Scheduled to speak:

Thursday
August 10, 2000
9:00 a.m.
RCA Dome

Bill Sharples
Evangelist

As president and evangelist for Halal Ministries, a not-for-profit interdenominational ministry, Bill Sharples wants to help the children of God release the anointing that is within every Spirit-filled believer.

An ordained Southern Baptist minister, Sharples was baptized in the Holy Spirit in 1997 and followed the call of God to begin a new evangelistic ministry. After graduating from high school in Sarcoxie, Missouri, Sharples received a diploma in Bible and Doctrine from Berean College and a general Bible degree from Liberty University. He earned his MA in Christian Counseling from International Seminary, Independence, Missouri and went on for a D.Min. in Christian Counseling at Covington Seminary in Rossville, Georgia. Sharples finished his Ph.D. in theology at Christian Bible Seminary in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

Sharples grew up in the Baptist church and was ordained into the ministry in 1985 in Sarcoxie, Missouri, where he served as an associate pastor until 1988. He has held pastorates in Elkland and Monett, Missouri, and was senior pastor at Pythian Avenue Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri for seven years.

In other areas of ministry, Sharples currently serves as an extension professor at the Caribbean College of the Bible, as well as the Dean of the Undergraduate School at the Caribbean College.

In late 1996, Sharples was at an all-time low in his ministry. He was about to give up when God intervened in his life. God used a tape about fasting, and Spirit-filled people to encourage him to seek a deeper experience with God. In early 1997 he began a journey into the presence of God. Through fasting and much soul searching, he found the glory of God in a new and tremendous way as he was miraculously baptized in the Holy Spirit. In March of 1997 he resigned his pastorate in Springfield and now serves as a full-time evangelist for Halal Ministries. Wherever he goes he talks about the necessity of the Holy SpiritÕs power.

Sharples and his wife Melissa have one son, Jeremiah, and reside in Springfield, Missouri.