I woke up this morning (September 22, 2025) with a new and amazing energy to be an “Evangelist”.

Yes, it comes from watching the five-hour Charlie Kirk memorial event yesterday afternoon. I sat for five hours and barely moved. Some of the afternoon was what I expected, but there were surprises- almost all good ones.

Keep in mind that my own father was a real evangelist. Ford Philpot was on fire when he met the Lord in 1947 at age 30 and never stopped preaching until his heart gave way at age 74. As a little boy in the 1950s, my dad was a hero to me. He travelled the country, preaching over 300 nights a year. He and my mother lived in a small trailer that they pulled everywhere, hoping to save souls as they went. He was unafraid. He led thousands to Christ during his lifetime. It happened in tents, churches, stadiums, offices, and golf courses. Billy Graham had made ‘evangelist’ a good word, an honorable profession. So did my dad.

But somewhere along the way, the word “Evangelist” became a dirty word. Scandals from certain preachers dirtied the “E” word. Jets, the prosperity gospel, and money and sex scandals muddied the water. By the time my father died in 1992, no one in their right mind would want to be called an “Evangelist”.

Indeed, when I was a State Senator in the 1990s, the local media would use the word to let the public know that they should beware me and my conservative politics. Quite often, if the local paper wanted to minimize me, the article would start with something like this. “Senator Tim Philpot, son of evangelist Ford Philpot…” and on and on they would go, knowing that the “E” word would taint all my opinions into oblivion. I was the victim of editorial cartoons that always put a halo over my head, since I openly declared that Jesus was Lord. The halo in the cartoons was made out of a coat-hanger, since I was also vocal that killing babies in the womb was horrific. And so, the “E” word was turned against me.

But maybe that is changing. Charlie Kirk was referred to often yesterday as, first and foremost, an “evangelist”. Yes, he was a political figure, but mostly he was boldly declaring the truth of Jesus Christ.

I texted this message to a friend during the Charlie Kirk memorial: “Notice how the word ‘evangelist’ may be making a comeback from decades of disdain.”

I followed that with “Revival and evangelists making a comeback!”

The word Evangelist is seldom found in the Bible. Paul told Timothy to “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Timothy 4:5 ESV). Interestingly, the more modern Bible translators in the New Living Translation avoided the word “evangelist” and said “Work at telling others the Good News”.

Reading that made me wonder if even the Bible translators hadn’t maybe decided that the “E” word was hurting more than it helped.

But then, in the book of Acts, we find one of the original seven deacons, known as “Philip the Evangelist” (Acts 21:8 NLT). Even the NLT translators decided not only to leave in the “E” word, but they also capitalized it. Philip the Evangelist. He seems to be the only person whose Biblical title includes the “E” word.

Yesterday, I was especially happy that the opening messages at the Memorial came from friends who knew the real Charlie Kirk. Their message was clear that Charlie was a Jesus man first and foremost. After two hours, I even told my wife that I wished they would sing a song and shut it down because the Politicians would now surely get up and turn the Memorial into a very uncomfortable political event.

But I was wrong. The famous speakers who took the stage for the final two hours ramped up the Gospel message.

Oh my. Did you hear Tucker Carlson talking about Jesus? It all starts with Repentance, he said. This was not the old Tucker I remember from Fox News days. This was Truth speaking.

And then Marco Rubio delivers one of the clearest Gospel sermons I have ever heard. The Secretary of State was clear as a bell about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth then delivers a Jesus message. Tulsi Gabbard delivers a God Almighty message. And the Vice President, JD Vance, becomes an Evangelist with a capital “E”, making me proud of his Eastern Kentucky hillbilly elegy roots. My dad was from those same hillbilly roots, and now, a man from a poor Breathitt County, Kentucky family is Vice President, and naming the name of Jesus, declaring that Charlie Kirk’s death has taken him into overdrive as an Evangelist himself.

The King of Kings and Lord of Lords was lifted high throughout the five-hour marathon. Even Donald Trump Junior was naming the name of Jesus. The last piece of this puzzle will be the day, which I may now have faith to believe is possible, that our President bows his knee and confesses with sincerity that Jesus is Lord. His pride stops him short, it seems, but I can almost see it coming.

I read Streams in the Desert daily. Written in 1926 by Lettie Cowman, this lady seems to know what’s happening in our world 100 years later. Her devotional for September 21 is all about what she calls the “Law of the Kingdom”, which is found in this harvest season: life comes from Death.

Her devotional for this September 21 even ends with the word “Martyr”. Listen to Lettie:

This is the happy season of ripening cornfields, of the merry song of the reapers, of the secured and garnered grain. But let me hearken to the sermon of the field. This is its solemn word to me. You must die in order to live. You must refuse to consult your own case and well-being. You must be crucified, not only in desires and habits which are sinful, but in many more which appear innocent and right. If you would save others, you cannot save yourself. If you would bear much fruit, you must be buried in darkness and solitude.

My heart fails me as I listen. But, when Jesus asks it, let me tell myself that it is my high dignity to enter into the fellowship of His sufferings; and thus I am in the best of company. And let me tell myself again that it is all meant to make me a vessel meet for His use. His own Calvary has blossomed into fertility, and so shall mine.

Plenty out of pain, life out of death: is it not the law of the Kingdom?

Do we call it dying when the bud bursts into flower?

"Finding, following, keeping, struggling,
Is He sure to bless?
Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,
Answer, 'Yes."'

Lettie Cowman wrote all this in 1926- the Law of the Kingdom is “plenty out of pain, life out of death….. the bud has burst into a flower.”

So I scribble one more thought, which will hopefully come into view more clearly in the days ahead. Indeed, I finish this around 5pm on Monday September 22 and it seems like several conversations today included Jesus. The whole world is talking about the Charlie Kirk memorial. Jesus was discussed with a young “geek” at Best Buy, and a grocery store clerk, and all over the internet and TV.

Messages are flooding in from India that Erica Kirk’s forgiveness of the killer has gone Viral in obscure Indian languages and remote villages. Jesus came to die and forgive! The world is hearing the real heartbeat of Christian faith.

Erica quoted the words of Jesus: “Thy Will Be Done, Thy Kingdom Come”. This truth is being heard by millions, dare I say Billions?

I am now 74. How do I wish to be known? The time is short.

When Virginia Robinson met Ford Philpot in 1939, neither of them were Christians. Dad was starting into a life of alcoholism, all leading to a powerful conversion experience in 1947, four years before I was born. When they met, everyone was calling my dad “Phil”- a nickname which makes perfect sense for a Philpot. She called him “Phil” to the day he died. He even signed all his war-time love letters, “Love, Phil”.

So, I am Timothy. Not sure why my parents wanted a Timothy. But here I am. How well I remember how much I hated that name in the first grade when my teacher, Mrs. Corbett, insisted on calling me Timothy. My friends and family called me Timmy. I never really like either one. But now, with over 70 years of life in the rear view mirror, I like my name.

Timothy, do the work of an evangelist. Philip the Evangelist is now Philpot the Evangelist. Okay….. there ya go.

I am out of the closet. I like my name and I like my title. I am stuck with it and I like it.

I am Timothy Philpot the Evangelist. Do all the cartoons you like.