Testimonies which share the Good News message of Christ Jesus have been passed from Christian to Christian for the past two millennia. Every man, woman, and child who has given his or her life to Jesus is connected through the journey to accept the love and forgiveness that comes only from our Savior. Recently at Sagemont Church, members have been encouraged to share their testimonies every second Sunday of the month through their iCONNECT classes. The first testimony shared at the In His Grip iCONNECT, which is a class for families with special needs loved ones, was given by the teacher, Dr. Charles Savelle.
Charles confessed to the group , “I did not grow up in a Christian home. My older sister, younger brother and I grew up in an atheistic home in Northwest Houston where no one believed in God. Our family didn’t go to church on Christmas, not Easter, not ever. We didn’t read the Bible, we never prayed and we didn’t have spiritual conversations.”
He shared that despite his unreligious upbringing he was named Charles Haddon Savelle, Jr. after his father who was named for the influential Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon. “My father’s parents were devout Christians but they very strict and my father rebelled against that. In fact, my grandfather, George Savelle, who died before I was born, completed a Masters of Christian Training at the Baptist Bible Institute of New Orleans, later renamed as New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. ”
When Charles was 17 years old, he became unlikely friends with Alfred, then 16, whom he met at the Burger King where they both worked. Charles shared, “Alfred was the very first “real” Christian that I ever met. I say “real” in the sense of someone living out his or her faith and taking it seriously. I remember that we were both interested in photography. Many photography magazines had some nudity and Alfred would have his mom actually look through and cut out all those pictures before he got the magazine.” Charles chuckled. “As a young man I thought this was bizarre, because that was one reason to read those magazines!”
Eventually, Alfred invited Charles to hear Billy Graham preach. Charles smiled as he recalled, “I did not know who Billy Graham was or what a crusade was, so I initially told Alfred, ‘I don’t want to go to that,’ but Alfred was very persistent and he kept bugging me about it. So to get him to quit bothering me, I finally agreed to go.” It came as no surprise to Charles to find out years later that Alfred had become an attorney in Austin, Texas.
Charles recalled the Billy Graham Crusade at Rice Stadium in 1981 that resulted in hundreds of new believers, “Basically, I didn’t know what I was doing. When people stood up, I stood up, and when they sat down, I sat down. I didn’t know any of the songs. And I don’t remember the sermon or the Biblical passage that was shared. I wish I did, but during the message I came under what I now know as ‘conviction.’ I realized the preacher was talking about me and to me. At the end when they offered the invitation for people to come down to the field to talk with a counselor, I decided that was what I needed to do, but I didn’t know how these things worked.”
Charles had ridden to the crusade on a bus with Alfred and several others. He chuckled as he shared how he turned to Alfred and said to him, “‘I know this event is over but I need to go down there. Don’t leave me.’ Alfred smiled as he assured me that they would wait on me and they did.” Once on the field Charles met a guy who introduced himself as Mike Einkauf. Charles explained, “He shared the simple truth of the Gospel with me. I believed and I gave my life to Christ that night.”
Even though he was “saved,” he was not sure what to do about it. After the crusade he received a letter from Mike, the man who led him to Christ, as well as literature and workbooks from the Billy Graham Association. Charles admitted, “I didn’t know how to do the workbooks. I didn’t know how to pray. I was that clueless. I floundered a bit in my faith.”
The following year, Charles, then 18, graduated from high school and decided that higher education was not for him. On his way to a job fair he saw a man working on his pickup truck in a parking lot and asked him for directions. The man replied, “I don’t know where that job fair is, but I am looking for help.” As it turned out, Randy Walker, owned a small company that built swimming pools. “Randy took me under his wing and really discipled me. He was my first spiritual mentor.” Their spiritual discussions were not held in a classroom or church but instead were in the cab of the truck as they daily drove in Houston traffic to build pools all over the greater Houston area. “It was like I was in disciple school when I was in his truck. He only had one cassette tape that he played over and over. It was Keith Green’s Songs for the Shepherd. When I got married he gave me that cassette.”
Charles attended church for the very first time after Randy invited him to join his church softball team. “I started playing for the church softball team and then I thought, ‘If I am playing for the church then I need to go to this church and at least visit it.’” Not long after he began attending Willow Park Baptist Church. Charles eventually married Kathy in that church and they moved to Garland, Texas. Five years later they had their son Charles III followed by twin girls Amy and Becky.
In Garland, God sent another disciple into Charles’ life. “We were visiting churches and finally landed at Northside Missionary Baptist Church in Garland. Buddy Houston invited us to his Sunday School class which was for people who didn’t go to Sunday School! Buddy took an interest in my life.”
Over the next few years, with Buddy’s encouragement, Charles went from sitting in the back of Sunday School class to doing visitation and even teaching Buddy’s class on occasion. Charles shook his head, “I started teaching a little bit because I felt that it was a way the Lord was using me. In my heart I felt that I should be teaching but this was weird because I didn’t like public speaking. Then the associate pastor gave me a book called Battle For The Bible by Harold Lindell. The basic thesis is that traditional Christian denominations and seminaries no longer affirmed the inerrancy of the Bible. The book was eye-opening to me because I had assumed that every Christian believed the Bible. I was alarmed by this and thought someone ought to teach the inerrancy of the Bible.” Charles smiled as he stated, “That’s when I decided I wanted to be one to do that, but that also meant I was going back to school.”
While holding down a full-time job as a machinist, Charles spent the next 20 years in pursuit of higher education starting at Richland Community College (1989-1994) and Criswell College (1994-1998) where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Biblical Studies. Charles did not stop there. His next 122 hours earned him a Masters of Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary (1998-2003). After Kathy and Charles prayed about it, 2003 was the year he entered full-time ministry and stepped out in faith from his machinist job. “My income for the first year fell to half. I didn’t have a staff position but did different things. God always provided.” Charles earned his doctorate at Dallas Theological Seminary (2004-2013).
After graduation, Charles and Kathy returned to Houston for Charles to teach at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary as Assistant Professor of Bible Exposition. Charles explained, “Bible Exposition is basically explaining and applying scripture. If you do an expository sermon you explain the text and apply it. At Southwestern I am teaching Old Testament Survey and How to Study the Bible.” Part of his teaching duties are fulfilled with the Texas Prison System at the Darrington Unit. Charles and Kathy joined Sagemont Church in August 2015 which is also the church home for several other Southwestern professors. Charles teaches two iCONNECT classes: Soul Support at 8:00 and In His Grip at 9:30.
Three years ago while finishing his doctoral thesis, Charles was looking for some papers and came across the faded handwritten note from the man who led him to Christ at the Billy Graham Crusade 30 years earlier. Charles discovered a phone number he thought might belong to Mike Einkauf. He smiled as he shared how he ended up speaking with Mike’s wife. He explained who he was and said to her, “I just wanted to talk to Mike and thank him.” Charles recalled, “She broke down and said, ‘Mike is going through a tough time and is really struggling. A phone call from you would mean the world to him because he is so down and discouraged.’ I immediately called his cell and told him, ‘Thank you for taking the time to invest in me. Now I am in ministry serving the Lord.’” Charles shrugged his shoulders as he added, “Mike was very happy and encouraged by that. That’s just how God works. I wasn’t looking for Mike’s card, I just happened to find it. That sounds to me like a God thing.”
From atheist to biblical scholar, Charles Savelle’s testimony credits the Lord with his transformation as a direct result of interaction with several godly men who led him to Jesus Christ, guided him and prayed for him and with him. “I am the product of mentoring. The thing that is worth mentioning is that two of the men who mentored me never went to seminary or Bible college. One built swimming pools while the other one hung wallpaper for a living. They were just regular people who cared enough to take an interest me. For that, I am eternally grateful.”
Charles concluded his testimony with this, “I think we should find encouragement in that everyone can mentor somebody. It doesn’t take a seminary or Bible college degree to make a huge difference. What it does take is someone willing to take time and invest in someone’s life.”