Author David Millican III a preacher who grew up in Wyoming has first-hand experience how a frontier preacher survives and even more, makes a life changing difference in people’s lives. Experiencing Wyoming requires a certain hardiness of body and character in any age. In June of 1980, I camped in Wyoming. Our tent blew over on us at 5:00 am. We visited friends there in 1983. It was 36 degrees on the Fourth of July. After graduation from Bible College, the Wyoming District Superintendent offered my husband a church in Wyoming. I admire the protagonist hero of this story.
Are YOU Contemplating a Move to Wyoming?
Without the lure of the wealth from gold fields, the description of Hollis Winget’s train ride to Gillette, Wyoming would discourage most people emigrating to Wyoming. More than once, Hollis wanted to return to the more populated “civilized” communities on the east coast. James, a traveling preacher, had rescued Hollis from a life of abuse from his Grandfather and provided him with an education and a future. Hollis followed in his footsteps after he graduated from college. James passed on but continued to motivate Hollis. Wanting to live up to his mentor’s reputation, Winget reckoned with more than the harsh weather. He reached Cheyenne, Wyoming on November 20, 1903.
As he stepped down onto the crunching frozen snow of Cheyenne, the sun might as well have been a ball of bright ice. The wind ripped at his face with cold that burned and tore through his clothes like they were tattered curtains. Millican. Lot 39 of 2259, Frontier Preacher.
Frontier Preacher Amazon Ranking
Preacher Survives With Help from God
The first week Hollis arrived in Gillette, Wyoming, his final destination, he almost starved and froze to death. He used up all his firewood and parceled out his food to last about as long. Fortunately, he had help, sometimes from unknown or unexpected sources. Lying on the church floor in prayer, he had no strength to do more than pray, when a knock came at the door.
Book Learning Did Not Teach Survival Skills
Book learning had not prepared this preacher for the hazards of blizzards in Wyoming or the unlucky fate of single women and girls that had been shipped out west to make a better life for themselves. When Hollis befriended and tried to protect one young woman who sought sanctuary in the church, he became disillusioned.
At one point he realized that his mentor had faced the same issues and had not prevailed in Gillette, Wyoming either. Nor had preachers of any faith before him. His life seemed hopeless. He did his best to snuff it out, to squeeze out the memories that plagued him.
When a Preacher Survives Evil, He Should Be Godly
Hollis Winget, the Frontier Preacher Ill Repute preached the Word throughout the book, but behind the scenes, he exposed his thoughts and struggles. He is at times endearing, annoying, proud, judgmental. He doesn’t seem brave. However, when he finds himself alone against evil, he realizes strengths he did not know that he had.
At Bethany he had learned to respect and value women as the treasure from God they were… Wyoming, he though, would be the same considering they were the equality state, the state that first gave women a right to vote. Millican. Lot 76 of 2259, Frontier Preacher.
Hollis struggled with that in his own way as he revealed in places throughout the book. Interestingly, not all his personal issues were resolved by the end of the book, so I would not be surprised to find a sequel to this story.
Conclusion
Even though admire all writers who can pull together a fiction book, I don’t respond to all of them on an emotional level. David, though Hollis, captured my tears and wrenched my heart from me. Reviewers sometimes criticize books I like as sappy or they find some other criticism I missed.
One reader commented about Frontier Preacher Ill Repute, “Perhaps this book should also have been classified as Christian Historical Fiction as it carries a strong Christian message. There are numerous scriptural references throughout the story and times when the main character preaches a distinct religious view to the point where I felt a little misled.”
Although I was aware of his frequent reference to baptism, it did not ruin the story me. That said, Hollis gave a great argument, though, and eventually changed his Methodist friend’s mind. Had it been one of Millican’s agenda items, it might convince readers with an equally effective counter to the baptism argument. Even though preaching baptism that may have been the purpose of the book, the quality of the story outweighed the author’s agenda in this case. Frontier Preacher Ill Repute got five stars from me. If you read it, let me know what you think.
Let me know if you want to move to Wyoming after you read Frontier Preacher Ill Repute, too!
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