American Nomads Page #4

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known as snowbirds.

'They're white-haired and

they migrate south in winter

'to these warm, dry deserts and they

make their way slowly north again

'when the deserts get too hot.

'They drop in on their grandchildren

once or twice a year.

'They've really untethered

themselves

'from family, responsibility,

any obligations at all. '

I feel a bit envious

of these snowbirds.

It seems so damn pleasant,

sitting on your lawn chair.

In that winter sun,

nothing much to do all day.

See your friends,

look forward to cocktail hour.

They seem extraordinarily content.

'I've heard that a travelling

preacher has just arrived.

'I've never met one before, but I've read

about them in novels and history books

'and they always sounded like

strange and intriguing characters.

'He's pitched his tent on the edge

of town and agreed to meet me

'in his motorhome.

His name is Joe Ferguson. '

Hello, inside. Come in. All right.

Come right on in. All right.

I'm 71 years old. I got saved at 37.

God taught me for eight years

before I done anything.

Praise the Lord. And at 44 years old,

I started in the tent ministry.

Praise the Lord.

My wife went home to be with

the Lord in January of 2010.

The 13th of January.

So I've been alone just over a year,

but I've never backed off.

I just keep on trucking.

This right here is a mansion,

compared to what we started out in.

When my wife and I went on the road,

we had a 21-foot trailer.

We lived in that trailer...

..with a wife and a young boy,

home-schooling him

and we lived in that

for seven and a half years.

What you see is what I am.

The most gorgeous

white and purple tent,

and it's beautiful, it's gorgeous.

But everything you see

has been given to us.

It's by the hand of God.

We do probably 250-300 meetings

a year for the past 20 years

and I am still as on fire,

even maybe more so,

than I was in the beginning.

Because the Lord said,

the latter house will be

greater than the former.

You know what's good?

For brethren to dwell together.

And I am so glad that the Lord

drew you here tonight.

Reach over and tell somebody,

you're not here by chance.

You're here by opportunity.

Praise the Lord. Glory be to Him.

'The travelling tent ministry

is an American institution that

'arose in the 19th century in

response to a transient population

'on the frontiers.

'It made no sense for a preacher

to build himself a church

'when the souls he wanted

to save were on the move.

'When the next boomtown

might spring up anywhere

'and go bust just as quickly.

'So preachers started

travelling with tents.

'Some of them were hucksters,

dispensing snake oils

'and using shills in the audience

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