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TYLER?When Dale Perry, pastor of Friendly Baptist Church in Tyler, got word in 1995 that he had Hepatitis C, an incurable disease which can only be slowed by a liver transplant, he thought there were three possible outcomes and was willing face any of those three, whichever would bring God the most glory.
However, God brought about an unforeseen fourth outcome that has brought more glory to God than even Perry had imagined.
“When I was diagnosed, I prayed and asked God to be glorified in this,” Perry said. He contracted the disease more than 26 years ago likely resulting from his lifestyle prior to his salvation in 1978.
“I had three possible outcomes: I knew God could miraculously heal me and I prayed for that. I also knew that I could have a liver transplant or third, I knew I could die. If that brought God the most glory, I was ready for him to take me home.”
For eight years following his diagnosis, Perry’s health stayed remarkably good, amazing the doctors. He attributed his relatively good health to prayer after he told the church of his illness nearly nine years ago. A layman in the church, Jim Cox, initiated a 24-hour a day prayer wall for Perry and other needs in the church, a prayer ministry and community-wide prayer phone line which are still in operation.
Last year, however, Perry learned he needed a liver transplant. On Aug. 19, he got the call that a liver matching his rare AB blood type was available and he had a just a few hours to get to Dallas’ Baylor Medical Center for transplant surgery.
Perry came through the nearly five-hour surgery well and by the end of August, he seemed headed for recovery.
Internally, however, the main artery which supplied blood to the liver had become 100 percent clogged, causing part of his new liver to suffer irreparable damage. On Saturday, Sept. 13, he was readmitted to the hospital and the next day, doctors told Perry and his wife, Mitzi, “It’s terminal. There is not anything more we can do.”
By Sunday evening, the church learned their pastor’s situation and began praying. Assistant Pastor Pat Alvey, a staff member at Friendly for nearly 20 years, went to Dallas at Perry’s request to help with funeral plans.
Soon, ministerial staff and their wives came to Dallas. Perry told them how much he loved them.
“When I lost my new liver, it was the lowest time for us, and especially for Mitzi. It was during this time that Mitzi came to me and said, ‘Dale, the Lord’s not hearing my prayers.’ I told her ‘Mitzi, he is.’
Perry thought God was going to glorify himself not with healing or a successful liver transplant, but in his passing.
He began to examine whether his salvation experience on
“I remember seeing Mitzi and the nurse crying together, holding each other. I began to think, ‘Lord, is salvation real?’ I came to the bottom line of my faith.
“The truth is, after all my years of preaching, I stripped all of that away when they told me that there was no hope. I began to go back. I looked at my life. I remember laying there in that bed, looking up saying, ‘God, did I just have an emotional experience? Was it real? Did I really give my life to Jesus Christ? Did I really accept him as my Lord and Savior?’ I wanted to know that.”
Perry later told Friendly Baptist Church that his “bottom line faith” test revealed the Scriptural truth that during those times, God’s Spirit bears witness that we are children of God. “Now, I’m a preacher,” Perry said Nov. 23, his first time back in the pulpit since August. “I read this Book every day. I got down to the bottom line. I wanted to know, ‘Do I know for sure that I’m a child of God?’ I knew I was fixing to meet him.
“That’s when God’s Spirit takes over. God’s Spirit bears witness with your spirit that you are a child of God. Mitzi couldn’t tell me I was saved. My children couldn’t tell me I was saved. Only God can. God settled in. He just reassured me through the power of the Holy Spirit that lived within me that I was saved.”
Mitzi said when her husband lost the first liver she went through a time when she couldn’t pray, couldn’t read her Bible and couldn’t even concentrate. She asked for God to give them a sign to help her through this all-consuming period when he was in ICU.
Within days, a man came in who looked good and healthy, and told Mitzi “Don’t give up hope. A year ago, I looked like that (pointing to Perry), and as a matter of fact I was even worse.” She said that at that point, she broke down and thanked God for giving her hope.
Remembering his and Mitzi’s lowest points, Perry says when they each hit the end of themselves,
