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The Rev. Billy S. Martin of Kernersville shows no sign of slowing after 61 years as a minister. The Reidsville native is still in demand to lead evangelistic meetings, pastors’ conferences, prayer meetings and other services.

At age 76, he still speaks at least 40 weeks each year. He preaches throughout the U.S. and has held a variety of services in more than 40 countries. Most of his meetings are at least a week long. Martin has been to some foreign countries 10 to 12 times and has held citywide meetings in several South American cities.

All of those opportunities to proclaim the Christian message and to assist other pastors — even young ministers fresh out of Bible colleges — Martin attributes to “God being so good” to open doors of opportunity.

Martin is in demand as a speaker because he is outstanding at what he does and has a genuine spirit of wanting to help others, say friends such as Dr. Charles W. Petitt, president of Piedmont Baptist College in Winston-Salem.
 
“His life has been characterized by love for God, the Bible and people,” Petitt said.

“He has consistently demonstrated a desire to serve, edify and mentor pastors, preachers, missionaries and others in ministry. Dr. Martin is held in high regard by his peers, is beyond compare as a preacher and has earned the respect of virtually everyone who knows him.”

“He is a prince of preachers,” said another longtime friend, the Rev. Harold Fletcher of Lexington. “He is far ahead in his wisdom for the age we live in, … and he is a preacher’s friend.”

The Rev. Roger Pinnix of Kernersville echoed Fletcher’s appraisal: “Whether you are well-known or just a little country preacher like me, he treats you with great respect. Being known worldwide like he is, he still makes you feel just as good as anybody. He is a man walking with integrity.”

Pastors of churches, missions boards and colleges schedule Martin years in advance to make sure he will be available for their big meetings. He has been a regular at those events for 31 years, having spent his first 30 years as a pastor.

He worked for a missions board for a few years after leaving his last church as a pastor in Atlanta in 1981. Billy Martin Evangelistic Ministries was established in 1993. Martin’s preaching is loved as much at home as abroad. He has held at least 135 revival meetings and conferences in the greater Winston-Salem area since 1983.

He was in Atlanta for nearly two years after leaving Urban Street Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, where he was pastor for 161/2 years. Martin was pastor at College Park Baptist in Reidsville and Woodlawn Baptist in Rocky Mount, Va., before going to Winston-Salem.

Brought up in an environment of revival meetings, tent meetings and brush-arbor preaching, Martin made a profession of faith at age 13. The “old-time religion” caught his heart.

He preached his first sermon at 15 on April 27, 1947, in his home church, King Memorial Baptist in Leaksville (now Eden).

“I spoke for about 30 minutes about the prodigal son in Luke 15,” he said.

 His second sermon was much shorter. The boy preacher was invited to speak to the youths at a Presbyterian church, and his 15-minute sermon was about “The Grace of God,” based on Titus 2:11-14.

He remembers those early sermons like they were proclaimed only yesterday. But then, remembering is a Billy Martin strong suit. Martin preaches without using notes or outlines, but his sermons are well-organized and attention-holders.

“That doesn’t mean I didn’t write it out before I preached,” he said. He organizes his sermons on paper after much study and prayer, he said, then commits them to memory.

Martin, who is articulate and well-informed in current events as well as theology, always has had a zeal for reading. Perhaps that was because his mother, Frances, was a school teacher. His father, W.T. Martin, operated a shoe-repair shop in Reidsville.

His zeal for reading is exceeded only by his love for preaching.

“You want to know the Bible the best you can, because it is so important,” he said. “You don’t want to mislead people” with incorrect information or opinions.

Martin’s interest in preaching, scholarship and becoming a pastor led him to get a Bible college degree and to follow that with a master’s degree and a doctorate of divinity. He has taught at Piedmont Baptist College.
“He is one of the most knowledgeable men of the Bible I have ever met,” Pinnix said.

His partner in ministry is the girl who lived four houses down the street from him in Leaksville when they were growing up. After being married 55 years,  Barbara Martin is still one of her husband’s biggest encouragers.

Their son, Greg Martin, works at Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C. Daughter Cindy Johnson is an educator in Sanford. The Martins have three grandchildren and are proud to see that grandson Jonathan Johnson also is involved in ministry. He will leave soon for China, where he will be a teacher and a missionary.

Martin said he hasn’t considered retirement — “not unless I had some health problems or my wife had health issues,” he said. He’s already packing for the next week of preaching in some place far from Kernersville.

Contact Bob Burchette at bburchette@triad.rr.com