Faith in Motion: Praying for Kevin Lipscomb

CBN.com David Lipscomb remembers the phone call.

“'How bad is he?' And he said, 'David, just get to the hospital.'”

David's wife Vicky, a registered nurse, had just finished her shift when she was summoned to the hospital. Upon her arrival at the emergency room, she was informed that there was no hope for her 16-year-old son, Kevin.

She says, “The first words out of my mouth were, ‘Where's a room where we can pray?’”

David, Vicky, their pastor, Steve Ball, and a few friends began to intercede intensely for Kevin's life.

“I was very focused,” Vicky says. “It was strictly business. I can honestly tell you that my emotions really did not kick in. I gave great concentration to what I had to say to God and to Satan.”

“Vicky and Pastor were really praying and quoting Scriptures,” recalls David. “Just talking God's Word back to Him, and I was walking around praying.”

Pastor Steve says, “She just really practiced what faith is all about. I told the congregation that following Sunday morning that she focused exactly like you're supposed to do and modeled what faith is all about.”

Kevin Lipscomb had pulled out in front of a fully loaded tandem dump truck. The truck was traveling about 45 miles an hour and broadsided Kevin, plowing him another 30 yards down the road into a ditch, pinning him to a tree. Andrew and Lela Pearson were the first to arrive at the scene.

“She jumped out and she ran,” says Andrew of his wife. “I ran past her, and I got over there. I looked at Kevin, and he wasn’t breathing. No pulse.”

“First thing I did was put my hand on his head and said, ‘In the name of Jesus,’” says Lela.

While Mrs. Pearson prayed for Kevin, another lady came alongside of her, seemingly from nowhere, and joined in the praying.

“She was praying, and I was saying ‘Jesus’ because I couldn't get the words out,” says Lela. “But she was praying. The last thing I remember [was] the lady saying, ‘Lord, don't take his life. Spare his life. Give him another chance, Lord.’ When they told us to move back, I didn't see her anymore. I don't know which way she went. I don't know where she come from.”

EMT Richard Johnson was next to arrive.

“I pulled up on the scene, and I saw the patient laying halfway out the car door,” says Richard. “My first thoughts were that the patient was dead. The patient had a real faint pulse, and he quit breathing on me. I repositioned his head, [and] he started breathing again.”

Several times Kevin had stopped breathing but each time had been revived. Doctors and medical staff at the Birmingham hospital received the call and were prepared for the worst.

Dr. Chung, assistant professor of surgery, would be waiting for Kevin at the hospital.

“First of all, with the circumstance of the accident there, we were given the information and the status of his mental function,” says Dr. Chung. “That is, he had lost conscious to a significant degree. We were concerned that he might be bleeding in his head to a severe condition, which would necessitate for him to go to the operating room immediately.”

Kevin was prepped to be transported by helicopter from Gadsden to Birmingham. During these final moments, the prayers for Kevin became more emotional and very intense.

Vicky remembers saying, “Kevin, I speak to every bone in your body. I speak to your spinal cord. I speak to your brain in Jesus' name.”

At this point, Vicky was informed by a nurse that there were some 200 people in the parking lot and what did she want to do with them. So Vicky went out to address the crowd and told them...

“I wanted them to form two lines six feet apart facing each other. I wanted them to raise their hands as Kevin passed by and ask God to heal his body and then praise God that it is done. Then I asked them, ‘Will you do that?' They all shouted yes.”

But even Vicky was not prepared for what she saw when they wheeled Kevin out to the helicopter.

“It was really a very moving sight,” says Vicky. “It really helped me 'cause I knew right then I was not by myself -- that several hundred people had asked for God's help.”

One of the doctors on the helicopter was so astounded, he asked EMT Richard Johnson what faith this family was. He said Church of God.

David says, “Richard didn't know when he said Church of God that it was the church of God in those two lines. It was Baptist. It was Methodist. It was Catholics. It was Church of Gods. It was Pentecostals. That was the church of God. This is where the denominational walls were broken, and everybody, in one accord, raised their hands and praised God for the miracle that he was doing in Kevin's life.”

But the young man they put in the helicopter was not the same young man who arrived in Birmingham. The team of surgeons waiting to perform life-saving procedures on Kevin that day were sent home. No surgery needed. Five days later, Kevin walked out of the hospital.

"On arrival to the hospital, he was completely out,” says Dr. Chung. “He was dependent on a respirator to breathe for him. Five days later, he's able to eat and walk out of the hospital. [That] is truly a miracle.”

Mr. Barren, the driver of the truck, will never forget that day.

“I just remember him coming out in front of me, and he turned around and looked at me. I looked him in the eye,” says Mr. Barren. “It seemed like we looked at one another right before it happened. But there for about two to three weeks, I couldn't even sleep at night because it just stunned me even after they told me that he was OK. It still hung with me.”

On this day, we were able to capture the incredible meeting of Kevin and Mr. Barren for the first time since the accident.

“Not any of this goes to you. This is all me,” Kevin tells Mr. Barren. “That was my mistake. You just happened to be what I bumped into. So I'm sorry for putting you through anything that I did or any pain. I'm sorry.”

Mr. Barren replies, "That's fine. We all make mistakes. I'm just glad you're OK."

"Well, thank you for being so concerned," says Kevin.

"To see you OK, that's worth everything," says Mr. Barren.

In every turn of this story, you see the mighty, the powerful and the gentle hand of God at work.

“I used to think I was invincible,” says Kevin. “I used to think I could go to school, say as many cuss words as I want, put that little cheat sheet in my pocket, just have everything done my way and not have to worry about anything. After this, reality just jumped right in my face. It's really drawn me a lot closer to God to realize that He is in control, and He does have the power.”

Vicky says, “He will be big to anyone that will let Him, and I found out that He has principles, laws, and ways that He has set. This kingdom is set up that way, and if we will get into His Word and find out what those laws are, we will have success. We can have abundant life.”