9-year-old saved in VBS still involved 60 years later
By Lonnie Wilkey
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org
Joe Sorah, left, compassion ministries specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, recently visited with Danny Vaughn of Shepard’s Chapel Baptist Church, Rogersville. Sorah’s mother, Margaret Sorah, helped lead Vaughn to Christ when he was 9 years old and attending Vacation Bible School in Surgoinsville.
ROGERSVILLE — Margaret Sorah died in December of 2018, but her legacy and love for Vacation Bible School lives on through the people she taught over the years.
Sorah, whose late husband Ron was a longtime Tennessee Baptist pastor, was involved in teaching Vacation Bible School even before he began serving as a pastor.
Nearly 60 years ago she and her husband were assisting with Vacation Bible School in a Freewill Baptist Church in Surgoinsville. Mrs. Sorah was teaching a children’s class along with Ruth Elkins, and the class included a 9-year-old boy named Danny Vaughn.
Vaughn recalled that the two women shared the story of Jesus with him and asked if he was ready to accept Christ and be saved. Vaughn made his profession of faith in Christ at the end of the VBS.
He remembers his two VBS teachers fondly. “They were always special women in my life. They took the time to tell me about Jesus,” he said.
Now a member of Shepard’s Chapel Baptist Church in Rogersville, Vaughn has been a minister and he has held just about every position possible in a Baptist church.
That decision he made in VBS six decades ago still impacts his life. “I’ve always been involved in church work,” he noted.
Vaughn said he still follows the example of the two women who helped lead him to Christ. “We need to let lost people know about Jesus and that He came to die for us.”
Over the years, Vaughn has not forgotten his VBS “roots.” He has served as VBS director in three different churches and still attends and occasionally teaches an adult VBS class at Shepard’s Chapel. “I’m still active in VBS,” he maintained. In addition, his son, Wesley Vaughn, is minister of music at Mount Olivet Church in Mount Juliet.
Vaughn recently had the opportunity to meet Joe Sorah, compassion ministries specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board and son of Ron and Margaret Sorah. “It was special to be able to meet the son of the lady who helped lead me to the Lord,” he said.
Sorah said he was excited to meet someone that his mother had led to the Lord.
He remembers his mom as “a godly mother, sweet pastor’s wife and church worker. I knew she had made a large impact on many people just from all that was said about her at her funeral service,” Sorah said.
“But to hear this story was just icing on the cake. Before becoming a pastor’s wife, she was already making an eternal impact on others. And to think that Danny became a minister and the father of a minister of music, it just blesses me.”
Sorah added that his mother probably “never thought that she had much of an impact, but for Danny, his family, and certainly for me and my family, her witness has made an eternal difference.
“I think Danny’s testimony encourages us all to continue being faithful in our service and witness. We never know the eternal impact our lives are having on others and future generations,” said Sorah. B&R
