Terry Mai - A glimpse of his life.    

The Spirit of God put it in Doyle’s heart to write a memoir in honor of Terry’s life.  So the journey began; Kathy, led by the Spirit of God, Terry’s three daughters, along with Doyle, took me with them as they remembered Terry’s life.  They lived this life with Terry; God is giving the rest of us a glimpse.  Called of God, before the foundation of the earth, as a servant and apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, Terry’s life is a testimony to the power of God working in a person’s life who will dare to believe.  Those who knew and loved Terry attest to his honesty, humility, integrity and that he was a man of much compassion. Terry was chosen by God to hear the gospel, chosen by God to walk with Doyle, and chosen by God to be Kathy’s husband and Candace, Ashley and Rachel’s Dad.  (Romans 8:29-30) For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.   Acts 17:26 tells us God before appointed, the times and the bounds of all our habitations.

     Childhood

Terry Arthur Mai was born to Vernon and Zelda Mai, on the mid-western plains of Kansas in the town of Russell, October 22, 1947. The family moved to Dorrance for a time and Terry attended school there from kindergarten through the fourth grade before they returned to Russell.  Russell was a prosperous farming and oil-producing area at the time with a population of 6500. Though his family didn’t directly benefit from that prosperity, it gave him access to city amenities like youth programs, new parks, new elementary schools and a new state-of-the-art high school. Terry described his childhood as relatively carefree, playing football and baseball.  He shared when he came home and told his Mom he was going to play football, “She said no, you’re not,” afraid he would get hurt.  When he told his Dad, Vernon said, “Well good.”  He graduated in May 1965 with the largest class ever to attend Russell High. Terry never considered there was anything special about himself; however there were those around him who noticed his musical talent when they heard him sing, and he had music teachers who encouraged him.

     Education

After Terry graduated from high school he continued his education in music studies at Fort Hays State University. He gained experience performing and was quite successful. He was also a drum major there and had shared some experiences about it with his girls. They gave us an animated demonstration of one of his performances that was very entertaining. He had actually done this himself on his "live broadcasts."   He jumped straight up in the air off the platform and landed on the ground.   He shared how the crowd came to their feet in a roar. This was so Terry, we could all see him doing this.  Terry was in a class of very talented students, with one student going on to become a member of the Buddy Rich Band. He graduated from Fort Hays State University in May 1970. His voice teacher, sent the following e-mail to Doyle when she heard that Terry had gone to be with the Lord:

“Hello Reverend Davidson,

 I have just learned of the death of Terry Mai. It has been distressing news to me as I was his College voice teacher and we had not communicated much in the last few years. We last spoke a couple of years ago, and I cherish that very personal conversation. It was my privilege to teach him voice while he was a student at Fort Hays State University. I encouraged him to grow and spread his wings, and he did. He was very, very, special in talent and in his devotion to his Lord. Teachers have students of his caliber rarely, and he WAS special. Terry sent me tapes of some of his services and sermons, and I cherish them. I still have his last e-mail.

Thank you for your consideration, and God Bless you and your Ministry”,

Later, she called Kathy and talked about having him as a student. She shared with Kathy that he was a leader and people looked to him because of his strength.  He had obviously made an impression on her, to remember him so well, almost 40 years after he graduated.

Upon discharge from the Army, he took advantage of the GI Bill and entered graduate school at the University of North Texas, which had the 2nd largest music enrollment in the United States, which he did not know until he arrived there.  Terry shared that the grace of God was upon his life while at college and he continued to be successful.   He went on tour with an opera company from Charlotte, NC while working on his master’s degree, making seventy appearances all over the United States.  Many of his performances were in nationally renowned performance centers.  He performed alongside top professionals, including well known talent Van Johnson. During the next four and one-half years, he performed professionally in operas and with symphonies in San Antonio, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, N.C., Washington, D.C., and many other cities.  He sang frequently at Temple Emanuel in Dallas and also performed at the Casa Manana in Fort Worth.  Terry performed what was written to be one of the best performances of Music Man.  Terry shared in testimonies about how even with all the success he was attaining, he knew there was a void in his life. Little did he know that God had a plan for his life and it wasn’t the one Terry had in mind.

Military

Terry, facing compulsory military duty (the draft), joined the U.S. Army in 1971, during the Vietnam War as a bandsman, unassigned. He completed boot camp training in Washington State, where he was the recruit training commander.  He spent some time in Norfolk, Virginia and was then assigned to a band at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. He spent the remainder of his Army tour with 264^th Army Band, Honolulu, Hawaii. He also performed with the Honolulu Symphony while stationed in Hawaii and music critics wrote that he was the best bass baritone the Islands had heard in the last ten years. People told him he was lucky and he would say no, "It was the grace of God on my life, even before I knew him".  He was discharged from the Army in 1973.   Looking back over his time in the military, Terry could see God's hand in his life.

      Kathy’s Husband is in the Methodist Church

In 1975 while still in Argyle, Doyle got on Kathy’s bicycle on a cold blustery day and went out to pray.  He rode to the top of a hill and committed Kathy’s marriage to God.  At the direction of God, Doyle moved to McKinney in May of 1977.  I asked the sequence of how God brought them to the Methodist Church and I learned that when the Davidsons arrived in McKinney, Doyle began setting up his office and it was necessary for him to have a certificate of occupancy.  The pastor of the First United Methodist Church in McKinney was on the board that approved the certificate.  Patti had asked Doyle where they were going to go to church and he had told her, “At the deadest church in town.”  And she said, “Well, which one would that be?”  Doyle replied, “The First United Methodist Church.”  After he spoke that to Patti, God told him Kathy’s husband would be in that church.. During this time, a friend from years ago stopped by his office to see him, hearing he was in town.  She had remarried and her husband was the Sunday School teacher at the First United Methodist Church.  After she had been in to see Doyle, her husband came to see him, telling him he was going to be out of town and asked him if he would teach his Sunday school class. God told Doyle to teach the Sunday school class out of their quarterly and the lesson for that Sunday was, How to Cope.  He said to the class,” I’m not going to teach you how to cope, I’m going to teach you how to overcome.”  After that class, the leaders in the church were determined he would be a teacher in that church.

When they arrived at that church, Kathy looked around and she didn’t see anyone that could be her husband.  Doyle thought the same thing.  God had told Doyle that Kathy’s husband wouldn’t be from Texas. Terry had been the choir director at this church and had left the position to go on tour with an opera company out of North Carolina.   Terry returned to the church in September and once again took over as choir director not planning on staying for any length of time.  The Spirit of God told Kathy to join the choir in January 1978 and for three months she sat in front of Terry and she says, “It was like I was invisible.”  It appeared that Terry payed no attention to her.  Terry wrote: “For three months I avoided asking her for a date, but finally, I could resist no longer.” Unbeknownst to her, Terry had been in a relationship with a girl in his choir and it had been a disaster and he had determined he was never going to date anyone who was a member of his choir again.  Doyle was fairly sure Terry was the one, there weren’t any others and God had said, “Kathy’s husband is in that church,” and when he heard him sing that helped confirm it.  One afternoon in March, the phone rang and Terry invited Kathy out for a coke. Kathy said, “I was very casual and just answered, ‘Well that would be nice.’  She tells she was so excited to get this call, that she hung up the phone, and went running outside in her bare feet to find her Mom and Dad. "He asked me out for a coke! He asked me out for a coke!!!"  "Who did?"they asked. "Terry Mai!" She said her Dad just smiled."   On that coke date, Kathy says she saw a side of Terry that you don't see when he is directing the choir.  He was a very down to earth, genuine, confident person.  "I loved the strength that I saw in him." She had been raised around strong men all her life and definitely didn't want to end up with someone that was not strong.

After that one coke, Kathy didn’t talk to him for weeks, except during choir practice. Then one afternoon in May, after she had spent the night at a friend’s house, Terry called her there.  He had tried to reach her at home and her parents told him where she was.  He asked her to ride with him to take some music to another town and she agreed to go with him.  He picked her up in a cool white 280Z and off they went, with Kathy not knowing that the car was his girlfriend’s. He was driving this car, because he had his torn apart tuning it up. They delivered the music and had a nice dinner and after he dropped her off, he returned that girls’ car and that’s where it all began!  From that night on, they were inseparable.  Terry was working three jobs at the time and their dates were mainly getting a pizza and spending time together at her parent’s house.  She said, “We knew after two weeks that we would be together. We were crazy about each other and that never changed."

One of the three jobs Terry was working was as a singing waiter at Carruso’s Italian Restaurant.  Terry invited Kathy and her parents to dinner and waited on them.  During their meal, he sang to Kathy, “If Ever I Would Leave You" by Robert Goulet. Kathy said, that big beautiful voice just rolled out, and it was like there was no one else in the room but the two of them.  She was impressed that he would have the courage to sing a love song to his girl in front of her parents and a whole room full of people.  She thought, “This guy has some guts!”  Terry had many dreams and aspirations, and he wanted Kathy to be a part of them.  He told her he would take her to Europe, all the places he dreamed he would perform.  Kathy knew the life ahead of them was to serve God and she just said to Terry, “Well, we’ll see.”

 But Terry still had to run the gauntlet, so to speak.  One afternoon he came over for lunch at the Davidson’s and when they finished the meal, Kathy and her mom slipped away from the table leaving Terry there with her Dad.  And Doyle did grill him!  Terry tells later of how he left his foot prints in the concrete under that table.   Kathy said, “But he didn’t run. He passed the test.”  Doyle continued to press Terry over the following weeks and months; Terry described it as: “He was grilling me pretty good.”  But Doyle was also ministering the gospel to Terry, teaching him about the things of the Kingdom of God, about walking by faith and serving God.   At one point Doyle said to Terry, “One day you will do what I do.”  Terry’s reply was, “Never!”   And it wasn’t so much a rebellious answer, but unbelief, thinking he didn’t have the ability. We’ve heard Terry repeat many times the words the Father spoke to him, "This ignorance have I winked at, but now I command you to repent," and he brought Terry’s heart to the place to do just that.

Baptized in the Holy Spirit

God didn’t waste any time moving in Terry’s life.  Terry, in one of his written testimonies shared about his first experience with the power of God.   He and Kathy had been dating about six weeks and Doyle continued pressing him about his life’s intent, and about learning to walk in the gospel.  In questioning him, it was established that Terry was born again at a church camp when he was thirteen but he said he was as those in Acts 19, “had not so much as heard whether be any Holy Ghost…” and for sure had not heard of speaking in other tongues.  The following is Terry’s own written testimony:

“Down Like a Dove

After minimal instruction about the gift of the Holy Spirit and with slight apprehension, I agreed to receive the Holy Spirit, not really positive of what that meant.  However, I could see in scripture in Acts 2, Acts 10, Acts 19, and Luke 11:9-13 that it is exactly what God intends for all those who follow Him.  Little did I know, however, what was about to happen.  I was sitting on Doyle's couch in his den with others in the room who were there for the weekly Bible study, and Doyle said, "Okay, just relax.  I'm going to pray, and the Holy Spirit is going to fill you to overflowing, and out your belly shall flow rivers of living water!(Jn 7:38)"  Well, I knew he meant other tongues, and I thought, "This will have to be a miracle!"  As Doyle began to pray, I closed my eyes, and almost immediately, it was like a vision, and I was standing outside.   With my eyes shut, I pressed my eyes tighter to see if I was hallucinating, and no, I was not on any drugs.  I was amazed to see the most beautiful blue sky that I had ever seen.   In the middle of the sky was a huge white puffy cloud with the sun shooting its rays in all directions from behind the cloud.  All of a sudden, the puffy white cloud parted, and the bright sunlight nearly blinded me as I squinted my eyes from the sun.   Remember, this was a vision, but at the moment it was as real as anything I had ever experienced.  Soon, I could make out a black dot coming out of the sun, and as it came closer, I could see it was a bird, and then, specifically, as it came closer, I realized it was a white dove.  Suddenly, I thought, "This dove is flying right at me, and it's going to hit me!"  I literally felt myself ducking to avoid being hit by the dove, but thank God, he did not miss!  I absolutely felt the dove land on the top of my head.  When that happened, it was as though someone cracked a raw egg on my head, and warmth literally ran from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet.  At that moment, I spoke several words that I recognized as Latin from years of phonetic foreign language study in my musical studies in college, but I really did not know nor consider what I had just spoken.  Later, I realized that I had spoken by the Holy Spirit in Latin, "Father, deliver me and sanctify me by your Holy Spirit!"   I had received the Holy Ghost!”

The Painting Business

Terry bought Kathy a beautiful pear-shaped diamond ring and asked Doyle if he could marry her.  Doyle told him, “You don’t need a wife, you need a job.”  At that time Terry had three jobs.  He was choir director at the Methodist Church, a hired singer at Temple Emanuel and was a singing waiter at Carruso’s Italian Restaurant and was also going to college.  He was living on Park Lane in Dallas, in a nice apartment.   But Terry didn’t try to defend what he was doing; he humbled himself and accepted what Doyle said.  One night an acquaintance of Terry’s came in to the restaurant and Terry waited on him.  He asked Terry what was going on, and how things were, and Terry told him he was looking for a job.  This young man had his own painting business and he offered Terry a job.  Terry, who would have never considered painting as a profession and shared in testimonies that he didn’t even know how to hold a paint brush and didn’t care to learn, went to work as a painter. Initially he was the “gofer”; go for this, go for that, spackle holes, sand and prep.  Terry learned quickly that murmuring wasn’t going to change his situation.  He humbled himself and started giving thanks; it was a lesson he learned early in his walk with the Lord that he never forgot.  He ministered it to his children and many others how giving thanks causes the grace of God to abound in our lives.  In a short time, Terry was running a sprayer, then became the head sprayer and his boss gave him his own pickup and equipment and set him over his business.  They did such jobs as the Dallas Mavericks dressing rooms at Renuion Arena.  His boss also encouraged him that if he had side jobs, he could use the company equipment.  God continued to bless Terry’s faithfulness and after 2-1/2 years being a good steward with another man’s business, God gave him his own paint business. The Lord showed Terry where to get a pickup and gave him the money to get his spray rig and the other equipment he needed. The Lord gave him faithful people to work with him, and Kathy would pitch in when he needed extra help. Terry did small and large jobs. He worked for the average people and he worked for the wealthy.  It didn't matter where he was working, he did his work unto the Lord.  He was his boss and he knew why he could do what he was doing, and it had nothing to do with his flesh. God taught Terry to believe him walking in the business world and blessed him exceedingly, abundantly above anything he could think or ask. After God proved him in the natural for ten years, God literally dried up his paint business and Terry went into the ministry full time.

     Their Wedding

Terry and Kathy were married at her parents’ home in Fairview Texas on May 26, 1979 in the gazebo in her Dad’s rose garden. As Doyle and Kathy were remembering that day, Doyle mentioned the wind blew hard the night before the wedding and was still blowing the next day.  Doyle asked God, “What is going on with this wind?”  The Lord said, “That’s my Holy Spirit.” The day of the wedding, Kathy’s nose was running, her face was all splotchy and she felt miserable and her Dad walked in and said,” Jane, what’s going on?”  She said, “This is supposed to be one of the most important days of my life and look at me!”  Doyle took her hand and sat her down and cast the spirit of vanity out of her.  Within a very short time her nose cleared up, her face cleared up and she was able to share with the guests at their house what the power of God had done for her.  The wind quieted down to a soft breeze, Terry and Kathy were married and Doyle, by the Spirit of God, ministered the gospel to the people there that day.

     Candace, Ashley and Rachel

Terry was thrilled with the birth of each daughter and could hardly wait to gather them in his arms when they were born.  He delighted in every aspect of being a father.  Candace Nicole was born August 20, 1980, Ashley Elisabeth arrived December 17, 1986 and Rachel Christine on October 25, 1990.

God used the birth of each child to deal with things in Terry and Kathy’s hearts.  They overcame with each one and their faith and love was perfected to a greater degree with each delivery.  The following are testimonies Terry wrote describing things they overcame with each child:

“All of us have experienced dealing with fear in some aspect of our lives.  Also, many of us may not have known we had any fear until we were confronted in an uncomfortable situation which turned to torment.  Therefore, we may conclude that we are not perfected in God's love, because I John 4:18 states: There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear:  Because fear hath torment.   He that feareth not is made perfect in love.  Love is perfected in our hearts by obeying Jesus' word.(John 14:23)  Even though we were born again, baptized in water, and baptized in the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in other tongues, our house was no exception.

  “When Candace was born, Kathy and I were excited that God had blessed us with a child to be raised by the Spirit in the kingdom of God.  She was an easy baby with minimal natural difficulties.  However, at about 10 months of age, we began to notice it was harder to get her to go to bed at night.  We prayed, played worship music or Doyle's teaching tapes, lay down with her, or combined all of the above to no avail.   In fact, the situation grew worse over the next two years.  Finally, after fasting and prayer many days, Kathy and I were praying in Candace's room at 1:30 a.m. one night, and she was crying and sobbing uncontrollably.  The power of God filled my heart, and jointly, Kathy and I began to resist this spirit of torment.  All of a sudden in the corner of the darkened room, I saw a shadow of what appeared to an image of a person.  Kathy noticed it simultaneously and we set our hearts to command that spirit out of the house in Jesus name.  The shadow actually moved from the bedroom to the hall, and I found myself pursuing it until I reached the front door.  I literally opened the door and commanded that spirit of torment out of our house.  Thank God, I didn't think about what I was doing, but I continued to yield to the power of God in my heart.  The results were astounding!  We returned to Candace's bedroom to find her sound asleep, and she has never been bothered again.  Glory to God!

 In another experience, Ashley, born in 1986, was also an excellent baby and no problem to put to sleep.  We would put her in bed, turn on a worship or teaching tape, turn out the light, and shut the door.  We never heard a peep out of her except for one time.   For some reason this night, the devil, who doesn't need a reason, decided to torment Ashley.  She had been upset all evening, which was highly unusual.  So, when I put her to bed, I continued to pray for her, and God revealed to me about this spirit that was tormenting her.  As I began to command the spirit to turn her loose, the devil spoke to me, "You can't get this spirit off of her."   Without even hesitating, I retorted, "You're right!  I can't, but the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead and dwells in me can!  In the name of Jesus, I command you to turn my baby loose!"  Immediately, Ashley's countenance changed, she stopped crying, smiled, rolled over, and went to sleep.  My mind was astonished, but my heart knew she had been delivered by the power of God!

To continue with Ashley at about the age of 2, she came under a severe attack that appeared to be an allergic reaction.  Almost her entire body was covered with red splotches enhanced by tremendous itching, which is horrendous torment.  We couldn't discern what spirit was attacking her, and I saw the more anxious I was, the more tormented Ashley became.  "Anxiety" is "fear", you know.   Finally, I decided to get her some relief somehow until we could determine what spirit this was coming against her. We called the doctor, and he prescribed something over the counter to relieve the itching.  She got somewhat better, but I knew this was not the true answer.

The next day, Kathy and I fasted according to Isaiah 58:6, Is not this the fast that I have chosen?  to loose bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? We prayed all day loosing her from 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation curses on all sides of each family, loosing us, or anything that we thought could cause this problem.  At one point, Doyle came to exhort me not to be afraid to loose ourselves from curses through him or any of his family, which we had already begun to do.  However, it was encouraging to have confirmed what we were doing was the right thing.  At the end of the day, we could see little change, and I could see the medicine was not really working.   However, the Spirit of God inside of me had strengthened me in prayer, and I was no longer afraid for Ashley.  The power of God filled my heart, and I cried out, “I know this medicine is not the answer, and you are, Jesus!  I don't care what generation curse this is or where it came from!   I just command this curse to be loosed off her body in Jesus name!"   Within a matter of seconds, Ashley quit crying because of the torment from the itching.  The itching subsided, and within minutes, the redness began to disappear.  The curse had been broken, and there has been no reoccurrence since.    Praise God!

 Rachel, our third daughter, was born in 1990, and she was the easiest birth Kathy experienced with the three girls.  Rachel was born 17.5 minutes after we arrived at the hospital.  It was really a miraculous experience, and I guess made the devil mad.   When I took Rachel to the nursery, everything was fine except I could tell she was tormented.  Even the nurses commented that they did not understand because all was normal.  Well, I went back to Kathy's room, and we discovered both of us were somewhat apprehensive(fear) about the birth because of what had happened when Ashley was born.  That did not last long, however, as we prayed, and God set us free from that fear.  I went back to the nursery and found Rachel had completely calmed down and had gone to sleep.  Praise the Lord!

 Jesus said in John 14:27, Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  In Isaiah 53:5, But he was wounded(tormented) for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.   If we will believe what he did through the death, burial, and resurrection, we will triumph over all fear and all torment.  God Bless!”

     Ashley

Our middle daughter, Ashley, was born in December of l986.  Kathy and I were rejoicing at the ease of everything with this particular pregnancy.  Kathy had spent hours reading the psalms before Ash was born and had her heart prepared for Ashley to appear into this world.  I was teaching a group of people in Denton, Texas at the time, and we would meet on Sunday mornings, and Wednesday evenings.   As we were getting ready to leave for this particular Wednesday evening service, Kathy informed me she believed it was about time for Ashley to arrive.   I said , "Then we had better check with the doctor on call."  They told us to come by on our way, and sure enough, they confirmed what she already knew.  I called Doyle, and he said, "I'll take care of Denton!"   Ashley was born around 10:00 PM.  Everything was great, and I accompanied Ashley to the nursery.  After a complete visual examination, the nurse in there said, "There is only one thing wrong with this baby!"  I said, "What's that?!"  She said, "She's perfect!"  Well, by the next evening, the devil had made his move.

     Our pediatrician came and informed us that Ashley had, what they had called, jaundice, but it was a spirit that came against our home.  I reluctantly left Kathy that night and went home, and frankly, both of us were a little dismayed.   However, I knew I needed to get out of there and pray!  She also began to read the psalms out loud.  Though we hadn't requested  a private room, the Lord knew what was ahead and mercifully gave her a room alone.  She prayed the psalms until her head would no longer stay up, and finally, she  went to sleep.   Even though things did not look promising, I knew now was not the time to be weak but fight with everything in me against this attack!  The next morning, there was no change.   They informed us that they wanted Kathy to go home and leave Ashley there.   Although not feeling like it, I knew I had to be strong because I knew Kathy's heart was about to break, and we continued to pray.  The Lord began to minister to her about Moses' mother, and how she put him on the water and committed him to the Father.   We knew God was saying, "she is mine, put her in the basket, put her on the water, and trust me."  We left the hospital with no baby, and our hearts were rending.
 
     We had already planned to have the people from the Denton Church over that evening.  So we went home and prepared dinner as we had planned.   Kathy and I had invited Doyle and Patti over also, and as we were talking, the lord revealed to Doyle that the spirit was coming from people's tongues.  James 4:6-10 talks about our tongues being set on fire from hell, full of deadly poison, therewith we bless God and curse men, etc.  Needless to say, we began to bless people and kept on praying.  Blood tests on Ashley would go down as we would pray and we would be encouraged that we were overcoming. Then as we would relax, the blood count would go up.   It was like a roller coaster.  God revealed to me in Joshua about the battle of Ai where the Jews' enemies prevailed because of sin in the camp.  Joshua dealt with the sin in the camp, stretched his spear toward Ai, and the Jews prevailed.   That is what was going on with Ashley's blood test.  We would see the thing turn around, our soul would relax, and then the blood count would change.  We saw that we needed to hold fast and not to relax, but continue to believe until the battle was completely won.

     We were going into the hospital on that Saturday to see Ashley.   They had her in an incubator with all kinds of things attached to her.  Our emotions were running wild, and we knew that we had to get hold of ourselves.  We went back by the church to let Doyle know what was happening, and he said, "Come on up to the house.  I will follow you in my car."  We were sitting at a stop light, and I will never forget this as long as I live.  Kathy began to laugh, and I asked, "What's going on?"  Kathy had seen a vision of a man standing right beside Ashley.  He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, and one leg crossed over the other.  He stood there totally calm and unconcerned.  We knew in our heart that God's angel had charge over Ashley.  I jumped out of our car, ran back to Doyle, and told him what Kathy had seen.  I know the people around probably thought we were nuts, but frankly, who cares when you are overcoming!!!

    Things began to turn around in the spirit.   Kathy and I had telephone duty that night on our prayer line at the church.   We began to talk afterwards with Doyle and could tell  we were overcoming the spirit.  Kathy said, "I'm ready to get my baby out of that hospital."  We called to find out  where the pediatrician was to no avail and concluded it was not the right time.    God was not quite done with our hearts.  The next morning I was speaking to the people in Denton, and God had me speak on "Faith".  Needless to say, God was talking to me, and as I was speaking, the Spirit of God rose up and began to set me free of unbelief and strengthen me.   I exclaimed to the people, "I have got to go and get my baby!"  I literally felt like a roaring lion, and I knew it was the power of God in me!  We closed the service and headed back to Plano where we knew Doyle was eating lunch.  He had encouraged and believed with us through this whole thing.  Doyle asked me where we were headed, and I told him.  He said, "Go on!  I will be there when I'm done."  Kathy and I went to the hospital, and it just so happened our pediatrician was off.  Ha!  God had gone before us and had it all arranged.   It just so happened he was a personal friend of Kathy and a little too close to the situation.  I made my firm request to the doctor on call, and actually, he was somewhat overwhelmed.  Of course, we know most people are when it the power of God!  He hesitantly replied,  "I'll have to take another blood test.", and I responded, "No problem!  I'll be waiting right here!"   They took another blood test, and the doctor returned to report, "I guess I will have to let her go".  I said, "I guess you will."   When we left the hospital that day, we knew that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had intervened in our lives.  To the eyes, Ashley was still as yellow as a canary, but we knew in our hearts that spirit had bowed it's knees.   We had agreed to take her back on Tuesday for one more blood test, and the Lord had us share with our friend, the pediatrician, who was a religious Sunday School teacher and student of the Bible, what had taken place.  It was more overcoming of religious spirits, which is what Jesus constantly dealt with in His life.  After that time, Ashley's coloring began to return to normal, and she has been a healthy child ever since.   Oh yes, we have had attacks, but we've overcome the attacks by believing Jesus died, was buried, and rose again, reading the word of God out loud, and oh yes, worshipping God.  You say, "You really believe worship will help, don't you?"  You better know that is how we have overcome lots of things in our lives, in my children's lives, and even in our dogs' lives.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.(Heb.13:8)  His power has not diminished or left this earth.  Romans 1:16 tells us the gospel is the power of God unto salvation unto all that believeth.  So let's believe.!!!

   Terry loved his one-on-one time with his girls in the mornings when he took them to school and their schedules were such that he had individual time with them.   He talked to them about their day, their friends or whatever and they all laughed and said, “it was too early in the morning, we weren’t awake enough to talk!” The girls all talked about the power that would flow into them when he would take their hand to pray for them, or lay hands on them.   Ashley said, “Sometimes when Mom would be praying with us to overcome a physical attack, if we thought it was taking to long, we would say, “Would you get Dad?”  When they would wake him, he would come roaring out of bed, after the devil, almost before his eyes were even open.  All three of the girls are grateful to God for the way they were raised.  Their dad told them often, “If God’s saying it, you can do it.” As I listened to them, I could see that trusting in the power of God was their way of life.  If they were sick they prayed and overcame.   Their friends would ask for a Tylenol or an Advil, and they would say to them, “We don’t have either of those, but my dad will pray for you.”  If kids were mean to them and they came home complaining, both Terry and Kathy would say, “You need to bless them.” He told them, “They don’t hate you, they hate the Spirit in you.”  And he constantly reminded them, “You aren’t wrestling against that person, you’re wrestling against a spirit.”

The girls said that he taught them to hear God for themselves and he always pushed them toward God, encouraging them to put their trust in the Lord.  When they were small, Terry and Kathy would hear God for them, but as they got older and were asking if they could do something many times either Kathy or Terry would say, “Well what do you believe God is saying?”  Terry would correct them if he thought they were headed the wrong way, and there were times when they received a flat NO! before they could even get the question out of their mouth.  Some of their friends would say to them, “We’re glad your dad isn’t our dad, and Doyle isn’t our Papa!” They noted that they were glad in both cases.  Many times their friends were allowed to do things that they weren’t.   They were taught to respect their Dad and Papa and they respected the Spirit of God in those men.

    Rachel shared that her Dad applied a little discipline at church one day.  She said she was never able to whisper when she was little and one day at church when she was about four she kept talking and her dad told her, “If I hear one more peep out of you, you’re going to get a spanking.”  Well she couldn’t keep still, and her dad swooped her up, put her over his shoulder, and out the door they went.  Rachel said, “He spanked me and people could hear it and hear me crying” and one of her sisters said, “Yeh and Pop just kept talking, smiling the whole time.”

Ashley told about an incident when she was working at a local restaurant. She did well there and moved fairly quickly up the ranks and a fellow employee resented it.  Ashley would go home at night and talk to her dad about her day and she would mention when this person was giving her grief.  One night her dad went to that restaurant and had a talk with the assistant manager not telling Ashley that he did.  The next day, this person made fun of her that she had to send her dad to talk to him and didn’t believe her when she said she didn’t know he came in there.  But she overcame and turned in her two week notice not long after that and by the time her two weeks were up, God had supplied her with another job.

Terry and Kathy did not believe it was right for the girls to go to preschool, but Kathy believed it was right to put them in dance.  Terry told her, “If you believe that’s God, you go for it”.  The Spirit of God spoke to her and told her, “Don’t be afraid to put them in anything that can be used to worship me”.    That is exactly what they did.  She prayed and God showed her a place for them to go.   This particular teacher was not in to competition, but was wanting them to have fun.   In the mean time, they learned some grace and finesse. 

Terry knew what was going on in their lives, including school.  If there were situations with a teacher or a class, many times Terry and Kathy both would arrive at the school to get to the bottom of it.  They were told it was very unusual for dads to come and Terry was no pushover.  He went there in the power and authority of the Lord Jesus, but he was also willing to listen to what they had to say.  He didn't just assume his little daughters were angels and were always right.  He could be objective. When Ashley started school, the kindergarten teacher told them, she will have no problems in school. Well, when she got to first grade the teacher told them Ashley needed to be put in a reading recovering class.  Kathy was not happy and was fussing about it and Terry said, “Listen, if they need help with anything, I want them to have it.  We’ll humble ourselves and put her in it.”  They did and within a four to six weeks, the reading teacher told them, “Ashley doesn’t belong in this class”.  Terry said, “Well I knew that, but I wanted you to know it”.

    Candace began playing the piano when she was six and finished taking lessons when she was thirteen.  She joined jazz band when she was a sophomore and continued with it her junior and senior year. Her dad believed it was right and encouraged her, even though she was hesitant.  She humbled herself and joined and learned to improvise.  She said she overcame much fear and it helped prepare her to play during worship in the sanctuary and doing live television.  Candace has written testimonies of how God led her that are available to read on her web page and Facebook.  She believed God wanted her to play the flute and Terry went with her to meet with the instructor and the instructor told her that because of some dental issues, she wouldn’t be able to play the flute and signed her up for clarinet.  She humbled herself and said ok, but when they got back out to the car Terry said, “Can, what do you think you should play?”  She said, “Dad I think God wants me to play the flute.”  Terry said, “Then that’s what you’ll play.”  When she started school the next fall, the instructor had been replaced and the new one was a woman who played the flute.  She told Candace she would help her with the flute and she would be able to play it fine.  That she did and she ended up being one of their top flute players..

Ashley chose to play alto-saxophone and became an accomplished player in worship. She also loved to dance.  When Ashley was looking over her schedule of classes for her Senior year, she learned she was going to have a free period and decided to try out for Dance 4.  She went to the tryouts and didn’t qualify for Dance 4 and accepted that she would be entered at level 3. However, when she returned to school in the fall, the roster listed her at Dance 4 level and that is where she remained.  This is really where Ashley excelled.   She had seen her mom and others dance before the Lord, and obviously he put that desire in her heart as well.

Rachel and her parents believed it was right for her to play the trumpet, and she was pleased because her Dad had played the trumpet in the army.  Initially, the instructors tried to persuade her to play another instrument because of a scar on her lip, but she went on with the trumpet and excelled.  Her Junior and Senior year she was one of three section leaders over 70 plus trumpet players. She now plays her trumpet with the worship team at Water of Life.  Her Senior year, God put it in her heart to run for Secretary-Treasurer of the 600 member band.  Rachel had some stiff competition and she mentioned that fact.  Her family helped her make a few posters and her Dad told her; You know if this is God, you wouldn’t even need these posters to win.” But they made them anyway, Rachel hung them up and that was the extent of her campaigning for office.  She won.

All the girls were in marching and concert band and they shared that being in band taught them responsibility and discipline.  They had practice before school, or after, depending on the schedule and they learned to trust God in situations and see Him manifest His power on their behalf.  They learned to see God move for them at an early age, if they would just try to believe Him.

    All three girls are a part of the worship team at Water of Life. Terry and Kathy always believed their children would be involved in the ministry and worship. They are all on staff at Water of Life and something Doyle has expressed is: "What a blessing it is to hear them pray and worship." I have been there and the halls ring with their voices lifted up in prayer, be it worship and praise, or binding the powers of darkness.

 They spent hours in the car with their parents driving to Joplin, Missouri and Kathy attributes those hours to the girls learning to worship and pray.  Terry told them they were part of his ministry and he insisted that his girls traveled with him and Kathy, unless their schedule would not permit.  A date or night with friends didn’t constitute an excuse to not go with their parents.  They will tell you they weren’t always “happy campers” about it, but a few miles of worshipping would change their hearts and they would overcome.

 Terry imparted his faith and anointing to his three daughters and we have watched God raise them up to minister the Spirit of God in song.  Before Terry went to heaven he spoke a word to each one of the girls, individually: “Candace, when you touch those keys, the anointing rises about five notches." 
"Ashley when you step out on that dance floor, it is beautiful and it’s anointed". 
He told Rachel that when she played her trumpet, she had one of the sweetest tones he had ever heard and when she worshipped on her trumpet, it was anointed. If you notice, he encouraged them all of the anointing on each of their individual lives.

Laying Down His Music

Both Doyle and Kathy have talked about the pride Terry had when they met him, (which they would say we have all had our share) but he had a heart that he could humble himself.  When Terry and Kathy were married, he was painting and also finishing his Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance.  After being baptized in the Holy Spirit he thought God would surely want him to get his degree and he emphasized that HE thought that.  All that remained to complete his degree were his oral exams and his written thesis.   Because he had been traveling extensively, performing, he hadn’t made a diligent effort to complete his thesis.  He spent a year working on the paper and it became frustrating for him because every time he took his paper in for review with his professor, he would leave with every section completely marked up in red corrections.  He had never had a problem with English prior to that and he didn’t understand what was going on.  Kathy went with him to meet with the professor one day, and he approved everything.  The next time he met with him, Kathy wasn’t with and he left with the entire paper obliterated in red, even the sections that had been approved at the prior meeting. They all thought surely it was the devil opposing him.  It was suggested that he hire a tutor and he did.  His tutor could find nothing wrong with his paper.  It was discouraging and he began to ask God, “What is going on?”

It became clear to him in 1979, what God wanted.  He found out he was going to have to take another class to maintain his status toward his degree because of the length of time it was taking to complete his degree.   The class that was offered to maintain his status was only offered during the day and he was working full time to support his household.  He understood to some degree that to walk with God, he had to lay down the things of the world, but education?  That was more difficult to accept.  He knew that God gives a person talents, but he thought developing those talents with every means available would be what pleased God. One day driving down the service road in McKinney,  he looked over at Kathy and told her he was going to stop the work on his Master's degree. They were on their way to see his professor in Denton, and his heart had come to that place. They arrived at the university, and he went to his professor and told him, “I quit.”  His professor was astonished and told him and then Kathy, “He is making a mistake.”  Kathy nor Doyle had encouraged him to do that.  In fact Kathy even expressed to me that she thought to herself, “Are you kidding?” He believed it was God and said he has never regretted it.  On an audio Terry recorded, he said, “One experience ministering the power of God by the Spirit was worth a lifetime of the accolades from men."

His last professional performance was in 1979, directing and performing in Bill Gaither’s Alleluia at the First United Methodist Church in McKinney.  Kathy said they meet people who still talk about that performance.  After that, God required Terry to lay down his job as choir director while they were still attending there and for six months he watched the choir that he thought HE had built,  fall apart right before his eyes.  It was very humbling.

   Delivered

When God brought Terry into Doyle’s life, He began almost immediately setting Terry free.  He wrote about his first experience being delivered from devils:

After I received the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues, the people in the room continued to pray.  Soon, I felt two hands like hot branding irons on my back, and a voice (Doyle) say, "Come out, sorcery!  Come out witchcraft!"   Before I could say, "I don't have sorcery or witchcraft!” I felt in my chest like flesh was literally tearing away from my ribs.   It was as if someone was ripping my ribcage inside-out.   At the same time, I knew that I was okay, but I did feel something leave my body.  It was devils!   I asked myself, "How could I have devils?"  I had heard about witches and such, but I never inquired or believed in them.  However, I could not deny what took place inside of me.  I never knew walking in the world system is after the flesh, and one work of the flesh is witchcraft.(Galatians 5:20)  Also Rev. 18:23 states, "thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived."  That doesn't leave many of us out, does it?   Doyle asked, “Did you feel anything?'   I explained to him what happened.   He then told me while his hands were on my back, it felt like someone with a sledge hammer on a rock pile.  When he would call out the evil spirit by the Spirit of God, a piece of rock would fly out of my back.  The power of God was beginning to set me free!  In Mark 16, Jesus said one of the signs of believing the gospel is to cast out devils.  Obviously, the gospel began to literally operate in my heart that day.  Although dramatic to me, this was only the beginning of God's power working in me.  He has continued to work in me for the past 20 years to build the foundation of Jesus Christ through the apostle-prophet ministry.”

When Terry and Kathy were dating, Terry took Kathy and her parents to a dinner theatre at the Grand Crystal Palace.   As Doyle watched the people around him, he said to the Lord, “These people act just like Terry, what is this?”  God told him it was a spirit of theatrics and later God delivered Terry of that spirit. We’ve all heard Doyle and Terry many times, describe Terry spending the day on the stage in the sanctuary being set free from the Masonic Lodge as Doyle prayed.  There was also a time that he went to a meeting with Doyle, and the Spirit of God delivered him from a spirit of poverty.  Terry would often say to all of us, “I haven’t arrived, only God knows what I still need delivered from”. One thing that he encouraged the people that listened to him teach was whether it's in you, out of you, around you or through you, it doesn't matter.  We just have to believe to overcome it. 

Family History

 We really cannot tell Terry’s story without stepping back into history and talking about his ancestors.   They were a hearty people, surviving, despite great hardships, emigrating first from the northern border of Germany, near Denmark, to the Russian Steppes of the Volga River region in Russia.

The family has traced the earliest known records of the Mai name to Spachbruchen in 1610. Henriche Michael Mai (May) was of Lutheran descent, a weaver from the village of Spachbruchen in the Dieberg Parish near Darmstadt. He died shortly before the family left for Russia or enroute. Oral tradition tells that Terry’s line migrated to Russia from Schleswig-Holstein, which is a jut on the north border of Germany near Denmark.

Thousands of Germans emigrated to Russia between 1763 and 1767, during the rule of Catherine the Great.  They settled in villages on the Russian Steppe along the Volga River and became known as the Volga Germans. The causes of the emigration can be traced back more than 200 years.  The Reformation (1521) had divided the German people and resulted in prolonged and bloody warfare that was largely carried out on German soil.  The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) was the culmination of this devastating period which left the population in a state of great poverty, affecting mainly the common people.

Conflicts continued and the most disastrous war of the 18^th century was the Seven Years War (1756-1763), which served to be the final trigger for the Volga German Migration.  This war occurred at the same time as the French and Indian War in the United States.  French troops again decimated southwestern Germany and left the population ravaged.  Despite the war induced poverty, the princes continued to extract heavily from their peasants.  Enforced labor and required military duty were also major factors.  The first year of Catherine the Great’s reign in Russia she invited foreigners to settle on the vast tracts of land with little response.  A second manifesto issued in 1763 offered generous financial help, the opportunity to purchase land, exemption from military service, freedom from most taxation, self administration, and religious freedom.  It was an opportunity for a better life.

The Mais arrived in Oranienbaum, (not far from St. Petersburg) on September 31, 1766 on the ship “Gips”.  They settled on the west side of the Volga, “bierseite”, (meaning hilly slope) in the province of Saratov, in the village of Holstein. The immigrant villages were separate from the Russian villages and the Catholic settlers were put in villages separate from the Protestants.  Most Germans stayed together as families and it was a difficult life for the colonists.  Land allotments were often barely large enough to support a large family and robber bands were a constant terror.  The Germans were a hearty people and they not only survived, but prospered.  They seemed to grow strong and resilient through what they suffered and the family historian calls them a God fearing people.  They were Lutherans and the children were schooled by the church.  Often the lay pastor was also the school teacher, and the textbook was the bible.

After the Germans had been settled in Russia for nearly one hundred years life began to change for them.  Catherine’s sons,  Alexander II and III came into power and the promises of Catherine’s manifesto were broken.   The Germans hadn’t assimilated into the Russian culture and the Russian people resented the “foreigners” because they didn’t have to pay taxes or serve in the military.  A process began which was known as “russification,” intending to absorb the German people into the Russian culture and the Germans wanted no part of it. Conscription into the Russian military struck terror into the hearts of the German people, because once the boys were taken away, more than likely, they would never be returned. They spoke little or no Russian, and orders were given in Russian and because they were unable to understand their orders, they became expendable on the front lines.

Terry’s grandfather, George Adam Mai was born November 12, 1896 in Holstein, Saratov Province, Russia.   He came to America with his parents, Johann Friedrich and Maria Katherina Mai, and his two brothers David and Gottfried.  They sailed from Bremen, Germany on the S.S. Koin on March 18, 1909 and arrived in Galveston on April 10, 1909.  On the manifest it says that Friedrich could speak and read English but the rest of the family could not.  They worked with his sister-in-law and brother-in-law who had sponsored their trip to the States, on their farm in Shattuck, OK for a time, but there wasn’t enough work for all.   Friedrich moved his family to Globeville, Colorado (just outside of Denver) to work in the sugar beet harvest in the fall of 1909.   Globeville was another German settlement.   This was not their type of farming, so they relocated one more time, to Russell County, Kansas in the latter part of June 1910, near friends.  Adam and Gottfried were allowed to go to school just long enough to learn to read and write English, before they had to go to work full time on the farm.  They were confirmed at the St. John Lutheran Church in Russell.

Adam married Pauline Peil August 13, 1922 in Gorham, Kansas. They had five sons and Vernon Paul, Terry’s dad was the oldest, born January 14, 1924.  The family historian writes that Terry’s grandfather’s love was farming, but he never attained success at it during the depression and found work in construction as a carpenter.  They moved to Russell and raised their boys there.   It is written that Adam was a conscientious workman and a gracious and friendly neighbor.

When America was at war with Germany all German immigrants were required to declare their loyalty to the United States by becoming citizens.  Adam had filed his “Declaration of Intention” for citizenship, September 22, 1922, but he’d let the seven year limit expire and had to re-apply June 1, 1934.  His petition was finalized on January 2, 1940.

Terry’s Dad, Vernon, was born in Russell, Kansas and was confirmed in the St. John Lutheran Church. Vernon shared with Doyle that when he started grade school he mainly spoke German.  He had a teacher who spoke both German and English and taught Vernon English. He met Terry’s mother, Zelda Gibson in school. They became high school sweethearts and were married in February 1947.  He had applied for military duty, but was not able to pass the physical exam.  They attended the Otterbein United Methodist Church in Russell and Terry wrote that if tradition would have continued he would have been raised Lutheran; however his mother was Methodist and they raised their family in the Methodist Church. Vernon worked for the Union Pacific Railroad for eight years and in 1956 he went to work for the maintenance department of Russell City Hospital, retiring in 1986 as the plant manager.

Terry had the privilege of sharing things of the Spirit of God with his parents.  He learned from his parents that through a set of circumstances he was almost not brought into the world.  And Terry wrote, “It was because the devil knew the call on my life, but God intervened.”  His dad told him that the day Terry was born, Vernon gathered him up and lifted him toward heaven and committed him to God; that touched Terry’s heart. Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,  Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.  (Jeremiah 1:5)

Walking By Faith

The course of Terry’s life changed abruptly when God brought Kathy into his life and almost immediately the Spirit of God began to work in his heart.  Kathy has shared that if ever she saw the scripture from Proverbs performed, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will”, it was with Terry.

From the very beginning Terry began to make an effort to walk what he was being taught.  Doyle was teaching Terry and Bruce Geer the foundation, one-on-one.   Terry moved into a little four room cottage, which Kathy described as so small her shoes wouldn’t have fit in it. Her best visual about the house was that Terry had to sit on the stool to look in the mirror and shave. While I was in Plano talking with Doyle, Kathy and the girls, Kathy took me to each on of these houses and they are all still standing.  Terry shared many testimonies with the world about the different rental houses they lived in and in the one titled, A Good Steward, he states that from 1979 to 1985 they lived in four different rental homes, each one being bigger and better than the first, but each house also needed complete maintenance to be done inside and out and he wrote:

“God was also overwhelming my heart at the times to show me how He would bless anyone that would follow Him.  The owner of the first house, which was a quaint 2-BR, wood-frame, cottage-type home, asked me to live in the house "rent free" and take care of it.  At first I thought it was a joke, but I could tell the man was serious, so I agreed.  He then proceeded to pay me to replace some of the wood siding and paint it completely.  Frankly, I was astonished but overcame, and we were blessed to live there.  The next house was larger but needed even more work.  It needed complete painting, carpet in the living area because the previous resident used it to repair motors, and grass with virtually none in the entire yard.  In fact, the only thing in the front yard was an area about 12 feet in diameter surrounded by rock with cactus, a steer skull, and more rock, and nothing but weeds around it.  Well, we painted it for our rent deposit, the carpet was replaced upon request, and I cleaned out the "Southwestern exhibit"(Ha!) and planted new grass seed.  Within four months we had a complete new lawn…….I won't go into detail about the other houses except to say that as before, we took care of them as if they were our own homes, and as if each one was a gift from God!  I know that is why God continued to bless us with a bigger and better home until finally He gave us a home of our own because we were diligent and faithful to take care of each one He gave us.   I must add another purpose was to constantly enlarge my heart to believe Him.   The primary purpose God deals with all of us is to change our hearts toward Him.”

Kathy talked about how frustrating it was for Terry as he learned to move from singing to ministering the Spirit.   When they first began leading worship, they would finish for that day and say to Doyle, “Well how was it?”  He would reply, “Nice singing, no Spirit.”  Terry and Kathy would humble themselves and pray and encourage each other.  They set their hearts to believe and they began to overcome.  They learned to minister the Spirit and watch God’s power manifest and people were healed and delivered.

Many in the body of Christ remember Terry sharing a conversation he had with God one day, “Lord just do a quick work in me, change my heart, wipe me clean.”  He heard God say, “If I did that, all that would be left is tennis shoes.”  Terry said to the Lord, “It’s ok, take your time.”

Those who have listened to this ministry have been taught that God one of the first things God will prove people in is money. Luke 16:11 tells us:

“If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?”

When Terry was still in the painting business he and Kathy went to see Doyle at home.  Terry talked with Doyle about how Doyle had helped them on more than one occasion, including financially.   He said he had just finished a paint job and he wanted to give Doyle a certain amount of money.  It wasn’t a small amount.  Doyle said, “Well, ok, if you believe that’s right.”  And Terry did.  It was a great encouragement to Doyle.  He saw Terry’s humility and that he was willing to give.   Kathy said this was one thing she too appreciated about Terry, his willingness to obey God with their money.  When Terry was ministering in Denton he received for the church, a very large offering and Terry and Kathy spent time praying and seeking God what He would have Terry do with it.  Terry heard God say, “Give it away.”  Terry did just that.

Doyle also shared how in the late 70’s Terry and Kathy came to see him at home and said, “Dad, we need to talk to you.”  They said to him, “You are not doing, what you teach.  You’re saying this is too hard.”  Doyle said he sat there and looked at them and thought about it for a bit and said, “You know, you’re right.”  He went on to say,    “I appreciated their honesty and their courage.”

Miracles

Terry grew up believing God had given him his musical talents and he thought to develop those talents would be what pleased God.  Doyle recognized his ability the first time he heard him and we have all heard him say, Terry had the best voice of anyone of his day.  As was shared previously, Terry went through some frustrating days learning to minister the Spirit of God and he said, “I’ll not sing another note if I can’t do it by the Spirit.”  The following is a testimony he wrote and titled, Breath From God:

“Time passed, and it had been about five years since I had done any professional singing performances.   Then one day, I received a phone call from a long time friend who was directing a performance of Handel's "Messiah" and wanted me to sing the Bass arias.   Well, initially, I thought, "No!", but in my heart it seemed as though, "It's okay, go ahead."  It is astonishing what God will use to deal with a person's heart, and this was no exception.  So, I agreed, but I soon began to realize, "Hey, you haven't done this kind of singing for several years, and you are not in the same vocal condition to sing without a microphone as you have become accustomed!"   Needless to say the devil played on that doubt for a while, but finally I overcame it, and I decided I was going to have to believe God.  I also reminded him that he was the one who told me to do it.  Well, performance time came, and I told Jesus, "Lord, I thank you for the honor to lift up praise unto you, and I commit this time as worship unto to you for your honor, praise, and glory!"  The performance was presented at a large Methodist church in South Dallas, and I had been told that there was a group of charismatics within the congregation, but I really didn't give it much thought.   However, at the beginning, there was congregational singing, and I noticed some of them lifting their hands, which, of course, in the Methodist church is not common, but it didn't bother me.  At this point the Tenor soloist, with whom I had performed in years past and knew he was a highly competent singer, leaned over and said laughing, "You see those people lifting their hands?  They speak in other tongues!"    I replied without hesitation, "So what?  I do too!"  At which, he turned and said nothing to me the rest of the evening.  During the presentation, I saw firsthand how it is not wise to mock God.  As I stated, the Tenor was an accomplished singer, but he had one of the worst performances I had ever heard.   As for me, God blessed me with possibly the best performance I had ever experienced with the "Messiah", and he also performed a miracle for me while I was singing one of the arias.  This particular aria had a lot of long virtuoso runs with lots of notes to sing in one breath.  In the middle of one of the runs, I realized I didn't have enough breath to complete the run without stopping.  My choices were stop, take a breath, and look stupid, run out of breath and look stupid, or believe God!  At that instant, all I thought in my heart was, "Jesus!” my diaphragm just expanded with air without taking a breath, and I completed the aria with minimal effort unto perfection!   Glory be to God!  He proved to me his ability(power) in me was beyond mine, and he would anoint and honor whatever he ordained if my heart would glorify him, even Handel's "Messiah".  Needless to say, my mind was overwhelmed at the power of God, but my heart was ecstatic, excited, and strengthened because of the miracle God did for me.  You know, that's why God does miracles, so you and I might believe.  Well, He has made a believer out of me.  No, I haven't performed any more "Messiah's" since and don't care if I ever do, but I have seen the power of God daily, and that is of much greater importance to all of our lives.” 

There are so many miracles that God performed in Terry’s thirty years walking with the Lord that one might be reminded of the scripture in John, “if they should be written everyone, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” But let it be said that God demonstrated His power in the Mai house on a daily basis.  Many testimonies are listed on Terry Mai Ministry web page and they continue to minister to all of us who read them.  As I was talking with Kathy and the girls they reminded me of the above scripture in John.  They said,  "Where do we start?  There are so many things to share."  They said to me, "You might be here a while."  We have done the best we could to condense stories and still get across the things that will glorify God.  We all know that is what Terry would want.  Not to draw any attention to himself, but to glorify the Father in Heaven.

Mexico

Terry ministered with Doyle on three trips to Mexico, two in Rio Bravo and once in Rionoso.  They bought 10,000 bibles and walked the streets handing out bibles and ministering the gospel.  They ministered in Methodist, Four-Square and Assembly of God Churches.  They were invited to minister at a Presbyterian Church at midnight one night and they agreed to come.  When they got there, only the pastor was there and he said , “No one came.”  But he shared with them, that when a woman was being delivered in one of the meetings he attended he touched her and he said to Doyle and Terry, “There is power when you minister!”  Doyle said, “Those were growing days”, for him and Terry both.

  Israel

Terry and Kathy and Candace traveled with Doyle and company to Israel in 1984. It was on this trip that Doyle met Ezekiel Goody at the Garden Tomb, God spoke Acts1:8 to Terry in Israel: "You shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and you shall be a witness unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the utter most part of the earth." He wrote later that he realized it was there in Israel where the anointing of an apostle came upon him. There is much that could be written about this trip to Israel but we will let Terry’s own words describe his experience:

I have shared numerous times over the years about my experience at the Western (Wailing) Wall on our trip to Israel in September of 1984.  I will express that God used this experience to convince me that he had called me into the ministry to serve him with my spirit in the Gospel of his Son.   God sent us on this tour, and I was encouraged several times prior to the trip that it would change my life.  That is absolutely a fact.   This trip led by the spirit of God brought lasting changes in my life.

 We traveled several days through the northern part of Israel, especially around the Sea of Galilee, where much of Jesus' ministry occurred.  When we were coming down toward Jerusalem, I recall the road was extremely winding through what is known as mountains.  All of a sudden, the terrain changed from virtually no population, to a completely populated city.    We entered from the north on the east side of the city.  We were coming down from the Mount of Olives, and I saw the massive wall of the "Old City". Immediately, tears began to run uncontrollably down my face as my heart was overwhelmed.    Kathy asked, "Are you okay?"  and I exclaimed, "It's real!"  She replied, "Of course, it's real!"  I retorted, "You don't understand, it's real!!!"  God was filling my heart with His love for Jerusalem.  I had heard about it previously, but now I was experiencing it.

 The next day was full of scheduled tour events, and we concluded the day at the "Wailing" Wall (commonly known as the Western Wall).  I recall walking up to a short retaining wall, and beyond that wall I was astonished to see a huge crowd of Jewish men and women praying with all their might toward the Wailing Wall.  The women were on my right and the men on my left, also separated by a short wall.  They obviously had been laboring in prayer for many hours from the visible perspiration on their clothes. At that moment, the Father spoke to me, "You see my people standing before you?" and I replied, "Yes."  He said, "Because my people have not received my Son as their Lord and Savior, their prayers go to the wall, but because you have received my Son as your Lord and Savior, your prayers go over the wall. Pray for my people that they receive of my Son." Immediately, without considering where I was or what I was doing, I began to rejoice and praise the Lord singing in other tongues at the top of my voice.    I soon realized that there were about thirty Jewish men standing in front of me that began to raise their hands and shout.  I asked a lady standing next to me what they were saying.  She rudely replied, "They want you to stop!"   I turned, motioning to them with my hands trying to apologize, because I was under the impression that I offended them by my worship.  Without hesitation, they began to shout even louder, raising their hands toward me.  I asked the woman, "What does this mean?"  And she regretfully replied, "I was mistaken.  They want you to continue." Actually, she wanted me to stop.   So, I lifted my voice with all that was in me, and the Jewish men shouted for joy as well.  We stayed there rejoicing for over thirty minutes.  I reluctantly stopped when I was told it was time to get back to our tour group.  Later, I realized they understood what I was singing in other tongues.  This is described in Acts 2 when the disciples were baptized in the Holy Ghost, spoke in other tongues as the Spirit gave the utterance, and Jews from all nations understood the Galileans speak in their language.  Our tour guide's husband was a Rabbi, and he told us that on several occasions  he heard us speak High Hebrew in praise which only the High Priests are taught to do.  Obviously, that is what occurred and why the Jewish men became so excited when they heard me sing those songs of praise.  As stated in the beginning, God performed this experience with me to convince my heart of His call on my life.  Praise The Lord!

At the end of those two weeks, Terry left Jerusalem with a desire to one day return; instead he is now in the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God, described in Hebrews 12:

22) “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

24) And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel."

Terry and Kathy spoke many times about returning to Israel with their three daughters and they believed it was right to go in 2009.  Terry wanted to share what he had experienced with all three of his girls.  After he went to heaven, there were certain things that never left Kathy’s heart and Israel was one of them.  June 2009, Kathy, Candace, Ashley and Rachel went to Israel and they will tell you it was a precious gift from God.  They ministered in song at St. Anne's Church, walking down the Mt of Olives and at the same Roman amphitheatre that their dad sang in when he was there.

Africa

In January 1985 Doyle and Terry, along with Patti and Kathy went to Africa and spent fifteen days there ministering the gospel. Doyle had been invited by Forward In Faith Ministries to come to Africa prior to going to Israel.  He has shared many times of meeting Ezekiel Goody in the Garden Tomb in Israel. Ezekiel and two women from Africa, along with Doyle, Kathy Mai and Debbie Geer ended up in the Garden Tomb together.The power of God was so strong, they were all shaking. This was a devine appointment of God. Ezekiel Goody was the head of Forward in Faith Ministries. Ezekiel had asked him to come the second Sunday of the month instead of the first. They called it "Big Sunday." There were to be four thousand attending the meeting in Harare, pastors from Ezekiel Goody’s churches and they asked Doyle if he would speak for ten minutes. Before the meeting was over, they had finished and still had time left to fill. They came and asked Doyle if he could speak for an hour, and he said, "I suppose." The Zimbabwe Army General assigned to interpret for Doyle during that meeting wouldn't speak what Doyle was speaking, and he was firmly removed and replaced with a twenty year old boy.  The young man would look at Doyle and say, "You want me to say that?!"  Doyle would say, "Yes, tell them!"  

At a another meeting in Harare, they had a tongue and interpretation and God said, “Lift up your voice-let me hear you praise me.”A man stood up and said, “We don’t need no white apostle coming to speak to us, we have the apostle, Ezekiel Goody, we don’t need no white man.!”  After railing for a few minutes, one of the other leaders got up and prayed that Doyle would minister whatever God wanted him to,   Then Doyle spoke and said, “I’m not a white man, it is Jesus in me, the Jew, and it He who is speaking.”

It was an amazing experience in Africa, with God demonstrating His power in every meeting. All the meetings were packed.  They started out in Harare, and went on to Chinhoyi, and Kariba.  The ministered in the cities and in the bush.   God demonstrated His power in every meeting with mighty signs and wonders.   They saw blind eyes healed, deaf ears opened and devils cast out. 

Doyle tells of the blind man seated in front of them and he prayed for him, and then handed him a bible and asked him to read.  The man read it, his eyes were healed.  Doyle said, “It was God, if I would have had time to think, I would have thought, “What if he doesn’t know how to read?”

Kathy said that they had a meeting for six hours at Chinhoyi, with maybe one short break and the people sat through it all.  She said the chairs had no backs on them and many of the women had small babies they were carrying in slings on their backs or fronts, and yet they never fainted, remaining attentive throughout the entire meeting.  That meeting fulfilled a vision God had given Doyle, of speaking to black people sitting up straight on benches with no back rest.

Kathy shared an interesting side note about mosquitoes.  They all had the option of receiving or not receiving anti-malarial tablets.  Doyle didn’t take any,  but he encouraged them to do what they believed was right.  After praying and seeking God, the rest of them believed it was right not to take the tablets.  Kathy said later they were sitting next to a wall in one of the meetings and it was covered with mosquitoes. Needless to say, she was the one sitting right next to the wall and it was definitely not a time to doubt!!!!

Denton

In 1985 God sent Terry and Kathy to Denton to start a fellowship there. Initially they started out in the Holiday Inn however, due to their remodeling, Terry considered finding a building to rent.  God soon provided the Ramada Inn and it accommodated their needs perfectly.  They had their own side entrance to their room and there was a closet they could store their equipment in and not have to haul it back and forth.

Terry with Kathy as his helpmeet ministered there from the spring of 1985 through the fall of 1987.  They saw many miracles happen in those meetings and people were blessed.  Kathy has very fond memories of those days ministering together and fellowshipping with those that attended.  Kathy remembers this is really where she and Terry learned to flow in the Spirit together. The day came when they knew it was right to return to Plano but they were grateful for God’s mercy in that work.

In 1984 the false anointing had swept into Water of Life and God showed Doyle later that He sent Terry and Kathy to Denton to prevent the Jezebel from overpowering them.  Terry’s written testimony about the false anointing states that the Jezebel met them at the door when they returned to Plano.

Joplin

God sent Terry and Kathy to minister many months in the Joplin, Missouri area and for a time it even seemed He would have them move there. They sold their house in Allen, and actually looked for a home in Joplin. As they and Doyle continued to pray they knew it wasn’t what God wanted. They commuted from Plano to the Joplin/Tulsa area many times to minister.

  Prayer Across America   

In 2007, God sent Terry and Kathy to pray in all 48 states of the mainland.  They had been with Doyle and company in 2003-2004 when God instructed Doyle to travel with others across all 48 states.  This time, God sent them on their own and the experience was life changing. Terry wrote about some of their trips and the following is his description of what they experienced on their trip to the east coast:

"Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, & Rhode Island

After completing our trip to the Washington and New York areas, Kathy and I were excited to get back to what God had sent us to do.  We are always praying for our leaders and this nation, because I Timothy 2:1-3 instructs us to, but now God was sending us to each of the 48 mainland states to pray in them.  Nearly a week transpired between our trip to New Jersey and the scheduled trip to Boston, and measurable rain and storms continued up the Eastern Coast almost every day with reports of much flooding and destruction and little relief in sight.  The devil tried to cause me to doubt if we would be able to go, but I continued to resist those thoughts.  The day before we were to leave for Boston, the weather began to miracurlously change for the better, and we left the following morning right on time without any problems!  It was still overcast when we arrived, but within 30 minutes out on the road toward Maine, the sun popped through the clouds.   After that, we experienced only light showers on occasion especially when we needed a little encouragement from the Lord.  We went into Kittery and York, two of the first places we later discovered that were settled in Maine.  In fact, York, Maine originally was considered at the start to be the major port that Boston became, but because of some questionable financial influence, the direction changed about 150 miles south according to recorded history.  We discovered the major storms mentioned earlier had overwhelmed this area, but the Lord cleared the way for us to obey his will, and they were spared complete devastation, praise God!  After praying in Maine for a while, we headed up the road across New Hampshire toward Vermont.  As we entered into New Hampshire we saw a sign saying "Welcome to New Hampshire."   At the bottom of this sign was the state motto that said, "Live free, or die."   Kathy said, "Boy, that is the truth!!"  She was referring to walking in the things of the Kingdom of  God as well as in the flesh.  The Spirit of God opened our understanding to the length the Lord went so this nation could be raised up to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God.  We both gained a deeper understanding and appreciation for the men and women who had fought and given their lives to establish this nation.  It was ordained before the foundation of the world that America would be a nation to demonstrate the power of God.  As we continued through the state of New Hampshire, there was tremendous warfare, particularly "witchcraft", but we knew we were making progress in the spirit.  We reached White River Junction, Vermont, known as the first railroad station in Vermont and New England north of Boston, and we saw a sign that said "Woodstock".   Our thought was, "Do you suppose this is where the celebration took place in the late 1960’s (my era)."  I later remembered the original "Woodstock" took place in New York.  However, it triggered something that I didn't even know still existed in my heart, and it was just another opportunity to overcome some more of the world that had influenced my life in preceding years.  Thank God for his mercy and grace on us all!  We prayed in Vermont until we knew we had overcome, and we proceeded back through New Hampshire to the state capital, Concord.

We were in a tremendous spiritual contest and were reminded that New Hampshire, a relatively small populated state, plays a major role in the political arena of our country.  We were always thanking God for those in authority in these states, interceding and offering up prayers and supplications for the governors, senators, congressmen or women, and all those in authority in these specific areas.  As I stated earlier, I Timothy 2 instructs us all how to pray that we might lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. This was our direction for Concord, New Hampshire, as we spent time in that area praying for their leaders and for the upcoming political stage.  We then turned toward Boston and prayed intently until about 7:00 PM CST, and we decided to get a bite to eat and to get a room for the night.  After checking in to our hotel in Boston, it would not leave either of our spirits to go on to Rhode Island that evening.  So we hopped back into our car and headed  toward Providence, Rhode Island.  There was tremendous resistance, but by this time, the Lord had brought us through so many wars and caused us to overcome each one of them, we thought, "What's one more!"  I know that may sound ridiculous to some, but those that have engaged in spiritual warfare of any kind will understand what I am saying.  I used to listen to Doyle, and I thought, "Sure I know that."  Well, Kathy and I both got a greater revelation of spiritual warfare on these trips to the states.

 None of us have arrived, and we can all learn more about the things of the Spirit. We were reminded that it was not because of our righteousness that we were able to accomplish any of these trips, but it was his mercy and grace on us to cause us to obey and fulfil his righteousness to the nation.  However, I am grateful that I have had someone physical to teach and show me the things of the Spirit of God, because had I not, the devil could have eaten me alive.  Obviously, when God sent us to do this, he knew we were ready.  We sure didn't, but as I stated in a previous testimony, God proved himself to us and caused us to triumph.   As we moved out of the Boston area, things seemed to get a little lighter in the Spirit as we trucked on down the road toward Rhode Island.  As we approached the Providence area, we encountered what seemed to be a deluge of religious spirits, and I recalled in history that the first Baptist church was founded in Providence.  While I was driving through the city, I pointed out to Kathy, "Look at all the steeples!"  In every direction, there was one protruding steeple after another, and they were not all Baptist, but it was obvious religion has a tremendous influence in the spirit in this area.   At least that is what we were overcoming as we continued to pray there until I knew it was time to head back to Boston.  When we turned back toward Boston, my heart was probably ready for a break, but instead, we met with tremendous warfare, which was fine.  After all, I knew we were not sent on some joy ride or a scenic pleasure vacation.

 We spent sometimes 10 to 12 hours driving in many states praying with all that was with in us, which is not a complaint, just a fact.   It was one of the hardest things I have experienced in my walk with the Lord over the past 28 years, yet one of the most gratifying. Why?   Because it was the will of God for our lives!  As we continued to pray until well after midnight in the Boston area, I was reminded of our experience there that every time we were approached Boston, the pressure increased, and I concluded it was obviously the major principalities and powers over this area that we were engaging and overcoming.   After we arrived back home, I researched and discovered that Boston has more religious and educational institutions than any other city in the country.  It is a major port, a financial leader, an industrial leader, a medical leader, and a political leader.  In other words, it is one of the most diverse cities in the nation to lead in many areas and influence our entire nation.

 Kathy and I are convinced we have just begun to see the things that God has for his people.   I encourage you to believe this gospel.  The Lord will work for anyone that believes his power.  Also, I encourage the body of Christ to continue to join us in praying and fasting for our nation.”

Terry considered these trips across the nation to pray as one of the greatest honors God had ever placed on him and he took the responsibility very seriously.  It changed their lives and Kathy has shared with many, that God, by His Spirit put a love in their hearts for this nation and its people and an understanding of the significance of our nation’s history.  Terry summarized with the following words:

“Ephesians 6:11-12 tells us Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  We can honestly say that we got a deeper revelation of this scripture. We engaged, wrestled, and overcame many principalities, powers, rulers, and spiritual wickedness', some of which included politics, education, religion, finance, ethnic traditions, medicine, witchcraft, and sorcery to name a few.  It was a constant war with intense pressure!  However, in every situation God always caused us to triumph in Christ, (II Cor 2:14).”

Like Paul and Silas

Doyle has shared that when God called him into the ministry it was in his heart that he needed a singer.  God gave him Terry, a professional singer, and one of the best he’s ever heard.  Terry (the professional) told Doyle on numerous occasions, “You have an ear Doyle.”  Doyle watched God change Terry from a professional singer to minister by the Spirit of God in song.  When Terry opened his mouth and began to worship, the anointing would rise and devils would tremble and scream, people were set free and healed. Terry served God alongside Doyle, in every area of the ministry. He led worship at Water of Life Church since its charter in 1980.  When God sent Doyle to Plano, and the people said they didn’t want Terry, Doyle’s words were, “First of all I am not pastoring your church, you don’t have one.  God sent me here, and you can join me if you want, but know this, you get me, you get Terry.”

Doyle has said that his and Terry’s experiences were much the same in what God required them to lay down.  Doyle had great success as an equine practitioner and much honor from men in the professional world.  He was considered one of the best.  Terry didn’t stay in the professional world as long as Doyle; however the press clippings of his performances, the accolades he received in the world of opera and music pointed to a very promising career.  Few walked away from the success they did, and they both have said often, “It was God, no other reason.”

Years ago,  Doyle and Terry went to a meeting in Tyler, Texas. It was a Full Gospel setting with nearly 200 pastors in attendance.  The minister called the pastors up and lined them up in the front to pray for them.  Doyle and Terry went up and stood with them, and as the minister moved down the line praying, he eventually got to Doyle and Terry and just went right past them.  As those that had been prayed for left, they called others forward.  Doyle nudged Terry in the side and leaned over and said, “Stay with me, we’re going to have some fun. “  The minister went down the line again, praying for everyone, and got to Doyle and Terry, and again passed them by.  Eventually he had to return, barely touched them on their face and said, “Bless them Lord.”

Terry ministered with Doyle on radio, television, satellite and live stream on the internet. They walked together for almost 30 years.  Terry had great love and respect for Doyle and the Spirit he walked in and he demonstrated that love by his faithfulness as a servant to God and the ministry, and he taught his three girls that same love and respect.  Before Terry went to heaven he told Doyle, “You are the only person who ever told me the truth.”

Doyle believed there wasn’t anything that God sent them to do that he and Terry could not handle.  He was confident they could pray through anything, and he told Terry as much.  Terry told Doyle later that those words actually scared him. Doyle has said, “I knew it did, but Terry stayed steady, didn’t let his emotions affect him and he didn’t run.”  Doyle said to me about him and Terry, “We are like Paul and Silas.”  When Terry was ministering in song and Doyle was on the floor praying, their faith joined together, the power and anointing flowed and no devil could hide.

We have heard Doyle share often about the time he was under a severe attack from the devil and he said, “Find Terry!”  When Terry got to the office, Doyle was on the floor and Terry immediately began to bless people, bless tongues set on fire from hell, and in just minutes they overcame to the point that Doyle was able to get to his knees and say, “Ok Devil, I’m ready for you!”

God sent Doyle to five cities: Tulsa, South Bend, Houston, Anaheim, and Joplin and Terry ministered with him in all those cities.  There were times when the Spirit of God sent just Kathy and Terry to minister and one man told Doyle after one of those meetings, “Terry runs a tight ship.”

When the powers of darkness hit the ministry, up out of Terry’s heart came these words to Kathy: “Kathy, I will not leave your Dad!”  Terry gave his life for the work God called him to and I don’t believe he ever regretted the life he forsook, for the life God gave him.

The Last Days With Us

Worship together as a family was a way of life for the Mai house; that was how they overcame.  However, he had never heard just the girls lift up their voices together in praise and one night while they were keeping him company at the hospital, they began to worship.  In sharing with Kathy about it later he exclaimed, “It was anointed, Kathy!”

When Terry came under attack in 2008, the girls stepped up to the plate and fought with all they had against the devil.  They knew about warfare, but this was fighting for their dad’s life, and fight they did, day and night.   I remember Candace saying one day, “Sleep!  What’s that?!”  Terry and Kathy slept in shifts out of necessity to keep the powers of darkness pushed off of Terry.  Only they and God know what they experienced, but they never gave up.  As Terry headed out the door one morning he said to Kathy, “Another day of war, another day of victory!”   During this time, Rachel talked about coming home from church one night not feeling well. Terry asked her if she was alright and she said “No, I don’t feel good.”  He started praying for her and despite fighting his own afflictions, he prayed till they overcame and she was fine.  Also there was one day at the office, that Ashley was not feeling well.  Terry stated, "Here she is fighting her a..... off for me, and the devil hit her."  He and Doyle were able to pull her through quickly.  Later, she realized she had fear about her Dad, and that had opened up the door for the attack of the devil. 

Kathy stated at the beginning of this writing: She and Terry were crazy about each other and that never changed.  One night when Terry was in the hospital, Kathy made a trip to one of their favorite places to eat.  She picked up food to go, and they had a special dinner together.  The nurse walked in and said "Oh, I am sorry." Kathy said,  "No problem, I was just having a candlelight dinner with my husband."  She promptly left the room.  The people in that hospital saw and heard their love for the Lord and their love for one another.  One nurse told Kathy,  "You are good to him."  She replied to her, "He is good to me."  The Saturday night before Terry went to be with the Lord, they were out on the road praying, and Terry thanked Kathy for her tenacity, and the way she fought. She was deeply humbled.  The night before he went to sleep, they took a very special drive on Hwy 380 towards Denton.  They talked of all the things they had experienced in their life together. All the places that God had sent them and all the things he had done.  Kathy told Terry, "Yes, and we are not done."  He took her hand and said some very touching and endearing statements to her. She said,  "Terry, God gave me to a beautiful man, both inside and out."  They continued to drive down the road remembering all the good things God had done for them and their family.  When they arrived back home, Terry walked into the house and sat down in his white chair in their bedroom.  All the girls were there, and they had a time of fellowship together,  just the five of them.   Everyone went to bed, and in a little over two hours later Terry woke up with loud praying.   He and Kathy both got to a chair and prayed together strongly for 15 to 20 minutes.   Shortly after this,   Terry went to be with the Lord.  He cried out with a loud voice, and Ashley and Kathy saw his Spirit leave his body.  They called for prayer and 911, Kathy administered CPR, and mouth to mouth, he was taken to a local hospital, but Terry was with the Lord.   He had finished his course.

   Resting From His Labors

Terry fought with all that was in him and Kathy wrote the following after Terry went to heaven:

This is a testimony of Terry's faith, and us believing the words spoken by the Spirit out of the mouth of a  prophet. 2 Chronicles 20:20 tells us to Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. As many of you know the Spirit of God took Terry to heaven on January 26, 2009.  Terry was praying fervently minutes before he took his last breath and was received into heaven.  I want to share something prophetic that came out of Terry's mouth before he went to be with the Lord.  When Terry was diagnosed with malignant lymphoma, the doctors were discussing the treatments with Terry.  One of them was very concerned when he found out that Terry and I did not have any kind of medical insurance.  He was telling Terry of the expense that was facing us, and up out of Terry's spirit came these words.  "Don't you worry about it.  WE PAY CASH!!!"  I did not realize the words coming out of my husband's mouth were prophetic for the days to come.   I did not know that those words would burn in my heart when I was faced with the insurmountable medical bills.   I am pleased to share with you that every medical expense has been paid up to this date.  Every unexpected expense and every surprise has been met.  The ministry did not suffer and we are moving forward.   The Lord has been very gracious. The girls and I made our requests known unto God, not a man, or a group of men.  There are things that we were faced with that no one but the Lord knew, and he has provided for us.  We have fought with our faith, and when there was opportunity to doubt, the words spoken by the Spirit of God from Terry's heart would come out of one of us girls, and we continued to stand believing.   In the middle of this the Lord spoke to me out of the mouth of another prophet, my Dad.  He told me the Lord was speaking the words from Jeremiah 17:8.  A man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord will not be careful in the year of drought. I knew the Lord was telling me not to back off of anything that Terry and I had done together as far as giving money.  I have not backed off and I have seen one miracle after another take place in our lives.  One Saturday I needed some money and God knew it.  It did not appear like anything was moving, but I did not waiver.  I just said in my heart, "It will be here, WE PAY CASH!!" Ashley and I drove up to our mailbox at home to get the mail after the live broadcast.  She said, "Mom!"   I was like, "Oh, please not another bill."  She said, "Mom, there is an envelope addressed to you."  She opened it, and in that envelope was the amount of cash that I needed.  There was no return address, no note, just cash.   I can not tell you what that did for my heart.  When things like that happen, you know God knows what you have need of.  I have learned through this experience that God has no respect for any of our flesh.  He is interested in making Christians and he did not give me a couple days to overcome the loss of my husband.  I have come to see that it is his mercy that we did not have a choice but to believe him and the power of his resurrection.  There are many, many testimonies I could share about this and perhaps I will in the future.  I just wanted to give glory to God on Terry's behalf as well as ours for the faithfulness of God to his people.  I thank God for Terry Mai.  I thank God for his faith, his compassion, his humility and his love.   Though he is resting from his labours here on earth, his works follow him.    I also thank God for all of you who have prayed for the girls and me.   God bless you, Kathy”

   His Works Follow Him

“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”

Terry is in heaven with the Father, but his faith and anointing remain here with us through his music.  Many hours of Terry ministering the Spirit of God during worship were recorded while Terry was here with us.  God has directed Doyle to play those recordings at all his meetings, and those appointed to lead,  join their faith and their voices with Terry.   The Water of Life Boys that God has raised up minister with Terry at the direction of God and often Kathy and Terry’s daughters worship with him.  Also, his three daughters were part of his labour and that work is definitely following him.

  Kathy and his three girls have continued with his work and ministry, by sharing his music and audio and video messages as the Spirit of God directs.

    A Personal Note

I trust the reader will allow me, the writer, the liberty to include a few of my own thoughts.  This has been an honor and great blessing to take this journey with the Mais in remembering their life with husband and dad.  This is not only a memoir, but it’s also a love story about two people that loved God.  God joined Terry and Kathy together and they became one flesh and through much prayer, and humbling of themselves, they learned to flow together in the Spirit.

Kathy took me out driving and she would say “Remember that testimony?  Well that happened right there.  Remember the testimony about that deliverance? That was in that house.”  God took her back to see where they began and showed her memory after memory of His faithfulness in their lives. Often one or all the girls were with us and they too remembered things.  For me, it was like the old slide shows on a reel, and I could see their whole life, from the moment they met, was from faith to faith, strength to strength, glory to glory.  I pray all who read this see it too.  Kathy will be quick to tell you their marriage was ordained by God and that is why they were able to walk as they did.  She had a Dad who prayed and committed her marriage to God, and Terry was the answer to that prayer. When there were difficult days they had the assurance that God put them together.

There were many trials, tribulations and persecutions and the last few years had been nothing less than “a heck of a war” and the love and laughter and joy sometimes seemed lost in the battles.  I watched God, in His tender mercy, remind Terry’s family of a beautiful life shared, walking in the Kingdom of God.  He was just a man like you and me who obeyed the Father.  They would all tell you that Terry didn't see himself as anything special, but they could all see so much more.

It was the desire of Kathy, his daughters, Doyle and myself  in writing this, that God would be glorified,.  I pray we have done that, for without God, there wouldn’t have been a story.  I join with family and friends, to thank God for Terry Mai’s life.

God Bless You.

Written by Kathy Currier - with additions by Kathy Mai