastor Joe, welcome. Thank you for being with us.
Joe Henson: Thank you, pastor Gary. What a privilege to see your smiling faces. Yeah. This is great.
Gary Walton: We have Pastor Joe on a, Zoom call. So Chris, Pastor Joe and I, we can all see each other. I wish everybody, had a video of pastor Joe smile. He’s got a actually, he’s got a background behind him. Didn’t you say it’s from, Guahan? It’s out your door?
Joe Henson: When I lived at Guahan, I stepped out one night and this beautiful sunset was there. And so I look at it often.
Gary Walton: Well, when he came online, I saw that blue sky and some clouds after it, and I thought that sounds like that looks like home.
Joe Henson: It does. It does look like home. I agree.
Gary Walton: Pastor Joe and Garthia his wife, Garthia, were on Guam for if I did my math right, pastor Joe, thirty two years. Is that right?
Joe Henson: Yes, sir. That’s correct.
Gary Walton: So you came to Guam in 1986.
Joe Henson: Correct. Yes, sir. We came as missionaries with Biblical Mission Biblical Missions Worldwide and, came as church planters. And, we already had some missionaries out here, Jack Davis and his wife, who started Pacific Independent Bible Church. And so I had followed them as their, next mission pastor.
Mhmm. And so that’s what we did. We came out in those first seven years. I pastored there. Well, believe it or not, my wife taught first grade for you there at Harvest. Yeah. So yeah.
Gary Walton: Pastor Joe, your, wife, Garthia, she, taught in this elementary for how many years?
Joe Henson: Wow. I I know she was from our first year all the way up through when the boys were in high school, There were a couple of years during their high school where she did not teach, but then came back again shortly after that and was at Harvest the rest of our time in Guam. Okay. So maybe maybe a couple three, four years there, she might not have been teaching. But the rest of the time, rest of the thirty two years, she was with you all.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Wow. Fantastic. And then, you came on staff, pastoral staff in 1999. And Correct.
We’re on staff all the way through those years until 2018, I think, is when you some health problems, had you go back stateside. Right?
Joe Henson: Yes, sir. That was it. We’d always told the Lord, we’re we’re planning to die in Guam unless you tell us it’s time to go back. And my asthma had gotten to the point where, I don’t know if folks remember it, but three to four times a year, I would be out for six weeks at a time. And on prednisone and all kinds of things just to keep me breathing.
And, it was October before we left the next spring that, the Lord just impressed on me. You know, you really need to go back and get some help with this. And, so that’s what I told pastor Marty that, we’re gonna have to, we were impressed of the Lord to to pull the plug here and head back to the mainland. Brother, that was the probably the most difficult decision in my life.
Yeah. And, I told someone that if you’d ripped off my right arm, it wouldn’t have hurt as much as as making that choice to leave Harvest and to leave the college kids. And, that that was just a hard thing. We got back to Guam. I guess, excuse me, we got back to North Carolina, and, what we found there was nothing like when we left.
The country, after thirty two years of being away from it, was totally different. We felt totally estranged in many ways, and, we we longed to be back in Guam. We think about you guys daily and we pray for you often and, it’s just, we we appreciate you all appreciate the ministry there, so much. But, we know we’re we have no doubt we’re where the Lord wants us now. But, the Lord’s been able to use me in a few other ways now.
Gary Walton: Yeah. So Well, pastor Joe, I’ve told you this several times. I accept God’s will, as well and his sovereign plan to have you there. It all makes sense. But I personally regretted much the fact of not being able to have you here, you and your wife here, during my time here.
Yes. Even if it was just, you know, the conversations and the connections I’ve had with you, I felt like, man, that would have been so incredibly helpful. But it’s way beyond that because every everybody speaks so highly of you. You’re missed so deeply. Our our ministry feels that.
I think anytime somebody leaves, there’s a hole. But, you and missus Henson, you know, just left such a significant hole in our hearts, you know. And so we’re thankful for well, we’re thankful for the many years that God gave you here. I guess we wanna rejoice in that. Yeah. But I wish that I’d had some overlap time with you.
Joe Henson: I would have loved that, pastor Gary. Yes, sir.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Joe Henson: When you came to visit the first time, it’s when you were with the mission
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Joe Henson: And the first time I met you, couple three years before that Yeah. That I thought this guy’s on the ball. He he’s definitely got a heart for missions, and we didn’t know the Lord’s plan then, but I thought I wish I could get to know you better. And then, of course, we bumped into each other a few times since then. But Yeah. Yeah. It would have been a privilege to serve with you, sir.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Yeah. I feel that too. Well, I know, people wanna know how your health is. You you talked about that a little bit.
You and your wife, we’ve been praying. Can you just update a little bit on how you’re doing?
Joe Henson: Oh, sure. I I am amazed, how good our God is and how he takes care of us, just for providing the medications that I needed, over the years, which are phenomenally expensive. And if you look at my bank book, you’d say, well, it didn’t come from there. And that’s for sure. The Lord has taken care of things in in ways that I don’t understand.
But, it it’s been wonderful. This this is so cool to me. We didn’t know where to go when we came back, and we didn’t know any doctors. And, our kids went to Duke for for treatments and things, so we signed on with Duke. And, my first, time visiting my asthma doctor, I found out she is Duke’s number one research scientist doctor with asthma.
You know, only the Lord can do something like this. Right. Yeah. And that lady is a godsend. I mean, she has worked with us.
She has has given personal time and, she she has really done all kinds of things to help. And in doing all that, what’s neat is that, it it took five years for them to be able to get the asthma back under control. But two summers ago, she gave me the word that it’s officially under control, which is great. Mhmm. I still have to watch out for it twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. A little shot of hairspray can put me on the floor.
Gary Walton: Really?
Joe Henson: But so I’ve got triggers that I have to watch out for, but still, it’s just such a blessing. And what a what a help that has been. Now since then, I’ve been able to, preach. Again, I haven’t preached in seven years since we left harvest. And this past Oct. I’ve been able to preach. And for you folks that know me well there, remember somebody dragging out a stool and putting it in front of the pulpit for me. Well, I got to preach this message standing up the whole time.
Gary Walton: Praise the Lord for that.
Joe Henson: My voice didn’t sound exactly like Minnie Mouse. I had enough voice that it, I could be heard, and it was just like the Lord was confirming what he was doing. And so my pastor at that time said, hey. We gotta put you on our schedule. So my next time you guys pray for me, my next time will be Jan. 12
Gary Walton: Great.
Joe Henson: When I get to preach again. So praise the Lord for that.
Gary Walton: Well, I know that’s my heart is just so happy to hear that. I know that many people will be to your heart has been about sharing God’s word, teaching and preaching. And I manage this big smile to me thinking about you being able to preach again. That’s fantastic. And I think you said I mean, before we started recording, but you said you’ve been walking again.
Joe Henson: Yes, sir. That was something I never thought possible. You folks remember when I got my new knees and, my arthritic knees were replaced, but still had trouble with, the joints, and it’s very difficult to walk. And with the asthma, I’m thinking back here in North Carolina, there were times where I could barely walk across the the living room floor to the other side without my my breathing getting a snag in it and my my knees screaming at me not to walk. Yeah.
And so considering that, we just started. You guys will appreciate it. In my Zorries, I’m outside pushing a rollator, and I’m thinking I wish I was in Guam now. And I’m pushing the rollator just in front of the house and just around in a couple of circles up here, and just slowly, very slowly. I I bet the first time I walked, it it couldn’t have been a hundred yards.
Couldn’t have been that far. And just slowly, over time, the lord helped. And within a year, I was walking four miles, four and a half miles. Wow. And, you know, that’s totally impossible.
Gary Walton: And Mr. Henson, tell tell us about her health.
Joe Henson: Yes. She is a real trooper and she has got bad knees too, and they have been steadily declining over the last ten years. She now is to the point where she literally cannot get out of the house on her own. And, we have to plan to get her out, how we’re gonna get her up the hill to the car, and just it’s really having a hard time with her knees. Pray for it.
We’ve we’ve got her first knee scheduled for June. I know that’s a long time away, but the doctors here are really booked up so far ahead with things like this. But she is on a call list, and we’re hoping that she will be able to get in much sooner and, get her knee at least her left knee done, the worst one. And we think once that’s done, it’ll buy her some time on the right knee, we’re hoping. But we know both of them need to be replaced. Her surgeon said there’s no hope for those knees except for surgery. And so I I know she’s feeling it. It’s tough, but she’s a trooper
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Joe Henson: And, got a good spirit about it. But appreciate you praying for her.
Gary Walton: Well, you guys are deeply loved here. I I know that you know that. It’s we wanna tell you it again, but we’re praying, praying for Mrs. Henson. I was there have been several health challenges for her over the last few years, and so we’ll keep praying. We’ll pray through that.
Joe Henson: Thank you. Yes. Appreciate that very much.
Gary Walton: Well, I wanna talk to you a little bit, about a book that you’ve recently published. I mean, just come out a few weeks ago. Yeah. The Dawn of Hope. And Yes, sir. Pastor, you’ve been writing it, you know, kinda your whole life. Yeah. But this is a first book that you published. Right?
Joe Henson: Yes, sir. That’s correct.
Gary Walton: I’m so excited about it. Tell us how how did that happen?
Joe Henson: Well, many people that know us well know my wife has been after me for years and years, more than forty years to start writing books. And, I’ve been tied up with other things.
Gary Walton: You’ve had a few other things going on.
Joe Henson: Responsibilities. So yeah. So it’s like the Lord slowed me down enough in a whole another setting that, last Christmas, I really got under the burden to to start writing. One of the things that that triggered my thoughts was when we came back from Guam back to North Carolina, there is so much, despair Mhmm.
And hopelessness Yeah. That we see in our country, that we never saw before when we left for Guam. And people are discouraged, even believers sometimes allow discouragement to take over. It’s interesting. Discouragement is the lack of courage.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Joe Henson: And when you give up your courage, you become discouraged. And that just, really burdened us. So I started thinking, okay. How can we encourage, first of all, believers who know the lord, what is something they need, and how can we get it to them? And then besides that, we had a secondary group that we’re targeting, and that is what about we know there are plenty of people that don’t know the lord, but they are honestly seeking truth.
And and so we started praying about ways that we could reach those two groups primarily at first. And the Lord put in my mind the idea of an advent book. It seems like people at least have hearts that are more tender to the word during this time of the year, perhaps perhaps now and at Easter perhaps. And so we said, what if we did an Advent book that would was geared for encouragement for believers as well as that put truth on the table for those who are seeking truth? So I wanted a book that was something that pointed to Jesus.
Everything’s kinda point to the lord Jesus Christ. And I wanted it to point to him. So we prayed about it. The lord impressed on our minds the gospel of Luke chapter two. So I thought, well, why don’t we do this?
Why don’t we take Luke’s gospel chapter two and that will be the primary focus for this one book? And so what we did is literally a verse by verse all the way through Luke chapter two. And so if you see some details missing in the Christmas story, it’s not that we don’t believe it. We do. But we stuck so closely with the text of Luke two. There will be some things in there. I mentioned the star, but no text with it.
Things like that that, you’re gonna say, well, there’s some things missing. Well, we understand that, but we’re going after an audience and say, what can we do to give them hope? And, folks, if if there’s, well, there is no other place to get real hope in Jesus Christ. We need him. I need him.
You need him. We need him every day. We need to hear from him daily. And so I thought, okay, Lord. How can we write in such a way that we can combine some historical background with the possibility of what might have been said.
Now I know I’m I’m skating on a little bit of thin ice here. I understand that. But we try to make the character seem believable. And to do that, I have added words like you’ve you’ve heard a Christmas cantata in the story. Right.
They’ve they’ve added words and so I’ve I’ve done the same thing. I’m, yeah, that I’ve done. But it’s to make the story readable and point people continually back to the word so that hopefully it makes a difference and makes it believable Mhmm. And it will give hope to their hearts. And so the gospel story is through the book, several places in particular, reminded me of being a youth pastor, having a crowd of kids in front of me, and giving an invitation to trust Christ right now. And and when I’m writing some spots, it sounds may sound a little bit like that. Well, that’s why.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Yeah. It’s fantastic. We, we’d ordered a number of copies. In fact, I was just telling you, we just received our first few copies, in the office, just a couple of days ago.
And, and then we’ve got some more that are coming. The book is as I’m looking through this, you had sent me some, prepublishing material as well. Yes. It’s written with 24 chapters, short chapters. And so an advent book really means you could begin on December first, right, and read a chapter a day. I mean, potentially read a chapter a day all the way through through to the you know, bring you right up to Christmas. But it could be read, you know, throughout the year, devotional. Really fantastic. Yeah.
Joe Henson: I’m I’m hearing from two groups of people, pastor. I’m hearing from those that are doing exactly what you said. Yeah. They’re following it day by day. And then on Sunday is the text of Luke for the next week.
And so they followed it day by day, for four weeks. Then I’ve got others who said, pastor Joe, I got started, and I couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait for twenty four days. So that and at some place, I said, there’s no wrong way to read this book. Yeah. So however you read it, just read it. Yeah.
Gary Walton: Well, it really is an interesting, you know, I I think the fact that you said it working through these chapters, these verses in Luke two and and looking at some sometimes some overlooked parts, some details of the story that maybe you don’t hear in in sort of that broad brush that we talk about in Christmas time. You’ve taken the time to slow down day by day and look at Yeah. What did that mean? What did it what did it have meant in the historical context, really trying to bring it home practically?
Joe Henson: Well, it sounds like I slowed down, but as I mentioned, I was able to write the whole thing in two months. Wow. So I just it’s like one of those things. You get a burr under your saddle and you gotta write, and I’m gonna get it down now. Chris, I know, probably knows that as well as I do.
So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh-huh.
Gary Walton: And then, I was interested in this. I think it’s fantastic. Each of the chapters, ends with a hymn. What what was the reason behind adding a hymn to the end of the speach?
Joe Henson: Sure. Well, I love music. Always have loved music. My mother was a, she sang opera. I get this now, a country girl growing up in Thompson, Georgia. Every Saturday when she was a child, her mom and my mom got together, sat down, and listened to the Texaco Metropolitan Opera being broadcast from Bob Jones University, WMUU. So here’s this country girl growing up in in Georgia listening to opera every week from Bob Jones Station. And, so, I’ve grown up with music. I love everything from bluegrass to opera.
Mhmm. I know that doesn’t compute, but I do. I I just love music. And, I thought, what is a way that we can keep the thought of the passage moving on? And I thought, why don’t we put just a verse of a song Mhmm.
At the end that relates with what we’ve been talking about through that. Yeah. And so that’s really where it came from.
Gary Walton: Well, our Christian theology is a singing theology. It’s a music theology, so that’s a powerful connection with it. Amen. Man, time goes so fast, pastor Joe. But I know, the joy of the Lord has been a part of your life.
You can see it in your face and everybody that knows you would know that. I love the title of this book, The Dawn of Hope and the Connection with Jesus’ Birth. You mentioned this earlier, but, you know, we we do live in a world that is discouraged by a lot of things. What does the the coming of the Messiah Jesus, what what does that connect with hope for us?
Joe Henson: Oh, my. Well, can can I do it a little bit backwards way? Yeah. I I’ve mentioned to you, pastor Gary, that I I couldn’t stop with just this first book because I’m thinking how can we get hope to people? How can we keep showing that Jesus is our hope?
Yeah. And so I’ve I’ve thought about two more books to follow. And the Lord might change my mind and how and what and separate but but right now, here’s here’s my thought with the dawn of hope. We are introducing people to Jesus, to his birth his early years and we’re wanting them to get to know Jesus as hope. And every place you look in that chapter, everyone who met Jesus turned hopeful.
They he is their hope, obviously. There’s no question about that.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Joe Henson: So I thought, okay. That’s just his birth and early childhood. So what about his life and ministry? And what came to mind instantly was the gospel of John. And I thought, I can’t think of a better place to go to think about the life and ministry of Jesus in the gospel of John.
And so I started praying, said, Lord, give me 30 passages out of John where I can write one a day for thirty days, pointing people to Jesus as the second book, the example of hope. He is our example. You wanna know what hope looks like? Take a look at Jesus. Amen.
He’ll show you what hope looks like. Everything he did brought hope to people, and we wanna point that out through John’s gospel. And then, of course, ultimately, his death, burial, and resurrection has has brought us the greatest hope there is, and that is with salvation through his son. And there there’s no better way to get hope. And then, which answers your question, to me, the the next book after that, I would like to write about Jesus coming in power and glory.
And here’s what I’m thinking. I’m thinking that book needs to be called The Fulfillment of Hope. Wow. So we’ve got the dawn where that dark world sees the light. Then we see his ministry where he is the example of hope in everything he says and does.
And then finally, he comes back again to receive his children, set up his millennial kingdom, and here is the fulfillment of hope, everything about Jesus. Now don’t tell anybody, but here’s my plan at least at this point. I’d like to go back.
Gary Walton: Well, when it comes out here, I mean, everybody in the world’s gonna hear this, just so you know.
Joe Henson: Well, okay. Well, guys, keep it under your hat.
Gary Walton: Okay. Alright. We’ll do our best.
Joe Henson: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We gotta get another book written before this one. But but what I’m thinking is why don’t we start with the old testament prophecies that the Messiah is coming and start writing that way?
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Joe Henson: And what can we learn about Jesus as our hope through what all those prophets have told us? And then when he comes in power and glory, that just sets it all off. And so at least
Gary Walton: I love it.
Joe Henson: That’s where my pea brain is going right now. That’s that’s what I’m thinking about.
Gary Walton: Well, pastor Joe, we’re gonna pray that God gives you strength and endurance because I think each one of those books is critical and would be an incredible blessing to God’s church, and we can’t wait till they come out. Well, actually, we wanna tell people they can get the book on Amazon. Right? That’s the best place. Right?
Joe Henson: Go to Amazon and just write the Dawn of Hope. If you wanna put my name there as the author, that’s fine, and they’ll take you to the the page. One thing I would request, and that is this, regardless of what you think of the book, really, would you leave a review if possible?
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Joe Henson: Only because they tell me the more reviews that get left will help get the book further out into the world. And I’m really burdened to see this book get out there. I’m not after the payment notoriety. I’m after another way of getting the gospel message to people. Okay. And I think this is one way to do that.
Gary Walton: Hey. Have a merry Christmas, pastor Joe. Please say that to Mrs. Henson and. Tell you again that we love you. We’re so thankful for the investment of your lives here in Guam.
Joe Henson: We love you all.
Chris Harper: Well, thank you for listening to Harvest Time. Of course, at this point in the program, we always wanna invite you again to services at Harvest Baptist Church. It’s a combined service this week, unusual to have just the service at 10AM. Everybody’s together at 10AM this week. We hope to see you there.
That service is carried live here on 88.1 FM at khmg.org. We hope to see you this Sunday. Thanks again for listening to Harvest Time.