Stanley Rogers – Chaplain, Good Samaritan Ministries

Greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

My name is Stanley Rogers. I was born June 29th, 1960, out in the ‘sticks’ of a tiny town in Southwestern Pennsylvania called Claysville. The fourth, of four children. I grew up in a little shack which my grandfather had used as a smoke house! My dad added a couple rooms and my mom hung wallpaper and tried, with success, to make it a home. We had no running water, no indoor plumbing, no central heat or air and no carpets on the floors. But we all enjoyed the left-over fragrances of smoked ham, sausage and bacon!

We were not what you would call a ‘spiritual’ family, but my dad was a man of character and moral values. He didn’t drink alcohol, he didn’t disrespect my mom, his children, or his fellow man, and he could borrow money from just about anyone or any bank in town with just his word and a handshake! We were GOOD people!!

One Saturday, we heard something rattling and clanking loudly down our old dirt road. What in the world was making such a racket? As we watched up the road in anxious anticipation, here came a big, old school bus, painted green, sounding like a tin can filled with marbles, stirring up dust for a mile behind it! Why was that thing coming down our lonely, deserted road? It stopped right in front of the little path that we called our driveway. A man got off and started toward our foot-bridge that crossed a small creek about one hundred yards from our house. He reached my sister first and introduced himself as the Sunday School bus driver for Grace Bible Church in West Middletown, PA. He said hello to me and asked if we would like to ride this green monster to Sunday School. My sister immediately said she would go ask mom if it would be alright. Mom agreed and plans were made for us to ride come Sunday. I decided not to go that day. After all, Sunday was my only day to sleep in after a long hard week of grade school! Dad caught wind of this and explained to me that I really needed to go get some Sunday learnin’! So, the next Sunday I was up and ready to go. I was seven years of age at the time.

As the months went by, I had started to really enjoy the bus ride, Sunday School class, the worship service and my new friends at the church. I went consistently. Winning prizes for consecutive Sundays on the bus, perfect attendance in class, and scripture memorization. I was well liked and seemed to fit right in.

One day the Pastor announced that we were holding a revival service, a special week long meeting with a special speaker who he called an evangelist. Wow! It sounded so exciting! Ride the bus every night, sing songs, hear pianos, guitars, organs, trombones, trumpets, and a host of other instruments, AND…‘magic’ tricks!! What more could a little boy ask for?! Sure I would go! One night the evangelist was talking about dying and going to a place called hell. It sounded awful! Fire, smoke, terrible weeping and crying, darkness, pain, and me right in the middle of it all! He told us how we all would go there because of sin. That no one is good, and we are all sinners. He then told us about Heaven! A place of peace and joy. A place with no pain, no sickness and no death! He told us of a man named Jesus! Who came to die for our sin and make a way for us to miss hell and go to that place called Heaven! Well… Howdy!!! I sure didn’t want to go to that awful place called hell and he made it clear that that was exactly where i was headed without Jesus! So, I went to the altar, took the Pastor’s hand and told him I wanted to go to heaven! A missionary to Hawaii was there, his name was Wally Chivers. He took the Bible and explained to me, very precisely, why I was a sinner, what the penalty was for sin, how Jesus loved me, and that He paid my debt so I could be saved and assured of a home in Heaven!! PRAISE GOD!! At that very moment when I called upon the name of the Lord…I was saved! My sins were washed away and I was reconciled to God!

Five years later, in the same church, with the same evangelist, (Dr. Hal Webb), I was called of the Lord to preach the gospel! I went to Bible College, got some degrees and diplomas and preached all over the country, but…I wish I could tell you that I was an exemplary christian from that time on; But I can’t. I strayed, I hid, I ran, I decided that my way of living was better than what God had planned. I wanted to do God’s work but I wanted to do it, my way! I won’t go into detail about those things! They have been repented of and God, in His mercy and grace has forgiven me and forgotten them! HALLELUJAH! PRAISE JESUS! What I want you to see is Jesus! His love, grace, and longsuffering toward us.

The same Jesus that came to me at seven and saved me from a burning hell, the same Jesus that called me to His work at the age of twelve, and the same Jesus that put up with my rebellion, and disobedience, and remained my friend and Saviour through it all, and welcomed me back to the fold when I came to myself and repented of my foolish ways, is the same Jesus that is dealing with your heart even now! He WILL save you! He WILL forgive you! He will welcome you back with open arms. If you just seek Him! He has never let me down and I know He’ll do the same for you!

So, here we are now, 49 years after accepting the free gift of eternal life from Jesus Christ; after serving Him a while, to running from Him, to trying to hide from Him, to out right disobedience and backsliding, the Lord is STILL with me and has not once left me nor forsaken me!! That is the Lord I serve! He gave me a fine, fine, Christian wife, and help-mate! Laurie is an exemplary example of the Proverbs 31 woman. I count it a privilege to be her husband. She is daily in prayer and bible reading so she may be a better Christian, a better mother, and wife. We have 10 children, 4 sons-in-law, and 5 grandchildren with 3 more on the way!! All are right where the Lord needs them right now. Danielle and Anthony and their 3 are busy at their church in Durham, NC; Rebecca and Chris along with their 3 (and 1 on the way) are home-making in Washington, PA; Cassidy and Kyle are active in their church in Indianapolis, IN awaiting the birth of their first child; Sophia and Logan are expecting their first child in August and Logan is busy here at GSM with the Building and Grounds crew; Jessica is employed at the GSM Thrift Store; Olivia is working part-time in the office at GSM; and Sarabeth, Kate, Elijah, and Ruth are all staying busy in mom’s home-school. And on top of all that we are helping those men in the program at GSM to find their way with  the Lord, to help them develop a strong, consistent, relationship with Jesus so they may be better able to stay on the straight and narrow throughout their daily journey; and to actively promote GSM in various churches, singing and preaching the Gospel and searching for lost sheep… those who have fallen away from the Lord and those who have never met Him and need to be saved! Those that others may have kicked to the curb!

To sum it all up… I thank God daily for the miracle of salvation and for the love He has demonstrated to me and my family over the years! However… the work we do is not about us or what we did or did not do, but what the Lord has done in our lives and how faithful He has been to us! He’s done it for us and countless others… He can and will do it for anyone who is willing to accept Him and submit to His will! GLORY TO GOD!!!