Obituary of Pastor Bounds

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” 2 Tim 4:7 BOUNDS: David Thomas Bounds went to be with his Lord and Savior Wednesday night, June 22, 2005 at the Lloydminster Hospital surrounded by his loving family and friends after a three month battle with cancer. David died in faith and we know that when he saw heaven and met Jesus face to face it was just not an option to return to this earth. David was a wonderful husband, a great father, a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and faithful servant of the Lord. David is survived by his best friend and loving wife of 26 years, Linda “Brownie” Bounds, son, Jonathan and daughter, Liberty all of Lloydminster, SK. He is also survived by his mother-in-law Viola Brown of Texarkana, TX; one brother, Ted (Mary) Bounds of Magnolia, Arkansas and one sister, Cynthia (Gene) Green of Texarkana, Arkansas; brothers-in-law Gary (Donna) Brown of Houston, Texas and Stan (Cheryl) Brown of Redondo Beach, CA as well as his nieces, Tracy Colton, Jennifer Volner, Tammy and Cynthia Brown. At the time of his passing, David was pastoring The Word Church of Lloydminster and The Word Church of Loon Lake, SK, as well as overseeing outreaches here in Canada among the First Nation’s people and fulfilling the role of a spiritual father to many pastors in Mindanao, Philippine. He was also founder and president of North American Word Outreach, Inc. and Word Ministries. This world has lost a great man, but heaven is rejoicing with David as he dances on the streets of glory with the lover of his soul, Jesus Christ. A celebration of life for David was held Monday, June 27, 2005 at The First Baptist Church of Lloydminster with a love feast following at The Word Church. Pastors William “Tracy” Harris of Texarkana, Arkansas officiated. Pallbearers were Jonathan Bounds, Doug Freeman, David Freeman, Brent Baier, Matthew Harris and Ron Waugh. Honorary pallbearers were all who shared in David’s life. The praise and worship team of The Word Church sang “Evermore”, a favorite of Pastor David’s. His son, Jonathan, sang accompanied by Naomi Davidson on violin and David Freeman on drums. The last song Pastor David was heard to sing on earth, “All the Heavens” by Third Day which was interspersed with sound bites of some of Pastor David’s last sermons. Jonathan and family friend, Matthew Harris, sang “Come Up Here” with Naomi Davidson on violin. David’s daughter, Liberty, then spoke to the congregation about her father and the impact he had made not only on her and Jonathan’s life, but on the lives of countless thousands of people that he had led to the Lord both here in Canada, the US and other countries. We all felt like we knew David even more intimately after his children ministered to the people. A memorial service was also held at The Family Word Church, Texarkana, AR on July 2, 2005 (David’s 52nd birthday) for his family and friends in the United States. Eulogy written by Liberty Bounds Read by Pastor David McGrew of Victoria, BC David Thomas Bounds was born to Charles and Carolyn Bounds, July 2, 1953 in Texarkana, Texas. As his mother was fighting for her life at birth, she told God that if He would let her live, she would give this child, David, to the Lord to preach the Gospel. Shortly after he was born they moved to Petal, Mississippi. Though he was just a toddler when he lived there he often described vivid, colorful memories of his Mississippi adventures. I guess David didn’t get enough of Texarkana for later in his childhood, his family moved again and settled into a place on 1315 Locust Street on the Arkansas side of Texarkana. David spoke of his time in that house on Locust Street with such laughter and joy. He thought up many science experiments there and tried more pranks than many of us can even imagine. Just to give you a taste...when he was a boy he wired a speaker to a microphone and placed the speaker inside a large plastic Santa Claus. He placed the Santa Claus on the front porch and then hid inside the house with the mic and then peeked out the window. When the neighborhood children would walk by he would call out to them using the mic, “Little children, little children come and see Santa Claus.” After some persuasion the little children would sheepishly climb the steps of the porch to see Santa Claus. Then Santa Claus would usually say something like, “Ho, ho, ho and what can Santa get you for Christmas?” The kids would start to say something like, “a dolly, and a truck, or maybe...” As they would be talking Santa Claus would interrupt them and begin yelling things like, “You greedy little children, what do you think Santa’s made out of...money or something?” “Get off my lawn!” The children would run away and David would laugh from inside the house. In high school, David excelled in science as well as sports. He enjoyed showing his projects in science fairs and loved being a center on the Razorback football team. Growing up his family attended Beech St. Baptist Church. At the age of eighteen, he was ordained as a Southern Baptist minister through this church. God became so real to him at this time in his life, and from then on he felt a pull to Canada. He left what he knew and began his first year of Bible College in Eston, Saskatchewan in 1972. After a year of study, he went back to his hometown. God began to move amongst the young people there and David stepped into a pastoring position. He ministered faithfully and after a period of time, he headed back to Canada to finish his schooling. Those first years, he met so many people that he never forgot. People that helped him plow and lay the groundwork for what would later lie ahead for years to come. David felt committed and called to Canada but continued to return home to see his family whenever possible. On one of those trips, a pretty little Texan girl caught his eye. A friendship blossomed and a love story soon followed. December 9, 1978, David and Linda “Brownie” became one. He brought his Texan bride from the sunshine to the cold. Throughout the trip, they shared many laughs and hugs as David tried to explain to his new wife that the curling club was not for hairdressers, but for the sport of curling. He explained that the huts on the lake were not outhouses as she assumed, but actually fishing huts. When she questioned why everyone in Canada had electric cars, he told her that they were actually block heaters. That trip was only the beginning of their adventure. In 1982, their adventure became even greater when their son Jonathan was born, and followed two years later by their daughter Liberty. The four of them laughed, loved and worked hard to establish the Word Church of Loon Lake, Saskatchewan. Later on, David took over pastoring in Lloydminster and the Word Outreach Center of Lloydminster was established. He traveled faithfully between Lloydminster and Loon Lake in those years, and continued to do so his whole life. David not only planted churches in North America, but traveled across the seas and touched lives in Asia and Africa as well. David had a great love for the North American Indians, especially the Cree people. His dream was to see native ministries raised up throughout Canada. He also had many pastors in the Philippines who called him their spiritual father. His crusades in that country led to many souls being saved and healed, as well as churches being established. One of his greatest joys in the past few years was taking his children, Jonathan and Liberty with him on these trips and seeing them follow in his footsteps. David lived to give. He loved people so much. He wanted them to know the goodness of God. He gave his life for the gospel, and lived every day with purpose, compassion, and love. He wanted to touch the lives that no one else would, to live in the moment, and enjoy life as he should. He liked nature and music, and loved to preach, but above those things, he loved his family and friends. He truly was a good husband. He was the kind of father that cared about every detail of his children’s lives. He loved all his family and placed them above everything else except God. His last three months on Earth were not full of pain and defeat as some would suspect. Most often his days were spent with his Bible in his lap, a prayer on his lips, and his family in the room. No matter what report the doctors gave, he held his joy and kept his faith. He knew that God had not caused him to be sick, and because of that he fought to live. He fought relentlessly until his very last breath. He defeated his final enemy, and he overcame death. Card of Thanks We would like to thank first of all our Lord Jesus for His grace and strength that was on each of us. Also, thank you to our church family at The Word Churches of Lloydminster and Loon Lake; our family in the States and close and longtime friends from Canada and the U.S. for their prayers, love and support throughout this season. We would also like to especially thank the pastors, leaders and congregations of The First Baptist Church, Lloydminster Gospel Fellowship and Living Faith Pentecostal Church for your help in David’s Celebration. Also, to all those of the community, especially the Lloydminster Ministerial, who have prayed for us, sent food and flowers, and in so many other ways expressed the Father’s love, we say a sincere “Thank You”. Also, thank you to Dr. Endemann and Dr. Rogers, the third floor nursing staff, Glenn McCaw and others who have walked with us through this time, we appreciate your kindness and understanding. We as a family know that the Lord will continue to uphold and strengthen all of us as we continue in the work of the Lord here in Lloydminster and abroad. God Bless You All, Linda “Brownie”, Jonathan and Liberty Bounds Donations in memory of Pastor David Thomas Bounds may be made to the North American Word Outreach.