by Tom Goodman
In 1903, a twenty-eight-year-old Methodist preacher named Jesse Lee arrived in Groveton, Texas, for his first pastoral assignment.
More than a century later, I built my new novel, Through Many Dangers, around what happened to him there.
The historical record is thin, so I changed his name to Rick Burleson and created much of the world around him. But the few facts history left us gave me the spine of my novel. Let me share those facts.
During Lee’s brief ministry there, thirteen murders were committed, ten of them assassinations. Illegal saloons operated openly despite the county’s ban on alcohol. Law enforcement was weak. Lee began naming the corruption from his pulpit.
That made enemies.
His church and parsonage burned to the ground in what was widely regarded as arson. Lee happened to be out of town at the time, meeting with his presiding elder about moving his family somewhere safer.
When word reached him that the fire had taken nearly everything they owned, Lee made his decision.
He went back.
The sheriff deputized him so he could legally carry a pistol. Lee carried it everywhere, sometimes laying it on the pulpit while he preached.
But the most important thing he carried back to Groveton may have been courage.
His resolve spread. Citizens hired a private detective to gather evidence against the illegal saloons. When the detective was murdered, ordinary townsmen—clerks, accountants, lawyers, grocers—decided they would no longer be intimidated. They came together and smashed the saloons one after the other.
Historian Flora Bowles later wrote, “A reign of lawlessness was outlawed by a band of law-abiding citizens in an unlawful manner ... and from that day to the present, Groveton has never been the lawless community that it was before.”
Jesse Lee’s story reminds me of Gideon.
When we first meet Gideon in Judges 6, he isn’t leading anybody. He’s hiding from the Midianites. Even after God calls him a “mighty warrior,” Gideon has questions and fears.
But after just one small act of brave obedience, the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him, and Gideon blows a trumpet to rally others to his side.
The frightened man found his courage. Then other people found theirs.
That is what intrigued me most about Jesse Lee and what made me want to tell a story about him.
I'm a pastor, but I didn’t write Through Many Dangers to deliver a sermon. A novel has to entertain. Still, this idea stayed with me as I wrote: when one person finds the courage to act, that courage can spread.
Jesse Lee discovered something Gideon had learned centuries earlier: God often begins with one person willing to act before anyone else is ready.
That person does not have to be fearless. Gideon wasn’t, and Jesse Lee had plenty of reasons to leave Groveton behind. But when one person decides that fear will not have the last word, such courage has a way of finding company.
Available Now!
You can order a signed copy directly from me or unsigned copies at booksellers everywhere.
If you read ebooks, the Kindle version is on sale for $1.99 from now until October 24. It's also in Kindle Unlimited for a time.
And since we're right in the middle of Pastor Appreciation Month, why not give your pastor a book about a pastor and his wife who went through many dangers!
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