Evertt Lee Huffard was born in Flint, Michigan, June
3, 1924. He was baptized by E.E. Wallace in 1936.
He was married
to Elsie Gross. Together they had two children,
Evertt W. Huffard, Associate Dean of Harding Graduate School of Religion
in Memphis, Tennessee; and Elaine Denman who's husband is a preacher of
the gospel. Evertt came from a family of preachers. His two
brothers, Elvis and Elsa were gospel preachers. Also two brothers-in-law
were preachers, Eugene Perry and Ralph Smith.
He began preaching when he was
seventeen years of age in Antioch, Illinois in 1941. He attended Harding
College and Abilene Christian College where he received a BA degree. He
also attended the Eastern New Mexico University at Portales where he
received the M.A. He served a number of churches
through the years including the Catalina congregation in Tucson, Arizona
from 1946-1948; Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, 1949-1951; and the
Douglas, Arizona church from 1948-1949. Others included churches at
Idalou, Texas, Carlsbad, New Mexico, and Artesia, New Mexico. He also preached in later years
in Arkansas, and at Finger, Tennessee.
For years he conducted at least five gospel meetings
annually, preached on the radio on KCNA in Tucson, Arizona and KSIL, in
Silver City, New Mexico, and evangelized in the communities where he
lived and worked.
The Huffards were mission minded. They labored
overseas in Ammon, Jordan for three years; seven years in
Jerusalem, Israel, and Beirut, Lebanon for three years. He has
lectured in Nigeria, Russia, Egypt, Canada, the Philippines, Yugoslavia,
and many other places.
The Huffards were educators. Evertt was Director of
the Middle East Bible Training College in Beirut, Lebanon from 1971 to
1974. He later taught at Harding University for three years, and at Freed-Hardeman
University for 19 years. Elsie, also was an educator, working closely by
his side. After he retired, he recruited students for the School of
Biblical Studies at Freed-Hardeman University, while Elsie taught
cultural anthropology. The Huffards were greatly loved by the students
and faculty at Freed-Hardeman. During this time he also preached for the
Tri-City church in Rutherford, Tennessee.
He was named Civitan of the Year by the Henderson,
Tennessee Civitan Club in 1990, 1993, and 1995. He and Elsie were
honored at the 1999 Christian Training Series at Freed-Hardeman
University for great and practical Christian service.