I learned this week that J.M. Powell, of Nashville,
Tennessee, died on Sunday, January 25, at the age of 96 years.
Brother Powell was one of my teachers at Ohio Valley College almost
forty years ago. I studied under him in several classes. All of
them were excellent. The most memorable was on the Book of Acts.
My remembrances of our professor Powell are of
his being very knowledgeable, highly motivated, honest, and deeply
religious in the faith of Jesus Christ. His notes and lectures
were well prepared and full. He flew up to Parkersburg each week
for his classes and there never seemed to be enough time for him
to discuss all of the things he wanted to teach to us.
His class on Acts was my first truly in-depth
study of this wonderful book. My eyes were opened to new and wondrous
truths. When I went to my first full-time work with the church
at Belington, WV, in 1966, one of the first things I did was to
paint a map of the Roman world on a full-sized bed sheet, hang
it up in front of the auditorium class, and teach the Book of
Acts!
When I learned of brother Powell's death, I took
down my old class notebook on "The Acts Of The Apostles"
and leafed through its pages once again. As I scanned the pages,
I bowed my head to God and thanked Him for allowing me to have
this brief but O so valuable association with this good man. My
mind went to the Book of Acts record of the brief meeting between
Phillip and the man from Ethiopia. When Phillip asked, "Understandeth
thou what thou readest?," the eunuch answered, "How
can I except some man should guide me." I will always be
indebted to this man and to all of my other faithful teachers
who guided me to a better understanding of the Bible. With the
eunuch, I rejoice. Editor.