Gospel Preachers I Have Known
A. W. GOFF
By Wayne S. Walker
A.W. Goff was born February 24, 1929, in Poughkeepsie, Arkansas, to Archie and Ollie (McCracken) Goff. A.W. began his preaching career at an early age, preaching one of his first sermons under an oak tree beside the church building in Poughkeepsie, Arkansas. He taught some Bible classes as a teenager. He was greatly influenced to become a gospel preacher by his father, Archie, and two mentors – Paul Lusby and Harold Sharp. He preached in several congregations in Northeast Arkansas by appointment. He briefly attended Freed-Hardeman College (now University) in Henderson, Tennessee, and then began preaching full-time.
I first became aware of A. W. and his family when I was a student at Florida College in Temple Terrace, FL (1972-1974), where his son Wayne and I were in the same class. Wayne and I became good friends and have kept in touch through the years. A. W. preached in Fort Scott, Kansas; Medicine Lodge, Kansas; Bradley, Illinois (5 years); Cash, Arkansas (3 years); the Eastside Church of Christ, Blytheville, Arkansas (3 years); Northside Church of Christ, Conway, Arkansas (5 years); Morrilton, Arkansas (5 years); and E. 16th Street Church of Christ, Russellville, Arkansas (33 years). He held many gospel meetings throughout the country during these years, often conducting 12-15 meetings per year, several of them in the southwest Ohio and surrounding area during the time when we lived in Dayton and I worked with the Haynes St. church (1987-2002).
The first time I remember hearing A. W. speak was in Oct., 1988, when he held a gospel meeting at Evendale, OH, near Cincinnati. We would also see him from time to time at summer lectures held by the High School church in Indianapolis, IN. After several years of failing health, A. W. Goff passed from this life on June 4, 2020, in Russellville, Arkansas, at the age of 91 years. Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by two brothers, two infant sisters, three wives, a son-in-law, a daughter, and a grandson. He was survived by six children, fourteen grandchildren, 30 great-grandchildren, and three sisters. Graveside services and burial were held on Saturday, June 6, 2020, at Rest Haven Memorial Park in Russellville, with Mike Pittman officiating.
—in Faith and Facts Quarterly; October, 2019 (Vol. 46, No. 4); pp. 40-41
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