Gilbert Morris

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CBP: Tell us your Christian testimony…

Gilbert: I do not have a dramatic testimony—the kind most people want to hear. The most dramatic usually involve a terrible life including drugs, sexual perversion, and criminal activity, climaxing in a “Road to Damascus” salvation experience.

My experience was far different from this sort of thing. I cannot remember a time when I was not in the services at our church. My parents were believers and we never argued over whether or not we were going to church—that was settled!

When I was thirteen years old, a Jewish evangelist, Hyman Appleton held a revival at the First Baptist Church of North Little Rock, Arkansas. He preached a special message to the young people, and although I’d heard the gospel all my life, for the first time God spoke to my heart. I called on the Lord, asked Jesus to save me—and He did! I was baptized the following Sunday, and from that time have followed the Lord.

I felt God calling me to His work, surrendered my life, and for 20 years pastored Baptist churches. I became a professor of English at a Baptist University in Arkansas and began to write novels. I thank God for calling me and keeping me all these years.

CBP: Where does The Yellow Rose pick up from your first book, Deep in the Heart?

Gilbert: Deep in the Heart ends with the deaths of the defenders of the Alamo. The Yellow Rose begins immediately after the event. Santa Anna, the Mexican President and General of the Army is determined to drive the Texans out of Mexico. General Sam Houston has on a few troops, all untrained, to the huge force that Santa Anna leads. Deep in the Heart dramatized the struggle of the Texans to survive, and finally at the battle of San Jacinto, Houston and his army defeat Santa Anna.

CBP: The Yellow Rose follows Jerusalem and her children…what do you see her teaching them through their struggles?

Gilbert: Jerusalem is determined to survive in Texas, to put down roots and give her family a heritage they can be proud of. The war is over, but the Comanche and Mexican raiders make life uncertain and hard. Jerusalem has lost her husband, and it takes a strong woman to survive in Texas. She knows that only God can save her family, and teaches her children to trust in Him alone.

CBP: What are the historic events that take place in the background of your story?

Gilbert: The Battle of San Jacinto is the key event. But after the battle is won, Texas has to survive as an independent republic. This struggle to survive is featured in this book

CBP: What comes next?

Gilbert: What comes next is The Eyes of Texas, which dramatizes the struggle of Jerusalem and her family to build a great cattle empire—and the events that lead to the acceptance of Texas into the United States.