THE BANNER MISSION

About the Book

The Banner Mission is a compilation of the life and times of one man who is dedicated to God in his ministry, the dreams and visions of one man who is committed to God in his beliefs, the miracles and healings of one man who is steadfast in his faith in God that He can do all things, and the missions of one man who stands for the perfection of God’s children and their quest to live a Holy Life.

About the Author

Larry Noble Mays has spent all of his life playing the guitar and singing, first the blues and rock and roll, then the gospel .  His childhood idols were rock and roll stars and all of the contact he had was with blues legends, like B. B. King, Howling Wolf and Jimmy Reed, who influenced his style of playing and loving music.  B.B. King, being from Indianola and played the local bars in Bruce, Kilmichael and Winona, Larry was greatly influenced by his popularity and how he made his guitar “talk.”

Howling Wolf, being from West Point and having met Larry and encouraged him to keep playing the guitar was a greater influence than Larry realized at the time.   Then Jimmy Reed, playing a different kind of music all by himself was Larry’s favorite.  He would listen to Jimmy, and of course, the whole family loved Reed’s music as well, try copying his style of playing the guitar.  His voice being amply geared toward soloing, Larry would whale away at any of Jimmy’s tunes – and if you didn’t actually see him – one would think it was Jimmy himself in the room.

Larry started singing gospel songs and playing strictly gospel music after he got saved, and not soon after, started thinking of making a record.  Long after he had moved to California and played the band circuit, did some touring, he found the transition from blues and rock and roll to gospel very refreshing, notwithstanding mind-pleasing and peaceful.   Larry began writing songs and asking others to write songs for him.

Having grown up being extremely close to his uncle, James Monroe Johnson, who also played the guitar but didn’t have a “singing voice,” Larry asked him to write gospel songs noticing how creative he was with the pencil – drawing, sketching, writing, printing and later, painting.

Not long afterwards, Johnson started writing gospel songs and setting them to music.  Having written many songs and poems during his years in Vietnam, Johnson started writing with Larry’s voice in mind, and soon he had enough songs for Larry to record his first gospel album – he had recorded a blues record some years earlier.

In collaboration with James Monroe Johnson, Larry wanted to record his spiritual and Christian events and times, visions and missions.  Taping all of his works, people and places and delivering this material data to Johnson and being readily available to answer questions and supply pictures and photos as needed, Larry and Johnson started to work.

In a few months, the finished product begin to look feasible and within reach.  Johnson had already published two books of poems, so now he and Larry began the final preparations to The Banner Mission.

Selecting a title for the book came easy, as Larry went to many places during his missions, always carrying the banner that read: “Ask Jesus To Save You Now,” even to Africa.  Therefore, regardless of where he went, the banner was always present with him, thus the title.