EV. LEONARD PRATHER commenced preaching first among the Methodists, but soon after Mr. O'Kelly's withdrawal and the organization of the Christian Church, he became associated with him and preached among the Christians. However, he soon left them and joined the Presbyterians, and next he joined the Primitive Baptists and was immersed. He preached for both of these denominations. But he soon changed again, uniting himself with the Freewill Baptists, and then back to the Christian Denomination. From this Denomination he was expelled on account of drunkenness and immorality. In 1833, at the Conference at Kedar, in Warren county, professing reformation, he applied to the North Carolina and Virginia Conference for membership again. The petition was referred to a committee of which Rev. D. W. Kerr was chairman. The committee not having confidence in his reformation, recommended the rejection of his petition. And at the Conference at New Providence, in Orange (Alamance) county, in 1834, he was ordered published as "disclaimed and rejected." No man lacking in stability of character and religious convictions is able to stand when the test comes. He made complete shipwreck.

[LCM 77]