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Guy N. Woods was born September 26, 1908 in Vardeman, Mississippi. He was the son of George Emmett and Eula Estelle Stokes Woods. His paternal grandfather was Napoleon Burrow Woods (1845-1907), and paternal grandmother was Mary Emma Leslie (1858-1903). His maternal grandfather was Henry Jefferson Stokes (1863-1949). His maternal grandmother was Mary Eliza Wood (1864-1949), both of Benton County, Tennessee. His maternal great grandparents were John King Wood and Nancy Burrell Foster of Benton County, Tennessee. He was the oldest of three children. His brother G. Earle was a gospel preacher, and his sister was Annie Mae Woods Bawcum. In his youth, Guy worked on the farm, and around the saw mill. His father was a logger, which was the reason Woods was born in Mississippi instead of the family hometown of Holladay, Tennessee. His father had worked at a sawmill in Vardeman for a brief period when Guy was born. Soon after they moved back to the family home of Holladay on the same acreage where the Church of Christ in Holladay now stands.
He attended high school in Holladay and was active on the debate team, an activity that would set the stage for a career of deliberation on the polemic platform. He was baptized by J.W. Grant August 24, 1926. The next month he preached his first sermon at Holladay, Tennessee on his sixteenth birthday. He attended Freed-Hardeman College, Henderson, Tennessee for two years.
Through the years he preached for a number of congregations on a regular basis: South Parkway, Memphis, Tennessee; Tompkinsville, Kentucky, 1929-1931; Post, Texas, 1932-1933; Kirkland, Texas, 1934; Wellington, Texas, 1934-1940; and Lubbock, Texas, 1943-1944. Beginning in 1945 he devoted himself to Gospel Meeting work throughout the country preaching for hundreds of different congregations. For over twenty-five years he conducted between 40 and 50 Gospel Meetings a year.
Woods was a great debater. By the early 50's he had debated over one hundred leading denominational debaters in the country. In his lifetime he perhaps debated more people than any of his fellow preachers before or since. Of his debating skills, Grover Stevens in the 1946 Woods-Nunnery Debate wrote, "Bro. Woods has been successful as a debater for several reasons. One is his thoroughness. He never allows an argument of his opponent to go unnoticed. He makes his arguments in a forceful, intelligent, yet very simple manner. He does not become excited, nor does he allow his temper to show itself. He confines his remarks to the issues and not to personalities, as can be plainly seen from reading this debate." He debated men from numerous denominations. Some of the Baptists that he met were: D. N. Jackson (twice), H. F. Pepper (five times), A. U. Nunnery (twice), L. J. Crawford (twice), M. L. Welch (three times). Also, it may be of interest to note that he has met L. J. Crosswell, able materialist debater, six times. The occasions arose where he was called upon to debate his brethren from time to time as well. During the 1950s and 1960s the "ultra conservative," or "anti" movement among brethren caused the need for someone to arise to the occasion and defend the truth of God's word. He very logically and succinctly defended the truth against all attacks. Perhaps the most famous of the debates held with brethren was the discussion known as the Birmingham Debate, November 18-23, 1957 between Woods and Roy E. Cogdill on the subject of support of benevolent institutions from the treasury of the church.
For many years he published articles in the Gospel Advocate. He served as editorial writer for a series of literature produced by the Gospel Advocate. He wrote over a dozen books, including commentaries on: John; James; First and Second Peter, First, Second And Third John, Jude; How To Read The Greek New Testament; How To Study The New Testament Effectively; Shall We Know One Another In Heaven?; And many more. He was a staff writer, and later editor for the Gospel Advocate. For a number of years he compiled and edited the Gospel Advocate Quarterly series.
Guy N. Woods was the moderator at the Open Forum during the annual Freed-Hardeman Lectures for a number of years. This writer remembers well his experiences as a student at F-HC during the mid 1970s sitting in the Open Forum hearing the brotherly, but stern, debate between Guy N. Woods and Gus Nichols on the subject of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Inevitably a question on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit would come up in the forum. While Brother Woods clearly and succinctly expressed his views, Gus Nichols would begin making his way to the stage for a rebuttal that the audience knew was coming. Late in life Woods published many of the questions of the Open Forum in two books: Questions And Answers Open Forum; and Questions And Answers Open Forum Volume II.
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