the the Yeah. You may be seated. Take your hymnal if you would. Turn to 109. 109. Great is thy faithfulness. We'll remain seated as we sing all three stanzas together. Please lift your voices in praise as we sing together. ♪ O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? ♪ Summer and winter and springtime. Thank you so much. On behalf of the family, we want to welcome all of you who've come today and want to express on their behalf their deep gratitude for your support and then also for your kind words and especially your prayers. And I know that Dionne has spoken often about just those felt prayers and the strength of God that comes, she feels, directly from your intercession, and I believe that too. And so we do thank you today for being here. As we begin, I want to just state our intent, and I think most of you would know that. And basically, we come down to two things. One is to honor a life well lived, Dr. Ken Hay. But then I think also he would most of all want us to magnify his savior. And so that would be our desire today, is just to honor the man and magnify his savior. And to that end, we begin the service. And I want to begin by just reading to you a little bit about that life that was well lived. Kenneth Edward Hay, 85 years old, went home to be with his savior April 2, 2019. Born in Glendale, California, he was the son of Carl and Mary Hay. Ken received undergraduate and graduate degrees and an honorary doctorate from Bob Jones University. After graduation, he served as a director of the Institute of Christian Service at BJU. And after spending his summers directing various camps on the East Coast, He co-founded the Wilds Christian Camp and Conference Center in Brevard, North Carolina in 1969, where he served as camp director for over 35 years and on the board until 2018. His life ministry allowed him to directly and indirectly influence literally thousands of camp leaders in the United States as well as abroad. He also served on the boards of various ministries, including GFA missions and state-line motorcycle ministry. He enjoyed teaching at Bible colleges and was a speaker at Christian conferences around the globe. He was an athlete, a mentor, and a faithful member of Faith Baptist Church here in Taylors. Ken was a loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Surviving are his wife, Dionne Hay, His children, Janie Alleman, Robert, her husband, Laurie Priest, her husband, Kevin, son-in-law, Steve Leatherwood, sister, Millie Starr, her husband, Phil, was also survived by 12 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Barbara Leatherwood, and granddaughter, Kayla Priest. Let's pray together. Father, we do come before you this morning, again, grateful that we can. We acknowledge that we come before the God of all comfort. We're thankful that you have gifted us as your children with the Comforter, your Holy Spirit, who has taken up residence within us, and we thank you for his ministry, especially in this time. And Father, we do desire today to honor the life of Ken Hay. We know that he is with you. Your word tells us to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. And so we're thankful that he is in your presence today. And Father, as we look back at his life, undoubtedly he could make his own. The testimony of the Apostle Paul. When nearing the end of his own life, he said, I have fought a good fight, and I have finished the course. And Father certainly, Brother Hay fought a good fight. He lived a good life. He agonized a good agony. And just a few days ago, he finished the course. And because of that life and the testimony of that life, because of the impact of that life, Father, I know that as he came into your presence, he heard those words, well done, thou good and faithful servant. And so, Father, today we rejoice that we can celebrate his home going, that we grieve, but not as those who have no hope. We grieve loss, but we know there has been gain. For to live is Christ and to die is gain. And so we pray that you would continue to minister to this dear family and the friends gathered here today. Continue to show yourself strong on their behalf. And Father, today in this service, may your son, Jesus Christ, be magnified. For it's in his name we pray, amen. When engulfed by the terror of tempest to see Unknown waves before you roll At the end of doubt and peril is eternity Though fear and conflict seize your soul But just think of stepping on shore and finding it heaven, of touching a hand and finding it God's, of breathing new air and finding it celestial. of waking up in glory and finding it home. When surrounded by the blackness of the darkest night Oh, how lonely death can be At the end of this long tunnel is a shining light For death is swallowed up in victory But just think of stepping on shore and finding it heaven, of touching a hand and finding it God's, of breathing new air and finding his celestial. of waking up in glory and finding it home. Kenneth Hay was connected in one way or another to just about everybody in this room. It is our love for him, respect, the joys of friendship that bind us together at this sacred hour. He was a beloved husband. loving father, grandfather, mentor, counselor, and personal friend to many of us. Our two wives and he and I, from just after our college days together, have been pretty inseparable friends. It's my joy to have served with him as a member of the Wiles board and as a colleague in the ministry of Bob Jones University and Gospel Fellowship Association. Kenne has departed his earthly home. He is now in the home prepared for those who love Jesus Christ, a home eternal in the heavens. Matthew Henry, who happens to be my favorite Bible commentator, observed that when we lay a loved one in the dark and cold grave and return without that loved one to our home, leaving that one behind, if we go in melancholy, it is because of our misunderstanding. We have not left our loved one behind and gone to our home. He has gone to his home and left us behind. I would like to read these comments so that I could try to stay within the time constraints. There are many here that we are going to be blessed to hear speak from their hearts about him. But our sorrow today is that we have been left behind. It should be joyful to think upon the reality of what is now his, face-to-face with his Redeemer, a member of the church triumphant, free of the burdens of being founder and director of the Wiles camp for almost 50 years, the foremost Christian camp in the world. The joy that is his to be with Barbara, his daughter. and with Kaelar, their granddaughter. We sorrow, of course, to be without his cheerful presence, without his counsel and his love, this godly example. But our sorrow is with the hope that is rooted in the immutable promises of God that we too, in Christ, shall be united with him forever. I read these words from John 16. The Lord Jesus said to his disciples, but now I go my way to him that sent me, and none of you asketh me, whither goest thou? But because I've said these things unto you, sorrow has filled your heart. A little while, and ye shall not see me, and again a little while, and you shall see me, because I go to the Father. then said some of his disciples among themselves, what is this that he saith unto us, a little while? And you shall not see me, and again, a little while, and you shall see me, and because I go to the Father. They said therefore, what is this that he saith, a little while? We cannot tell what he saith. Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do you inquire among yourselves of that I said, a little while, and you shall not see me? And again, a little while, and you shall see me? Verily I say unto you, that you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice. You shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. There's nothing about these words from John 16 that has the aura of finality about it, nor does what we do here today. In these words, Christ presented death from God's point of view, its departure from the body for a little while. The grief is going to end, the joy that he gives will never end, and no man can take it from us. Thursday night, a week ago, I was at Ken's bedside in the hospital saying goodbye to my friend, knowing I would never look at him again in this world. But the sorrow that filled my heart was a joyful sorrow. The reality of our next greeting, that our next greeting will take place in heaven, on that shore, was a source of joy. And it was a joy to know that his fellowship with Christ, which was by faith here, was very soon to be replaced in fellowship by sight. So my friends, let us be comforted today with the joyous hour that we share here in the confidence that Christ himself has spoken to his disciples recorded in John chapter five. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For as the father hath life in himself, so he has given the son to have life in himself. Marvel not at this. The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth. And so children, grandchildren, dear wife Dion, spiritual children whom he has led to the Lord, children he has mentored in the faith of Christ, and beloved friends and members of the WILD staff and board. If you are partakers of the divine nature, as each of you would profess you are, Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through sin, you know that Kenneth Hay spent most of all of the last 50 years trying to establish you in the truth that you possess. So that after he has put off this body, You can be able to recall the things that he has said. He spent his life making known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so may I urge you, may I urge you, whose faith follow. We'll hear now from members of the family and friends. A week ago, I flew in from Denver and made my way in rush hour traffic to the hospice house where my dad was. And you'll have to forgive my tears because when your heart is full, it just leaks out sometimes. And my heart is very full. I knew I was going to have to tell my dad goodbye. That was very hard. I was expecting to see him quiet and unresponsive. But when I walked into the room, just like when anybody walked into the room, my mom would say, well, look who's here. And she said, look who's here. Janie came. And my dad went like this. And I fell into his arms. And he gave me the biggest hug. that he could and I'll never forget that. That was just a little grace, one of the many graces that God has allowed me to experience and I'm so thankful to him for that special moment. He didn't talk much in the last hours. He could whisper some and we couldn't understand much But I always understood the word family. And he said family many times. And I know he was saying, I'm so thankful for my family. And he made time for us. His ministry was big, but he always worked hard to make time for family. My sister and my mom were there and they gave me some quiet time with dad alone and I appreciated that so much and I had a really crazy thought when I was standing there and I thought this was the first time that I had in my life that I could say what I wanted to my dad and he couldn't say anything back. But the only thing I wanted to say was thank you. That's what came to my mind. Thank you for being the best daddy ever. I know Lori will echo that in what she says. And I know my sister Barb would say the same thing. And I want to speak for her if I can today and say, thank you, daddy, for being the best daddy ever. Thank you for loving us, teaching us, training us, being there for us, giving us godly advice. And there's so many stories that we could tell that we don't have time. The time is limited in these short minutes. But the one thing I want to thank him the most for is for introducing us to Jesus and showing us how to live for him. And for that, I'm forever grateful. And I know this goodbye is only temporary. And I'm very sad that this day has come, but when I think of Dad in glory with Jesus, with my sister Barb, with Lori's daughter Kayla, with his parents, one of the first people, honestly, I thought of was Dr. Fremont and him shouting glory. It makes me happy inside. He has so many friends that have gone there before. And it makes me almost jealous that I'm not there to celebrate with him. And I can't wait till we can join him. My dad often seemed bigger than life. He was a big man. The nurses said, wow, he's long. He had big hands, hands that I looked at that held me as a baby. that disciplined me, I knew his hands were big then. When we were talking about how if we were misbehaving in the car, he could get his hand back there and thump and get us to just straighten up just like that. He had a big vision. And Kara reminded me this morning that her mom would often talk about going with dad to look for property. This would have been back in like 67, 68, I don't know. I think I was about six years old and Barb would have been about nine. And we were in the back of a Jeep going in the, some of you remember the gravel road, and it was just a logging trail back then. And we were bouncing around in the back seat. And the vision that dad had, he stood there at that property and he said, there's the ball field. And Barbara and I were like, our dad's crazy. We don't see a ball field down there. We don't see a lodge, we don't see a dining common, but he had a big vision. But more than that big vision, he had a big God that used my dad to fulfill that big vision. Dad was a big athlete. No one could stop his left-handed hook shot. We loved hearing him come to our ball games and he would coach from the sideline and our coaches couldn't stand it because we were all listening to him and not her. I would have killed to beat my dad in ping pong. He was a great ping pong player. I think I beat him once and the celebration that followed was like I won the Olympics or something. And I knew his funeral would be big. Though in my heart I wanted to keep it small, I didn't want to share my daddy. I had times where I had a hard time sharing my daddy with people, but I knew I'd have to share him in life, and I knew I'd have to share him in death. And his life and legacy impacted so many people, and it's so evident today. I wouldn't want to have it any other way. And I thank you for coming to honor him with us today, as he's impacted your life too. Besides 1 Corinthians 10.31, I often heard dad quote Galatians 6.14. The grandkids have heard it over and over again too. But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Over the last few days, I've heard my dad described as an icon, a hero, a giant of a man. But really, dad was simply an example of how a big God can use a surrendered life to do big things for his glory. And I thank dad for his example in that. I give Jesus Christ all the glory who made life possible and who made eternal life possible. To God be the glory, great things he has done. All of us here today are very familiar with my dad's public ministry. Its scope was vast and will fully never be known till eternity. His public ministry impacted us as children greatly, but I want to share with you a little bit of his private ministry to his family. Dad viewed his roles as husband and father as his most important in life. And this ministry has had the greatest influence on us. He taught us through example how to love God and love others. And I want to focus a little bit on that aspect of his life. One thing I always knew is that my dad loved me deeply. I never questioned it. As much as he could, he'd spend time with me. I fondly remember him throwing me over his shoulders as his sack of potatoes. We'd walk across the living room in the bear walk, or we would count how many of my tiny steps it took for every one of his big steps as we walked from A-frame 7 to the lodge. I never felt he didn't have time for me, and his office was always open to me, and I'd sit there eating from that little green candy jar on his desk as he worked. As I got older, his travel schedule increased, but he called me almost daily, and he didn't just talk to mom, he asked to talk to me. He included us in his ministry, and I think that's part of why I never resented it. We were a part of it. It was a part of our lives, and we were called to it as a family. He shared with us what was going on and burdens to pray for. I remember several times being woken up in the middle of the night after I'd gone to bed for him to tell us that the person we'd been praying for that week got saved in the evening service that night. He made it to every sports games of mine that he could. Like Janie already mentioned, my teammates wanted him there because he kind of became our de facto coach in every game. I still remember Miss Jury telling him that he couldn't give us so much advice because it wasn't fair to the other teams. From the many nights we went out to practice basketball, to the fierce battles on the ping pong table, to fun nights of playing Uno and Sorry, he enjoyed hanging out with us and talking about life. And I think as an adult now and a parent, I realize how tired he was when he would come home, but he never let us know that. He still did those things with us. Even in his final days, he expressed love and care for us. In fact, one of the last things he said to me, even as he was very, very weak, he asked me how I was doing. Dad loved us girls, and we always knew it. Another thing I always knew is that he dearly loved my mom. His faithful care for her was such an example to us. He regularly told us the story of how he and mom met in her purple coat, and he complimented her daily, and he loved to be around her. Mom and dad always kissed goodbye. Even in the hospital, with his eyes closed, if she would get near him, he would pucker up for a kiss. As he was at times trying to eat his hospital food, he kept asking mom if she was hungry and wanted to share some of his supper with her. For 63 years, he faithfully loved and honored her, and I speak on her behalf that he loved her well, as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Dad also loved his family, his friends, his coworkers, but above all else, he loved Jesus and dedicated his life and family to the service of the one he loved most. Jesus was the reason he lived such a consistent and dedicated life. Dad had a vast ministry that impacted many people, but his life wasn't just about those earthly acts of ministry. It was about the God he loved and served. As girls, we didn't just learn about God, or go through motions. God was very real to us. And that is one of the greatest gifts God could have ever given us. He spent time teaching us about God, asking us what God was doing in our lives, and sharing how God was working in his and others' lives. We saw God work in so many ways. We experienced it. We watched him give everything to the service of his God through serving others. As you all know, his life's ambition was to bring glory to God. He lived every moment with a strong realization of God's presence and calling in his life. And he instilled that in us girls too. Even in his final days, he talked about wanting to do more for the kingdom. But his body was worn out in service to God, and now he's in heaven worshiping the Savior, whom he served with his whole being, along with his daughter Barb, my daughter Kayla, and many of his friends and co-laborers who went before him. Music meant much to him in his final days. The night before he died, our family sang to him. Though he'd been generally unresponsive that day, when we sang to God be the glory, he got the biggest smile on his face and actually laughed for joy. I imagine him constantly singing that song in heaven as he explores the streets of gold. And if there's heavenly meals, I'm sure he's leading in First Corinthians 1031. We'll miss him greatly, but we're thankful that we do not grieve as those who have no hope. We rejoice, as Paul says, that our citizenship is in heaven. What hope and joy that brings, what a reunion awaits, and what hope we have that we'll be worshiping our Savior together for eternity. On behalf of my mom and our family, thank you for the love and support you've shown us. The notes, snacks, meals, texts and calls, and stories shared bring such comfort to our hearts. Thank you for demonstrating your love for God and love for others in this way. There's no greater way to honor my father. My name is Robert Leatherwood. I am one of the four children of Barb, and that was a great thank you from Barb. I really appreciate you doing that, because any one of you who know her, it would have taken her like 10 minutes to get that thank you out. So you did it much more efficiently. Thank you to everyone who came out to the visitation last night, too. That was a really special time, talking with everyone, hearing stories I hadn't heard of my grandfather. And so thank you to all of you. That was a great time. So in talking with siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and reminiscing stories and hearing people talk, there just seems to be reoccurring character traits that have that keep resurfacing over and over again. And so I just wanted to, through a list of character traits, just kind of give a few short stories about him. I know one that kept coming up is disciplined. You know, whether that was the schedule of the Wilds, his daily routines, that kept coming up. He was a competitor. I know that's come up several times. He was an athlete. He was a competitor. It's funny, we were looking back through pictures and when he's with the great grandkids and having fun doing different things, he's always smiling. But if you snapped a picture of him during a game, it was his game face. He was not joking around. He was going to win whatever game it was, whether it was Jenga or Monopoly, he was there to win. Dr. Bob shared a really funny story too last night about playing spoons and how Grandpa wasn't going to lose, but I thought something else. I learned that Grandpa wasn't the only competitive one of the family. Grandma, I heard some stories about you playing spoons and you didn't want to let Grandpa win. He never quit. I was talking with Kristen and I found out a little bit about Early on in Grandma and Grandpa's marriage, they had a desire for international missions. I don't know if it was Eastern Asia or somewhere that they were really desiring to go to, but God shut that door. Well, Grandpa didn't quit. He was going to make an impact for God. So the camping thing came about. It's just neat to see how God allowed Grandpa to use him and his international presence through camps abroad is unfathomable. So just, that was a really neat story. You have to ask Eric. Eric had a neat story about snowboarding. He got a gift of a snowboard that wasn't waxed and he wasn't going to worry about it. But grandpa drove him 45 minutes to go get his snowboard waxed so that he could snowboard. But just a lot of stories. Grandpa wasn't going to let any of us quit. He was impactful. I know that's been mentioned already several times, but his impact on almost everyone in here is quite amazing. Tom Farrell shared a really neat story with me last night about he was ready to leave Bob Jones. Bob Jones was ready for him to leave, but he was told to go see Ken Hay and the impact that I'm hearing that grandpa's had on many of you has just been really neat and special. Thousands of campers. Grandma even said that she got a call from a camper in Australia the other day just asking how she could pray. Last but not least, loyal and loving. I think as grandkids we have a lot of memories from the loyal and loving category. Kara said she always felt like Grandpa's house was a place she could go to be heard and be listened to. Amanda mentioned several times about him being an active grandfather. I mean, not only was he at his kids' sporting events, he was at his grandkids' sporting events. Even my children, he was at his great-grandchildren's sporting events, so he was very active in our lives. One of my memories under that category as well would be, he almost said this so repetitively that, His greatest joy was seeing his kids grow up to serve Jesus. And after that, his greatest joy was seeing his grandkids grow up to serve Jesus. And then after that, it was seeing his great-grandkids serving Jesus and learning about Jesus from a young age. that was repeated to us over and over again, and that was clearly at the top of his mind, is how can I impact these children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren to serve the Lord. But, you know, all these traits, it's not just because he thought it'd be cool to have these traits, or that, you know, that would be great to have these traits in my life. But it was because he was created in God's image, doing the work of the Lord, and those were the traits he needed to make an impact in this fallen world for his heavenly Savior. Hi, my name's Brad Alleman, and I'm honored to be able to speak on behalf of my brothers, Eric, Mark, and Brent. I'm sure that at most, if not everyone here gathered today knew Dr. Hay in some way, either as trusted friend, dear friend, trusted advisor, mentor, counselor. My brothers and I had the honor and privilege to know Ken Hay as grandpa. And in memory, as many have said, Grandpa was larger than life. Not just in physical stature and strength, although having been on the receiving end of his infamous shoulder squeezes, I can attest to his strength. But not just in stature and strength, but in his walk with God, in his generosity and kindness to his friends and family, and his deep, deep love for his grandkids. Although Grandpa was a very busy man, he always had time for us boys, whether it was a quick hello and a hug, a moment of playful banter, or a longer conversation over coffee with comfort and advice. And in every interaction, Grandpa always interwove lessons that he wanted us to learn in our own walk with God. And while these lessons were often in very simple words, they were often very profound and life-changing in their message. Lessons like finish the job and do right till the stars fall. Grandpa didn't just teach us these lessons, though. He lived them out in his life in front of us as a role model of how to live as a godly man. Never losing sight of his humility, though, Grandpa never sought only glory to himself as a role model, but rather directed our focus to the ultimate role model, Jesus Christ. Yes, we will miss you, Grandpa, and we will grieve for what we've lost, but we rejoice and celebrate a life well lived and an eternal life that is now his to enjoy forever. Today is a sad day, but it is also happy. The emotions we feel today are difficult to process. On one hand, we lost a great man this week, a great man who served an even greater God. Grandpa Hay was one of God's most active troops. He tackled every situation head on and never stopped fighting until the very end. He ran on his two legs until they were forced to shuffle and then kept on going. I have never seen a man with more resolve. But even in all his intensity, he had a heart that could melt steel. Until he could talk no longer, he was grateful and encouraged those around him. He was always loving. Every nurse in the hospital wanted to be assigned to Grandpa. Even when in pain and with little capability to move, he still treated Grandma like the crown jewel he saw when he first laid eyes on her. He was a leader and a visionary, compelled by compassion. He saw a land in the mountains of North Carolina and wasted no time in crafting it into a place where young men and women could hear the gospel and experience counseling and love. He was a man on a mission, but it was never a mission for himself. Grandpa recognized first and foremost that everything he had was from God. He recognized that everything he accomplished was through God. And as 1 Corinthians 10 31 says, whether grandpa ate or drank or whatever he did, all of it was for God. And now that he has run this race and fought this fight, he is receiving a long overdue rest in the arms of our great savior. Yes, today is a day full of complex emotions. We are sad and joyful. But what are we to be sad for? Grandpa's pain is over and God's work through him is done. He has been a good and faithful servant. I'm sad I cannot yet join him. But the sorrow we feel today is a result of man's fall. Humans weren't meant to be cut from this life, from those we're bounded to in love. But Christ has assured us, he sacrificed himself so as to make it possible that we will see grandpa again in heaven. And it will be a most joyous reunion. I feel so honored today to just have a few minutes. I think it's 45 minutes or so. No, I'm just kidding. I know there was a thousand Steve Wares in Doc's life, but for me, it was only one Doc. And my name is Steve Ware. I'm a co-founder and the director of River's Edge Retreat. It's a non-profit that helps underserved and homeless kids. And we cater to about four to six hundred kids a week at our ministry. And I say that because that ministry is part of Doc's ministry. Just the ripple effect that he had. I first met Doc at the Greenville Rescue Mission. I was on my 14th home that year. I got kicked out of two high schools. And Southside Baptist Church had a bus running from the rescue mission to their church. And I started Southside Christian School. And Dr. Kent Hay and I started this bond because I loved basketball. It got me off the streets. And so we started bonding over that, and he kind of mentored me through high school. And I got to my senior year, and I went to Doc, and I said, Doc, can I be a counselor at the Wilds? And he looked at me with his left hand and said it very nicely. And he said, I don't think you're ready to counsel anybody, Steve. He said, but you can wait on tables and work in our kitchen in a cafeteria. And I thought, OK. But really, I got the last laugh. Hey, Cal, how you doing? I got the last laugh because I was the only boy in there. I worked with all girls. And also, what was great about that summer was I got to play a lot of basketball with Doc. And I remember Mrs. Hay many times in a little birdhouse. There was two guys weighing 200 pounds playing Nerf basketball in this little birdhouse. And it would start shaking. And you know how competitive he is, and that left hand, you can't stop it. So I gave him a fake one time, and he came up to block my shot and landed on my head. And my face skidded across the carpet, and I had the skin taken off the side of my face. And for a couple weeks, I had to explain to everybody in camp and the counselors why Doc sat on my face. So it was kind of an embarrassing story, but it was awesome. I remember when I graduated from high school, and the kids I grew up with, I was done. That was the success story. I graduated. And I was paying house numbers on curb that summer after my graduation. And I'd gotten a couple of partial basketball scholarships offered, but not enough that I felt comfortable going off and not being able to afford to rest. And Dr. Hay found out about it, and he came pulling up in the car one day, told me to get in. I had no idea what he had planned. And this is a very, very busy man. And he had time to stop, pick me up, and take me to a university in Chattanooga, Tennessee, four and a half hours away. For an hour, I practiced with a team, and he sat in there with a head coach in the office. He came out about half an hour later, the head coach shook my hand and said, Steve, you got a four-year basketball scholarship. Your college has paid for it. I wasn't good enough to have four years paid for it. That's why everybody else offered me a partial one. But that's the way Doc was. And I remember one of the homes I was in. It's called Boy's Farm in Newberry, South Carolina. I remember we used to go to a pond. And we used to start out throwing little pebbles in there and see the ripple effect. Before you know it, we'd get competitive, and we'd throw bigger and bigger rocks in there. And the ripples would even get bigger. Doc's one of those big, huge rocks. Look around. Look at the ripple effect. He's one of those big stones you drop in the water and the ripple effect keeps going. I'm part of that. Part of my YFL, we have a YFL, it's called Young Future Leaders in our camp. And we start doing what Doc did to me. We start paving the way for them to be successful. And I visited Doc in the hospice last week. And he whispered in my ear, he said, Steve, Miss A was nice enough to give us one-on-one time. And he said, sing. I'm like, Doc, really? Don't be pushing that nurse's button when I can't sing. But I'll sing to you. And I sang a song to him. And we prayed together. But anyway, it made me start thinking. I said, you know, we came up with a program. I started outlining it. And it was called, you've got to come up with something catchy for the young people to hear it. And it was called Make a Splash with Your Dash. You got two end dates, a birth date and a death date. Everybody has it. What's that in between? And there's no bigger example of making a splash with your dash than Dr. Hay. So we're going to teach our young people how to do that this summer. I'm not a poet. Don't claim to be. So that's all the disclaimer I need to have. But I will tell you, young guys, that when I read this poem to my wife and my four daughters, which is waving over there, Boys, you can get some good brownie points writing a poem if you're a guy. My wife's like, oh, that's so cute. So I'm going to read you a poem real quick about Don. And it's called The Dash, The Life of Dr. Ken Hay. This is a celebration of a godly life, a life that was second to none. He ran the race and finished the fight and now has heard, well done. I can't help but think about the two dates of both ends, yet the dash is all that matters because of the message it sends. See, the dash was Doc's life. The dates are just bookends. Ken Hay's dash was remarkable, starting at the end, a true love story. His children, his friends, the Wilds, in all, giving God the glory. A stone ripples far after its throne, which explains the joy behind our tears for all the lives that were led to Christ in the dash between those years. So let's learn from Dr. Ken Hay that life is but a flash. Lead souls to Christ, give God the glory, and like him, make the most of our dash. I'm going to get this out, I doubt if I need it. I'm already in trouble with one of our trustees. Marsh Fann asked me to take a love offering today. First time in 32 years, Marsh. Nope, no love offering today. You know, Doc was great at giving what I call left-handed compliments. Now, one of the compliments he kept giving me is I had the unique and greatest ability to say in 750 words what he could say in 75. I'll try to, I cannot limit it to 75 words today, but I will try to be careful. And so many people have covered so many things. Janie and I were on the same page on several things. And I'm also really honored that Dr. Joe and Grace could be here today, the one remaining founder of the ministry and a stalwart great friend of Dr. Hayes. We appreciate you much, Joe. Back in 1987, we were in the middle of a Wilds-a-thon at the old WMUU trying to raise $100,000 in 12 hours for the Wilds for a project. And about halfway through that day, I'd only been at the Wiles Center about two months, a phone call came from my dear sister who, when I moved to South Carolina, took on the full responsibility of taking care of my father. And Carol said that dad had lost his battle with cancer and was passing away. And as I received that phone call, I hung up the phone in the middle of that Wilds-a-thon and turned around, and Doc was standing right behind me. And he wrapped those big arms around me and just held on. And I thought, well, that's nice. A couple seconds, he didn't let go. He just held on. And as we stood there and I wept on his shoulder, And I think he shed a tear to himself. And he just said, you know, your family's here, your Wild's family is here, and God will take care of this. And he just held on. And even though that embrace ended soon, he never let go. And there's many other people besides me in this room who could testify. God had Ken Hay embrace you and he would never let go because he cared. He loved people. He loved to be used by God to try to meet the needs in people's lives. He was compassionate. He was a biblical counselor. Dr. Fremont told me once, Dr. Fremont, the master counselor, said, when I have a problem, when I'm struggling with something, I go to Ken Hay to get the right Bible answer. Wow, Dr. Hay was wise in the word. Last Friday, a week ago yesterday, early in the morning I made my way out to McCall Hospice to have a little time with Doc alone and walked into the room about nine o'clock and he was alert sitting up in bed We had a sweet time for about 45 minutes, just chatting. He would doze a little bit. He would whisper, but gave advice, asked what was going on at camp, what attendance was that weekend, who the speaker was, had there been any decisions. He was interested. And then Dion and Stephanie came, and we chatted a little while, and I said it was time to go, and I put my hand down on Doc's hand to say goodbye, and the arms came up. And he wrapped them around me, and he wouldn't let go. And he started whispering in my ear. Of course, I couldn't turn up my hearing aids because I couldn't get to him. But I heard a lot of what he said, advice about life, instructions about the camp. And then he said, I so want to be there, but I can't. He hesitated and said, it's time to let go. And he let go. He knew it was time. He'd fought the fight. And he knew it was time to go on. He was a wise counselor, a loving man. He loved people, met people's needs. But it's also been said, we had a little bit of fun together, too, and traveled a lot. Doc and I traveled thousands of miles together in the car, on planes, every place. Computers came into existence in the 90s, and so they got us computers, and they bought us these two cases to carry our computers in. They were almost identical. Of course, Doc and I, we looked pretty sharp. We had these fancy cases. We didn't know how to use the computers. We'd walk into hotels or banquets and carry them around. We could barely figure out how to get our email. But boy, we looked sharp, you know? And we had a lot of adventures, a lot of stories like the Tootsie Pops and the Trooper and the Tie on Fire, the Swimming Pool Love Offering. And of course, there was the big kiss that I almost got fired for. And there was a time when we'd been on a trip for three or four days and got back in the office. My wife was working at the office there part-time at that time. And Doc came down the hall and stuck his head in her office and said, Cheryl, I want you in my office right now. It was a different tone than normal. Some of us have heard that tone before. Tom Farrell, you've heard that tone before, haven't you? Get to my office. Rand has too, Dave Stratton, and a lot of others. And then he stuck his head in my office and said, Dick, I want you in my office right now. And it was sort of as my habit. I said, OK, I'll be down there in a minute. And he said, no, right now. I'll follow you down. I said, OK. I walked into his office. My wife was sitting there. He walked in behind me and closed the door, unheard of for Doc. Sat down behind the desk, looked at my wife, and then he looked at me and he said, Dick, I want you to promise you'll do something for me. I said, OK, Doc, what is it? He pulled this little envelope out of his desk drawer, handed it to me, and he said, you get your wife to stop writing me love letters. I looked at Cheryl like, what is going on? Before our last trip, she had written me a little love letter. She got our briefcases mixed up, put it in his briefcase. And then, of course, you know you can see Doc, he just was roaring, laughing at that point in time. And yeah, we had some fun. He pulled a lot of tricks, so we both snored a little bit. And we always shared a room to save the ministry money. And he had a lot of tricks to get me to stay up so he could get to sleep first. And of course, Doc did have all those old sayings so many of us have heard before. Dismissing people at camp, take your time gone, but hurry back. Or we would be having a management discussion about some problem and he'd think we were overreacting. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, that type of thing. We've heard them hundreds of times. Or if we're not acting, let's have trouble now to avoid trouble later. And then there's the corniest one of all of them, let's make like a tree and leaf. How many times did he say that? Dozens of times. But as was mentioned earlier, in recent years, many, many people will come up to him and just talk about the magnitude and impact of what God has done through the ministry of the wilds. And his always response was Galatians 6.14. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Doc always tried to reflect Christ in everything and give God the glory. To God the glory, great things he has done through his faithful servant and our dear co-laborer, Kenneth E. Doc Hay. I love you, Doc. All of this has been wonderful. I'm really glad. With Dick's thing, I made a note on the program, the outline, it said Dick Reed cries for five minutes. Because I thought surely he wouldn't get beyond the first sentence, but he did. for the grandsons, for the daughters. Wonderful presentation. It's gonna have a sameness, and I wonder why that is. It's because this man was one of the most consistent you'd ever find. Till Doc one time, I said, Doc, do we always have to do it the hardest way that seems to be the more excellent way? And he said, yeah. And that was him. That's what we did. And what a privilege. You know, when you do a eulogy, the idea is what you're looking for is the greatness of God. How God provided. How God did it all. But then you turn around and you give thanks for the one who allowed God to do it all. And that is a special man, Kenneth Edward Hay. You know, I'm one of those friends, not family, although he treated me like a son, included with discipline and whatever, but I spent my whole adult life, actually, following the leadership of one man, and that was Ken Hay. Somewhere along the line, I picked up a disciple's apron, I got a slate in the school of learning, and Dr. Hay took over. I was 18 years of age at that point. Now I'm 68. That's easy math. 50 years. One half century. And the 50 years that we've had as being co-labors together of him teaching me has actually encompassed 1969 through the present. The entire time of the Wiles. I'm sad to have ended at 50 years. To plumb the depths of this man's life, there's more. But I'm thankful for 50 years. It's a long time. I got to see him in every form of pressure, and I got to find that this is a man of integrity. My first experience with Doc, of course, that's what is known. I was looking in the hospice house, and it said, patient goes by Doc. And I thought, yep, couldn't be anything else but that. He was our doc. I know all of you have doc stories of some kind or another, and we've heard a few of them here. I was 13 years of age when I met him. He was my camp director at Christendale's Bible Camp and Conference Center in Trinity, Alabama. It really wasn't much. Actually, the name was bigger than the camp. You know, the Hayes taught all nine months, college curriculums, hard work, much accountability, raising a family, but they always had time to direct summer camps in the summer in exotic, faraway places like Alabama, South Carolina, Ohio. When I was a camper at 13, the next year I got to be on staff, his staff at 14. And I was his athletic director at Christian Dells, which meant that I carried a fertilizer sack that had two bats, three softballs, and an old catcher's mitt. I had to transport that up the hill where we had a little ball field that was not surrounded by a fence, but by a very dense pine forest. And so Doc would always bat clean up for the weakest team. And if everything was predictable, he would get up and he would hit the ball very deep, extremely deep. unfindably deep. And after two softballs gone, then we banished him to be the pitcher for both teams, much to his dismay. But that would have ended the ball game, two out of three balls. He was everywhere in that little camp. I started learning about that man, filled with enthusiasm. But more than that, there was a purpose behind this camp. This wasn't popsicle sticks and toothpicks. He had a purpose behind what was going on. He probably assigned our cabins. I don't know, but he greeted us. He did the orientation announcements, which became, for a 13-year-old boy, a recurring nightmare. I had a mortal fear and deep conviction that I was going to go out into one of the outlying areas and smoke a cigarette, and my parents would have to pay to send me home, to get me home. I was terrified of that, so much so that I might, fearful that I would accidentally smoke a cigarette out there. But you know, when a guy is larger than life to you and had that much impact, hey, it just goes with the territory. According to Doc, when I hear him speak, Well, I heard him at Christendales. I remember some of the things he spoke, but I remember that sin was very black, very dark. You wanted to stay away from it. Salvation was most desirable. You wanted Christ. According to Doc, as it relates to living for God, and this is a quote, If God tells you to go on that ball field and stack greased BBs, you ought to expect him to give you the ability to stack greased BBs. And of course, I'm thinking, I don't know how that's done. But you know, maybe there's hope. Maybe we should do that. I learned that many a day has been crowded out by this particular thought that some of you have. You need to have a God and I time. A what? God and I time. A personal time with your God every day, in the morning, if possible. I'd never heard that before in my 13-year-old life. Yet to this day, this is the one thing that getting to know God through a personal time with him every day is the one thing that changed the lives of tens of thousands of kids like me, probably like you. That one emphasis was a signature of the camps, everywhere he advised people about camp. At Christian Dells, even though I didn't know what to do with it, it was in that schedule. At the Wiles, every full day schedule has the God and I time, a time for you to be alone with God. With camps abroad, 50 different countries throughout the world, the word is God speaks to you personally in his word. Likely the phrase, God in my time, was probably not original with him. I think he said it wasn't. But he got people all over the world planning their day and their lives around the words of God. And it became for many of us a habit of a lifetime. You know, as forceful as he could be, And some of you saw some of the slides that were rolling through there. He made himself approachable by doing what camp guys do, really goofy things. Prince Charming, Honey and the Bees. He was always the queen bee. And how could anything that be that big be a queen bee? I don't know. But how about wearing that hot dog costume for the camper picnic? How about twirling a six-foot baton that was set on fire at both ends? Even the last night he was at our staff retreat, second weekend of March, I'll never forget it. Even though he didn't make it to the anniversary date, August 4th, he came to that staff retreat feeling and looking very, very weak, badly. could barely shuffle along, yet he comes to the staff gathering in this very unique visor that if you were looking, it was giving him a not so realistic impression that he had a head full of spiky black and gray hair. Nobody was fooled, but everybody was amazed that even at that time in his life, us not even knowing that this was the last time he would be at camp. Here he was, making things lighter, more comfortable for those around him. He knew every joke that had ever been told about being bald, about the advantages of being left-handed. And he had a new favorite category, old age. He knew all of those jokes, too. And most of them were groaners. But you laughed. Why'd you laugh? It's because of his hearty belly laugh. You couldn't help yourself. Because he was going to enjoy life and ministry no matter what you did. Beyond this camp stuff, there was a special ingredient, special sauce, Ken Hay. He had a deep, deep, fresh love for Jesus Christ. He had a faithful and a very strong, loyal love for his family. He loved his church very deeply. He loved the camp staff with a special love. His integrity and character were rock solid. Rand Hummel said this recently, you just don't hear anything bad about Ken Hay. Not morally, not financially, not in any wise. I've heard that integrity is when one side or one face of your life looks at another side or aspect of your life, and they both say the same thing all the time. His families assured me he was the same at home as he was in ministry. He was the same at the office as he was in his house. His church life would face his social life, and yes, they were the same thing. They agreed totally. His life at camp showed he was the same there as he was with the hospital staffs that he tried to reach. He was a man of integrity. One part of his life could face any part of his life, and they were all the same. But I found that my friend, my mentor of 50 years, was almost totally addicted in one area of his life. He was insatiable when it came to one thing, and that was having ministry, pushing ministry, and enjoying ministry. He was never glum and despondent about things not going well in the ministry. There was very little idle talk with Ken Hay. He wanted to talk about, dream about, ask about, reminisce, and rehearse ministry. what God was doing. He dearly loved to be active in ministry, any facet of ministry. Didn't matter if it was big or little ministry, group ministry, personal ministry, all the same, he had to be ministering, he had to be instructing, he had to be pouring his life into someone. The only time he might panic would be when he could not be involved in ministry. He wanted to teach Sunday school. He wanted to preach at camp, and he often did, even when he was not the preacher that night, and he was only closing the service he preached. He invited people to his office, talking Bible, talk Christ, talk camp, talk life, talk youth work, talk philosophy. He loved why we do what we do. Many people look back on those invitations that Doc extended to people, just come to my office, let's talk. And they say it was one of the most life-changing times in my whole ministry. He wanted to have interviews with every new staff member every summer, and he did for years. It was a highlight for many staff members, though they were about a quarter of his age. He wanted to be with his buds in state line motorcycle ministry. And he didn't even ride motorcycles. Did y'all ever get him on one, that boy? You did, you got him on one? That's really good. He wanted to counsel. He wanted to help doctors and nurses. I was in ICU one of those last days with Doc. He was failing and a technician was there doing a diagnostic on his pacemaker. Doc was agitated. He started looking at me. I'd seen the look before. OK, Doc, I get it. That's the signal. Ministry is supposed to be happening right now, OK? And I was trying to figure out how to get into this. Finally, I just said, you know, Rick, you're working on a guy who probably has made it possible for three-quarter, if not a million, young people, teenagers and their families, to get direction and help in their life by trusting Jesus Christ as their Savior. Doc's eyes opened. Rick stopped and said, no kidding. That's what he did? I said, well, yeah, he founded a camp for young people. He wants you to know that Jesus Christ will forgive your sins, give you a new life, make you a new person. By that time, Rick is grinning, Doc is aware, but he's finally relaxed for the moment. Ministry happened, and he was addicted to it. And I'll never forget how much he talked up. to be busy loving your Christ by ministry. Many of you know, as a young man, Doc's dream was to go on the mission field. Though he never got there full time, he became one of the most prolific senders of missionaries we know through the ministries of the Wiles, the Wiles of the Rockies, the Wiles of New England, and finally, one of that special set enjoyed to him camps abroad. I can say the sun will never sit and never set on those who were directly or indirectly challenged to missions by Ken Hay. By the way, Doc wanted to be part of a Camps Abroad trip in his waning years. He wanted to go to Haiti to support Tom and Sarah Bennett. Whenever the assignments of upcoming trips were made, it was almost like Doc was in the front saying, pick me, pick me. It was always consistent. Now, none of those opportunities would be beyond his spirit. But by that time, a lot of those opportunities, most of them would be beyond his physical ability. But as late as a year, year and a half ago, with all those limitations, we were trying to figure out how to get him to or keep him from a mission trip on which he had his heart set. Our concern, of course, being it would greatly endanger his life. He wanted to go ministry. He wanted to see ocean and go over one. and he wanted one more time to minister in that way. He wanted to live to his dad's age of 100. When it was obvious that he probably wouldn't make that goal, competitor that he was, he said to me, and I've heard several others say in that very perceptible horse whisper, barely perceptible, he said, I want to live to 90. Well, why? Well, there's five more years of ministry. You know, I've heard this man compared to several Bible characters and it was mentioned. He could be Moses, could be Elijah. One of our friends suggested Simeon. And for those of you who follow this ministry, maybe Ebed Melech. I'm thinking you have to look that one up. I'm more thinking like the Apostle Paul there. and see some of that same drive of the ministry. I was trying to get comfort going to the resurrection chapter, 1 Corinthians 15, and another verse kind of jumped out and said, this is Doc, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain. but I labored more abundantly or harder than they all." Doc wouldn't have said that. Yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me. You know, we don't do that much what ifing as Christians because we have a sovereign God. But what if Ken Hay had not had the faith that a camp in the Southeast should be built along with his fellow founders, Carl Blythe, Joe Henson? And I add in that Walt Fremont. What if some study revealed that there may not be a need for a camp like that back then in the hippie generation? There was no organization, hardly any assets beyond a gracious loan, but look what God had wrought. God deflected, or Doc always deflected his talk about his part in the ministry, always. Oh, he'd say, it takes only a couple to start something. Takes a whole heap of other good people to carry it on. Okay, we get that, Doc. But there are only a few that would venture to not stagger at the promises of God through unbelief, but be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Doc prayed so many times. We cannot take for granted what God is doing at this place. We need a fresh endowment of his power. I've heard it over and over many, many times. Fresh endowment of power. We can't stand on what has been done. God's grace which was bestowed on him was not in vain. He labored harder than most, yet it was not about him. It was about the grace of God, which was with him. The last verse of that chapter says, Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, the ministry. for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. So I would say to my friend, my mentor, my counselor, thank you for having faith in God to build a camp. Thank you for working so hard, harder than me, harder than many around. Thank you for having an insatiable thirst for ministry and being so outlandishly positive that God was gonna prevail and that there was hope. Thank you for believing God was going to provide, even as we gathered in the basement of his home there on Azalea Court, opened the mail, trusting that God was gonna pay the light bill somehow. Thank you for following the dream, which has blessed thousands of others. Bless our friend. In a new ministry of glorifying God, he will never lack for a ministry at the moment. Thank you, God, for faithfulness. Thank you, Doc, for obedience and trust. I hesitate to say this, but before we pray, would you please say with me the camp verse? 1 Corinthians 10, 31. Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Dear Father, we are persuaded that even though there was an imperfect man, there was a rock solid desire to give glory to you. And I know that he does it in a complete way today. We are hopeful, but we must be about our ministry. Lord, I pray that you would be with this precious family. Lord, they've sacrificed in this world and even alluded to the fact that there was a lot of demands on his time. but I thank you that they learned the lesson of his life. That without a doubt, he was that servant. He was the one at home that did the instruction, that paid attention to grandkids, great-grandkids. Lord, I am just thankful that you made the provision. You brought him to yourself. You guided him. You helped him. You gave him faith. And I thank you that that grace was not given in vain. And even though we have a sad parting of such because we're left behind, I pray that you might help us because of an example of not a perfect man, but a man who lived his life well to your glory. that you would help and bless each one. Comfort us, strengthen us, make us faithful. For we pray in Christ's name, amen. I'm gonna ask Tim Fisher to come and lead us in the song that's been referred to already. To God be the glory, great things he has done. There's a story behind that because every campfire service, and there were hundreds of them, every campfire service, it didn't matter how quiet, it didn't matter how weepy the crowd was, it didn't matter what had been done, he always basically clapped his hands, tell everybody to stand up, and let's sing, to God be the glory, great things he hath done. So let's stand as we sing. To God be the glory, praise ye our God, so long we love her, and hail her true son, who yielded his life and our common good. Let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice. Oh, come to the Father. Oh, Jesus, the Son. And give Him the glory. I ask you to please remain standing as the family is escorted out. so you