Dr. Winston Colie Temple

Dr.Temple served as a Professor at Christian Colleges and Training Institutions for over forty years. He trained hundreds of ministers, missionaries and laymen to understand and apply the Holy Scriptures to their lives and those they influence.

Dr. Temple was distinguished as a scholar in Old Testament Theology, Languages, History and Ministerial work. He spoke and preached in over 30 states and all around the world. He taught students from every continent around the globe and was always admired as one of the best Professors who has ever taught in higher education. His students have included: Doctors, Lawyers, Congressmen, Military Leaders, School teachers, Missionaries, Media Personalities, Public Servants and some of the nations top Ministry Leaders. Yet, Dr. Temple really loved and served "common folk." He gave away most of what he earned. He reached out to those who struggled the most. He showed unparalleled compassion to those in need to his family, friends and the man holding a card board sign on the side of the road. He loved and served them all.

He was preceded in death by his son, Mark Bradley Temple; parents Oma C. and Zora E. Temple; sister, Zora Jean Martin. He is survived by his loving wife, Valeria A. Temple; son, Mitch (Rhonda) Temple; daughter, Greta (Greg) Schumacher; seven grandchildren, Kevin Temple, Hannah Wintersteller, Ben Temple, William Temple, Audrey Temple, Katie Payne, Nathan Schumacher; one great grandchild, Laeana Wintersteller; sister-in-law, Hilda Silcox ; brother-in-law, Jessie Stewart.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held at Alabama Heritage Funeral Home at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 18, 2014. Burial will follow in Montgomery Memorial Cemetery. Visitation will be held at Alabama Heritage Funeral Home on Tuesday, November 18, 2014 from 12:30 p.m. until time of service.

Memorials can be made in his honor to Amridge University.

~ A Tribute by his son and daughter: Mitch Temple, Greta Schumacher ~

The story of Dr. Winston Temple is like many worthwhile stories—insightful, personal and challenging—captivating at times and, frankly, boring at other times. But nonetheless, his story is grace-filled and encouraging.

The supreme beauty of his story on Earth is that it was real life drama lived out by an ordinary servant of the King, rich with incredible strengths but tempered with human frailties. Like characters in God’s word, Winston Temple’s story is one of perseverance, trial, faith and service in God’s kingdom; a story covered with his Savior’s fingerprints from beginning to end.

Like many of you, Dad was raised in the shadow of a momentous era in our nation’s history—WW II, the Korean War, Vietnam and the Cold War. Dad’s father was a rough but strong Master Sergeant who served during WWII and found success as a skilled craftsman. Dad was raised in harsh conditions—poverty, turmoil, and conflict, dotted occasionally with episodes of faith and spiritual experience. He was blessed with a mother who instilled in him the basic principles of life, core values seasoned with common sense, and Godly character that would be passed on to several generations.

After working his way through Jr. College in the early 60s, Dad was recruited to one of the fastest growing corporations in the Nation at the time, the Monsanto Corporation. Within just a short period of time Dad was promoted to one of the prime positions in the company as a Chemist and within a few months Dad was moved up into a supervisory role. He was, without doubt, on the fast track to success and was making an incredible salary for such a young man. This leading corporation was expecting great things out of this young man. Yet, because of the tremendous turmoil he experienced growing up, he felt a calling to provide for his family and for others something more valuable than material things. Dad once shared with me as a young man that he didn’t know exactly what he needed to do to help his family go to heaven, but he knew it had something to do with being a servant.

There was an old preacher named Eddie Lewis who became a mentor to Dad and encouraged him to go into the ministry. He saw great potential for the Kingdom through Dad’s heart and ability. Astonishingly, Dad gave up a profitable career, along with its lifestyle and position, to become a Gospel Preacher. With little experience and little money, Dad stepped out in faith into the unknown world of full-time ministry. At the time, Dad’s library consisted of two books, a Bible purchased with S&H green stamps and a worn-out Cruden’s Concordance held together with electrical tape. That was until a Godly, well-known preacher of the day came through Pensacola one evening. He stopped in to visit Dad and acquaint himself. He surveyed Dad’s library, left the house and returned with a small box of brand-new books and sat them on Dad’s tattered desk. With tears in his eyes, Dad said he couldn’t accept the books because he didn’t have the money to pay for them. The preacher told Dad to pay him back when he could and, over time, Dad did—five dollars here, five dollars there. That gracious preacher who had an eye for men with potential was none other than Brother Rex Turner Sr. Through the years Brother Turner saw to it that Dad received the education and experience he needed and in return, Dad saw to it that Brother Turner Sr. received the honor, respect and friendship that he so richly deserved toward the end of HIS life.

Almost every Wednesday during his time at Southern Christian University, Dad and Brother Turner would solve numerous weighty theological mysteries while steadily contributing to the wealth of the great seafood mogul, Captain D via the $2.99 fish platter. Because of Brother Rex’s friendship and support, Dad was in turn blessed to impact lives all over this Nation through the training of, and ministry to countless other gospel preachers.

For a half century, Dad served through local church work and as a Christian educator and mentor. He has influenced thousands—many have been led to the Lord and countless hungry and discouraged souls have been fed at his table. There are missionaries on foreign soils today because of his generosity and successful secular leaders all over this great country have been impacted by his life.

Dad continually gave from the heart. I can remember as a child having guests over for dinner many evenings. Sometimes Mom knew they were coming, other times our guests would be unexpected—a destitute traveler, an abused mother and her children… I recall once wondering if one of our guests might have been an angel entertained unaware. I learned to give to others, to minister to the hurting, by watching my Mom and Dad provide a meal for the destitute or give their last ten dollars to a preacher student. I once held a conference in Arizona for soldiers returning from deployment and their spouses. The Chaplain of the Air force base there happened to be a former student of my Father’s. As he recalled his recent tour in Iraq, the chaplain reported how he ministered to young men as he shared the gospel with them, countless hours of counseling through family crisis, and even holding young men in his arms and praying for them as they slipped into eternity. The Chaplain told me he owed a great deal of his successful service and courage to the training and compassion shown to him by my Dad. His story is only one of many…

Dad was certainly not flawless—he taught us children to admit our weaknesses and learn from our mistakes. In spite of his personal challenges, Winston Temple persevered in the ditches of life with honor. He knew what it meant to struggle, to do without, to experience illness, to be persecuted for the cause of Christ; and he knew what it meant to experience the deepest of life’s tragedies, the tragedy of losing a son—there is no loss, like this one. But, it was through these trials that God manifested his love through Dad to others. Dad put his hand to the plow almost 50 years ago and in spite of much trial and suffering he never looked back. The influence Dad had on the lives of his children and others and the community of God’s servants around the world continues strong today. Dad always said, “To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.” That is exactly what he did – he stood with people, along side them as servants, never above them, with a gentle smile and a heart filled with compassion and strength.