by Wayne Partain
Synopsis: Bill Reeves and Wayne Partain were close companions in the Spanish work for seventy-four years.
Acts 13-15 relates the labors of the apostle Paul and his companion, Barnabas; in his epistles, Paul refers to several of his fellow-workers (2 Cor. 8:23; Phil. 4:3; Phile. 24). I can identify with this because, for many years, I have been richly blessed with faithful companions in the Spanish work. Bill Reeves was the closest of these companions.
I became acquainted with him in the fall of 1943 at David Lipscomb College in Nashville, TN. This Kentucky boy learned that I was from Oklahoma, so his first words to me were, "Hi Cowboy." We were in the same classes and realized right away that we were likeminded in many ways.
The summer of 1944, he preached at Gulfport, MS, and I preached at Winter Garden, FL. On returning to David Lipscomb College, we became roommates. How he put up with me that year, I'll never understand, because he was very particular about keeping the room orderly, and I was by no means an expert at that.
One of the most important decisions of our lives came early in 1945. Contacts had been made with the Spanish work, and we decided to go to Mexico in June of that year. I give Bill credit for spearheading that decision, and I'll always be grateful to him for it. We weren't able to get visas for preaching in Mexico, so we settled for six-month tourist cards. We spent about a year in Torreón and Durango and visited churches in Zacatecas monthly.
We returned to Mexico in 1949, still determined, if at all possible, to get visas. We were now married. Bill, Twilah, and Linda went first; then Faye, Terry, and I followed. We bought furniture and set up housekeeping for the long-run, but only stayed a few months because we were emphatically told that it was impossible for us to get visas to preach the gospel in Mexico because the law said that only "native born Mexicans could exercise the ministry." In reality, this regulation was to keep foreign priests from being permanent residents, but it also prevented our getting visas.
So we moved to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and worked on both sides of the border, helping start congregations, preparing and printing various Bible studies, and assisting young preachers with their studies—including, for example, Joaquín Blengio, Vernon Hawkins, and Vicente Ramírez, good solid men who have likewise been our beloved companions in the Spanish work.
Bill and I did a good bit of traveling together. I have to mention one small item: while going down the highway, I would be unconsciously singing or humming a particular tune. After enduring this for a while, Bill would finally say, "Hey, how many stanzas does that song have anyway?"
Early on, we saw an urgent need for printed studies—sermons, commentaries, debates, material written by us, and others. I took the initiative in getting our writings into print, first by mimeograph, then offset press. Bill was very glad for me to do most of the printing, but finally, we started having everything printed.
I consider Bill's commentaries and "Questions and Answers" to be a significant contribution to the Spanish work. As soon as he made notes on Romans and Revelation, I got them into print (mimeographed) and distributed among Spanish brethren, and I have continued to keep them in print through the years. His writings are very scholarly but in understandable language.
Bill was also a careful student with his Spanish. The Spanish subjunctive mood has always been my "thorn in the flesh," and I've seen inconsistencies in it, but Bill has kept after me to use it right. My wife understands that when I'm gone, my epitaph is to read "No More Subjunctive."
Bill and I have much material on the internet (which can be found at billhreeves.com and waynepartain.com). He put a lot of stock in digital teaching. Even though I want to take full advantage of the internet, I am persuaded that the vast majority of our Spanish-speaking brethren need printed books, so in addition to our commentaries on the New Testament, we publish and distribute my thirteen letter-size books of sermons, Cogdill's New Testament Church and Walking By Faith, four of the Harkrider class books (two on rudiments, Isaiah, and Ezekiel), four of the Waldron class books, and several others.
Spanish brethren will never again hear Bill's forceful preaching as they have for so many years, but he is very much with them (us) in his written works and, of course, his example and influence will have their impact on and on into the future.
I have greatly benefited from my association with this beloved brother and companion in the Spanish work, and he will be sorely missed, but we're the same age (93). He was only four months older than me, but he always tried to use that to pull rank on me. Nevertheless, I'm only a short distance behind him in our earthly pilgrimage and could be joining him at any time. So my temporary farewell is, "Bill, so long for a while, but be watching for me!"
Author Bio: Wayne has worked with the Mable and Myers Spanish-speaking congregation in Odessa, TX since 2001. He and his wife, Faye, have five children. His website is waynepartain.com. He can be reached at partainwayne@gmail.com.
