BHM Honorable Mentions

“Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” 1 Peter 2:17


Hi again and thankyou for honoring our Lord in honoring His word and studying it. You will never have to say that you are sorry for reading and studying God’s wonderful word. Speaking of honor, the Christian is commanded to “honor” those that deserve it. And we should! What is “Honor?”

Honor: The esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; A testimony of esteem; any expression of respect or of high estimation by words or actions; Dignity; exhalted rank or place; distinction.

On this page I have reserved it only for those that deserve being honored. But not deserving as the world, the flesh and the Devils honors would be, but that which the Lord would agree with. Unselfish sacrifice and giving, and service to our Lord. As I honor some here, if you have a honorable mention that is deserving of being here, e-mail me and we will consider placing them here also. Spiritual honors and respect deserved. Brother Thurman


“Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.” Romans 13:7

“Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another;” Romans 12:10

“That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him.” John 5:23

“Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” 1 Peter 2:17

“Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.” 1 Peter 3:7


Dr. Thomas J. Whitfield

April 15, 1941- March 5, 2022

Dr. Whitfield was a God chosen mentor for me. He was instrumental in teaching me to care about the souls of men and win them to Christ. He taught me to soul win in the field. He also took me into prisons and jails to preach to men and women. He supported my faith both spiritually and financially when needed. He taught and exhorted me to Believe, trust, love and stand on God’s Holy word. He never indoctrinated me with his beliefs, but always led me to “What does the Bible say,” and lived the same message in front of me. In this picture he had come up north to a ministry I was directing for troubled men and taught Bible classes with me. He signed this picture which I have in my Bible, “T.V. cooked it!” He is one of the signatures on my ordination and I am honored to have it. I knew him and served the Lord with him for around 20 plus years and he never changed or compromised his walk with the Lord. He was faithful to the end and finished right. Wonderful Brother and hand picked of the Lord to teach and guide me in the things of God. It will be good to see Him again. Some of his verses he loved were Philippians 4:13 and Ephesians 6:12-17. Psalms 39:5 was one that He gave to me regularly. A true soldier of Jesus Christ. Brother Thurman.


Dr. Charles Roy Grigsby January 1938 – July 30, 2008

Dr. Grigsby was my first Pastor at Rheinland Baptist Church in Landstuhl, Germany where the Lord saved me in 1981 while serving a overseas tour in the U.S. Airforce. He was the one the Lord assigned over me as a babe in Christ, and man did he have his hands full with me. He and his wonderful wife Florann were there as missionaries to the U.S. Military in and around Ramstein which was headquarters USAFE. He was a wonderful Pastor. He preached hard and straight (just like I needed.) He was also a wonderful teacher of God’s word and fed me with the spiritual milk that I needed to get started in my walk with the Lord. He also had a Christian School at the church during the week for the American children there with there families that needed to be in school. He did not hesitate to pull me aside and correct me as a good Pastor would. Sometimes where others could hear the correcting while it was going on. All part of the responsibility that he took seriously in taking care of the flock. I am honored and thankful to the Lord for picking out the men He put in my life at the time I needed them. He does the same for all of us that are in the body of Christ. I did get to phone him and speak with him years later and tell him I was preaching and teaching and what the Lord was doing with me shortly before he went home. He was happy to hear from me. I told him I would like to see him again on this side and he said that that would be good. That never materialized. One message he preached that still is a real truth in my walk with the Lord and in my life was called “If you can’t run with the footman, what are you going to do when the horseman come.” Jeremiah 12:5 Powerful! See you over there Brother Roy, I love you and thank you. Brother Thurman


Pastor Andrew Hercula

October 21, 1940 – June 18, 2014

This brother in Christ was the man that the Lord used to restore me into fellowship with Him when I was extremely mad with the Lord and living in rebellion to Him and His words. I was involved and living in everything you could imagine that an unsaved man would, (yet being saved and a member of God’s family) and bringing shame to the name of my precious Saviour and His word. The Lord let me live in the muck for a time while teaching me lessons I needed to learn and letting me reap some of the things I had sown. I had gotten to the point of so much bitterness of life that I hated everything and was looking for a way out and to die. But that was not the Lords plan. He let me wallow in the mud until one day I called a preacher I knew that knew Brother Hercula (the Lord had it worked all out) from years before. He called him on my behalf. Brother Hercula was running a Christian camp ministry for troubled men in Cochranton Pa. with his wife (below) and using the word of God there to win lost men to Christ and restore wandering sons like me to fellowship with the Lord. He agreed to let me go there (Gods idea and set-up). There I was able to repent and return back into fellowship with the Lord by the complete and utter Bible oriented environment and the many Bible classes whereby Gods word cleansed the filth (again) from my mind and spirit and flesh. Brother Hercula was an example to me of what sacrificial service in the name of Jesus is and was all about. He never asked me for anything, only gave to me and my needs (without charge). One of His favorite sayings I picked up from him and like is “we’ll see!” Men will say a lot of things when God has taken them out from bondage that they are going to do (all the this and that’s). Brother Hercula would say, “we’ll see.” Some did, many did not. Another comment I would hear him say that many did not appreciate, but I kind of admired and use sometimes to get a point across was “Ah, blow it out of your nose!” No confusion in that! Another thing the Lord taught me that I have not mastered yet is how important it is for a man to be of “few words.” I really admired Brother Hercula for the sacrifice of silence it took for him to keep quiet and not comment. It really showed the wisdom the Lord had given him. It frustrated me a lot of times trying to get answers from him, but I admired and learned from him. One thing I picked up from him that I seen him do regularly, and I don’t think he knew anybody noticed or even cared, was that after every class, or message he would teach or preach, he would kiss his Bible. I to this day do the same and mean it as he did . His health began to decline in several ways and I was privileged to be and remain at the ministry and help and serve there with and under him for the remaining years of his life. He was in a home for the last few years before he went home. He used to call it “the dungeon.” I knew what he meant. I went and got him out of there on the weekends and brought him to the ministry where his wife and family lived so he could be with them and away from there, and then take him back. He used to laugh at me when I would yell at him for going limp (he was a big man) while I was moving him in and out of the truck from and to his wheelchair. I remember one of the biggest compliments he ever paid me was when I had taken him back to the “dungeon” and was asking him about some important issues concerning the ministry that needed to be addressed and he would not talk about it and said to me he wouldn’t talk about it. I got mad and said some mean things to hurt his feelings and stormed out and headed back to the ministry (about 15 to 20 miles away) and while on the way. I couldn’t stand myself for what I had said and had to turn around and go back to apologize to him. When I got back and walked down the hall to his room and turned to go in he was setting in his wheel chair facing the window which he could look out and see me when I pulled up. I said to him, “Pastor, I’m sorry for the things I said to you. He replied, (I’ll never forget it) “I knew you would be back!” I’ll never forget that. It helped me know a little about myself, you know? I through the thoughtfulness of the Hercula family got to be there at his bedside with his wife, son and daughter when he left and went home, and I’m glad I was. He was a soldier of Jesus Christ and finished right. There’s so much more, but I’ll say Brother Hercula was another God chosen mentor of mine in my walk and journey to get home myself. Thank you brother. I’ll see you over there. Brother Thurman


Sister Jacqueline Hercula

August 29,1925 – January 17,2021

Sister Hercula” is what I always knew and referred to her as. Many of the troubled men that she ministered to with her husband above referred to her as “Ma.” She was only four foot and some inches tall. Shorter than every person that I ever seen her around. Short enough that I remember we had to make special blocks to attach to the gas and brake pedals of her car so she could reach them. I don’t mention this as a joke or humor toward her, but as glory. She may have been short in stature but had God’s power over and on her in her ministry with the men and others that knew her. She had their respect and allegiance because of her faithfulness and genuine love for the Lord that could be seen in and through her. She was strong, faithful, longsuffering, generous, and trusted the Lord in everything I ever seen come her way. Here demeanor demanded respect and reverence as a woman of God. She never led me or anyone I ever knew that had been around her to a corrupt way of life or thinking. She respected God’s words and His ways and lived them both as a woman, a wife and a person. She was never found as a complaining, nagging rebellious wife to her husband even when she disagreed with him. The harshest thing I ever heard her say to him was his name, like “Andrew?!” That was enough! She taught me to not be ashamed of openly worshipping the Lord. I remember going over to their house to give some good news about a blessing the Lord had given to us and she, being in her 80s was standing up behind a walker that you use to assist you, and when she heard the news went immediately to her knee’s and down on her face worshiping the Lord right there in the dining room. Her daughter Gina had to help her up, but she taught me that day without knowing (or maybe knowing, knowing her) how to worship. I have since unashamedly followed her example on several occasions and look forward to many more. I had heard over time people comment on her “old fashioned” ways not condemning but excusing her in their mind. I completely and whole-heartedly admired her “old-fashioned ways, and so did all the drunk drug addict dope-headed men that came to the ministry. Jesus Christ is old-fashioned. Jeremiah 6:16 I have so much I could say about this woman of God, and will add more as the Lord leads me, but I would like to share a special time to me when she honored me and didn’t have to. When she got where we had to help her in and out of vehicles, there was one day that I had parked in front of her house as we did and went around to help lift her out of the van (it was tall and she was short, remember). When I took hold of her I mentioned to her that I was not trying to be fresh in anyway because of the way I had to handle her (a man kind of felt that way around her because of her being a lady) and she honored that and when I set her on her feet on the ground we stopped for a moment and she looked up at me and said, “You are my Pastor.” When her husband passed years earlier, I had been given the responsibility of the ministry in every way. I learned a lot and done the best I could before the Lord. And, when she told me that it really meant a lot coming from her. I replied, “I would be honored to be your Pastor” and she smiled and went inside. Beautiful! It will be wonderful to see her again. I love you with Christ’s love sister. Long live old-fashioned women that love God.


Dr. Peter S. Ruckman

November 19,1921- April 21, 2016

Saved – March 14, 1949

B.A., M.A., Ph.D.

Founder, Pensacola Bible Institute

I begin by saying that this man was hand picked by the Lord as one of my mentors and teachers. I had absolutely nothing to do with the deciding. The Lord decided. The part that I had was obeying and giving “…attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. 1 Timothy 4:13 I have many things I want to say concerning Dr. Ruckman and honoring him and wish to say all of it properly. “More Coming Soon!”


Pastor Wm. Dale Adams March 28,1936-August 26,2011

I honor this manPastor Dale Adams. He was a brother in Christ that supported my faith and my walk with the Lord. He was on the board at the ministry that I ended up overseeing after Pastor Hercula (above) went home to be with the Lord. He Pastored a Church near the ministry and his church supported the ministry in every way thinkable. He allowed me to preach from his pulpit and was supportive of voting me in every time the ministry wanted to advance me upward to more responsibilities and oversight. He spent much of his time ministering to the men at the ministry by taking them on singing outings and to retirement homes. He was a wonderful example to me of the love that the Lord said should emanate from a Pastor that truly followed what the word of God says. He taught me and instructed me in my first lesson of graciously receiving and taking the (honor) the Scriptures speak of, of those that labor in the word and doctrine, (money, support). He was a very kind and soft spoken and gracious man. I learned from him what it looks like to be faithful to the Lord in one’s work through suffering and all. I also admire his precious wife that was always there at his side and as busy for the Lord as he was. ~More to come~


Thurman & Wanda Compton September 22, 1962 – Present

If this isn’t worthy of honorable mention I don’t know what would be. People staying married and keeping their vows to one another is almost unheard of in the days we live now. But there are still some that retain their integrity. Let me introduce you to my mom and dad. Beautiful people who I love very much. Married 62 years and counting. Nothing can speak against that. Thank you for the example mom and dad. I love you both.