V. P. Black was born in Lamar County, Alabama. He was born into a family of ten boys, of whom four became Gospel preachers.
V. P. Black attended Freed-Hardeman University and received his B. A. degree at Faulkner University. He received is L.L.D. degree by the Alabama Christian School of Religion.
He worked with the church in Booneville, Mississippi, four years, and with the church in Avon Park, Florida, two years. He worked with the Plateau church (now Central) in Mobile, Alabama, for forty years. He was the pulpit minister for 28 years and for the next twelve years conducted Gospel meetings for this church.
V. P. Black is a long-time friend of mine. We worked together for twenty years promoting Christian Education. We served together for twenty years on the Board of two schools, Faulkner University and the Namwianga Christian School in Zambia, Africa. We made two trips to Zambia promoting Christian Education.
V. P. Black has been a strong supporter of Christian Education. It is amazing what this man had done in promoting Christian Education. He has worked almost thirty years for Faulkner University and has never received a salary for his work. He has given to Faulkner University over one hundred thousand dollars from the sale of his four hardback books. He has set up a fund at F.H.U. and has built that fund to one hundred thousand dollars. Only the interest on this money can be spent to help young men to prepare for the ministry. He has raised money to send hundreds of young people to school in Zambia.
V. P. Black has been a very influential writer. Over four-hundred thousand of his books on Stewardship have been studied in churches of Christ. No doubt, V. P. Black has taught more people to give liberally of their means than any man living.
V. P. Black is an outstanding evangelist. He has preached in almost all the states and in foreign countries. A few years ago, he preached in a meeting for his home congregation and baptized 52 people. When the churches in Mobile decided to have a cooperative meeting, they asked their own V. P. Black to preach in this revival. 98 people were baptized and 169 were restored. He preached in a cooperative meeting in Anniston, Alabama, and 69 were baptized. 65 were baptized in Summerville, Georgia. He has conducted many great revivals. The last twenty years, Brother Black has spent all his time preaching in revivals, teaching on Stewardship and working for Christian Education.
V. P. Black by nature is a leader. I have been in many Board meetings with him. When some problem was being discussed, someone would ask, “What does Brother Black think about it?” I have detected that he is a man of wisdom and good judgment.
V. P. Black is a very dedicated man. He is a hard worker. He has memorized much of the Bible. He is constantly promoting good works. He has converted and baptized great numbers. He is a great inspiration to the churches. I needed Brother Black to come to Searcy to help me raise some money. He came and we got the money. After working with Brother Black for twenty years, I am convinced that there is no man higher on God’s measuring rod than V. P. Black.
“BETTER THAN THE MOVIE”
Over thirty million Americans have seen the movie, The Passion of The Christ. Last week, my 29-year-old son and his friends came by the house after seeing the movie. They were notably stunned and could hardly talk about it. This is the normal reaction of most Christians who have seen the movie.
Tuesday night, April 13, [2004], I witnessed something that was more profound than the movie about the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life. At the Strickland church of Christ near Corinth, Mississippi, an 85-year-old preacher walked into the pulpit and held his audience spellbound for over forty minutes. I have heard preaching for over 50 years, but, in my opinion, “never a man spoke like this” (at least not in my lifetime).
V. P. Black raised the question: “What do you think of when you see a cross?” His eloquent words painted pictures of how horrible sin is; the depth and height of the love of God; and how sinful man crucified the only perfect man. Brother Black, unlike the movie, devoted a fifth of his sermon on the impact that the resurrection of Jesus has had on the world.
Brother Black did it all with words—words spoken without any notes and all true to the Bible. May we never lose sight of the fact that God’s Word is the most powerful thing in this world to reach the lost and to build up the church (James 1:21; Hebrews 4:12; Romans 1:16).
It was one of the most remarkable presentations I have ever heard. He did have one visual, and he did not even know it. Behind the baptistery where Brother Black spoke was a stained glass window with a large cross in the center. As he began his sermon, the rays of the evening sun filled the entire window. As Brother Black offered the invitation, the sun was then shining only at the foot of the cross.
Someone has said, “When an older person dies, it will be like a library burning down.” When that day comes to Brother Black, it will be so very true. I urge you to hear this man preach when you have the opportunity. And please pray that God will send us many more like him.
[Note: The Strickland church of Christ is located at: Central School Road, 13 County Road 218, Glen, MS 38846. We thank the Strickland brethren for sending us the tapes of Brother Black’s Gospel Meeting with them on April 11 through 14, 2004. We wholeheartedly thank Brother Black for his permission to transcribe the tapes from this Gospel Meeting, and for allowing us to upload these sermons onto our web site. His comment to us was, “I trust that it may do good.” —Jean Burch, Co-Webmaster of giftofeternallife.org]