Prophecy Fulfilled After 44 Years

Frances Herrington served God with all her heart, doing her best to set an example for her four children and guide them toward a relationship with Him. But living in a small Kentucky community and being a relatively new Pentecostal believer, the spiritual gifts were things she had yet to fully understand.

“I remember the first time I heard someone speaking in tongues, it near scared me to death,” she says with a laugh.

It was 1978, and Frances’ two oldest children, Cindy and William, were with her in the family kitchen, just talking excitedly about what the future may be like. Cindy was preparing to go to the University of Valley Forge (then known as Valley Forge Bible College) that fall, pursuing a ministry degree, while William, a year younger, loved working with his hands and planned to go to vocational school and become a carpenter.

“Suddenly Mom turns around and points at William and says in a matter-of-fact voice, ‘You will build the church’ and then she points to me and says, ‘and you will preach in it.’” Little did the family know that Frances had just spoken a word of prophecy over her children.

“At the time, I didn’t even know what prophecy was,” Frances says, “but that’s what I was doing.”

Cindy and William admit they just filed their mother’s words under the heading, “Proud Mom Just Talking.” However, the words seemed to just stick in their memories and from time to time, the siblings talked about what Mom might have meant by that or what it could mean.

Years past, Cindy married Robin McKinley, a fellow Bible college student, and they went on to begin their ministry careers as children’s evangelists. And like he planned, William became a carpenter, his career advancing through the years to building houses and apartment buildings as well as doing additions to and remodels of churches.

Cindy and Robin currently now serve as lead pastors at Calvary Christian Center (AG) in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. For the past 10 years, Cindy has also led the Pennsylvania-Delaware district’s ministry to widows and widowers called More than Conquerors.

It can be mind-boggling when reflecting on how God brings about the fulfillment of a prophecy — the things that happen, that seem to have little connection, but play a key role in fulfillment.

So, although seemingly having no connection to Frances’ prophecy, AG U.S. Missions appointed Marlene Craft as the first U.S. missionary to widows in 2017. Becoming aware of the More than Conquerors ministry, Craft, who is an endorsed chaplain, reached out to Cindy in 2021.

“She wanted to know what I do with widows and what this ministry was all about,” Cindy recalls. “Two hours later, after sharing laughter and tears, we hung up. The next day Marlene called me and asked me to become her associate.”

In October 2021, Cindy became an endorsed chaplain herself, and in February 2022, while still maintaining her responsibilities at the district and with Robin’s blessing, Cindy officially became an AGUSM missionary associate working with Craft. However, now she wasn’t just ministering to widows and widowers in Pennsylvania and Delaware, but also working with Craft to build on the More than Conquerors example and take it, step by step, to a national level.

In 2017, the same year that Craft was appointed as the very first U.S. missionary to widows, William, who was 57 at the time, sat back and looked upon the new home of River of Life Ministries church he had just completed building in Paris, Kentucky. It was his very first “from-the-ground-up” church he had ever built — he was pleased.

Until 2021, Krista Hampton, co-pastor of River of Life with her husband, Keith, had no reason to invite Cindy to preach. Although an ordained minister with years of experience teaching children, serving as a pastor’s wife, Bible teacher, and Women’s Ministries representative for 12 years, Cindy’s ministry was understandably mostly confined to the Pennsylvania-Delaware district. But that all changed when she accepted Craft’s invitation and became a missionary associate and began presenting her dream nationally.

In August of 2021, with her brother and mother in the pew, Cindy fulfilled the prophecy her mother had given some 44 years earlier as she preached at River of Life Ministries, sharing her vision and passion for ministering to widows and widowers in the church William had literally built.

William says that it wasn’t until Cindy mentioned the prophecy from the pulpit that he thought about it being fulfilled that day. He then adds even some more “fun facts.”

“When I was 12 years old, I was mixing mortar for an older gentleman, Brother Ross, from our church, Blue Licks Assembly of God – we were laying bricks,” William says. “I remember saying, ‘Lord, I want to work on churches when I get big’ . . . when I started building the new church for River of Life I learned that it was Brother Ross, the man who helped inspire me to become a builder, who built the original River of Life building (then called New Hope).”

As far as Frances is concerned, she’s overjoyed at God working in her life and the lives of her children.

“I’m at loss for words when I see what God is doing in them and through them,” she says. “Sometimes I’m just overwhelmed that I have four kids and all four kids are serving the Lord — I’m just so blessed!”