Zig Ziglar died today. I met him back in 1989 at the First Baptist Church of Dallas. I was in Dallas that weekend for a conference for young people who were going into full-time vocational ministry, hosted by Dallas Baptist University. We went to the early service to hear W. A. Criswell preach. We arrived rather early and I was standing in one of the aisles admiring the beauty of the old sanctuary when suddenly I heard an enthusiastic and loud raspy voice say, “Hi, I”m Zig Ziglar!” With a big smile, his hand was extended toward me. I warmly greeted him, introduced myself and we spoke briefly. He graciously autographed my Bible.
From everything I can tell, Zig was a true Christian gentleman. For a few years I enjoyed using his Performance Planner and used it as a model to custom make my own. His life story is quite remarkable, an example of the power of Jesus to radically change a life. The Southern boy from Yazoo City, Mississippi inspired millions to focus on the positive, go after their dreams, and be unselfish along the way. Here is a sample of Zig’s teaching…
One of Zig’s sayings was, “I’ll see YOU at the top!” Zig is now above the top, with his Savior.