hen Manuel Clay died on June 30, 2008, he was remembered for his love of witnessing. He particularly loved to hand out a little tract called “An Hour With Your Bible.” With tract in hand, Manuel often told the story of his encounters with God.

He recalled being a small child in Mississippi, still in diapers, standing in the dusty road and seeing a tall man walking toward him. The stranger gave Manuel a penny and said, “Son, always remember God.”

That memory stayed with Manuel when he ran away from home at the age of 9 to find his mother after his parents separated. He found her in St. Louis, and in the process met the well-known literature evangelist Bob White. Manuel accepted the three angels’ messages and brought both his mother and his sister into the church.

After attending Oakwood Academy, Manuel joined the military. During his time in the service he left the church and remained away for 18 years.

The Prodigal Returns
One day Manuel was driving a large commercial truck. At an intersection his eyes met those of a childhood church friend, who was standing at a bus stop. He quickly parked the truck and approached her to catch up. She invited him to attend a nearby tent meeting.

He angrily refused her invitation. Yet inexplicably, several days later, he found himself parking across the street from the tent. He then had an experience so amazing he told only a few people:

“As soon as I stepped on the gravel outside the tent, I had a dream or a vision; I can’t explain what it was,” he said. “I saw myself seated in a chair with chains wrapped all around me. I was struggling to get loose, but I couldn’t move. As I struggled I saw a hideous being walking around me, pointing and laughing. I felt terrible anguish and fear. I was sweating and twisting in my chair. It was a terrible feeling. I knew that I had committed terrible sins. I felt frightened and hopeless.

“Then another tall, hooded figure appeared. His face was shrouded. I heard him say, ‘Loose him! Loose him! He belongs to me!’ Immediately my chains fell off. I jumped to my feet and shouted, ‘Yes, Lord, I’ll give up drinking, I’ll give up smoking, I’ll give it all up. I’ll serve You till I die!’

“I came to myself embarrassed, sure that everyone must be looking at me because of the spectacle I had made of myself. But as I looked around the tent no one was paying any attention to me. The service was proceeding; no one else had heard or seen a thing. I sank down into the nearest chair. I wanted the evangelist, Stephen Lewis, to hurry and finish the sermon and get to the appeal. I was afraid to wait another moment to make my commitment. I was scared of what would happen when I left the tent.

“When the evangelist failed to make the appeal, I was angry. I rushed up to the front, telling him he should have made the appeal, I was waiting for the appeal, I needed to come forward. I’m sure he was startled. Lewis assured me that God had marked my stand. I never forgot that night. I didn’t tell many people. First of all, because it was so precious to me; second, because I didn’t think people would believe an experience like that would come to such a humble person and bad sinner as I was.”

An Everyday Witness
For the next 40 years Manuel kept his promise to give himself to the Lord. He was the first elder of three Adventist churches in the St. Louis area: Park Avenue, Agape, and Trinity churches. He helped found Trinity, a lay effort in rural St. Louis.* He also founded the Bible Answer Crusade radio program, established the Agape Church Health Food Store, and spearheaded the drive for Agape’s choir and first grand piano.

Manuel remained a modest man, often pushing forward an idea but stepping back because he felt unqualified to complete it. He felt most comfortable witnessing and passing out his favorite tract.

Manuel lived on a street he named “God’s Way.” He often got in his pickup and drove down back roads looking for someone outside working, so he could stop and give them a copy of “An Hour With Your Bible.” When he died following a long illness, his wife found 15 or 20 of his favorite tracts in his personal belongings, probably for his caregivers.

When she found them, Manuel’s wife felt compelled to finish passing out these few tracts. Then his son found 30 or 40 tracts in the basement with Manuel’s books. The two laughed and said Manuel must have ordered 50 before he became ill. A daughter drove his car to her home in Atlanta. A few days later she called and reported finding three or four bundles of tracts in the glove box of the car. The family thought maybe he had ordered 100. At first it was a game; then it became an obsession to give away those tracts.

Manuel’s son reported stopping at service stations to leave tracts in the restrooms. Manuel’s daughter took some to her church in Atlanta. Manuel’s wife left tracts at the airport and the grocery store. But no matter how fast and furiously they passed them out, more copies of “An Hour With Your Bible” kept appearing—in an old briefcase, under a pile of magazines, inside a Bible, under the seat of the car . . . everywhere, it seemed.

At first they thought he must have ordered 200, then 500. Now they’ve just stopped counting; they kept finding them. The family kept on passing them out. One bundle went to a member of another church who began knocking on doors and handing out the tract, carrying on Manuel’s legacy.

A full year after Manuel’s death the tracts kept showing up: in an old jacket pocket, between the pages of a worn copy of The Great Controversy, inside an old church bulletin.

What Better Legacy?
A week before he died Manuel was rushed to the hospital when his wife discovered him unresponsive early one morning. He had been bedridden for several months, but she found him kneeling beside his bed, as if in prayer.

In the hospital he regained consciousness briefly, but eventually lapsed into a coma. His family took him back to his country home, where he was surrounded by family and friends for the last week of his life. Many times his nurses would call the family in when death seemed very near. His family and friends gathered around him to pray, sing, and read the Scriptures.

He finally went peacefully to sleep to await the call of the Life-giver. Perhaps in the earth made new he’ll meet the man from the dusty road in Mississippi who gave him a penny and said, “Son, always remember God.”

At the very least he’ll meet those who came to know Jesus better because they read the tract that he gave them.

________________
*Trinity was featured in an article in the Adventist Review, “The Little Church That Could” (Nov. 14, 2002).

________________
Anita L. Clay, Manuel's widow, is a retired teacher and educational consultant. She lives on God's Way in Robertsville, Missouri. This article was published March 11, 2010.