A CALL TO MINISTRY

Davey grew up as a pastor’s kid in Birmingham, Alabama. As far as he can remember church was always a part of his life. Although he was a Christian, he thought following Jesus meant being a good person. He had no interest in going into ministry himself, instead he wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon and make lots of money. Davey’s plans for his future changed in high school when he attended a youth conference. The speaker talked about answering the call to ministry. During the altar call, Davey felt compelled to answer the call to full time ministry. The next year, he received a full ride baseball scholarship for a small Christian college in South Carolina. In college, he began attending NewSpring Church which was unlike any other church he had attended. The worship was powerful, the message was compelling, and many in attendance gave their lives to Christ. “God began calling me deeper into the idea of being a part of something much bigger than myself,” says Davey. At the same time, God began to place the same call within an eighteen-year-old girl named Amanda. Shortly after, Davey and Amanda met and began dating. After graduation from college, Davey was hired at NewSpring Church to help launch their first satellite campus. Davey and Amanda (also a pastor’s kid) married and for the next two and half years, the newlyweds worked hard at their dream church. In 2011, they were asked to become campus pastors. Reluctant at first, they accepted the call and spent the next four years getting a church plant off the ground in the city of Indianapolis.
 
UNIMAGINABLE TRAGEDY

By 2015, they had a fifteen-month-old son named Weston and Amanda had just found out she was pregnant. On Tuesdays, Davey would go for an early morning workout at the gym around 4:30 a.m. When he arrived at his house, he opened the door to a nightmare. Amanda was lying face down on the floor with a pool of blood surrounding her head. Davey said, “Jesus, no. Jesus, no. This can’t be happening!” At first, he thought she had a dizzy spell and hit her head, but when he turned her over her nose and mouth were covered in blood. Her breathing was very labored, and she was unresponsive. He dialed 911. Then suddenly he thought to himself, “Where is Weston!?” He went upstairs and found the door to his son’s room still closed. He could hear Weston’s soft coos from his crib and knew he was okay. When the paramedics arrived, they loaded Amanda, who was in serious condition, into the ambulance and Davey and Weston followed them to the hospital. She had three bullet wounds. The third bullet was still lodged behind her eye. While Davey was at the gym a home invasion took place and Amanda was caught in the middle of it.

Davey leaned into his faith with friends and family convinced that God was going to heal his wife. He sat beside Amanda’s hospital bed through the night. Friends reminded him of what he preached that Sunday at church. It was a message from 2 Chronicles 20 about Jehoshaphat, a God-fearing king who found himself in a grave predicament with little chance of victory. Jehoshaphat chose to trust God which is something he had developed in previous years. Davey was desperate for an act of God. The next day, the doctor came in and said, “There is no brain activity. Medically speaking, Amanda has deceased.” Davey was in disbelief as he tried to process what had happened. “No! This can’t be it! This can’t be how it ends!” Devastated, he said goodbye to his wife and began to try and process why God allowed his wife to die.                                                                                              
 
To make matters worse, Davey was also wrestling with guilt. The morning, he left for the gym he did not lock the front door. Although the men who broke into his home and killed his wife were the criminals, he somehow felt responsible. The media began blowing up his email and voicemail inboxes. “Some had jumped to the worst-case scenarios and were spreading hate and lies as they concocted conspiracy theories of my involvement in my wife’s murder,” reveals Davey. His church sent a crew to his house to help him, and his family navigate the media firestorm.
 
JOURNEY TO FORGIVENESS

Two weeks after the invasion, three men were arrested for their involvement in Amanda’s murder. When Davey saw them, he began to feel emotions he had never felt before (anger, hatred, rage, and despair). He thought to himself, “Surely Jesus’s teaching on forgiveness didn’t apply to this extreme of a situation!” To make matters worse, Davey had been warned by investigators that unsubstantiated reports of sexual assault might leak to the press. He says, “My mind began to run away with what could have happened in those last forty-five minutes of Amanda’s life. I felt this unexpected part of me rise to the surface, this part of myself I had never known, and that part of me wanted to kill these men and then take my own life. I just wanted to die…Everything I was living for had been taken from me.” When Davey began to see these men with hurt pasts, each with a devastating story he began the process of forgiving them.

One evening, Davey was on his way home when a song that was played at their wedding came on that ministered to him. He cried so hard that he did not feel like crying anymore. He felt empowered to start living again. He began getting up early to read his Bible and look at Amanda’s prayer journals. Davey also began to see a counselor who helped him find purpose in his pain.
As he began to share his story, thousands of people were being affected. People from all over the city were coming to see how his church was thriving despite the tragedy of Amanda’s death. When Davey would get on stage to preach, he no longer did it to impress, he did it to help people. God was emptying Davey of himself so he could expand him for His glory.
After seven years, Amanda’s attackers were brought to justice in 2022. “I couldn’t believe the finality of it. How long we had waited, agonizing over the process, trying our best to move forward with life, all while the legal side of things remained unresolved. How many times it had been rescheduled and mis tried – and in one swoop, it was finished,” shares Davey. Despite the guilty verdict, the pain he endured from his wife’s death could not be taken away. However, Davey did extend forgiveness to the men involved in the home invasion. Two were given abbreviated sentences for their cooperation with the state while the one who killed Amanda was given eighty-six years with an additional twenty years added for a separate case of sexual assault.
 
REDEMPTION AND HEALING

In 2016, Davey met Kristi at the gym where he was working out. For three months, they only said hello. Davey felt God had put it on his heart to not pursue anything with anyone until after the one-year anniversary of Amanda’s death. He even kept his wedding ring on for a year after she passed away.
Kristi showed up at his church with her three-year-old daughter. Davey wanted to get to know her better, but Kristi did not seem interested although she continued to attend the church. Four months later, he talked with her in the gym. He learned that Kristi’s stepdad was one of the chaplains for the Indiana Marion County prison system who had regular conversations with the man that had killed Amanda.

On November 8, 2017, Davey asked Kristi to marry him, almost two years after Amanda’s death. They married the following month. Unfortunately, the attendance and giving began to decline at his church. This church had been a healing oasis for those who needed to talk about pain and trauma, but as quickly as it grew it also seemed to stall out. During this difficult period, Davey had started a side project called The Nothing is Wasted Podcast. As he talked with others about healing from trauma and tragedy, it also helped him find purpose in helping others through their pain. His executive pastor pointed out that maybe God was drying up the church to bring about a new season in Davey and Kristi’s life. As painful as it was, Davey and Kristi closed the church in 2019. They knew exactly what God wanted them to do: help others navigate pain and trauma.  Davey shares, “In every crisis, in every upending event, He’s right there inviting you into a redemption story. One that heals you and leverages the work He’s doing in your life to heal others. He promises not to waste any part of our stories. Eventually, He will work all things together for your good and for the good of those your story touches.”

For more information please visit www.NothingIsWasted.com 

CREDITS:

Author, Nothing Is Wasted, (Forefront Books, 2024); Founder and Director of Nothing Is Wasted Ministries, a nonprofit that helps people who have experienced trauma and tragedy to discover God’s purpose in their pain; Former pastor; Speaker; Host of the Nothing Is Wasted Podcast with more than three million downloads and 300 episodes since 2018; Graduate of Southern Wesleyan University in South Carolina; Married to Kristi; Three children: Natalia, Weston, and Cohen

“Something about that day just, just didn't feel right to me. sort of felt like the Holy Spirit was, was dealing with me, was, was nudging me about a warning. My life changed in four minutes that morning dramatically.” Toby Hemphill recalls July 10th 2023 -  He says he was driving to work when a red pick-up truck entered his lane while attempting to pass a loaded tractor trailer. He says, “All I saw was him, flying around the tractor trailer he's coming right at me and he's right in my grill. I immediately jerked the wheel to the left and I hit an 80,000-pound tractor trailer truck fully loaded.”

Soon after, Toby’s wife Kim received a call from his employer, wondering why he hadn’t shown up for work. Kim says, “I immediately knew that he was involved in an accident. No one had to tell me. I just knew that if he hadn't been to work on time, that something terribly went wrong. I called our best friend, to have her to pray for me because I didn't know what I was about to encounter and to pray for him because I knew something was terribly wrong.”

As Toby’s body lay trapped in the car, he says his soul was somewhere out of this world,

“I was completely out of my body, my soul was just, through this huge black tunnel running toward this bright light that was not blinding, It was pulling me toward this light. The peace, the love, I knew that I was entering Heaven. And this light was so bright, I wasn't afraid. And I had that peace and, and joy and the love that I felt there was more than the love that I felt here on earth with my, I mean, it was just amazing. And as I got closer to the end of the light, I began to see, arms of people. I felt guided by angels as I'm going toward this light. And as I'm getting almost to the end, the peace was all over me. The love, the nothing to be afraid of. I, I had no fear of anything of that what just happened. I had no pain. I had no pain at all. God had given me a new body. The flowers and the, the, the field, the colors were thousand times brighter than what we see here on earth and I, I didn't wanna leave. It was amazing. And all of a sudden I heard his strong voice telling me it was not my time that I had to return back to my body and then he sent me back to a broken body. And that was hard. That was, that was hard to understand. All the pain come rushing back into my body, I'm trying to really figure it all out about what happened, I just had this peace that was this love that I knew that I was gonna be all right even though I couldn't move. I heard one guy yelling out to one of the firefighters, telling the other firefighter, ‘Hey go get the jaws of life equipment. He is alive. We need to get him outta here.’”

Toby was life flighted to Carolina’s Medical Center where he was treated for blunt force trauma and multiple broken bones. His church community and friends prayed for his survival and recovery. Toby says, “During the 16 days I was in ICU trauma, I just felt the overwhelming peace of God near me and his love and support was just amazing.”

Kim remembers, “I can't tell you how overwhelming the peace was for our family. We all felt it. So many people rallied around us. We just are so very grateful for that.”

Toby faced a difficult and painful recovery but remains thankful for the glimpse of eternity he experienced and god’s presence with him through it all.  Toby says, “There is no way I could have gone through what I went through the last 12 plus months of my life without God being the center of my life, of somebody that I can turn to just to help me with the day-to-day struggles of the injuries and the pain. And He has been there. What God blessed me to see was just a glimpse of his greatness of Heaven. And we have so much hope as believers of the home, the life after this life.  I'm thankful for God sparing my life that day. And I'm thankful for him sending me back. I still have my family and that God has given me a second opportunity to live here on earth, to witness, to be a vessel, to help others. And I don't want to miss that opportunity, for what God has for me to do.”

Mexico

5-year-old, Iker, was born with an umbilical hernia. At first it didn’t seem to bother the boy. But as he got older, he said the pain became unbearable especially after he ran or played hard. “My tummy hurt a lot!” he said. “I told my mom to take me to the doctor.” 

“Instead of getting smaller, the hernia grew bigger,” noted Ana, his mother. “I was afraid it might burst, and he would get a major infection.”  

As a single parent, Ana knew she would never be able to afford paying for surgery to repair the hernia. “To pay for it I would have to leave the country to work,” she said. “And Iker said, ‘Mom please don't leave me alone for a long time.’” 

Then Ana heard about Operation Blessing's life changing surgery program. “I learned that people who don't even know us help people to receive free operations.”

That’s when you made it possible for Operation Blessing to pay for Iker to receive free surgery to repair the hernia. After the operation, he runs and plays without pain.

“Thanks to you we achieved what we prayed about for many years. Thank you!” said Ana. “Thank you very much for my operation!” added a grateful little boy.  

SALVATION ON THE WAY TO A DISCO

In 1974 Vernon was on a business trip in Barstow, CA.  One afternoon a client took Vernon to meet his pastor briefly at his church office.  Vernon was not interested but was polite and picked up a brochure about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit which he had never heard of.  Back at his hotel, Vernon smoked marijuana and had some drinks.  Then he decided to drive to a disco.  Getting lost, he asked for directions and a bystander said, “I only know Jesus.  You need to cross the railroad tracks and go to the end of the mountain road."  Vernon followed these directions looking for the disco. Now highly drunk, he ended up at a Pentecostal church.  He had never seen such a service.  At first, he was mocking everything he saw, but he sobered up and a little old lady told him he needed to be saved and filled with the Holy Spirit.

The next day, out of loyalty to the denominational church he was raised in, Vernon went to a minister and asked about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. He was told about the healing services they were having and was invited to one later in the week.  Inside, Vernon was angry at his childhood church and felt cheated that he had never been taught such things.  He returned to the Pentecostal church and then accepted the Lord back in his hotel room.  He spoke in tongues for over an hour!

Unfortunately, three days later Vernon turned back to the world and for three years lived in sin. Then, over several days his house burned down, his car burned up and a nail went through his foot.  He turned back to the Lord, attended Bible school, married Margareth, worked in ministry, began Lifeline Ministries in 1981, and moved overseas in 1985.
 
INTERNATIONAL MINISTRY

 Vernon and his wife, Margareth, have ministered around the world.  They have seen Jesus do phenomenal healing. While in Armenia, Vernon went to the hospital to pray for a woman who had been paralyzed for six years. The Holy Spirit entered the room and she immediately got up and walked. Other patients were astonished and began getting healed as well.

When asked about what he has seen over his decades in ministry, Vernon says there have been so many miracles that it’s hard to count -- deaf ears opened in India, several deaf and dumb people healed instantly, blind eyes opened, people near death completely healed, etc.  For him and Margareth, seeing miracles is part of their everyday life. They want other Christians to expect the same. 

 Vernon believes there will be a great move of God in the US similar to the Welsh Revival in 1904 which had an amazing effect on the population, and triggered revivals in several other countries. He says we are in a harvest season where God is touching people’s hearts and bringing them into His Kingdom.

“Right now there is great complacency in the American church with too much entertainment,” he continues,  “We need to see the reality of Jesus in a demonstration of power. Christians need to know their authority in Jesus, to know how to do spiritual warfare, to have faith in the Word, to not fear the devil, and  to know God's power is always greater than anything they face.”

For more information click the link! www.Lifeline-Intl.org 

CREDITS

Founder & President, Lifeline International Ministries; Establishment of Schools of Ministry in both English and Spanish; Holds a Doctorate of Divinity.