Field Worker

Topics: Evangelism, Friends

A man who lived in a cave for almost 50 years has come out into the
light. Richard Zimmerman, better known as "Dugout Dick" to residents in
Salmon, Idaho, is a local legend, living on the banks of the Salmon
River since the 1950s, Assemblies of God News Service said. He used only
a pick, shovel, and iron bar to dig a series of caves in the riverbank.
He rents the caves for personal retreats, and hundreds of people tour
the network of caves every year, AG News said. His story has been told
in publications such as National Geographic and Smithsonian.

"I heard about the people that lived in what locals call 'the holes in
the ground,' " Salmon Assembly of God pastor C.W. Mullis said. He went
to visit them and met Zimmerman. "Churches have always sort of looked
down on me," Zimmerman said when Mullis invited him to church. "Not me,"
Mullis said, and offered to send someone to pick him up the next Sunday,
Zimmerman's 84th birthday.

"When I preached and gave the altar call he came running, with tears
running down his face," Mullis said. He told Zimmerman how to put his
faith in Christ to be forgiven for his sins, then led him in a prayer.
Zimmerman has been attending church faithfully and the local newspaper
ran a story about his conversion and baptism, AG News said.

The church that once had only seven members has grown to more than 70
since Mullis took over in October. Salmon, an isolated town six hours
from Boise, has only 3,000 people but "it seems like [people] always
find me and I find people," he said. "I'm not an office man much. I'm a
field worker. I get out among the people."

ReligionToday.com, May 23, 2000