The Kitchen Table

I have spent a bit of time reading back through some of the old Barnabas Blog posts to stir up my thoughts and memories.  One of the series that created a “time warp” was those that I had written about the various characters of Pilgrim’s Progress.  Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress was initially recommended to me by Brother Harrell, the long-time pastor in Bridge City, Texas.  As I mused on that character series, I was pulled back toward a kitchen table.  In fact, I went back and looked through my preaching record in Excel to pinpoint the exact dates that I spent at a specific kitchen table.  These dates (3/2/96; 11/22/97; 6/20/98; 12/15/01; 6/1/02; 7/26/03) were the times that I spent with the Raggio’s in Birmingham, Alabama.  These specific dates were on Saturday nights prior to me preaching at Bible Tabernacle where Brother Ken Raggio was the pastor.  All these dates were when I was still working at Flowers Hospital here in Dothan.  He would invite me up to preach and I would usually make the drive on a mid-afternoon on Saturday and stay in their home.  We would go eat somewhere and then be back at their home by 7-7:30. 

Then we would gather up at the kitchen table in their home.  These were the days when study Bibles were not nearly as available as they are now.  So, for me, I had my “go to” Thompson Chain KJV which has been my primary sword of choice for a long time now.  Brother and Sister Raggio also had Thompson’s as well.  I can’t even begin to tell you how rich the experience was at that time.  Even now, time pulls me back to those powerful moments of fellowship over the Word.  You may think that the description of powerful is an exaggeration but in my mind that word doesn’t even nearly tap what all that we would get into as far as biblical content.  Another memory that I cannot shake free of is Sister Raggio’s Bible, I have only seen one other woman’s Bible to this day that has been as marked up as what hers was.  It was a Thompson as well and there was no doubt in my mind that her proficiency with the Word was incredible.  Not only did her contributions to the discussion bear that out but her Bible was unbelievable.  The golden gilted page edges were no longer there because of constant use and there were marks all through the Scripture columns in the classic Thompson text block.  But here is another matter, she also had marked up the index and the charts that were in the back of it.  Brother Raggio’s Bible was in the same condition, well-used, marked up, prayed over and preached with.  I look back at those times with great fondness with my only regret being that I was not actively journaling at that time, so the details are now lost to time.

The time that we spent at that table in Birmingham was fantastic!  It was nothing for us to start at 7:45-8:00 PM and still be working through Scriptures at 1:00-1:30 AM.  I can remember that there were themes and trails that we followed and even though it was almost 25 years ago, I can still remember with great clarity the themes that we discussed although sadly the finer details have escaped me.  If you know Brother Raggio, one prevailing theme that we spent a lot of time with was the matter of personal holiness and how crucial it was for spiritual life to flourish.  I suppose the first time I had ever seen what I call “loops” in Scripture was in his Bible.  He had and Sister Raggio as well would take verses related to holiness and underline them, make small concise notes out to the side followed by another verse reference.  As you turn to the next reference, you will find similar notes and a verse reference that would move you to the next one.  Therein was where I defined the “loops” in the Word.  In Exodus and Leviticus, I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to consider there were at least 100 references and insights they had made toward holiness.  The pieces of furniture, the colors, the materials, and the hangings all pointed obviously toward Jesus Christ and the work of atonement, but holiness is woven all through it.  It is called kitchen table talk!  Thank God for all of that and how it shaped my mind and life at that point.  There were angles on holiness that we would discuss, and it affected my personal devotion, and I look back now and realize it had a tremendous influence on my public ministry as well. 

Another well-run subject was the matter of prayer.  The Raggio’s were praying people!  The prayer focus they had was not only effective, but it was also intense.  The parables on prayer, the prayers of the characters in Scripture, and even anecdotal stories they would talk about praying men and women they had been exposed to in and around the apostolic movement mainly in Texas and Louisiana was both inspiring and convicting.  While my own upbringing has been deeply imprinted by praying parents, a praying grandmother and a praying great-grandfather when you are at a kitchen table talking about prayer, it does so much for the soul.  I am drawn to wonder what would happen if we were able to replicate that kind of commitment to prayer and table talk in the beginning of 2026.  What could God do with my little efforts if they became even more steeped in prayer?  If we become praying preachers and pastors, it will be because we choose the good part (Luke 10:42).  We don’t just fall into change; it is because we make a vigilant and strenuous effort to do so.  I commend Brother Raggio’s book on prayer to you (which I have read at least twice and several portions more than that).  When I read through that book it is like time travel back to the kitchen table in Birmingham.

We also spent a significant amount of time on the matter of fasting as well.  We don’t fast because it “works” but rather because we have a commandment to do so in the Word.  I will let you look all of that up on your own.  But suffice it to say that the regular and disciplined practice of fasting was something the Raggio’s did consistently and that was more kitchen table talk that shaped me.  With the matter of fasting was also the sub-topic of carnality that would play into the conversation.  Most people in our present day have hardly even a hint of an idea of what carnality is, what it entails, and how much God hates carnal living.  Fasting has a way of being very destructive to our flesh and to worldly thinking.  I have a feeling that if pastors/preachers and churches would give great effort to fasting it would move us toward a more concerted direction of seeing the Kingdom principles come to life among us. 

We spent a lot of time talking about preaching as well.  At the time, I did not know who Brother Harrell was, but the Raggio’s talked about the tremendous impact that his preaching had on them in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s.  Brother Raggio also loved Brother C. M. Becton, the former general secretary of the UPCI.  Another minister whose preaching and teaching had influence on him was Brother E. L. Holley, the long-tenured district superintendent of the Texas district.  All these elders have now passed on to their reward, but when they would talk about the specific sermons these men had on them, it brewed something so deep in my soul!  I wanted to be a better preacher!  Not for the sake of personal notoriety or recognition, that is nonsense!  It’s foolish for us as preachers to fall into the traps that Balaam and Diotrephes were destroyed in!  But if you are a preacher, have you ever longed to have tapped into what Jeremiah alludes to as a brewing soul fire that not only sets the soul ablaze, but it lets the words of your mouth pour out with eternal influence.  Not of the preaching of yourself and your little fleshly accomplishments but the radical and drastic change that Word-driven preaching draws out of those who hear you.  Spiritual ambition is not sinful, not detrimental if it has been crucified, denied, punished, disciplined, reproved, and had motives tested by the Word and Spirit!  Even now as I write these words, I feel intensity and passion stirring in my soul and mind longing for spiritual influence.  Not crowds, not marquees, not recognition because all these matters amount to nothing more than spiritual pottage that Esau will sell his birthright for.  I can point out so many shipwrecks and as Paul would say about men who have become enemies of the Cross because of ambition that was never crucified.  No!  I am speaking of something so far beyond that which will impact eternity.  This kind of preaching will shape commitment, move hearers toward spiritual destiny, and will result in real heart change.  But I we cannot leave a great matter on the kitchen table; it is this:  there is a price that you will have to pay for that kind of ministry.  I wish it was simply a matter of you getting a theology degree from some seminary somewhere.  I wish it was just because you took up the call and it becoming effective and everything working out for you.  But that is not the case with this kind of ministry.  I wish it was just a matter of personal development and so forth but if you will be effective it will be because you have suffered.  There is no other way around it; there are no shortcuts.  I learned some of that at the kitchen table.

Other matters that came up at the table were biblical prophecy.  If you have been exposed to the ministry of Brother Raggio, there is not a need to spend a lot of time on this subject in this posting.  Suffice it to say that our world is moving closer and closer to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ for a church that is pure and holy.  We must make our calling and election sure!  We must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling!  God save me from this untoward generation! 

Thanks for reading. . .

Philip Harrelson