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"Brother Teddy”

by:  Brother Terry Sesco

Grave Site Of Elder Teddy Ball

My mother and father moved from the hills of Kentucky when I was very young, but I spent a lot of my summers with my grandparents, Opal and Bob Dotson. My grandfather was a deacon at Old Pond Primitive Baptist Church in Belfey Kentucky. It was some of the best times of my life. I especially loved to attend night services with my Grandfather. We would travel those beautiful hills as the sun set to a little church where people love to meet and declare the Glory of God through a Sovereign Grace message! My first recollection of loving the Lord was while listening to Elder Teddy Ball preach. Even now my thoughts are uplifted just remembering those services. Elder Teddy Ball was retired miner, a tall thin man with a deep powerful preaching voice. It did not take much to get Elder Ball to preach, the front porch of grandmother’s house or the top of a mountain. He would say "I would preach, Lord willing anywhere called upon" and He did indeed.  Brother Teddy always "lined-a-song" and any song that lifted up his Lord he would began to glow with joy.  Brother Teddy was not confined to the pulpit area while preaching. It was very common for him to preach from the congregation floor, down the isle and shook the hands of those in attendance. I never saw anyone sleeping in church while he was preaching. Brother Teddy was full of joy while preaching and usually displayed tears of joy running down his cheeks. With the slap of those long arms and hands he would tell the story of "Old Brother Jonah," there would be a message of  obedience, willingness of spirit, gratitude, compassion and most of all God’s Mercy.

Elder Ball preached my Grandfather's funeral sometime back and toward the end of the service he slap his hands, as he reminded the congregation that "Brother Bob was not here but with a loving Savior and he would join them soon, that one day Jesus would come in His Glory and even resurrect these bodies".  

During my trip to Kentucky last September I visited Bro. Teddy's grave site. It's a small well maintained cemetery located on top of a mountain near McCarr Kentucky. The picture attached is not the final resting place for Bro. Teddy, its only a rest stop until the slap of the Savior's hands on that Resurrection Morning.

ELDER TEDDY BALL

WRITTEN BY ELDER MICHAEL ELSWICK

Elder T.R. Ball was born September 16, 1913 at Pinsonfork, KY, the son of Marion and Elizabeth Ball. At the youthful age of 17, the Sovereign God was pleased to reveal His Son in Brother Teddy, bestowing upon him tender mercy, and the love of God was shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost. On March 6, 1936, Elder Ball was married to Dollie Deel, who preceded him in death on August 22, 1964. During their marriage there were three children born. During April 1933, he expressed his experience of grace to the dear saints of God at Peter Creek Church, Phelps, Kentucky. They received him and he was baptized by Elder W.J. Prater. Since that time he has shown his love and good works with regard to the prosperity of God’s militant kingdom, endeavoring faithfully to keep house in the name of the Lord for many of the churches in this area. Those churches that he has pastored for many years include Old Pond, Samaria (his home church), Peter Creek, Feds Creek, Dry Fork, and the Columbus Church. Not only has he served those churches, but he also assisted in the establishment and organization of four churches within the Association. Over 2000 have been baptized into the church kingdom by Elder Ball, of which a total of 38 have been called into the ministry themselves.

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Last modified: 03/17/08