About the pastor

          Roger and Rose Purdy have been married for thirty-four years and have four children: Tiffany, Roger, Jr., Tammy, and Tonyia.  In addition, they  have five grandchildren.  All the children attend church somewhere and the two daughters, Tiffany and Tammy, attended Abundant Life Holiness Church and now attend Gospel Lighthouse Church.  Roger Jr. and Tonyia live in Aberdeen, MD and Crowder, Mississippi. 

          Both Roger and Rose were saved almost thirty-five years ago, Roger being saved in 1976 in April.  In June of that year he was filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.  Rose was saved and filled with the Holy Ghost in 1977, the year they married.  Bro. Roger was a band director at a small Iowa Class C school at the time he was saved, having graduated in 1974 from the University of Northern Iowa with a B.A. in Music.  Felling the call to work for the Lord full time, he gave up a fair salary and went to work as the Minister of Music and teacher, than later principal of the school at the Calvary Evangelistic Center located in Independence Iowa, near the locations where they grew up. (See the link to their web site on the links page).  While there, he traveled a great deal with their singing group around the country. 

          Bro. Roger was formally called to preach on the afternoon of Saturday, April 21, 1981 when in the church’s awesome prayer room.  The Lord used the scripture from Isaiah 6:1-9, especially verse 8 which says, “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.”  He later began to preach in churches around the area, although he had done a limited amount of preaching before.  

          Two years later in 1983, God called him to full time evangelism.  Trusting God, he loaded up his wife, four children all under the ages of six, and a baby-sitter, into a van that was given to him by a friend in the church and they took off.  God was good and they went through many states, as far as Virginia, Florida, and California.  They had several good revivals, some lasting two weeks and one over three weeks.  The Purdy’s briefly settled in Florida where he started a holiness church.  He then became pastor of a small church in Texarkana where they stayed for seven years.  God dealt with Bro. Roger to start the church in Tyler during a time of fasting and a time set aside for prayer.  He has been at Abundant Life Holiness Church for seven years, having a total of over fifteen years of pastoral experience.  The Purdy's have just recently accepted the pastorate at the Gospel Lighthouse Church where the rest of the congregation of the Abundant Life Church attends as well.  

          He has been an employee of the state of Texas for sixteen years, having worked in Tyler for over thirteen.