Fields continues efforts to win souls to Christ
Published 12:42 am Saturday, October 17, 2015
Lear Hill C.O.G.I.C. Pastor, Supt. Leslie Fields, said he always has a fight on his hands trying to lead lost souls to Christ.
On Oct. 11, Fields and his wife, Joyce, celebrated 25 years with the church, located in Clifton. Pastor John Armstrong, of Deliverance Temple C.O.G.I.C. in Kentwood, was guest speaker.
Fields said God’s calling years ago was too strong to resist. He said sin is every human’s battle.
“I was summoned by God to preach,” he said. “The fight I had was the same fight God had in that we were captive in sin and God had to get us out of captivity. God sent His son to set us free. That is the fight I have against sin.”
Elder Leslie Fields
“Sin is in every individual,” he said. “The first fight of every individual is with himself because everybody has sin.”
Fields has also led Holy Temple C.O.G.I.C. in Varnado for 28 years. Both Lear’s Hill and Holy Temple are small congregations. He said he was very familiar with the sinful life before he got his calling.
“Before leading Holy Temple, I was nowhere. I was working at the paper mill and just playing music,” Fields said. “I was playing rock and roll and blues and sang quartet. Then the Lord called me to the ministry and I let the blues go.”
“It was a feeling I just couldn’t get rid of,” Fields said. “I said ‘yes’ to the call. As long as I said ‘no,’ it was a heavy pressure. When I gave up my friends the pressure would leave me. When I got by myself, the pressure would come back.
“He wouldn’t let me go. It was like Moses when he told Pharaoh to let his people go. Everything he tried didn’t work. Moses’ fight was a sin fight. It wasn’t an easy task for Moses. Most of our church members have pharaohs in their lives. Preachers have to tell their people about the sin life. It’s not an easy task, but it has to be done.”
Now at 70, Fields said he attended church when he was younger for all the wrong reasons.
“In my younger days, I went to Baptist and Methodist churches,” he said. “I was smiling at all the little girls and wasn’t worried about church.”
Fields said the message is clear.
“If I want amazing grace, I had to leave the sin life alone,” he said. “It’s hard to tell somebody what they don’t want to hear. It’s hard to lead a horse to water if they don’t want to drink. That’s the fight I have of being a pastor.”
