Healing and Revival

"Called to Healing"

Richard Roy Vinyard was born on September 14, 1913 in Barnhart, Missouri about 25 miles south of St. Louis. His father was Theodore and his mother Irma and he had two sisters Estelle and Ina. There is not a lot known about his childhood. He married his first wife Dorothy in the late 1930s. They both worked for a fuse manufacturing company in Saint Louis. His writings first describe his life as an Assemblies of God pastor. He said that he had been interested in healing and deliverance and read a lot on those subjects. Others discouraged him from pursuing his interest, however, because they were afraid his ministry would be ruined. He pushed himself physically and had a nervous breakdown. His doctor told him that he needed to take six months off to rest and recuperate. Since his only income was through pastoring he felt totally overwhelmed. He prostrated himself before God and within three weeks God had healed him.

Vinyard began hearing about William Branham who was teaching and praying for the sick. The stories seemed impossible to believe. In 1948 Branham arrived in Kansas City to hold healing meetings. Vinyard, as a local Pentecostal pastor, was invited to help. He jumped at the chance and became convinced that this was truly a move of God. He was hungry for more and went home and began to pray about what he'd seen. God healed him of even more health problems.

One day, while at church, Vinyard heard two teenage boys talking about the Branham meetings. They must have really believed in their pastor because the discussion was that Vinyard should be able to do all that Branham was doing. He spoke to the boys and asked them to pray for Him. He began to seek God earnestly but nothing seemed to be happening. Then in June of 1948 at 4 o'clock in the morning God woke him up and called him into the healing ministry. The next Sunday Vinyard announced to his church that God had called him to pray for the sick. He began to pray for the sick in his church and other local churches over the next few months. He saw miraculous healings occur when he prayed.

In the fall of 1948 Vinyard attended a revival convention. While there he had a visitation from Christ who asked him to begin an itinerant ministry as a healing evangelist. He was initially resistant, because he loved his church, but Christ asked him to love and minister to others with that same heart. He agreed but was concerned about his wife's reaction. When he returned home his wife told him that God had spoken to her that he was to leave the church and begin a healing ministry. This was confirmation indeed!

The next day Vinyard received a call to speak at a convention. Then he got another call from a pastor in New York that he had never met. His ministry was launched and God opened the doors for him. Vinyard became associated with Gordon Lindsay's Voice of Healing organization. He traveled all over the United States and eventually the world preaching the healing message of Christ. He became a staff member for Voice of Healing and worked with them for several years. Like many others in the healing ministry Vinyard pushed himself physically. He had a partial stroke from which he never totally recovered. Still, later in his life he continued to minister healing and see miracles. He died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on November 9, 1989 at the age of 76.

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