In Memoriam

Yesterday my dear friend Roosevelt Hunter crossed the finish line. Much sooner than any of us wanted, he said goodbye to this world and "Hello" to the next. He heard Jesus say, "Well done."

I'm going to miss him so much. He made me laugh so many times. He inspired me in so many ways. We've been friends since the late eighties. Jacob Aranza introduced us and we started regularly bringing him in to speak at Crossroads. The last time he came in was this past May. It was a great weekend. He preached with such passion. We enjoyed some great time together. Thank you Jesus for the opportunity to spend that time with him.

Through the eighties and nineties we worked the same youth camp circuit. Each week either I'd follow him at a camp, or he'd follow me. If I followed him, I'd always arrive to the news of revival the week before. I'd be challenged to pray harder, preach harder and believe God for the kind of camp revival that God and Roosevelt had brought.

Years ago I was working on a message called, "Why This Waste?" I made the mistake of telling Roosevelt about it. Two nights later he preached that sermon like he'd been preaching it for years. What a preacher!

I remember once when he was in, Roosevelt, his wife Eileen and I were going to get something to eat and we passed a place on University Street here in Lafayette where the "ladies" of the evening would stand out by the road. Roosevelt said, "I think that girl was a hooker." I told him, "That's not a girl." (It was a transvestite bar.) He said, turn the car around and let's go talk to them about Jesus!" We did. The owner of the club was so mad at us! Roosevelt was first and foremost a soul winner. He would talk to anybody about the Lord!

Roosevelt had the funniest laugh. It sounded like a cat on an old cartoon. He used to love to prank call me. He would only get a minute or so in to the call though and crack himself up and give himself away with that silly laugh.

Through the years we might go a year or so without talking to each other. We were both constantly on the go. Then he took his assignment at Southeastern and I became pastor at Crossroads. When we would finally connect it was like I just saw him yesterday. The past couple of years we've been able to keep in touch more. He would text message me pretty regularly. The last text I got from him he told me he'd been invited to speak at an event with Bishop Jakes (one of his heroes). He was so excited.

1 Thessalonians 2:19 describes the soul winner's crown that people like Roosevelt will receive from Christ. I want to be there to see it. I want to rejoice with him in the presence of our Savior. I want to hear him laugh that silly laugh again.