The ministry of George Hutchings has six significant periods:

1972-1980            College and seminary years as an itinerate evangelist
1983-1987            New Hope pastoral years
1987-1990            Illness

1990-1994            Garden Baptist deaf church ministry
1994                     Birth and implementation of Eagle Wing Ministries
2005-present       The Eagle flies an unexpected route at Christ Memorial  Baptist Church.

In the formative years, George preached with much zeal but little knowledge.  Still, the Lord was gracious, and numerous people came to faith.

After carrying an M60 machine gun in Vietnam, coming to Christ and accepting the call of ministry, the Lord led George into college. English 111 was a drag by Vietnam standards, and the vocabulary was certainly different!  Dr. Sutherland had no use for cussing or an M60 and the new convert fell into disgrace by failing English 113 three times.  But the Marine Corps spirit prevailed and George fought the academics until he passed the course.

In love with Christ, George’s preaching throughout college was filled with passion and power.  He was able to hold enough revival meetings to preach himself through enough college years to finally pass that English.

Graduating from Missouri Baptist University in 1978 he and his wife (Becky) moved to Forth Worth, Texas to attend Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.  For steady income during this period, George worked at J.C. Penny’s to finance his seminary.

Out of the Lord’s goodness, George and his wife were able to assist six other students through their seminary career. But this didn’t assuage Becky’s discontent with Ft. Worth’s blazing hot weather.  Ft. Worth definitely wasn’t “home”.  The letters Becky wrote home to her mother had the return address “Ft. Worthless.”

On one long distance call home, Becky asked the operator to keep the time and charges.  The operator reported a $38 phone bill.  Becky replied that she could have called hell for that kind of money.  The operator retorted, “That would have been a local call.” 

In 1982 George became the pastor of New Hope Baptist church.  It consisted of six members, all living in condemned housing.  Under the Hutching’s ministry, the congregation grew to 128, but there was the price of great sorrow along the way.

Kathy, one of the children of the church, was a 12-year-old girl living with her Down syndrome mother and live-in alcoholic boy friend.  Every church has a darling girl everyone would love to adopt.  Kathy was that girl.  The Hutchings often took her to Missouri Baptist University, concerts, ball games and other activities to let her see that life was bigger than the four city blocks where she resided.

One night the drunken live-in boyfriend used a 30:30 deer rifle and shot Kathy dead.  The hearts of George, his family, and the church hemorrhaged with grief.  

Then there was the church’s red-headed boy, about 10 or 11 years of age. He was sharp as a tack.  His school had a fund raising program selling candy.  George asked, “Is the money paid now or when the candy is delivered?”  The kid said, “Now.”  The candy was never delivered, but the pastor knew the score and loved that boy.

This cherished red-headed rascal was later taken from the street and raped by two homosexuals.  As the pastor, George saw protecting his flock as his first priority. An effort to identify the violators began.  But the young boy’s parents sent word to the pastor not to pursue the men who had harmed their son because they were vulnerable to the revenge these men might take on them.  Having pity on their fears, George honored their request, his heart once again grieving violently.

Then there was Mrs. Martin, a senior lady that never missed church.  She carried her Bible and clenched her jaw all day long.  This woman was so uptight that it became the pastor’s ministry to help her relax.  Every Lord’s Day George would move up to her and give her a hug and she would pull away.  The pastor would point to someone and ask their name.  Mrs. Martin would turn and when she did her pastor would kiss her on the cheek.  After about six months Mrs. Martin broke down and said, “You always make me laugh.”

George received a call late one evening from Mrs. Martin.  Her Social Security check had been stolen.  Having been active in ministering on the street, the pastor was respected.  A source had directed George to two new men who had moved in two doors down from Mrs. Martin, telling him that they had stolen the check from the mailbox.

A Biblical Pastor carries a rod and a staff; this pastor carried a 5 D- cell Mag Light.  And he still carried a lot of Marine Corps spirit in him, too.  He waited until both men were home.  The Mag light was resting on the pastor’s shoulder as he knocked on the door.  The man answered the door and was greeted with a blinding light and a thump across the forehead. 

The Pastor said, “Do you know who I am?”  The reply was, “No!”  George told him, “I’m the preacher of the Baptist church on the corner but right now I think I’m Clint Eastwood.”   He demanded Mrs. Martin’s check “right now.”

The two shaken strangers produced the check and Hutchings responded by saying, “I will be here at 10 A.M. and you and your girl friend will not be here.  Don’t worry about a refund on the rent or the deposit. You will be gone.”  And they were.

 

But this wasn’t the end of Mrs. Martin’s problems.  Her daughter was in the occult and was trying to drive her mother crazy.  She had gutted a cat, smeared the intestines on the screen, and left the body on the stoop.

A church member called the pastor late one evening again and reported that Mrs. Martin believed her daughter had died and her ghost was calling on the phone from Tampa, Florida.  Upon arriving at Mrs. Martin’s house, the pastor saw her sitting, head in hands, sobbing uncontrollably.

The Bible she had always carried to church was worn from being carried but not from being read.  Now, when she needed the comfort of the scriptures, she could relate to only one verse, “Rachael weeping for her children, she could not be comforted.”

George, in an attempt to find the facts, called the Tampa morgue and hospitals but no one matching Mrs. Martin’s daughter was found, so he discounted the frightening calls she had received about the death.  He tried to make Mrs. Martin understand that the daughter was trying to impersonate a ghost, pulling another dastardly deed.

But at a time when she needed the comfort of a pastor, Mrs. Martin could not be comforted.  At midnight, George prayed for her, his heart filled with compassion.  When he walked down the hall to exit, he looked back to see Mrs. Martin had her head in her hands and was weeping out of control.

The pastor left that night.  Mrs. Martin died of a broken heart and the pastor collapsed with a nervous breakdown.  The breakdown would lead to a three year hospitalization.  The difficulties of childhood, Vietnam, undiagnosed depression and physical needs, and the burdens of a crisis pastorate had exacted their toll.

In 1987, George was hospitalized at Missouri Baptist Hospital.  In 1990 he woke up at home with his daughter giving him a hug and he didn’t know her name.  In fact, he didn’t know his name. 

In spite of this awful void of identity, there was one thing George knew intuitively still.  He knew he had a God who knew his name and all would be fine. Doctors told Becky that George would be a vegetable for the rest of this life.  But George had a quiet knowledge that God would come and lift him.

In those days of waiting, there was something about an eagle that George sensed he needed to know.  He no longer knew the New Testament from the Old Testament but someone gave him a sermon on cassette tape taken from Isaiah 40:31. “They who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up wings like Eagle Wings.  They shall run and not be tired.  They shall walk and not faint.” God was making George a promise, renewed strength. 

The American eagle is a symbol of independence and strength.  But that picture of patriotism didn’t fit what George’s heart was seeking.  In his mind’s eye, eagle flight was the strength of youth, flying with great speed.  God was going to give George the strength of his youth. 

George visualized an eagle in the cleft of a rock, waiting for the right wind.  Then it gathers its strength, mounts up its wings and throws itself upon the sovereign wind and rests upon that transport:  upheld by the sovereign wind. Even as the eagle works (fishing), it rests on the unseen wind.  The Lord was saying to George that He would teach him to live and work, resting on the unseen, but mighty Sovereign Holy Spirit.

“You shall run and not be tired.”  Midlife, tired and battered by the course of his life, when George could no longer fly with the speed of an eagle, God would present work and George would not tire from it.  God had promised George that He would grant a serious work which would require courage, and that the strength it would take would be there so that George would not “faint”.

Soon after the comfort and challenge of this promise, Mike Anthony pulled George to the basketball court and forced him to play.  Most of the time was spent laying on the floor heaving for air.  But flying strength returned and full court basketball was enjoyed.  The strength of his youth had returned.  Then a gall bladder burst and the flying days were over.  Now he would have to walk for a while.

Got prepares just the right work for His servants.  Garden Baptist Church of the deaf called and wanted George to fill the pulpit.  He knew he still was not in any shape to put a sermon together, but he accepted the invitation.  After realizing sign language was involved, George stated that he did not have a right to speak to them because he knew nothing about deafness.  He also told them of his hospitalization, and the congregation shed tears of compassion. George was asked to be their pastor until they could find one. 

After four years as pastor of Garden Baptist church for the deaf, George, having learned much from this tender congregation, moved on to form Eagle Wing Ministries. They had provided a safe place for him to regain strength.  Now it was time for Eagle Wing service.

Since that beginning in 1994 George has spoken before Parliament in Russia, stood with President Moi of Kenya on CNN, delivered over two million dollar’s worth of medical supplies to Kenya, and now plans are being made to go to the Sudan where 21 years of civil war has ended.  The Sudan is calling for 1,000 preachers to teach them how to live without butchering one another.  George feels the calling to be a part of that outreach.

Many years have come and gone since George felt like he was finished as a useful servant, but he now plays full court basketball with seven of the finest hoopers around:  Bender, Craig, Bruno, Kevin, Gary, Carl, and Jay Bird are all about 20 years younger than George.  George asked the Lord why he had to run with such young men.  The Lord replied, “Because at your age, if you don’t run, rigor mortis will set in.”

 

Bender and Craig are so big they caused George to have a nightmare.  He dreamed a freight train was running over him and as he looked up the headlights were Bender and Craig.

In the providence of God these men are taking George through boot camp for the battle in the Sudan.  He will need determination, strength, and the recall of a promise.  “You shall walk and not faint.” 

“It takes grit to run with these men,” George says.  “They are part of the preparation of courage to minister in the Sudan.  Every day I am able to get up and face down the unwillingness of my body to be obedient to the challenges of the game . . . I gain strength to take on other challenges.  My mind, my spirit, and my body are all increasing in the obedience and discipline it takes to overcome the darkness within myself and the darkness within this world.  I want to be open to receive from my Savior the strength not to back down but to put myself in the face of defeat and terror and poverty and spiritual bleakness.”

May God be pleased to carry George as he leaps from the rock, wings unfurled and all caution to the wind, throwing himself into the heights of God’s grace, mercy, and calling.