The following quote is from the book, FIELDS OF THE WOOD by former Church Historian, C. T. Davidson:
One Sunday morning following the 35th Assembly, 1940, after he had assumed his pastorate at Cleveland, Tennessee, Grady R. Kent was preaching a powerful message upon the Church and how it arose and was now shining, referring to Fields of the Wood, emphatically pointing it out as the place where the Church of God arose in 1903, when he noticed that A. J. Tomlinson had stopped saying “amen” to the message. This troubled Brother Kent, and when his message was finished, Brother Tomlinson hurried to him, looking at him a moment. “Do you know what you are preaching?” he asked, staring into Kent’s eyes.
Confidence in his arrogant message seemed to totter in the balance; he remembered being called in question over preaching such a thing in another state. A peculiar weakness began to gnaw at his physical and spiritual stamina, and doubt fingered for the pulse of anointing. “I…hope I do,” Kent said, nervously.
“I wonder if you know what you are preaching?” Tomlinson again asked, still staring into the disturbed pastor’s eyes. “I…think…I do…Brother Tomlinson,” Kent managed to say.
When he reached home that day Brother Kent told his wife that he guessed he had ruined himself that morning. He was worried and restless, battling the situation, when the telephone rang. It was Brother Tomlinson calling Kent to the office for consultation. He cautioned him to get his “dinner” before he came, signifying they would be in council for quite a while. Things were quiet and sadness hovered around the Kent home during the next hour or two.
At the office the Overseer asked Kent the same questions that he had asked him at the close of the message. Convicting doubt seemed to challenge the integrity of his morning message, troubling him in different ways. He had tried to do his best for God! He had been blessed with the anointing until the General Overseer had ceased to say “amen.” He still felt the presence of the Lord, though, and if he had been wrong, it was unintentional. To him that was a gruesome council until the Overseer at last spoke.
“If a man ever let the Holy Ghost use him…you did this morning,” Tomlinson said, looking into his troubled eyes. That was healing balm to Pastor Kent.