Waites said it is time for the church to “rise up boldly and proclaim the goodness of God and the wrath of God.” He quoted from John 3:16, dwelling on the phrase, “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
“It’s a charge in my life,” said Waites, “in my mind, in my heart and in my belly to proclaim that one as loudly as I possibly can, and I will not back down from it. I will not be told to shut up or sit down.”
Waites went on to perform the song, “Whiskey Drinking Preacher,” which he said was an important song, even though it has been considered too Christian for the secular world and too secular for Christian world.
After closing with “It Is Well With My Soul,” Waites helped to baptize his friend, Jack Tumlinson. When Pastor Nathan Martin asked if there were any congregants who wanted to respond to Waites’ message by committing their lives to Jesus, several people raised their hands.
At the end of the service, Waites was awarded a key to the city of Ball, and Ball’s mayor, Gail Wilking, declared July 31 to be “Ben Waites Day.”
“If I could leave ya’ll with anything,” said Waites during his message, “it would be hope, the assurance that if you’re under the blood of Jesus, you’ve been bought, paid for and the chains of sin no longer have a hold on your life.”
