Pastor delivers strong message

     By Ray Charles
     View staff writer
      Delivering messages of power, pain and repentance, Pastor Richard Twine of the Potters House Christian Fellowship preaches to his congregation not about what he has heard or seen, but about what he has been through.
      Twine moved from Sandusky, Ohio, to Las Vegas with his wife, Lisa, in 1991, leaving behind a life of drug and alcohol abuse. Even though Twine and his wife had escaped their past demons, the couple, who had two daughters to share their lives with, still found themselves feeling alone and empty.
      "In 1992 we had messed our lives up so completely that we decided to go gung-ho for God," Lisa Twine said. "Since I was with him when his life was messed up, it is easy for me to see how far he has come to better himself through the teachings of God. He's not perfect, but he sure does try to be."
      Twine did not receive any seminary schooling, but said he owes his religious teaching experience to God and his former minister Duane Rens.
      "I got saved because someone on the street had the guts to tell me that I was a sinner, but that God still loved me," Richard Twine said. "We do not believe in seminary schools because they are not used in the Bible, and that is where our teachings come from."
      Richard Twine, who also works full time as a safety director at Nellis Air Force Base, gets up every morning at 4:30 just so he can spend time with his family and prepare sermons before he goes to work.
      "This is why he's his daughters' hero, and why they love him so much," Lisa Twine said.
      Family is a big part of Twines' belief, and is something he tries to instill in the younger generation every chance he gets.
      "I enjoy seeing young couples getting married," Twine said. "It shows that more young people are choosing not to live in fornication."
      Richard Twine said he believes evangelism is a major thrust in spreading God's word, but worries about the decreased impact churches seem to be having on today's generation.
      "We've had many healings here at Potters House," he said. "We've had several gambling and drug addictions broken through faith in God."
      Richard Twine is convinced that if more people were to come to his church, where he preaches nondenominational sermons, that more people would be willing to go out and talk about the Bible.
      "I want to be able to help people find God and hopefully send them out into the world to start their own fellowship church," he said.
      Potters House Christian Fellowship is located at 4375 N. Las Vegas Blvd.