I was looking into my wife’s family history and I came across her great great grandfather, Thomas Vernie Walker. He was a gospel preacher that was baptized by Joseph Sale Warlick. This is where the story of Joseph Sale Warlick begins.
Joseph Sale Warlick was born in St. Louis County, Missouri on November 1, 1866. He was the son of Newton Sanford and Mary Ann (Stafford) Warlick.
He acquired a better than average education, though his parents were poor. They gave him every advantage they could. His brothers and sisters happily worked on the farm so he could pursue his studies. Though his meticulous personal study and devotion to the Bible, Joe became well acquainted with the scriptures and developed early the ability to teach effectively.
Joe Warlick preached his first sermon in July, 1885. His parents have previously moved to Baylor County, Texas, near the small town of Seymour and Settled in the Cache Creek community. There was a small group of Christians meeting at the Cache Creek Schoolhouse and Joe began to preach for them. He was only 19 years old. He moved to Dallas in 1900, taking the pastorate of the Pearl & Bryan street Church of Christ. From the time he first started preaching he was in constant demand by churches for gospel meetings or debates. He preached in nearly all the Southern states and a few of the Northern states, and made one trip to Canada.
As a writer and editor, Joe Warlick was very productive. On March 1, 1903, Warlick was the founding editor of the Gospel Review. The Gospel Review was a high class monthly magazine that published the very best writing from all over. The magazine lasted only a little over a year and then failed due to the high cost of production. Warlick also wrote many other articles for other papers.
He preached for 54 years until stopped by illness in December of 1939. The end came on January 2, 1941, in his home at 911 West Tenth Street in Dallas. His life was clean, his preaching pure, and there was never the slightest suggestion of sin connected with him.
Funeral services were conducted Sunday, January 5th in the auditorium of Sunset Church of Christ in Dallas. Joseph Sale Warlick was laid to rest at Oak Cliff Cemetery.
by Dustin Durrett
