Jim Bakker Show - Johnny Cash and The Biggest Sunday School Ever
Aired: 2020-01-31
Duration: 06:12


=== Crazy Ideas That Worked (06:06) ===

[00:00:00]  And then you would tell the Johnny Cash thing.
[00:00:02]  That's quite a story.
[00:00:04]  I think this historically, he did something so crazy.
[00:00:10]  And you always had ideas.
[00:00:11]  And I wanted to ask, and then we'll go into about your crazy.
[00:00:14]  Can we call them crazy ideas, fun ideas, big ideas?
[00:00:17]  They really are, yes.
[00:00:18]  Yeah.
[00:00:19]  Because you would have ideas.
[00:00:22]  He's starting his journey.
[00:00:23]  So when his wife was trying to settle in with things, and so he went to pastor, he said, I'm going to settle down and pastor a church in this little church.
[00:00:32]  Where was that located?
[00:00:33]  It was my dad's church in Kansas City.
[00:00:36]  I became his associate pastor.
[00:00:38]  And then I went to Davenport.
[00:00:39]  Davenport.
[00:00:40]  76 people.
[00:00:42]  76.
[00:00:43]  You said mean people in this book.
[00:00:45]  Is that wrong to say?
[00:00:47]  Meanest people you ever did see.
[00:00:49]  They had six pastors that had in the last 10 years.
[00:00:54]  Oh, my.
[00:00:55]  And I never pastor.
[00:00:57]  The totally income.
[00:00:58]  And you had never pastor to church.
[00:00:59]  No.
[00:01:00]  I couldn't get a good church.
[00:01:01]  They all turned me down.
[00:01:03]  You know, I was a well-known evangelist.
[00:01:05]  And then when I announced I wanted to become a pastor, I put my name in all the big churches.
[00:01:10]  Yes.
[00:01:10]  And they didn't respond.
[00:01:12]  So I put my name all the medium-sized.
[00:01:14]  They didn't respond.
[00:01:16]  I put my name all the small churches.
[00:01:18]  They didn't even respond.
[00:01:19]  So finally I said, God, no matter who invites me, I will go.
[00:01:25]  That's where you want to be anyway.
[00:01:26]  You're desperate.
[00:01:27]  That's right.
[00:01:28]  It was Davenport, Iowa.
[00:01:30]  Wow.
[00:01:30]  76 people.
[00:01:32]  The building, we sold it for $10,000.
[00:01:37]  Oh.
[00:01:37]  The building.
[00:01:38]  The total income of the church was $25,000 for the entire year.
[00:01:44]  Wow.
[00:01:45]  They paid the preacher out of it, the bills out of it.
[00:01:48]  It was very, very, very rough church to pastor.
[00:01:52]  But here was the big one.
[00:01:54]  I went to Jimmy Snow, a revival.
[00:01:56]  Hank Snow.
[00:01:57]  Hank Snow.
[00:01:58]  Son.
[00:01:59]  Hank Snow was one of my partners.
[00:02:01]  One of the greatest greatest country stars of all time.
[00:02:05]  I've been told that Hank Snow.
[00:02:07]  Oh, there it is.
[00:02:08]  Yeah.
[00:02:08]  And is his son?
[00:02:10]  Pastored a church there.
[00:02:12]  Is he alive right now?
[00:02:14]  He's still alive.
[00:02:14]  He's my age, and he's still preaching.
[00:02:18]  Start a church or another church.
[00:02:20]  I got to have him on the show or something.
[00:02:23]  His dad was my faithful partner.
[00:02:25]  Wonderful man.
[00:02:26]  See, everybody in your book.
[00:02:29]  I know them.
[00:02:30]  They're all there.
[00:02:31]  And so when I went to the church, him and June walked in.
[00:02:35]  It wasn't a big church, small church.
[00:02:38]  And when all the call was given, I talked to them.
[00:02:42]  And I'm not a little foggy on whether they knew Christ then or the week later they accepted.
[00:02:48]  And I know, okay.
[00:02:50]  So a few months later, I was at the main auditorium in my city.
[00:02:54]  Yes.
[00:02:55]  And Johnny Cash came in and had a big concert.
[00:02:57]  When it was over, I walked to the back.
[00:02:59]  I had a plan.
[00:03:00]  I said to the guard, would you tell Mr. Cash there's a Tommy Barnett here that wants to talk to him?
[00:03:08]  I didn't know it, but he was right behind the curtain.
[00:03:11]  And he said, send the Reverend M.
[00:03:14]  And I walked in and said, Mr. Cash, I've got a dream.
[00:03:18]  I want to have the world's biggest Sunday school.
[00:03:22]  And I said, if you would come and we'll rent John O'Donnell's Stadium and you sing and I'll preach.
[00:03:29]  Yes.
[00:03:30]  I believe we can have the world's biggest Sunday school.
[00:03:33]  I said, Jerry Falwell now has a record for the world's biggest Sunday school.
[00:03:39]  But I just love to beat the Baptists.
[00:03:43]  And I said, will you come and sing and I'll preach?
[00:03:47]  Yes.
[00:03:47]  And he said, Reverend, he didn't even pause.
[00:03:50]  I'll do it.
[00:03:52]  He brought two semi-trucks.
[00:03:54]  He brought his caravan.
[00:03:57]  He brought the blue suede shoes, Carls Perkins.
[00:04:01]  Yes.
[00:04:01]  He brought the Carter singers.
[00:04:04]  He charged at that time $100,000 for an appearance.
[00:04:09]  And I saved up all that I could get saved up for him.
[00:04:13]  And he came, he brought his entire caravan.
[00:04:17]  And I preached that day after he, we had 30,000 people.
[00:04:23]  30,000 people.
[00:04:24]  The largest crowd in the history.
[00:04:26]  of Davenport at that time.
[00:04:29]  And when I gave the altar call, there were 6,000 that came forward as he's saying, come home, come home, it's supper time.
[00:04:37]  It's like a Billy Graham crusade.
[00:04:39]  So when it was over, I said, Johnny Cash, that was what you call crazy ideas, but I don't think they're crazy.
[00:04:46]  I love your ideas.
[00:04:48]  I tell you what was different about it.
[00:04:51]  Nobody had people like that.
[00:04:53]  He had never been on Billy Graham's program.
[00:04:55]  And he said, today, would you mind?
[00:04:57]  Remember, I had a very, very, very holiness-oriented church.
[00:05:02]  And he said, would you mind if I would open up with a secular song?
[00:05:06]  Because I don't want these people to think that I just use them.
[00:05:09]  Oh, my.
[00:05:09]  And I said, well, of course.
[00:05:11]  I said, what do you want to sing?
[00:05:12]  He said, I want to sing Sunday Morning Coming Down.
[00:05:16]  And the opening part of it was.
[00:05:18]  Somebody in the audience.
[00:05:18]  And the beer I had for breakfast.
[00:05:21]  You remember that?
[00:05:22]  And one of the lines was, and the beer I had for breakfast was so good I had one more for the road.
[00:05:28]  I thought they're going to run me out of town.
[00:05:33]  Did they run you out?
[00:05:34]  Oh, nobody said a word about it.
[00:05:37]  It was Jane Kai.
[00:05:38]  Because Johnny Cash.
[00:05:40]  They love your country.
[00:05:43]  You love Johnny.
[00:05:44]  I said, can I pay you?
[00:05:45]  I've got an offering I want to give you.
[00:05:47]  I didn't say, can I?
[00:05:48]  I said, what I need?

=== Never Charge Him (00:21) ===

[00:05:52]  And his pastor won't take a penny.
[00:05:54]  He'd paid all of his expenses, stayed in the hotel, would not take a penny.
[00:06:00]  And three years later, he came back and did it a second time.
[00:06:05]  Oh, my land.
[00:06:07]  And they charge you.
[00:06:09]  Never charge him.
[00:06:11]  That was a miracle, too.