The most humbling and challenging thing that I face—the great concern of my heart—is that my generation experience a return to the preaching of the gospel of God’s grace. This generation is plagued with a gospel of works and are strangers to the gospel of redemption. I want a return to the message used of God in other days to awaken men to their need and to reveal the grace and glory of the Lord Jesus.
Rolfe Barnard used to say, “The two-fold message of grace is: (1) all flesh is grass and (2) behold your God!” This is the message that takes away all of the glory and dignity of the flesh and proclaims the redemptive glory of Christ.
The results of this message will be a sense of the awesome holiness of God, the inability and sinfulness of the flesh, and the total sufficiency of the person and work of Christ. Perhaps once against we will hear men and women cry,
“Depth of mercy! Can there be,
Mercy still reserved for me?
Can my God his wrath forbear,
Me, the chief of sinners, spare?”
About Henry Mahan
Henry T. Mahan was born in Birmingham, Alabama in August 1926. He joined the United States Navy in 1944 and served as a signalman on an L.S.T. in the Pacific during World War II. In 1946, he married his wife Doris, and the Lord blessed them with four children.
At the age of 21, he entered the pastoral ministry and gained broad experience as a pastor, teacher, conference speaker, and evangelist. In 1950, through the preaching of evangelist Rolfe Barnard, God was pleased to establish Henry in sovereign free grace teaching. At that time, he was serving as an assistant pastor at Pollard Baptist Church (off of Blackburn ave.) in Ashland, Kentucky.
In 1955, Thirteenth Street Baptist Church was formed in Ashland, Kentucky, and Henry was called to be its pastor. He faithfully served that congregation for more than 50 years, continuing in the same message throughout his ministry. His preaching was centered on the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified, in full accord with the Scriptures. He consistently proclaimed God’s sovereign purpose in salvation and the glory of Christ in redeeming sinners through His blood and righteousness.
Henry T. Mahan also traveled widely, preaching in conferences and churches across the United States and beyond. His ministry was marked by a clear and unwavering emphasis on Christ, not the preacher, but the One preached. Those who heard him recognized that his sermons honored the Savior and exalted the name of the Lord Jesus Christ above all.
Henry T. Mahan served as pastor and teacher of Thirteenth Street Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky for over half a century. His life and ministry were devoted to proclaiming the sovereign grace of God and directing sinners to the finished work of Christ. He entered into the presence of the Lord in 2019, leaving behind a lasting testimony to the gospel he faithfully preached.
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