His full-time ministry began with Rural Bible Missions
where he served as the camp director of a year round
camp. The camp had hundreds of kids participating
each week and he was privileged to lead several
hundred to Christ during his tenure.
By now he had found his wife for life, Elaine
(they've been married 33 years), and returned to seminary
for additional training. As Baptists the Bible was
very important to their faith and Doug and Elaine
memorized many Scriptures which they called forth in
their music and preaching ministry. One of the important
passages they memorized was Isaiah 58 which
speaks boldly of the Sabbath. They pondered it in light
of their strong Baptist tradition of Sunday observance,
but could come to no satisfying resolution. For years
they would revisit the issue and felt convicted by it,
but it would remain in their minds an unresolved contradiction.
Nevertheless, a seed had been planted, but
some seeds, even those that may have been planted
by God, can take years to germinate.
Doug remembers other Sabbath seed-planting
events occurring when he was a boy. He had a great
grandmother who frequently prayed over him and laid
hands on him. She would pray that God would use
little Doug in His service. Doug knew that grandma
Hershberger was a Seventh Day Adventist and celebrated
the Sabbath, but never attached any significance
to the event until many years later.
His Baptist parents use to listen to Oral Roberts
and a show sponsored by a Sabbath-keeping group while they dressed for church on Sunday. They would frequently
make light of them, however, the Sabbath-keeping group show's positive presentation of the Sabbath may have been
another of those seeds dropped along life's path.
Following his return to seminary, Doug received
an invitation from his pastor brother-in-law in Sequim
on Washington's Olympic Peninsula to join him as an
associate pastor. Elaine and Doug then moved west to
open a new chapter in their ministry.
His ministry then carried him to Seattle and then on
to Arizona. All the while he was preaching, conducting
Bible studies, counseling and searching the Scriptures
for God's will for himself and his family which along
the way had increased to seven children. During this
time he was becoming more involved in the charismatic
movement and accepted an offer to pastor a group in
Aberdeen, Washington and to start a Christian school.
A Mystery Lady
Later he accepted a call to pastor an Assembly of
God church and the day they left for his new post something
strange happened. The Howard family was traveling
with two U-Haul trucks and a trailer and stopped
for gas at a busy gas station and store in Marysville,
Washington. Coming out of the store to meet them
was a little lady who said, "I don't know who you guys
are or what I'm doing, but God told me to come over
here and tell you that he is going to raise you up in the
end days to help reestablish the Sabbath."
Doug said, "These were strange words to a Baptist
boy, a charismatic boy, and we all just looked at each
other. Of course, Elaine and I had been struggling with
this Sabbath question almost all our married life, but
we just laughed it off thinking this was one strange
lady." They continued their trip and for the next few
years he ministered in an Assembly of God congregation
on Washington's southern coast.
Doug's association with the Assembly of God denomination
ended after attending one of their world
conference meetings. In front of forty-four thousand
people the denomination's newly elected leader stated
that "if you don't speak in tongues you are not saved."
Doug and Elaine had heard this thought expressed
many times in charismatic circles, and they believed
the statement unbiblical. They had also been questioning
the biblical validity of their denomination's tongues
doctrine. But this point-blank declaration by the head
of the denomination settled the matter for them. They
loved the Assembly of God people, but felt moved to
begin an independent Christian ministry.
The Sabbath Question Again
The Howard family then moved to Kalispell, Montana
to begin another phase of their ministry which
was progressively becoming a family affair. The
Howards are a musical family, they all sing, some play
instruments, and music had become a large part of
their ministry. In Kalispell Doug began a three-hour
radio program called The Howard Family Talk Show
which proved to be very successful. The entire family
was involved in the program and each was wired up
with microphones so they could respond to questions
and make comments.
On one radio program a caller asked if they believed
in the Ten Commandments. They responded that
they did, to which the caller then came back, "Well,
what about the Fourth Commandment, what is your
belief on the Sabbath?" Doug responded, "Now there
is a good question to take up on another day."
When Doug and his family got home from the radio
studio they realized they must settle this Sabbath
question once and for all. For the next three to four
months they had family Bible studies on the Sabbath.
They decided they would get no outside books or articles,
just the Bible and a concordance and see if they
could find God's will on the matter. As a family they
looked up and pondered every verse that had anything
to do with the Sabbath. They were becoming convinced
and convicted that the evidence pointed to the seventh
day as God's Sabbath.
A Rare Moment
Three months into their single subject family Bible
study project, Doug recalls, "Out of the blue my son
Nathan reminded us of what happened with that lady
coming up to us at the gas station in Marysville, pointing
to us and saying God was going to use us to help
reestablish the Sabbath." "Sometimes in life there occurs a rare and important moment," Doug reflected,
"and this was one of them."
"We all looked at each other and I felt that the
power of God had come down upon us and we all
began to weep! Through our studies digging into Scripture
—on one occasion for sixteen straight hours—all of a
sudden it hit us that the Sabbath was important to
God and precious to Him. We repented in tears."
That moment in the year 2000 was a major turn in the
road for Doug and his family. Following their decision to
embrace God's Sabbath Doug had fellow pastors, past
associates and friends turn against him. Doug remembers
one pastor in particular who was a leader in the Missionary
Fellowship International headquartered in Portland,
Oregon. This pastor offered him a job on the following
condition: "Doug, if you deny the Sabbath and not preach
it I can get you in churches all over America."
"I said to him, ‘buy the truth and sell it not.' After
what our family had been through there was no way we
were going to deny the Sabbath. But those days became
a time of testing for us as people were calling us like
crazy. In the Kalispell area word of our change to the
Sabbath spread like wildfire. I had pastors from around
the country calling asking questions, and teachers from
two seminaries called to confirm the rumors. I guess it
was an unusual thing to have a pastor and his whole
family take such a bold step as changing their day of
worship. Actually, two of our seven children are not practicing
Sabbatarians, but they are active Christians."
Enter the Bible Sabbath Association
Once convinced of the Sabbath, a challenge before
the Howard family was where to fellowship. All
past associations were openly disapproving of their new
stand. Doug remembers that one of their first actions
he took was to check out the internet for Sabbath information.
It was there he discovered The Bible Sabbath Association (BSA).
For the next several months the Howards daily
logged onto BSA's web site until they had read everything
on it. Doug printed out articles,
ordered a few books and used those materials for regular
family Bible studies for an entire year. Doug said
the BSA website kept the Howard family from feeling
alone.
A Family Affair
Having counseled with many pastors over the years
Doug noticed that all too many had children who had
rejected the faith—they lost their own kids. "I believe
God showed me some of his wisdom. I call it the Moses
Factor. I learned that I must take my kids with me on
the journey. Don't go so fast you leave them behind in
the desert. Slow down, be patient, and take them with
you every step of the way by involving them in the study
process. It is the way we still function as a family."
I (the writer) asked Doug how people have responded to him
these past six years since he embraced the Sabbath.
He said he has used care in sharing his convictions, not
wanting to have a precious truth of God stepped upon.
It apparently has paid dividends since many people
have called asking how he and his family can actually
do this. He responds, "If you understand the meaning
of the Sabbath day, you'll realize that is one-seventh
of your life committed to God in a special way! It
touches your family in profoundly positive ways and
your family will never be the same."
Recently a contractor was working on his house and
overheard some family conversation and asked, "Do you
and your family really observe the Sabbath? How do
you do it"? The guy, who was a father of four or five
children, asked many more questions and was both
impressed and confused. Doug looked him in the eyes
and said, "I believe that God may be calling you to also
understand the Sabbath. And if he is, it will be one of
the most interesting and exciting journeys of your entire
life! God is planting a seed that may change your
life." Doug said countless times he has carefully chosen
what seemed like the right moment to share similar
words with interested friends and acquaintances.
The Howard's regular Sabbath Bible studies are
now attended by many interested people drawn in by
word of mouth or personal invitation. The study just
outgrew the house and has moved into their heated
garage.
What's Ahead?
Like most families, the Howards have had their share
of problems and challenges—health, jobs, financial—but
God has seen them through. Because of job and Sabbath problems
several family members have joined to establish their own
successful cleaning business. The children of Elaine and
Doug all deserve mention as they are so much a part of
this remarkable journey. They are (from oldest to youngest):
Paul, Rebecca, Nathan, Phillip, Bethany, Rachael, and
John Mark. The Howards are also proud grandparents of
10 grandchildren with more on the way.
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