Farmer Loses 500-Acre Farm but Finds God—and a Bright Future!
Retired now from his long career with the University of Georgia’s agricultural services, Bill McKinnon remembers how God rescued him from ruin.
“It got so bad when I was drinking a fifth of scotch liquor a day, and sometimes more than that. I even contemplated suicide,” says Bill.
Insects had destroyed Bill’s 500-acre pecan orchard. That forced this side venture into bankruptcy where he lost the land and equipment at auction. Ginger, his wife of 59 years, says she cried out to God to help bill.
“I would get on my knees at night and tell the Lord, I said, ‘this is not the man I married.’ And I said, 'I know what my husband is like and the devil is ruling him now.'”
It wasn’t until 1983 when Bill showed up at a full gospel businessmen’s meeting that everything changed.
“And he made the statement ‘if you're not 100% sure you're saved, then you're lost.’ I never heard that before. So, I met the carpenter from Nazareth that night. And instantly, I mean, instantly The Holy Spirit -- that's when I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and He delivered me. I never took another drink of alcoholic beverages.”
“It had a tremendous influence with our children, because they saw their daddy a different person, and they liked that person and they knew it was real," says Ginger.
From that point forward, Bill and Ginger wanted to trust God with everything – even their finances.
"You know we’d write a check to the church occasionally, but that was about all we did it,” says Ginger.
"We got this revelation from the Lord that I needed to honor him with the tithe and offerings. Ginger and I sat down and opened up a tithe account at our bank," says Bill.
Around that time, a word of knowledge on The 700 Club encouraged Bill about his finances and the bankruptcy debt.
Pat Robertson on TV: “God wants to bless at the end of this year there’s going to be a tremendous outpouring of financial blessing, uh for you, for CBN, for everybody.”
“And I told Ginger, I said, ‘honey, that's us. God's going to show up.’"
Within months four unexpected tax overpayment refunds arrived in the mail. The money helped them pay old creditors and grow confident they could trust God totally with their finances.
“So, I said, ‘okay, honey, we're going to take 10% off the top.’ And we did that and then it moved from that to 20%, and it's just been amazing ever since,” says Bill.
Even after Bill retired and he pastored a church for more than 20 years, they say tithing 20 percent has never outgiven God’s supply.
“This happens every month. And I get through paying all the bills and by golly I got a nice balance left,” says Bill.
“I’m just so thankful, I’m so – in fact, there's a lot of times we just sit down and say, ‘did you ever believe we would ever be like this? That we would ever have this? Would you ever have believed years ago?’ I would have said, ‘no, uh-uh.’ But it's just all been God,” says Ginger.
“You can't out give God! The more you give it, I believe the Scripture says, "give and it will be given to you, packed down, ’overflowing in your bosom.’ That's God's Word [The Bible]. And His Word's going to always work if we work it,” says Bill.
As long-time viewers of The 700 Club, a part of their giving goes to CBN.
Because God's working through The 700 Club to bless people. They're impacting people's lives all across the world.
In these financially uncertain times for many people, the McKinnon’s especially want younger generations to know that obeying God’s Word [The Bible] about tithing and giving can be the beginning of a whole new financial future.
"God is amazing; for years now, we owe nobody anything. We’re saving money,” says Bill.
“Trust God, just trust Him first and do what He wants you to do," says Ginger.
“If it's an act of faith and belief in the word of God, God would -- always backs up His Word," says Bill.
