Good to the Finish Sample

CHAPTER ONE

WHO ARE THESE HESSELBEINS?

The building was at capacity. Friends and family were all together, sharing a great time

in praise and worship. There was music, singing, sermons, testimony, and recollection.

We were celebrating the life and accomplishments of my Dad, Bishop Pastor Paul

Francis Hesselbein.

Today, I heard countless stories about my Dad. Many tales were humorous, some

inspirational, and all praised his dedication to God, friends, and family. These

emotional memories brought many smiles and tears. Today was indeed a celebration,

but it wasn’t Dad’s birthday, retirement party, or anniversary. You see, today we laid my

dad to rest.

Sorrow was the furthest thing from our minds today. We were sending this faithful

servant off to his reward in that great land of joy and peace. He fought the good fight,

he kept the faith, and now he was claiming the blessed promise of the Lord.

The end of Dad’s earthly journey is not the subject we are exploring here. The purpose

of this tale of faith is to share a story of inspiration, hardship, and reward. This is the

story of a little preacher man and his family from northeast Arkansas who made a great

impact on so many lives: the missionary family of Reverend Paul F. and Annie B.

Hesselbein.

We were—and still are—a close-knit family. The Hesselbeins are a full half-dozen team

of missionaries who spent our lives in the service of God and all those they were sent to

serve. Our road was sometimes rough, sometimes smooth, but never without lessons.

I want to tell you our story. Maybe you’ll get a few laughs, shed a few tears, or find

inspiration. Either way, I hope you’ll be blessed. My name is Kent, the eldest. Next is

Manissa, four years younger. Then there is Christopher, a year younger than Manissa,

and finally LaBreska, the baby of the family, just one year younger than Chris.

My grandfather, Dad’s father, was an old-time, fire-and-brimstone Assembly of God

preacher. Poppa, as we called him, was a large German man with a deep, booming

voice. When he spoke, sang, or walked, he did so with authority and purpose. Poppa,

the Reverend Frank A. Hesselbein, was one of those preachers you were simply afraid

not to listen to. My grandmother, on the other hand, is a slight little woman filled with

vim and vinegar—I mean, vigor! She is a little Dutch woman from a long line of

long-lived people. Dad, well, he was just a smaller, quieter version of his father. Dad

wasn’t a large man, standing barely five feet five inches tall. He didn’t have a large,

booming voice—in fact, he had a nervous stutter—and when he walked, he strolled. But

his presence was equally as large as his father’s.

I don’t know if it was expected that Dad would be a preacher. He, much like us kids,

didn’t have much choice about religion or faith growing up. He was a preacher’s son

and had to learn to act and live as such. So maybe it was just a natural progression, but

either way, God called Dad to preach His word.

Mom was raised in a rather unusual family—unusual for the time, anyway. When she

was nine years old, her biological father died of Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Her

mother, Helen James-Gray, later remarried a wonderful man, Ed T. Wilson. Grandpa

Wilson was an awesome man. Grandma Wilson had four children: Mom, Delmar, Lou

Etta, and Calvin. Grandpa Wilson, a widower, had three: Eddie, Jo Ella, and Danny.

When the couple married, Grandpa took Mom and her siblings as his own, and

Grandma did the same with his children. There was none of this ‘your kids – my kids’

business; it was always “our” kids. Grandma and Grandpa then had one of their own,

Victor, who is only a few years older than I am. Consequently, we grew up more like

brothers than uncle and nephew.

Grandma was often called upon to help out with sick relatives; she was a natural

caregiver. These duties left Mom to tend to her brothers and sister. I truly believe this is

what helped forge the strong, confident individual she became.

The years continued, and the children began to leave or marry off to begin their own

lives. Eddie and Danny moved way up north. Jo Ella died young with cancer. Calvin

married and joined the Army. Delmar ran wild for a while, then married and settled

down. Lou Etta married George Malin, who was stationed at the Blytheville Air Force

Base. Victor grew up, married, and moved to Kentucky. And Mom... she met and

married Dad.

On July 29, 1963, Paul and Annie were married, beginning a partnership that would

endure for forty-six years. This union brought four children, thus completing the clan. It

took eight years to build this group.

I was born on July 4, 1964, and was the first trial for Mom and Dad. When I was born,

doctors discovered I had a condition called situs inversus totalus—a condition where all

the internal organs are mirror-imaged. Basically, all my organs are on the wrong side.

Manissa was born June 24, 1968, and things didn’t seem quite right with her, either. It

took several years to discover, but she had been born nearly deaf because the small

organs of her inner ear did not develop past the fetal stage. A later surgery corrected the

problem, but Manissa would become almost completely deaf again by the time she was

thirty-five. Christopher was born on December 24, 1969, the picture of perfect health; he

hardly ever had any illness growing up. LaBreska was born January 28, 1971. She was

reasonably healthy but had a deformity that affected her fingers—not grossly

misshapen, just a little crooked. Sadly, LaBreska grew up to suffer from Crohn’s Disease

and crippling arthritis.

MISSIONARIES?

When the term “missionary” is used, the typical impression is of a minister traveling

into foreign, savage lands to spread the Word of God. What too many fail to recognize is

that spreading the Gospel is the missionary’s work, regardless of geography. Much of

the missionary work undertaken today is right here at home, hence the term, “home

missions.” The Hesselbeins were home missionaries.

Looking back through time, we know that missionary work was the way the Gospel

was initially spread throughout the world. The twelve Disciples of Christ were

missionaries; Jesus himself was a missionary. He was actually one of the first “home

missionaries,” as he never truly left his home region during his ministry. Granted, there

were missionaries abroad, the Apostle Paul being one who traveled far from his home.

The unwilling missionary, Jonah, was carried to his mission in the belly of the whale.

Elijah and Elisha also carried the Word of God in their respective times.

Dad knew this was his calling. He was meant to spread the Word of God to the unsaved

souls scattered throughout the rural areas of Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee. This is

the mission upon which he embarked—he and his little band of genetically bound

followers.