Ward CAMPBELL never thought of himself as old. He still doesn't. But when his oldest son turned 65 a few years ago, he started to consider the possibility. Now, at almost 93, CAMPBELL still believes he is younger than most men half his age.

Almost 32 years ago CAMPBELL began ministering at the Free Methodist church in Mount Ayr, IA, that his grandfather built in 1887. Though he does not fill the pulpit as often as he used to, he plays the organ in the church every Wednesday and Sunday evening. He has been playing for more than 60 years. Now legally blind, CAMPBELL can no longer see to read the music and simply plays from memory. "The Lord gave me that," says CAMPBELL, "and I thank Him."

CAMPBELL lost a kidney, a lung and part of his spleen to cancer and was then given six weeks to live. That was in 1982. Two years ago he had three cancerous tumors removed from his head, but he hasn't let that slow him down yet. "I'm still alive and kicking and serving God. I can jump around like a kid," he says, then pauses and adds, "Because I practice."

"God didn't create us to be drab," CAMPBELL likes to say just before he tells the story of how he became pastor of this small country church. "When I got there, there were only two people, and they were planning to sell the place. Well, I talked them out of that and told them not to worry because God had sent me there and He wouldn't have done that if He wanted them to sell the church."

The first thing he did was walk outside to meet the neighbors. There were two men outside a house, one on an idling lawn mower. As CAMPBELL approached the man on the mower, he introduced himself and stuck out his hand. Just as the man reached out to shake it, CAMPBELL discreetly took hold of one of the spark plugs on the lawn mower with the other hand. "He'd never had a handshake quite like that before," laughs CAMPBELL. "But both of them were at church the next Sunday with their families. The one told me that he had never been a churchgoer, but then he had never known a preacher that had any humor in him either."

The first year, the tiny church averaged 31 in attendance each week. The second year it averaged 61. "You have to use every opportunity you have for the Lord," says CAMPBELL. "Let people know that you have something they want."

CAMPBELL definitely has something people want. He is the father of five children, grandfather of 28, and great-grandfather of 40. Last year his whole family came to rural Mt. Ayr to celebrate Christmas and to hear him preach. But what he has the most of is a love for the Lord and a heart for His service.

SOURCE: Light & Life Magazine Indianapolis IN. Sept/Oct 2006.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2009