Blaine Fox experienced a childhood characterized by grief, neglect and abandonment. He married young and the union produced four children.
But with only an eighth-grade education, his options were few. Uncle Sam called, and Blaine Fox answered – serving four years in World War II. Upon returning home, he scratched out a living – but it wasn’t much.
In 1966, his wife, Gladys, died. Blaine turned to alcohol for comfort … to escape a life of loss and failure. One year later, he lost his children to the North Carolina foster care system.
A few months after losing his children, Blaine found his way to the Winston-Salem Rescue Mission where he was welcomed and given food, a bed, and was shown the love of Christ. Soon, he understood his need for Jesus and asked Him to be his Savior.
The Mission helped Blaine find a job, a church, friendship and direction – and, in 1968, God gave him full custody of all four children.
Blaine’s story is one of thousands of lives changed through the ministry of the 2024 Lifetime Achievement award recipients – Neal & Barbara Wilcox.
GOD PREPARING NEAL FOR HIS LIFE’S CALLING
Neal was born on February 23, 1937, to a single mother. Most of his younger years were spent living on his grandparents’ tobacco farm twelve miles outside Kinston, North Carolina. The farm had no running water and no electricity. They didn’t have much – but the home was a happy and loving place.
Neal’s mom worked and lived in Kinston – leaving him in the care of his grandparents and her three younger sisters.
During a church service when Neal was 14, he submitted to the Lord’s beckoning, prayed the sinner’s prayer and his heart and life were forever changed. At the age of 17, God called Neal to preach.
Soon after graduating high school, Neal reaffirmed his commitment to Christ, and prayed this prayer, “Lord, take me; mold me; make me; break me, please use me.”
One night, as Neal was coming home from church, he met a prison trustee who had been let outside the jail to get some fresh air. Neal led that man to the Lord. Through this experience he became burdened for the lost. “I told the Lord,” Neal said, “I wanted to serve Him twenty-four hours a day.”
Soon it was time to go to college, and through the encouragement of a friend, Neal attended Bob Jones University. Neal worked his way through college with a variety of jobs, but one of his most cherished and refining work experiences was at the Dining Common under the leadership of Fred Davis.
In 1961, Neal graduated from BJU with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Upon graduation, he took stock of all his earthly possessions – a diploma, an older car and a $20 bill. “Never in my life had I felt so broke,” he said, “but I didn’t owe anything to anyone except my Heavenly Father. I learned ‘living by faith’ early in my life, and it sustains me to this day.”
GOD LEADING NEAL AND BARBARA TO THEIR MISSION
Following graduation, Neal married his sweetheart, Barbara. With family and friends in attendance, and Fred Davis officiating, Neal and Barbara were married on June 2, 1963. They both accepted jobs at BJU, where they served the Lord together for the next four years.
But Neal was praying that God would give him a ministry in which he and Barbara could serve together.
As Neal was praying, five Baptist preachers were traveling in a car from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on their way to Hammond, Indiana. As they traveled through the mountains of Tennessee, they were discussing the need for a place in Winston-Salem where homeless people could find help. With the Lord’s leading, they quickly established a board of directors and set about the task of finding a mission director.
Stuart Epperson and Reverend Moxley, members of the newly organized board of directors for the Winston-Salem Rescue Mission, interviewed Neal for the position of director. It was through these men that God’s will for Neal and Barbara Wilcox was revealed.
On June 1, 1967, Neal and Barbara moved into the apartment above the Rescue Mission, located in the skid row district of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Nancy Epperson described the Wilcox’s apartment as “horrible, terrible, not nice … the worst possible housing, but they sacrificed and lived in that little apartment to save money and to be wise stewards.”
Soon, Neal and Barbara began gathering supplies, furnishings, and the funding needed to establish the mission and get it operational. They visited churches to share their vision. Neal spoke to civic clubs, men’s groups, ladies’ groups, senior groups, teen groups, Christian schools, and even to a health club.
GOD MAKING THE MISSION A REALITY
On July 22, 1967, just seven weeks after moving into their apartment above the mission, they had their opening service!
The vision became a reality: “Food for the hungry, rest for the weary, clothes for the needy, and Christ for the sinner.”
In the first ten months of operation, the mission assisted 464 men, given 14,534 meals to the hungry, provided 5,228 nights lodging to weary bodies; and distributed an unknown quantity of clothing to the needy. But that’s not all. During those first ten months, they conducted 500 services and had 60 professions of faith. And all their bills were paid on time.
Barbara Wilcox – especially in the Missions’ early years – was the head cook and bottle washer, event organizer, hostess, wife, mother and Neal’s greatest supporter. Her daughter, Beverly, described her mother as “the detail-person and the behind-the-scenes implementer.”
With God enabling and guiding Neal and Barbara, the Winston-Salem Rescue Mission became a beacon of hope for those in need of rescue.
So, Neal decided they needed an actual beacon to light the way to the mission.
In 1975, the Christian Businessmen’s Association of Winston-Salem provided and installed atop the Mission a revolving, illuminated, cross – inscribed with “Jesus Saves.” The cross lit up the night and pointed lost souls of Winston-Salem to the Way, the Truth, and the Light.
GOD GROWING THE MISSION
Over the next thirty years, the mission and its footprint, operations and outreach grew to include a thriving Gospel ministry to inner-city children, a thrift store, a working farm, a metal salvage operation, a newspaper recycling program, a Bible study program for new converts, a Senior Foster Care division, a women’s ministry, a maintenance shop, a 40,000 square foot warehouse facility, a 110-acre rehabilitation and education ministry and much more.
Stu Epperson credited “Neal’s tireless promotion of the Mission” as a major motivation for half the population [of Winston Salem] supporting the work!” And the Mission’s greatest impact,” Stu added, “has been restoring families. Many a kid who had no daddy, had a daddy again because of the witness of the Rescue Mission.”
The Lord in his wisdom and goodness gave Neal Wilcox, in particular, the perfect life’s work – a man who never saw and never knew his own earthly father was daily introducing the lost and downtrodden to their heavenly father.
God multiplied Neal’s vision beyond Winston-Salem.
Neal’s assistant director and second employee in Winston-Salem– BJU graduate Ernie Mills along with his wife Gail went on to co-found the Durham Rescue Mission- a property that extends over five city blocks.
Dr. Bob Jones III sees “Neal as a graduate who exemplifies – almost better than any graduate of my generation – to depend on God with all your heart and to work with all your might.”
GOD CONTINUING TO USE HIS SERVANTS
Neal and Barbara retired from the mission, after serving for 33 years. They moved to Greenville, South Carolina, to be near family, but they’ve never stopped serving the Lord and loving others.
For many years after moving to Greenville, Neal and Barbara organized and led a Wednesday night prayer meeting at Shepherd’s Care for the BJU retirees. Dr. Bob III said, “The retirees loved the Wilcoxes!”
At one time, the Wilcoxes had three garden locations around town where they grew vegetables to share with their friends and neighbors. Seven widows live in their neighborhood, and Neal and Barbara look after all of them, ensuring their needs are met. The neighbor children love Mr. Neal because he loves them, takes an interest in each one and gives them cookies and treats. Most of all, Neal and Barbara are concerned for the salvation of their neighbors and seek to be a witness to them.
Neal’s daughter, Beverly, said, “Each day my dad desires to help someone, to encourage someone, to minister to someone – to be Jesus to someone.”
And who bakes the cookies and treats? Who joins Neal in prayer for the needs of others? His wife, Barbara. They’ve been united in their love for God, for others, and for one another for 63 years.
John 13:35 says, “By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another.”
For following God’s call; for faithfully serving together in tough conditions ministering to the needs of those many ignore – not just serving them, but loving them; for Neal’s service as a BJU Board member for 36 years; for their partnership in serving BJU retirees; for their dependence on God and their consistent reminder that He deserves all the glory for anything accomplished during their lifetime, the Alumni Relations Department on behalf of Bob Jones University is honored to present Neal and Barbara Wilcox with a 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award.
*Portions of this story taken from God’s Providence, My Privilege by A. Neal Wilcox.