Discovering God's Hand in Your Story: Stories of Influence (Part 3)

Summary

Living Influence with Bill Thrall and Scott Boyd Episode: Discovering God's Hand in Your Story: Stories of Influence (Part 3) Release Date: June 5, 2025

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Introduction

In the third installment of the "Discovering God's Hand in Your Story" series, co-hosts Bill Thrall and Scott Boyd delve deep into Bill's personal journey of faith, discernment, and the profound influence of God's providence in his life. Joined by Bill's wife, Grace, the episode weaves a compelling narrative of conviction, sacrifice, and divine guidance, offering listeners both inspiration and practical insights into living a life influenced by faith.

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Bill's Journey to Faith

Becoming a Christian at 17

Bill Thrall recounts his transformative decision to embrace Christianity at the age of 17. Reflecting on his high school experiences, Bill shares:

"God uniquely deals with each of us. Nobody's relationship with God is the same." [00:20]

He describes a pivotal prayer where he earnestly sought God's presence in his life, driven by witnessing the unhappiness of his Christian peers.

Immediate Steps into Ministry

Within six weeks of his conversion, Bill found himself enrolled in Bible college, a swift transition that underscores his newfound dedication:

"Six weeks after becoming a Christian, I went to Bible college." [01:55]

This rapid commitment was influenced by his brother's introduction to the president of the Bible college board, leading to an unexpected opportunity to deepen his theological education.

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Early Ministry Challenges

Adjusting to Bible College Life

Bill navigates the initial hurdles of Bible college, humorously recalling his violation of the dress code:

"I may be the only student in the history of that school that got two demerits during orientation week." [04:00]

Despite these early setbacks, Bill's enthusiasm and dedication remained unwavering. He shares a profound spiritual encounter at age 19:

"I felt what I would call the presence of God in my room... an overwhelming, awesome feeling of God's presence." [04:35]

This experience solidified his sense of purpose and destiny, prompting him to seek God's guidance for his future.

Affirmation from Leadership

Two days after his spiritual revelation, Bill received unexpected support from the Dean of Women, Eleanor, who offered to pray for him daily:

"She prayed for me every day for over 30 years." [06:27]

This affirmation reinforced Bill's commitment to his calling, providing both spiritual and emotional support as he navigated his path.

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Decision to Pursue Ministry

Balancing Career and Calling

Fast forward 14 years, Bill finds himself as the Deputy Auditor General for Arizona, with his youth ministry flourishing:

"Our youth ministry is exploding... we had high school and college kids flooding into our programs." [07:14]

Faced with a crossroads, Bill is confronted by his stern superior, Ira Osman, who demands a choice between his burgeoning ministry and his career:

"It's either those kids or your career. You can't do both." [07:55]

This moment of decision leads Bill and Grace to a heartfelt discussion, culminating in their collective prayer and resolve to prioritize their ministry.

Divine Provision

In an inspiring turn, Ira Osman assists Bill in finding a part-time position that accommodates his ministry commitments. Bill shares:

"Ernst and Ernst offered me a part-time job... I never worked Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday for two years." [09:44]

This arrangement exemplifies how divine intervention can manifest through practical means, allowing Bill to honor his vocational responsibilities while nurturing his spiritual mission.

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Overcoming Career Opportunities

Resisting Tempting Offers

As Bill's ministry continues to grow, he encounters enticing career opportunities that test his resolve. Notably, a congressional friend invites him to take a significant political role in Washington D.C.:

"I have to pray about it... Grace took it less than 15 seconds to say no." [10:50]

Following this instinctive rejection, Bill meets with Lyman Davidson from Ernst and Ernst, who profoundly responds to Bill's refusal:

"You're the only person that's ever told me no, what could be more important than what I've offered you." [14:15]

This pivotal interaction underscores Bill's unwavering commitment to his faith-driven path, even when faced with lucrative prospects.

God's Faithfulness Rewarded

Years later, a testament to God's providence emerges when a successful ministry member gifts Bill a country club membership—a symbol of God's faithfulness and blessings:

"He handed me a card. It had a number on it and it was my membership in a country club." [17:30]

Reflecting on this gesture, Bill emphasizes the importance of trusting in God's plans:

"Just think of God's faithfulness when we trust him." [17:53]

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God's Provision and Legacy

Embracing Divine Purpose

Bill's journey illustrates a profound trust in God's timing and provision. From accepting spiritual affirmations to declining worldly success, his story is a beacon for those seeking to align their lives with divine intent.

Encouragement to Listeners

Concluding the episode, Bill urges listeners to trust in God's purpose for their lives:

"Could you begin to imagine the possibilities of God in your life if you could? Begin to trust him with who you are, Begin to trust him with his purpose for your life." [17:55]

His heartfelt testimony serves as a powerful reminder of the transformative impact of faith and the boundless possibilities that unfold when one surrenders to divine guidance.

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Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Throughout the episode, Bill Thrall's narrative underscores the significance of personal conviction, the courage to make difficult choices, and the unwavering belief in God's plan. Supported by Grace's wisdom and compassion, their shared experiences offer a relatable and inspiring roadmap for listeners navigating their own faith journeys.

As Scott Boyd aptly summarizes:

"It's amazing how God does that. To confirm things for us." [19:03]

Listeners are encouraged to reflect on their own stories, recognize the influence of faith in their lives, and embrace the unique paths that God has ordained for them.

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Engage with Us

We hope this detailed exploration of Bill Thrall's influential story has inspired you to consider the profound ways God may be shaping your own life. If you found this episode meaningful, please leave a comment or share it with someone who might benefit from hearing it. Your support helps us continue sharing stories that matter.

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Transcript

[Scott]

Welcome once again to Living Influence. In this week, we're going to continue sharing stories on how God's influenced our lives. We hope you enjoy. So, Bill, stories on how God has influenced our lives.

[Bill]

Amen.

[Scott]

That's what we're going to share this week, right?

[Bill]

Amen. It's again, Scott, a discovery process. Yeah, it's a discovery process. I say to a lot of audiences, look back over your life and discover how God has influenced you, because that's the way you'll find him in your tomorrows. God uniquely deals with each of us.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

Nobody's relationship with God is the same.

[Scott]

I like how you said that's how you'll find him in your tomorrows.

[Bill]

Exactly.

[Scott]

I mean, it. Actually, there's a correlation. Yeah, I think I might have learned something just now.

[Grace]

Perfect.

[Bill]

And so let me begin. And I became a Christian at 17. I mentioned in one of our podcasts that at 17, I prayed to receive Christ. And in that prayer, I made these words. God, the God of the universe, is coming into my life. It has to make a difference. I had a reason for that prayer. When I was in high school, I heard all about Jesus. I'd been to Bible camp, but I wasn't ever sure if I was a Christian or not. But there were some kids in my high school that were Christians. They were the unhappiest, saddest, most miserable kids in the school. And I went, hey, I. Don't ever be like that. God, if you're in my life, it's got to be something different than that. And so I became a Christian. And six weeks after, after becoming a Christian, I went to Bible college.

[Scott]

How did that happen? Six weeks.

[Bill]

Six weeks. August 11th, I become a Christian. Middle of September, I'm in Bible college. And the reason I am is because my brother introduced me to the president of the board of a Bible college. And the man took me golfing. And while we were golfing, he listened to my story and he said, well, would you like to go Bible school? I had no plans. I said, sure. I had no idea what I was saying. Sure to. So I go to Bible college. I got to Bible college before my transcripts did. And this is such an amazing story. So I'm in Bible college. We have a Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, four days of orientation. I may be the only student in the history of that school that got two demerits during orientation week. Eight demerits and you're out. So I'm in orientation week. And sometime in those four days, the Dean of Min calls Me into his office and he said, some students like you, you have a hard time adjusting. We understand that, but you gotta be really careful because I'm gonna need to give you two demerits today. To be honest with you, I did not know what a demerit was. I'd never even heard the word before. And I said, what did I do? Well, the Dean of Women said that she saw you in the main lobby of the school wearing Bermuda shorts and that breaks our dress code. In my mind, I'm thinking, I'm from Arizona, I wear shorts everywhere. So I get. And when he told me that the reason I got two demerits was because I was wearing Bermuda shorts and I laughed. I thought he was kidding. I almost got two more demerits. I was almost halfway out of the school before I got started in the school. Week one, that was amazing. But I didn't fit there. I didn't grow up in a Christian family. It was difficult, but the teaching was amazing. Oh my. I was like a sponge. I'm 17 years old. The next year, back to Bible college. I'm in my Dorm. I'm now 19. And for the first time in my life, I felt what I would call the presence of God in my room. I didn't know how to describe it. I just had this over. I kept looking around the room and I just had this overwhelmed, overwhelming, awesome feeling of God's presence. And for the first time in my life, I heard what I discovered many times since I heard the voice of the Lord. And I heard him say to me that he has a plan for my life and could I trust him with his plan? The words we would use for today is I had my amazing sense of destiny experience. And I said, oh my gosh, God, you have chosen me to do something holy. And honestly, I'm 19. I thought, oh, I'm going to be a missionary. I can just tell that I'm going to South America and I'm going to be in Peru. This is God's plan. It's wonderful because there was a woman from Peru at our college who was telling us about her husband who was killed by the Indians. And I thought, that's where God wants me to go.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

And I didn't say anything to anybody. I said nothing. I just had this experience. And then two days later, I got a note from the president of school's office to come to his office, Dr. Harlow and I. 11 o' clock on, let's say Friday. And I go down there and. And his secretary, I said, what does he want to see me about this time? Like, am I in trouble again? And she said, no, I sent you that. You did? Why? She said, sit down, Bill. She said, listen to this. I told nobody about my experience. She says to me, bill, I think God's hands on your life and I'm going to pray for you every day the rest of my life.

[Grace]

Wow.

[Bill]

She prayed for me every day for over 30 years. Wow, Scott. I don't pray for me every day, but she did. And I want to tell you something. You want to have an affirmation. So I have this huge sense of destiny. I thought it was going to be immediate. I have this affirmation from Eleanor, that was her name. And then I thought it was going to be Tuesday.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

14 years later. Yes, 14 years later. I'm the Deputy Auditor General for the state of Arizona and I've. Our. Our youth ministry is exploding, Scott. In fact, right here in this room.

[Scott]

In this very room.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

We would literally every, every Friday night, we would take all the furniture out of this room and put it on the back patio and we would have wall to wall high school and college kids seeping into the kitchen all over the place. It was exploding. And the auditor general, Ira Osman, he says to me one day, bill, you got to come in this weekend. We got to catch up on all these audits. And I said, ira, I can't. I've got a youth retreat this weekend. A very stern man, very old school, he says to me, look, you gotta make a decision. It's either those kids or your career. You can't do both.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

And boy, I just. Okay. So I came home and went in the kitchen right over there and sat down with Grace. I told her what Iris said and we both started crying and we both said, it's time, isn't it? This is the Lord telling us we've got to figure out a way to begin the ministry in a full time way that God's called us to. And so we prayed and we decided that I would go back and tell Ira on Monday that we were going to have to leave. And Ira's old school. If he knew that you were leaving or planning to leave, he'd come and find you on the job and say you're done. And you were gone. So I come into the office, 7 o' clock Monday morning. Ira's there and he looks at me and goes, stop. What? Don't tell me your decision. Because he knew, he knew his policy. He said, don't tell me your decision. But he Said, listen to this talk about God's provision. He said, but if you decide you're going to go with those kids, would you let me help you find a part time job? And he called several CPA major, eight CPA firms. And one of them, a firm called Ernst and Ernst, offered me a part time job. Listen to this. I worked 25 hours a week. I never worked Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday for two years. I never worked a day in June, July or August. I had the week of Thanksgiving off, the week of Easter and the week of Christmas because those were my youth activities. Summers were our Bible camps. And they paid me as much as I earned at the Order General's office.

[Scott]

Oh my goodness.

[Bill]

And they honored it for two years.

[Grace]

Wow.

[Bill]

And Grace and I were going, what are you doing, Lord? And our ministry just kept growing and growing and now we're into the early 70s and the hippie movement is beginning to become a reality. And so, and so the last day of my career with Ernst and Ernst, well, I should say I'm going to back up my now. So the managing partner, Lyman Davidson, a great man, he came to me one day and he said, bill, do you understand? None of us know why you're doing this. None of us know why you're leaving. But he said, would you be willing to work full time the last month and instead of paying you your salary, we will pay you your billing rate.

[Grace]

Wow.

[Bill]

Which was two and a half times my salary.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

For a month. So you and Grace at least have some money to begin what you're going to do.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

And it was amazing. I want it back six months. Six months from that May into that November. Grace and I are deciding that we're going to leave my part time job in May or sometime. We didn't know at that point and we're praying about it. And I get a phone call from Washington D.C. it's a congressional person, a guy from in Congress, friend of mine, he's with Barry Goldwater. And he says, bill, I'm here with Barry and we're wondering if you'd be willing to come to Washington and would you be willing to head up the administrative staff for the Arizona Republicans in Washington? And I said, man, John, his name was John. I said, john, I really have to pray about it. And I told Grace that John called and my wife's very wise. It took her less than 15 seconds to say no. She just said, jill, Washington would kill you. She said, the answer's no. And I said, well, thank you, honey, that was very nice. But I trusted her. No, this is an interesting thing. I'm talking about my sense of destiny being realized, and I have an opportunity. I love politics. I was a Young Republicanite and loved Barry Goldwater. And. No, that's not what God wanted me. That's not it. The CPA firm that I was working for, Scott Ernst and Ernst, the managing partner from Cleveland, asked me to meet him in Los Angeles for lunch. So I flew to Los Angeles to meet this guy, and we're having lunch, and he sits with me and he says to me, this was within days of my phone call from Bergavar. He sits with me and he says, would you consider moving back to Cleveland? He said, in a couple years, we'd like to make you a partner and open up a territory with you.

[Grace]

Wow.

[Bill]

And I said to him something like, I don't know if you're a man of faith or not, but I. I just want you to know I'd have to really pray about this, because my wife and I are planning to go into the ministry soon.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Scott]

So there's real weight behind words. I've heard you speak.

[Bill]

Yes.

[Scott]

And the words you speak are never live your life based on open doors and opportunity.

[Bill]

Absolutely.

[Scott]

But live it based on conviction.

[Bill]

Absolutely. Great. Thanks for bringing that back to me, because that is what I was experiencing.

[Scott]

Exactly.

[Bill]

I was experiencing that. So this guy. Thanks for that. Because this guy says to me, wait a minute. Did you just tell me no? And he says to whoever else, I can't remember who else was with, he says, delay my next appointment. I got to talk to this guy. And he looks at me and he says, do you know, I've done this a lot. You're the only person that's ever told me, no, what could be more important than what I've offered you.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Scott]

What were the perks? And what do you offer?

[Bill]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I got to tell you that part. Thank you for remembering that part of the perks were that if you become a partner, you get a membership in a country club. It's part of your partnership. It's a perk. And in that reality. This is such a good story. In that reality, in my early years of ministry with all these young guys, I would tell them about this fact that I lost my membership in a country club. I didn't mind losing the partnership, but I sure wanted that membership in a country club. So that was part of my story.

[Grace]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Bill]

And I want to come back to that point because you raised it in a minute.

[Scott]

But let me just to the lunch.

[Bill]

Let's go back to the lunch.

[Scott]

Back to the lunch with the guy. No one had ever said no.

[Bill]

So what I did was, and I wasn't trying to be bold or different. I just said to him, let me tell you about why I say no. And I got to share my faith as deeply as I ever had with anybody I've ever met.

[Grace]

Wow.

[Bill]

God had purpose in that. In the same two week period, I had the opportunity to become a partner at a CPA firm, go to Washington with Barry Goldwater, and thirdly, the president of the Bible College, the chairman of the board of the Bible College that I attended asked me if I'd be willing to come back to the college because they were watching what I was doing in the training of young adults, adults for ministry. And they wanted me to influence their students.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

Now, Grace will tell you that the Congressman lost his reelection. The president of the college actually had a heart attack. And God knew all of that. But for me, you talk about, I'm just a person who God has prepared through somebody who could have fired me, a two year job. God has prepared a phone call from Washington, a partnership working with him. And I'm sitting there going for me.

[Scott]

For you to know, to know, to know for that.

[Bill]

But, but my conviction. Thanks for bringing that up. My conviction was to trust that Grace and I should go into the ministry. And it was time. My sense of destiny was soon to be getting to be realized. But I do want to come back to the country club story because it's a good story. It's just a good story.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

What happened is one of the young men in our ministry in those days. I'm going to save his story for another time. But I just want to say a young man in our ministry in those days began to become wealthy. And I'm going to guess 20 years ago, he called me up, he said, bill, I'd like you to come and talk to me. I said, sure. Went down to his office and he handed me a card. It had a number on it and it was my membership in a country club.

[Grace]

Wow.

[Bill]

Isn't that beautiful?

[Grace]

It is.

[Bill]

Just think about that. My membership in a country club. And you and I have played there many times.

[Scott]

We have.

[Bill]

Let me just tell you what he gave me that day. He gave me a membership in a country club. I've never paid a due and I've never paid for one round of golf for me or any of my friends for 20 years.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

Now just think of God's faithfulness when we trust him. That's my story, but it's an amazing story. And so I'm going to turn to who's ever out there and just say, could you begin to imagine the possibilities of God in your life if you could? Begin to trust him with who you are, Begin to trust him with his purpose for your life. Begin to move by faith in the direction of God. I'm not trying to be idealistic here, Scott, at all. I just want to say I could not have dreamed the life that God has privileged me to live. I couldn't dream it. I can't dream that big. Yeah, it's an amazing story.

[Grace]

Yeah, it is.

[Bill]

It happens to be mine, but thank you, Lord.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Scott]

I think that's enough.

[Bill]

I do, too.

[Scott]

That's a great story of how God's influenced you.

[Bill]

Amen. Amen. Yeah.

[Scott]

And not only his influence, but he gave you, like, the story of the Job offers in the midst of the calling to start the ministry, to start the church. There were gifts in those things.

[Bill]

Oh, absolutely.

[Scott]

It's amazing how God does that.

[Bill]

Oh, man.

[Scott]

To confirm things for us.

[Bill]

Couldn't have imagined it.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Guys, thanks for watching. We're going to continue this series on stories. We hope that you will continue to look in your lives and start to understand the stories that God's given you, the gifts that he's given you, and how they might influence others. Thanks for watching. Thank you for listening to the podcast. We're really glad that you're here. We'd love to know that you're here. And so if you could leave a comment, we would appreciate that. But more importantly, if you know someone that should listen to this or hear it, we would love for you to share it with them. Thanks again.