Prominent Woman Makes Big Impact on Water of Life Church of Plano, Inc.

In 1980 I was a certified lay speaker at the First United Methodist Church of McKinney, Texas and a practicing veterinarian for 18 years when God said to me, “Go to Plano, Texas and speak to the people of Plano.” I said, “What do I say to them?” He said, “Read in the book of Acts where Paul and Barnabas were in Antioch and you’ll understand.” And I did. In 1981 Water of Life Church of Plano, Inc. purchased the building they are in today. I was working as a veterinarian until November 1982. I had started Water of Life Christian Training School at God’s direction, I was on Word of Faith Satellite, I was on radio - 1600 AM, five days a week and I was growing in strength, faith, and love. April 1, 1984 I went on television in Dallas, Saturday night - live, one hour, channel 49 preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1985 a woman walked in to this sanctuary; she was a nice looking woman and a woman that was BOLD with her faith! And it didn’t take her long to start preaching to me! I would be having Sunday lunch at Wyatt’s cafeteria in Plano with many from the congregation, and she’d wait in line and when I got there she’d join me and preach to me. She told me about Jesus, about the Word of God, and I was impressed with her love for the name of Jesus and her unwavering dedication to the truth of the Word of God. Later in 1985 she came to me and said, “I have some stock I want to give to your ministry.” She sold the stock and gave the money to Water of Life Church. When the stock sold in ‘85 it paid off the note on this property in full! And she hadn’t stopped preaching to me. By now, I was convinced this woman was serious about Jesus Christ being her Lord and Savior, not talk, but sincere he was her LORD and Savior at least with her money! Many of you in the metroplex have heard of this woman, Jane Downtain. I recognized her faith, but most Water of Life people, from the top worship leader down were threatened by her faith. They would come to me and say, “She’s a Jezebel.” You see, anyone in the church today that has faith and is strong, other members in the church think that there is something wrong with them. In ‘85 she started bringing her family to Water of Life, and she brought her daughter Terre and son-in-law, Steve Brown, and their two children. She attended Water of Life Christian Training School in the fall of 1985. She often left money for another person, even a hundred dollar bill as the Lord prompted her, not knowing - but supplying their need. She liked to sit right in front, right under my podium. (Terre Brown, her daughter, states that her mother was hungry for the Lord Jesus and to see the power of God manifest in her life.) Jane had a zeal for the power of God like no one I ever met, and she would tell you about the power. I thought, Lady you’re singing my song! In the years following Jane came under such psychological pressure from the tongues set on fire from hell against her that it affected her emotionally, but I knew that she had some love for Jesus. She came under such persecution because of her faith that she started having some medical problems. She went into an assisted living home taking four medications for various health issues but after a few years she refused all medications much to the concern of the staff at her residence. They sent her to her doctor and she told him that the medications made her feel worse and she was not going to take them anymore. (That was her faith speaking!) He said that he would work with her and requested a blood pressure reading once a week but very shortly even that was stopped and she continued on for many years advancing in age through her 70’s taking no medications with both her physical and her mental health improving. You see, I never forgot this woman and her faith and her obedience to the Lord Jesus with her money. I never stopped praying for her even though she was out of this ministry in her assisted living quarters. And the gospel, the power of God worked in her life and those years and mixed with her faith and brought that improvement in her health. In her later years the staff at her home informed her daughter how she would share the Lord Jesus with others there at that home. When the appointed time came for her to depart from this life, her body began to shut down, and her daughter and I recognized that. We prayed her into heaven within six weeks with minimal suffering. On the day before her last day on this earth, she complained to her daughter about her living quarters. And her daughter replied, “I’m sorry, Mom, but this is what we have to do right now.” To which Jane replied, “Well! Maybe then I’ll jut pass away!” And she did the very next day. That was her faith in action. At her funeral service the power of God manifested so mightily, such as I have never seen at any funeral service of anyone ever. Her daughter and grandchildren sang many songs as a tribute and a testimony to this woman, their mother and grandmother, and while they were singing “Our God Reigns” the power of God manifested and the glory of the Lord fell on that service in an incredible way as a witness to this woman’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jane’s daughter, Terre Brown has been on Water of Life staff since joining me and Kathie D in prayer daily in 2010, and then became a worship leader and led The Browns to minister their family worship on Facebook, then brought forth the Brown Brothers, then came the Water of Life Quartet with Paul Peters, and then Terre and the Browns, with Paul often joining them, and then Terre’s solo ministry. And I must say that Terre Brown has faith much like her mother (have you ever thought Terre was a Jezebel?) even as Paul writing to Timothy states in 2 Timothy 1:5 “When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.” We have not yet seen the end of the manifestation of this woman’s faith! I have watched Jane’s faith work in her daughter Terre Brown to come through some very difficult times. In September 1987, just two years after Jane arrived at Water of Life Ministries, the Lord prophesied that there was coming a great deliverance. In the days ahead we will see the effects of Jane’s faith delivering his people from the power of darkness.

You can watch the celebration of Jane Downtain's life below:



God bless,
Doyle Davidson
Servant and apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ

Posting Index