"Jonah The Man That Ran"

Bill Goldner has preached for many years, but the newness of the river that is flowing through him today has poured a fresh power into his life.

Now living in Pensacola, Bill and his wife, Linda, spoke about their desire for a deeper walk with God. Over the years they had been eager "doers" and followers of Christ, but they had grown increasingly frustrated. Gradually they became aware of what had happened. They had fallen more in love with the work of God than with the God of the work. They were laughing on the outside, but crying on the inside.

Their revelation of Christ was okay, but their relation with Him had cooled. There was no elation in the relation. Ultimately, Bill, a pastor of eighteen years, decided to take a one year sabbatical.

At the end of that year, he was more frustrated than before. A friend mentioned that Miami, Oklahoma was experiencing a mighty move of God. Without telling Linda or his children, he drove up to service one night.

He sat there spellbound during the exuberant praise and worship. Then, when evangelist John Davis began to preach, something began to stir in Bill's heart. It was a slow, simmering spark of hope that there was more of God to be experienced after all.

Returning night after night, his personal needs began to be met, as did those of his wife Linda. Gradually, the Goldners and Brother Davis began to establish a friendship. They found out John went to Pensacola once a month, and accompanied him on one of his trips. The Lord met them in such a mighty way, they came back from Disney, Oklahoma to Pensacola every three months during 1997.

Now they have established a field office there, while still maintaining the home office of Picture In Scripture Ministries in Disney, Oklahoma.

When Bill was deciding what to bring to Pensacola, the Lord said, Don't bother packing your sermon files." Bill explained, "It wasn't that He told me to throw them away, but it came real close." So, he arrived here, Bible in hand, called to the evangelistic field, with no sermons to show for the twenty-two years of prior ministry.

Know what happened? When I visited with the Goldners, Bill was working on the 40th message the Lord had given him in thirty days! All fresh manna from heaven. No moldy oldies! One thing that has characterized the Goldners over the years is their ability to be used by the Lord in unique and creative ways. In 1979 they began Picture In Scripture Ministries, Inc. The name came from Bill's inclusion of "word pictures", or word studies, in much of his preaching.

From that sprang radio ministry on the George Otis "Voice of Hope" broadcast in southern Israel. That broadcast was heard by the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon. Many of them were from Ghana, West Africa, Sri Lanka, and India. When they went home from their tour of duty, others saw the teachings they had been sent, and began to request them too.

Then, in 1982, Bill was driving across a long dam on Grand Lake, Disney, Oklahoma. It was 5:30 in the morning. In the hazy early morning light, something suddenly loomed before him on the narrow roadway. It was a teenage girl staggering down the middle line!

The Spirit of God spoke to him to build a girls home for troubled

teenage girls. Bill told Linda, and together they built the New Lifehouse Girls Home on their ministry property. Linda directed the home for twelve years before they conveyed it to Teen Challenge of Oklahoma in 1996. It continues to thrive and do well, having even taken some of the girls to the Pensacola Outpouring to experience firsthand what God is doing today!

During these same years, the Goldners also built and pastored three Assembly of God churches. They have always had a heart for God, but have a greater hunger for more of Him than ever before.

This fresh touch of God is very apparent in another area of their Picture In Scripture Ministries. In 1985, Bill and Linda started another unique outreach.

Bill wrote a play he entitled, "The Man Who Ran", about Jonahh, Jesus and the great fish. It is based on Jonahh's run from God, and Christ's reference to Jonahh in the context of His resurrection. They built a 1,000 seat Amphitheater, complete with a set patterned after the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh. A twenty foot mechanical fish comes up and swallows Jonahh after the sailors jettison him overboard during the storm at sea.

Linda directs this incredible play, that has a cast of 80, live animals of the era, and spectacular costuming along with concert-quality sound. She, along with other groups and individuals, also minister in gospel singing before each night's presentation of "The Man Who Ran." Guests from all 50 states, and some 57 foreign countries have attended.

For the last thirteen years, the world has been coming to Picture In Scripture Amphitheater in fulfillment of a promise God made to the Goldners that if they would "picture Jesus to the people, they would come and keep coming."

When questioned about that Hollywood "Field of Dreams" idea, ("if you build it, they will come"), Bill reminds us that the play is based on God's Holy Word, not Hollywood. And, it was begun before the Field of Dreams.

But, who would have ever dreamed that in a rural area on the fringes of the foothills of the Ozark Mountains in northeast Oklahoma, tens of thousand of people would be drawn there? It's happening, and who knows where it will lead from here?

Now, Bill and Linda are going wherever the river is flowing around the United States and the world. In October of 1997, the Lord spoke to Bill's heart that a great outpouring is on the agenda for Athens, Georgia. Perhaps this article will be the means the Lord uses to connect a hungry pastor with Evangelists Bill and Linda Goldner. The river of God is flowing!