Harold Brinkley
In 1973, my group Selah broke up, and I was handling a few calls that trickled in. I got a phone call from Tommy Coomes, wanting to know if I wanted to go on a month-long tour with a group called "Youth for Truth" as a bass player. Tommy had met the leader, Harold Brinkley, and Harold was pretty desperate for a bass player. The tour was coming up in a week. I said sure.
Harold was a black guy from Sacramento (grew up in Oakland). The band (the "Valley of Decision Singers") and support group that traveled with it was multi-ethnic: black, hispanic, white. Their music was completely different than what I was used to, and I hadn't played bass in years, but I gave it a try. We got on a Greyhound bus and traveled through Northern California and Oregon to Seattle. Later, we did a second tour, going to Texas. This experience was one of the most formative of my life.
Harold Brinkley was the most effective speaker I ever heard (and I've heard hundreds, maybe thousands). I don't know exactly what it was. With Father Harriot, it was this mystical connection to the Lord. With Romaine, it was the fact that he boiled everything down to the basics. With Harold, maybe it was his passion and ability to connect. In regular conversation, I saw him directly and naturally draw out a total stranger and get him to talk about his relationship (or lack of relationship) with the Lord in about fifteen minutes. Socrates would have been proud.
In concerts, it was even more impressive. Harold would always give a talk at the end of the concert, followed by an invitation to come forward and dedicate their life to Christ. We would be doing the song "Let Jesus Take Your Hand", and even I would want to go forward - but I couldn't, because I was playing bass. Many of the "witnessing team" members would keep coming forward night after night. Finally, Harold had to tell them "Don't come forward, you're already Christians!"
We played at Stonewall Jackson Jr. High, somewhere in Texas. Harold had been asked to come because they had the worst pregnancy and crime rates in the state (in a Jr. High!), and were so desperate they said we could have at it, do anything we wanted. We started with a school assembly. After playing a couple of songs, the kids in the audience got louder and more rowdy. They were bored. They began to openly mock us. Harold stopped the concert, and said loudly to them, "Hey, you are making fun of me, and you are making fun of my God. And I want it to stop right now." And a hush fell over the whole crowd. What's with this?, they seemed to say. Harold started talking about Jesus, and we maybe did a couple more songs, and then he gave the message. Then he gave an invitation to come forward. He didn't usually do the "Slip your hand up and down" preparation we've all heard - he just said "Get on down here." A few kids got up and started walking forward, then more and more, and finally more than half the crowd: 400 plus in all.
Harold prayed for them right there, and announced that they were going to start a Christian Club, which would meet the next day before school. After the concert, we had free rein to go into the classrooms and talk about anything we wanted. It was a blast. What's more, the next morning, 400 kids showed up for the Christian Club.
Another time, we played for a black heavy-duty gospel church. Harold came up after lots of excitement, and started in with his typical "We certainly are glad to be with you today", and began to calmly tell them about Jesus. He rarely even raised his voice. The deacons and church leaders sat up on the stage. All I remember is Harold talking about people have been "Christians" all their lives who don't really know the Lord and don't have peace. As he continued, he spoke with a quiet fire, a true passion. You just knew that he knew what he was talking about. When he had finished, as I remember it, he gave an invitation to receive Christ. The head deacon, who had been sitting up front, was the first one to raise his hand, come forward, and accept Christ. What courage! Here's the guy that was just about the head of the whole church - everybody looked up to him. But the Lord used Harold to speak right to that guy's heart. Just unbelievable.
As the years have rolled on, Harold did not disappoint! The details are sketchy in my mind. Here's what I remember. He started an inner city ministry in L.A. Some time later, he worked with Chuck Colson in his prison ministry, and was in charge of a large portion of it at one time. Later, he worked with Promise Keepers and was liaison with the local churches. He has been a trainer of Christians, and an administrator.
I hope he has the continued opportunity to use the gift of speaking to change many lives.