Pastor Piedmonte

I just came back from vacation Saturday night and I haven’t had access to a computer for about a week so I haven’t written any blogs.  I don’t get on the computer on Sunday’s so I am starting up again today.

I want to talk about a great man and a great preacher who was a dedicated and committed man of God.  He was a man that was committed to his wife and family also.

While I was in Virginia I heard about Pastor Piedmonte’s death and it came as a shock to me.  Pastor Piedmonte was one of my mentors and he was a great person.  

When he was in the pulpit at First Assembly it was a Pentecostal church. Pastor Piedmonte never went to Bible college but he knew the Word of God and preached it with boldness and power and with God’s anointing on his life.  He was a mighty man of God and he loved the Lord and he also loved people.  Pastor Piedmonte was committed to First Assembly for over 25 years, how many can make that claim?  Since he semi-retired, the church has never been the same. 

Pastor Peidmonte could start the praise time and stop the service and have an altar call, which he did at times, and people would come to the altar to pray and receive Jesus into their hearts without hearing him preach.  He made sure everyone heard about the Holy Spirit and the baptism in the Holy Spirit and what it involved and how it was so important for believers to seek it.

He preached sin, repentance, confession, the cross, the mighty power of the blood of Jesus, about water baptism and so many other important things and how all these things were very important also to the believer.  Pastor Piedmonte preached the whole gospel, he didn’t water down his sermons like so many preachers do today to make themselves look good, and he didn’t bow down to the god of popularity like so many other preachers do today, to their shame.

Was Pastor Piedmonte a perfect person?  No, but I believe that he strived for perfection.  Pastor Piedmonte did have the Italian temper and wasn’t afraid to show it when necessary and people may have thought he took things  a little farther then he needed to at times, but like I said he wasn’t perfect nor is anyone else.

If anybody knew Pastor Piedmonte, they knew he was a loving and compassionate person that went out of his way to help others.  He was very faithful with his hospital visits and visited the elderly, or if he couldn’t, he made sure someone did.  

Pastor Piedmonte wasn’t the kind of preacher that told you what you wanted to hear but he told you what you needed to hear, praise God.  I never knew Pastor Piedmonte to be a people pleaser at the expense of the truth.  I remember a time Pastor Piedmonte warned me about a child molester that came into the church, because I had young kids at the time and he was concerned.  Pastor Piedmonte didn’t put up with any nonsense in the church, he ran a tight ship so to speak.  

Pastor Piedmonte will be missed by many because, like I said he was a great man of God and he loved people, he will be hard to replace.  There are a lot of pastors around but you will be hard pressed to find another to fill Pastor Piedmonte’s shoes.  Pastor Piedmonte was short in stature but he was a giant in the faith. 

This somewhat explains what my feelings were for Pastor Piedmonte.  Someday I will see him again and it won’t shock me if he is still preaching.  God bless you and have a great day.