Honoring one of God's Generals

It was the summer of 1996 that I found myself on the doorstep of Marion Christian Center in Marion Ohio. I had just gotten out of high school, and had a hunger for the gifts of the Holy Spirit and didn’t know what to do with it. I had just walked out of one of the hardest seasons of my life at that point, and didn’t realize the toll it had taken on me. I was young and was in desperate need of some spiritual guidance.

It was only a few months later that I sat in Dr. Watson’s office in tears. I’d been carrying the vision that God had called me to write a book for a few years at that point, and I thought the idea was crazy. Dr. Watson believed in the call of God on my life. He taught me what it meant to be an eagle Christian. God used him to lay a foundation for ministry.

Dr. John Watson founded Marion Christian Center. He held an academic PhD and years before had moved across the country to Marion, Ohio to help found a college. He not only did that but founded Marion Christian Center, a ministry that has shaped and sent out numerous mighty men and women of God. God used him to create a legacy that spans cities, towns, and the nations of the earth.

Dr. Watson was an apostle in the truest since. He was a spiritual father figure and leader to many. He was personal friends with Bill Hamon, Chuck Pierce, and other mighty men and women of God. He was one of the most humble people I ever knew. I remember reading a book once and finding he’d been quoted in it. When I brought that fact to him, he smiled and replied, “Yes, people do that on occasion.”

He genuinely cared about people. He loved the ministry that God had trusted him with. There was a time in my life in college where I had gotten off and whenever I visited MCC I tried to sneak in the back. He’d always find a way to find me and tell me he was praying for me. I am the person today because of several people God has used, and Dr. Watson is one of them.

It was an honor to be part of this legacy. Today I cry tears, but I know where he is. He’s in heaven with Jesus. He’s no longer in pain. He is soaring like the eagle.

As believers of the word, as those that he trained so well, please remember these words.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (King James Version)
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.


I am reminded by the phrase I’ve heard before, but today for all who grieve I’ll remind you again. That Dr. Watson isn’t just in our past. He is in our future. Today he’s in the presence of angels. It is right to take the time to grieve. But don’t forget to take the time to rejoice for him too. Taken from his face book page, "This mighty man of God fought a good fight and has won the race - great is his reward."

Please keep the Watson family and the Marion Christian Family in your prayers.

*This picture is a picture of Dr. Watson and myself at my wedding. Though it’s not a flattering picture of me, I’ve always liked it. I’m setting at his feet listening to wisdom.