Samuel Preston Fields
1883-1973
The Life Of Samuel Fields
Samuel Preston Fields was born November 4, 1883, in Ozark County, Missouri. He was the son of Preston and Manervia Jane (Green) Fields. Schools he attended were S. C. Garner County Line Bible School and Springfield Normal.
January 16, 1918, Samuel Preston Fields married Miss Ada Mallory. To this union three sons were born: Samuel Preston, Herbert Martin and Rue B. Fields began preaching in 1907 at Odin School House, Ozark County, Missouri. Some of the places he preached were: Johnson and Dale, Broadway at Madison and North National, all in Springfield, Missouri; Strafford, Missouri; Branson, Missouri; and Fordland, Missouri.
Fields preached in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Georgia.
He was very effective in preaching and teaching the Bible to win souls to Christ. He was just as effective in defending and upholding the clear teaching of the Bible on such subjects as the necessity of being baptized to become a Christian, the observance of the Lord's Supper on the first day of the week, the organization of the church, and other vital doctrines. Accordingly, he engaged in 10 debates, defending the clear teaching of the Scriptures.
Fields was an evangelist supported by congregations to do mission work in the area where he lived. He established many congregations in Southern Missouri and North Arkansas. He preached in most of the churches in the area where he lived. The ones listed in this story are churches where he served as full-time minister from short periods to six years as at Fordland.
Fields retired from regular work on his 85th birthday, but continued to preach during the summer months up to the time of his death. He spoke the last time on May 30, 1973, at the Ball Church of Christ near Dora, Missouri, where he grew to manhood. He knew his Bible as well as any of the preachers of his day, and gave book, chapter, and verse for what he said. Fields retained the ability to do this as long as he lived.
He departed this life on earth July 15, 1973, at the Cox Medical Center, Springfield, Missouri. Survivors included his wife, Ada, and three sons, Preston, Herbert, and Rue.
Funeral service was conducted at Fordland, Missouri, with Bruce Veteto and Charles Lea officiating. Burial was in the Fordland Cemetery.
-Gussie Lambert, In Memoriam: In memory of and with honor to great gospel preachers who gave their lives to help spread the gospel around the world, pages 92,93
Samuel Preston Fields And Sixty-Three Years of Gospel Preaching
It was a Lord's day evening in November of 1971. The meetinghouse in Fordland, Missouri, was almost filled. Visitors had come from over a wide area. S. P. Fields, then eighty-eight and the dean of area preachers, was to speak on "A History of the Church in the Springfield Area." Speaking without notes in a clear, strong voice, Brother Fields held his audience spellbound for nearly an hour. Ranging over sixty-three years of history, he mentioned names, places and exact dates with uncanny accuracy, as he traced the story he knew so well.
Samuel Preston Fields was born in Ozark County, Missouri, near the old Aid Hodgson Water Mill, where you can still buy fresh water-ground meal. He was baptized by R. E. Griffith in 1908, and in the same year preached his first sermon in the Odom schoolhouse near Dorn, where he has since held many meetings, the latest in August, 1971.
His first meeting began in a Baptist building, running for a week with excellent interest. Then the Baptist minister announced that the meeting would have to close, as he was about to begin one himself. Brother Fields then declared that the meeting would go on somewhere in the neighborhood. A nearby grove was offered by an atheist, who later obeyed the gospel. A new congregation resulted, today known as Gospel Hill. It is near West Plains and has 200 members. Not far awny, he established another congregation at Hog Danger.
Brother Fields attended S. C. Garner's famed County Line Bible School near Bakersfield, Missouri, and later studied at Springfield Teachers' Normal. He has preached in Kentucky, Georgia, Louisiana and Oklahoma. but mostly in the Ozark region of Missouri and Arkansas. Upon returning from five Oklahoma meetings, he was employed to preach for the Springfield church, then numbering about thirty members and meeting at Johnston and Dale. He thus became the first full time preacher of our brethren in Springfield, Missouri. While there he roomed with Earl Caldwell (now ninety-one and an active elder of the South National church) and walked over four miles daily to his classes at Teachers' Normal, which then had only one building. (Today it is Southwest Missouri State University, with 10,000 students.)
Brother Fields married Ada Mallory, a charter member of the congregation. He nearly missed his own wedding, for as the day approached, he was in a meeting at Fairview Chapel, near Fordland, when a blizzard made the roads impassable. But he tramped the seven miles into Fordland, caught a train, and made it on time for the wedding.
Sister Fields has been his faithful helpmeet now for fifty-five years. Seldom traveling with him, she has cared for things at home, and has made it possible for him to go when needed. Not long after Brother Fields had established the church in Mountain Grove, Missouri, he had arranged for W. J. Stanley to conduct a meeting there. Brother Fields, at home on the farm which had been purchased in 1928, had cut down a field of cane, thinking to be at home long enough to shock it. But a phone call from Brother Stanley at Mountain Grove suddenly changed his plans. "I'm sick; can you come and finish the meeting?" Sister Fields urged him, "Go on, Dad. I'll see to the cane somehow." Many years later, she confided to this writer, "Don't tell him, but I shocked that cane myself!" In his lecture he honored her by saying, "She's the best wife a preacher ever had. I don't think I'd ever have made it if I hadn't had just that kind of wife."
Brother and Sister Fields reared their three sons, Preston, Herbert and Rue, on the farm near Fordland. In 1950 a new house was built by Preston and his brothers. It has five bedrooms, planned partly in view of visiting gospel preachers. Preston manages the farm, and with his wife Ann shares the big home with his parents. Brother Fields has helped establish twenty or thirty congregations, has preached for almost every church of Christ in a large area around Springfield, and has often been called upon to help with their problems. For years, as Preston puts it, "Every church fuss within 100 miles ended up in our living room!"
In 1923 a tent meeting was held in Springfield, with Price Billingsley preaching and L. O. Sanderson leading singing. S. P. Fields, R. P. Hardin and George Miller were appointed to buy a lot for the new congregation. Brother Fields urged them to buy a lot adjacent to the college, priced at an unheard-of $5000. They did; and later a prominent Baptist minister told Brother Fields, "I tried to get my brethren to buy that lot, but they said it was too high." Today that comer is occupied by the South National church, one of the largest and strongest in the state, and by the Christian Student Center, with one of the nation's leading campus ministries.
In those early days Brother Fields could ride the Frisco trains from Springfield to Mammoth Springs, Arkansas, or in the other direction to St. Louis, without passing any community with a church of Christ. Today the passenger trains are gone; but almost every town and hamlet along those lines has a faithful congregation. Back then, saints met at Center Point, Antioch and Berea, within fifteen miles of the little Springfield church; and at Bona, thirty-five miles northwest. Now, more than 2000 saints meet in Springfield alone. Not only has Brother Fields witnessed these changes; he has played a large part in bringing them about.
He always received something for his efforts; but the least he was paid for a meeting was seventy-five cents and a hound pup that lived to the age of twenty-two!
Over the years he has preached by appointment between meetings, and filled in for extended periods at Broadway and Madison, West and Lincoln, National and High, in Springfield; and at Branson and Fordland. At the latter, his home congregation, he preached for two "hitches" totaling eight years. Bothered with poor hearing since 1946, when he reached the age of eighty-five he told the brethren that surely it was time for him to quit!
On his eighty-eighth birthday he was featured in a Springfield News and Leader article. This was read by many old friends, and occasioned a number of letters and visits to the Fields home. One copy found its way to the desk of A. C. Pullias at David Lipscomb College. Brother Pullias then mailed Brother Fields a letter of congratulations and a book of his sermons. Both letter and book are much prized by Brother Fields.
Brother and Sister Fields still attend services regularly. He takes an active part in the work of the Fordland church, and for many years has read the Bible through every year. He never used notes; never needed to. Through his influence the Gospel Advocate is mailed to every family in the congregation. Sister Fields is also a fine Bible scholar, and taught Bible classes for many years.
How can we pay adequate honor to these selfless, much-loved servants of the Lord? We do not know. But we thank God for their life and work.
-Bruce Veteto, Gospel Advocate, February 22, 1973, pps. 122,123
Click Article To Read - Or Read Transcription Below
___________________
Still Keeps Busy After 60 Years in Ministry
Reaches Age of 88
He has slogged through mud, tramped across snow-ridden fields, ridden horseback, driven a Model T and traveled by train and bus to get to his preaching appointments.
This is Samuel Preston Fields, 88 years old Thursday, who an admiring younger fellow minister says has “done more for the Churches of Christ of this area than any other man.”
Mr. Fields, who lives on a farm near Fordland, had his first “located” ministry at the Johnston and Dale Church here, said to be the original one in Springfield.
He began preaching for the congregation in 1913 while he was attending the old Normal School, forerunner of Southwest Missouri State College.
Mr. Fields’ active ministry spanned 60 years — and he still preaches occasionally. Born and reared in Ozark County near Hodgson Mill, he preached his first sermon in Odom schoolhouse near Dora in 1908 and more-or-less retired in November, 1968, when he was 85.
In his early manhood S.P. Fields attended the S.C. Garner School for Preachers at Countryside, Ark., for several terms. He also served churches in the vicinity at the same time.
Although he was a “located” (full-time) minister at different periods, Mr. Fields enjoyed and did most of his work in his long career as a peripatetic minister.
The tall man of God — six feet, two inches but a bit bent now — with his purposeful stride and gentle demeanor became a familiar figure across much of Missouri and in towns of adjacent states as he carried the message of Christ.
He served the Johnston and Dale Church of Christ for three years and it was there he met Ada Mallory, a charter member and originally from Willow Springs.
They were married on Jan. 16, 1918, in the church. The bridegroom barely made it to his own wedding. He had been preaching “over a Sunday,” as was his wont as guest minister — in this instance at Fairview Chapel (no longer existing) seven miles southeast of Fordland. A snowstorm blew in and he had to plod back to Fordland on foot in order to catch a train to Springfield, where the anxious bride-to-be awaited him.
Standing in their front yard beautified by native trees and old-fashioned shrubs, Mr. and Mrs. S. P. Fields enjoy a “nippy” late autumn day, a warming afternoon sun filtering through the multi-toned foliage. Their dog “Spot” joined in the stroll. The veteran Church of Christ minister celebrated his 88th birthday Thursday. Mrs. Fields will be 85 on Dec. 22. They have lived on their farm near Fordland since 1928.
During high school he would get up at an early hour to drive his father to Marshfield to catch a Frisco train, at 3:15 a.m., which would take him to St. James, Dixon, Rolla or Richland.
Mr. Fields also went to his church appointments by bus after highway travel became prevalent. Drivers got to know him and when they saw the tall figure holding a valise (with Bible in it) in his hand standing by the road, they knew to stop.
He started churches at Mountain Grove, Willow Springs, and Mansfield.
Speaking of the Good Book, Mr. Fields since the first of this year has read through the entire Bible twice and the New Testament three times. He has read it often, of course, and knows many passages by memory, quoting them when a subject arises.
Reading now is difficult because his vision is impaired — but he still works hard to divide the word by word reading. His hearing has deteriorated too — but he has learned to engage in “follow conversations” and listen when others lead in one.
He was 66 and she 63 — since he was 65 and in some circles he’s regarded as “aged.” But Mr. Fields’ general health is good. He was in the hospital for the first time only a few years ago — and this was to undergo a hernia operation. He made remarkable recovery from abdominal surgery.
Through the years in between his own preaching assignments, he raised milk and livestock and crops, kept an apiary, and worked on homes. A last big construction job was only about two years ago when he and a son and a grandson jacked up and replaced sills and subflooring in a house at Willard.
He has done a good bit of concrete work, and when he and Mrs. Fields moved into their present home — a smaller section of the two-story white frame farmhouse with wide porch where a younger son with his wife and two children now live — back in the 1920s, flooring was placed in the main rooms.
Later, he did the siding on the house, made a few bedrooms, closed in the back porch, built some cabinets, and added closets. The excess of bedrooms is something of a blessing now — with the whole basement used for canning and for food and item storage.
They have donated land for the Springfield Bible Institute and helped in the building maintenance. She is treasurer of the Missouri Highway Department.
Mr. and Mrs. S. P. Fields, brother of Columbus, Ga., and two who live near and three who are in other areas, have seven grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
They attend the Broadway and Madison church of Christ when “still able,” and have always been devoted. She noted that a “Sunday School is not a church.”
Many of the members, particularly of the younger generation, cherish the words of this seasoned minister who is remembered with affection.
-The Springfield News Leader, Springfield, Missouri, Saturday 11.06.1971, p.2
Newton County News, Diamond, Missouri
October 2,
1961, p. 2
The Advertiser, Eldon, Missouri
Thursday, November 22,
1956, p.4
Buffalo Reflex, Buffalo, Missouri
Thursday, September 30,
1954, p.1
The Springfield News Leader, Springfield, Missouri,
Tuesday, 07.17.1973, p.4
Directions To Grave
S. P. Fields is buried in the Fordland Cemetery, in Fordland, Missouri. About 30 miles east of Springfield on Hwy. 60. Head into the township of Fordland. At the east side of town on W. Main St. turn right on Park St. and make your way into the cemetery. Head to the flagpole and head in past it a few rows until you find the grave. GPS location below is actual location of the grave.
GPS Location
37°09'37.5"N 92°56'43.6"W
or D.d. 37.160417, -92.945433
FIELDS
Anna E. - February 14, 1924 - April 12, 2007
Samuel Preston, Jr. - October 2, 1918 - March 15, 2003 - WWII 3rd Army
FIELDS
Ada - 1886 - 1980
S. Preston, Sr. - 1883 - 1978
Photos Taken Saturday, 05.03.2025
Webpage Produced -
05.31.2025
Courtesy Of Scott Harp
www.TheRestorationMovement.com
Special Recognition: The grave of S. P. Fields is one of 29 graves of gospel preachers it was my privilege to find during the first week of May, 2025. I had the great blessing of traveling from my home in Russellville, Kentucky to Lebanon, Missouri that week for the purpose of preaching a gospel meeting at the South Hwy. 5 church of Christ. During the week, I stayed on American history's most famous U.S. Hwy, Route 66. Daily, I had the opportunity to travel a number of miles to visit graves of preachers of yesteryear. It was a wonderful week for the gospel, and a blessing for me to stand at the graves of giants in the Kingdom of our Christ.