Paul Holderfield grew-up in Little Rock, Arkansas during the time of extreme racial discrimination and division. His father, who worked the cotton fields, was an abusive acholic and racist. His mother, on the hand, had a close personal relationship with God and loved everyone she met.
Growing up Paul had a close friend who was African American. Their friendship grew over a shared love of boxing. However, as Paul grew-up he gave into peer pressure and his father’s racism and betrayed his African American friend abandoning their friendship.
Paul’s mother prayed every day for her son to develop a personal relationship with God and to abandon his racist ways. Paul’s mother developed cancer but refused to die until she saw her son surrender his life to God. God gave Paul’s mother a dream in which her son became Pastor. On her deathbed, God answered Paul’s mother’s prayer. Paul did surrender his life to God and went onto start Friendly Chapel Church of the Nazarene. A church that was one of the first fully racially integrated churches in the south. Today, Paul’s family continues to minister at this church.
A movie was recently released called Paul’s Promise detailing Paul’s story.
Leave a Reply