30 Years of Gullion's

This is Hans Schile from the Finishing Well Podcast.

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This is the Truth Network. There's nothing quite like walking into a Christian bookstore. I mean a real Christian bookstore, a big C Christian bookstore, where the Christian music is playing.

It's uplifting. There's all kinds of bibles. There's all kinds of shirts and hats. There's all kinds of cool gospel tracks you can get.

In one of my favorite Christian bookstores on planet earth, I try to go there anytime I can, as much as I can. One of our first ever Truth Network partners, back when we only had one little radio station, Goliens Christian Supply. I'm sitting next to the founder here. His family has been a part of this Golien, Dwight Golien, and who's this little guy with the top hat on? This is Lucas Lee Golien. He's my little one. He's three years old. Is he the baby? Yes sir.

Unbelievable. No, he's not a baby, but he is the youngest. How many babies are there, or how many young young people, young Goliens are there? Well, there are eight Golien children. Lucas is the littlest, and then Isaac, and then Shadrach, and Cyrus, and Chloe, and Phoebe, and Titus, and Josiah. How do you keep track of all those names?

Because you know, I have four kids, and I have a hard time keeping track of all them. They get called every name down the line, but they range from three to twenty-three. Wow, now when you hear this interview, it'll be after, but today's a special day.

Dwight Golien, and this whole, the whole family's out. They're all dressed up. You've got, you've had hundreds of people coming out the doors. You're giving away door prices every 30 minutes. Thirty dollars off.

Incredible deals. What is today? What's significant about this day?

It was in April of 1992 that my father and I got the bookstore ministry started here in the Winston-Salem area, and so we've been serving the Lord for these 30 years, and to celebrate that, we are today giving away a $30 gift certificate every 30 minutes with a drawing, and then we're giving 30% discounts on products, and a lot of other things that, a lot of free giveaways, books, and food, and pens, and magnets, and all kinds of stuff that we're doing to honor my father and our ministry for all these years, and we're just really blessed and honored that all these people that are coming out. Yes, it's been hundreds of people. Wow, and your father's in heaven, and he's in heaven with the man that preached his funeral, Bobby Robertson. They're both together now, right?

That's right. Yeah, we were just talking about that today. Bobby Robertson's grandson came by.

I was telling him how influential Bobby Robertson there at Gospelite Baptist Church had been in my father's life, but yes, dad went to heaven back in 2012, and we miss him and looking forward to seeing him someday. Now, we're in King, North Carolina. There's also a Gullion's in Statesville. There's also a Gullion's online anywhere in the world you are. What's that website? www.gullions.com, although it's not shoppable yet.

We're working on that, but you can call in anytime, and we'd be happy to wait on you. Fantastic. He's got a little... Oh, thank you, bud. Yeah. Oh, be careful now.

The Gullions are young people. Okay, can you wrap both of those for me? Awesome.

Yeah. Okay, I got some special gifts to give away on Christian Radio. Over 2,000 used Christian books here, all kinds of gently used. You even carry a couple books by a couple talk show hosts, don't you? Oh, yeah. We do have First Words of Jesus and Last Words of Jesus. There's some local fellow that has written them.

Stu, I think his name is. But yes, we love having those on the shelf. Gullion's Christian Supply.

Now, you said something I honed in on earlier, just a little bit ago. Dwight Gullion, 30-year anniversary here, big year for you, banner year for Gullion's Christian Supply. You said, when dad and I started this ministry.

Tell us about how you see this. Because when you think of a bookstore, you got a cash register. You charge money for these books and Bibles and things. But some folks see Christianity as an industry. But you said ministry.

Tell us about that. Well, we just look at ourselves as the provider of resources for the Christian community and for the churches in the area. You have to have materials like this to help you grow. You got to have Bibles. You need good home decor with Bible verses on it in your home.

You need good books to encourage you, devotionals. And we need good music. And so the churches, that's what God and the Lord came to establish his church. And they do what he wants them to do.

But our role is to support those churches and to support the individual Christians in the area to provide the materials that they need to continue to grow in their Christian life. Well, how did Dwight Gullion get to this point? You got an awesome brother, D. Wayne.

You got a great family, all Gullion's family. I've known you for years. We played some ball together.

Not doing as much of that now as I'd like to with all these bang ups and injuries. But how did you come to know the Lord? And what got you excited about this thing? You are one of the most passionate people I know about sharing Christ, especially through literature, through Bibles and getting people into God's Word. Well, I'm originally from Hazard, Kentucky. And when I was first born, I was brought home from the hospital to a crib behind the counter of a Christian bookstore in Hazard, Kentucky. So I was born into it, but now I consider it to be a calling that the Lord has put on my life. Just because I was born into it doesn't mean that I was mama called. I was God called to do this and to provide.

So in a sense, it's like a work of evangelism or a work of supporting the ministry of those around me. But I was saved when I was six years old. And it was on a Resurrection Sunday, 1974. And the preacher just laid it out there and made me understand how that the Lord had done what he did for me and that I was the one that deserved those stripes.

And I embraced him. Now, I struggled some in my youth in my late teens and early 20s, but the Lord helped me and brought me through and never denied him. I was married a little bit later, and the Lord's provided me with his beautiful family and a great wife. And we want to continue to serve him and have another generation.

My son Titus is really doing well and helping me with the stores. And so we're looking forward to another 30 years of ministry, next generations of our family. So when someone walks into Gullian's, Dwight Gullian, what do you want them to see? What is your passion for people out there listening about the Christian bookstore ministry? You know, Christian bookstores, Christian universities, they get a bad name.

Obviously, because maybe there's some that have drifted, right, from the main focus of Jesus, from excellence. You have a wonderful retail establishment here. I go in here, I see it's very well decorated, it's very warm, very inviting.

You've got, if I can't get to the back shelf without five or six people greeting me and saying, hey, anything I can help you with. Tell us what your vision is and your passion for maybe someone out there that's never been to Gullian's Christian supply before. Well, we want it to be warm and welcoming, and we want people to feel comfortable when they come in. But we also are pointing people back to the old past.

You see our society deteriorating around us, and we feel like that the answer to that, for our families and for our communities, is to get back to the old past. And so we, with grace in our hearts and a tear in our eye, will be happy to point people back towards the Lord. A lot of people come in, just last night a lady was in here and she lost her mother and she needed some books to help her to help her with her grieving. And that's why we were here.

We prayed, you prayed for her, prayed with her, showed her those good books, and communed with her there, and the Lord helped. And so that's why we're here, is to try to provide that sort of an atmosphere. And it's a good family-friendly atmosphere. Bring your kids in. We have to do that because I've got all those youngins anyway. They're going to be running the show before it's over with them. But yes, that's our passion.

That sure is. So I look out here, there's books for a one dollar over here. You've got, you still have cassette tapes. Some of the young people may not recognize those. But you've got great Christian music.

You've got free gift wrapping. You've got a whole, just talk about homeschool real quick. Homeschool has blown up in our culture, maybe because of COVID, maybe because of some of the terrible things happening in the education system, the sexual conditioning and all that. But tell us about really how that homeschool, you're often called your homeschool headquarters.

Why is that? Yes, we used to be just Gullion's Christian Supply Center, and now we're Gullion's Christian Supply and Homeschool Headquarters. And it's a third of our business, our ministry is providing for the homeschool communities. And parents, the Lord, every child is homeschooled, I say. So whether you send your child to school or not, you need to realize that it's your responsibility to take care of the education of your children. So even if you don't full-time homeschool, we provide materials for teaching your children at home. And especially if you are in full-time homeschooling, we'd be glad to help.

We have counselors, ladies here that can give advice. We take used book trade-ins of your curriculum, and we have a wide selection of new and used curriculum. So yes, we have a big part of our ministry is providing in that area of Christian education. All right, come see D. White Gullion, and our kids call him Uncle D. White, and all the kids and his sweet wife, the whole crowd. It's a family ministry, really. Gullion's Christian Supply, Keene, North Carolina, just outside of Winston-Salem, and just below Mount Airy, and then, of course, Statesville. And you close out every commercial with all the kids singing real loud.

What are they singing? Where the Bible Stands. All right, God bless you, D. White Gullion. What's the website one more time? www.gullions.com. Congratulations on 30 years, Gullion's Christian Supply. Praying for 30 more. Amen. This is the Truth Network.