The Chaplain of Bourbon Street

MY RENEWED LIFE STORY

BOB HARRINGTON, C.S.W.

 

I was born in Sweetwater, AL to Robert and Ludie Harrington. We were good church going people. My mother played the organ at the Methodist church, and we were there every time the doors were open. When I was a boy of nine years, my Grandmother Shoultz and I were at church one Sunday. She encouraged me to join that day because my mother, who was not able to come that morning, "would be proud of me."  So I did, and for 21 years I considered myself a Christian and was a "good church member."

At 30, a very successful insurance man by then, I returned to Sweetwater looking for insurance prospects. There was a revival at the Baptist church, so I decided to attend that night so folks would know I was in town. There were 28 people sitting in the service and turned their heads when "Bobby", coming in late, made the door squeak. The visiting evangelist seemed to be preaching right at me that night, and the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to my need of the Lord in my life through his preaching. At the invitation, I ran down the aisle to give my heart to Jesus and was gloriously saved. Three days later when asked to give my testimony, God called me to preach.

After having served God for many years as Chaplain of Bourbon Street, I began to leave my "First Love" for the Lord. Fame, fortune and frolic got me off the track. I had been on all the major talk shows such as Donahue and Oprah, as well as having my own syndicated TV show across the country. Money got to be no object as the dollars flowed in, and the making of money began to be my focus. I began listening to the young women who bragged on how good I was and looked, and became addicted to their ego boosts. I finally left preaching altogether and went strictly into very successful years as a motivational speaker--finally leaving God completely out of my life. I was miserable; living (existing) on fun and thrills. Little happiness, no joy.

One night while in Los Angeles, CA, I was considering jumping out of a window, when the phone rang and my friend Rex Humbard asked me, "Bro. Bob, aren’t you ready to come back?" I cried, "Yes, I’m so ready!" He then lead me in reading the 51st Psalm and praying David’s prayer of restoration. Suddenly the burden of guilt was lifted and I knew that God had other plans for my life. These years since then have been a growing and rebuilding time for me, and I’m thrilled to say: "I’m back and It’s Still Fun Being Saved!"

December of 1998 was a particularly wonderful time in my life when God gave to my life a wonderful lady named Becky.  We had been acquaintances for nearly 30 years, but when we found each other in August of 1997 after many years, we were both excited as God seemed to draw us together.  We were married on December 5, 1998 at the Grand Palace in Branson, MO.  Now we headquarter on her miniature horse ranch just south of Ft. Worth, TX, from which we continue to travel across the country doing what God called me to do in 1958...preach the Word.