Apostle F. Nolan Ball

An Apostle to the Body of Christ

In July 1969, Nolan Ball and his wife became the pastors of the church now known as The Rock of Panama City. Up to this present time, the church continues to grow and extend its ministry—locally and internationally. The ministry is overseen by Apostle Ball, working with a Presbytery of Elders, representing the five-fold ministry. In addition to these responsibilities, Apostle Ball relates to and oversees the establishing of other men and churches.

Floyd Nolan Ball, the firstborn child of Samuel Paul and Ruth May (Stone) Ball, was born at home in the sawmill town of Bothwell, in Green County, Mississippi, on November 14, 1929. The family of four was completed on July 18, 1932 with the birth of a sister, Johnnie Ruth.

Paul was a sawmill worker, the occupation he followed until his retirement. The Great Depression that preceded Nolan's arrival by about a month made life very difficult for many families, including his. A succession of moves to sawmill towns in Mississippi and Alabama followed until the summer of 1938 when a move was made to Gulf Hammock in Levy County, Florida. There the family was rejoined to Ruth's parents, her two sisters, and their families. Though the time in Gulf Hammock was an idyllic time in Nolan's life, there was very limited spiritual influence, just that of the Godly lives of his maternal grandparents and one Vacation Bible School.

Economic changes brought on by the end of World War II in 1945 necessitated one more move for the Ball family that brought them to Baldwin County in South Alabama where Nolan would complete his senior year of high school, and from where he would enter into a four year tour of service with the United States Air Force. It was in the spring of 1947 while attending a "revival" in the Methodist church where the family was attending that Nolan became aware in his spirit that Yahweh had called him to preach.

During the next seven years, Nolan would complete four years of military service, meet and marry Shirley Navello of London, England, establish their home, and begin to get established in the business world. Though he had no understanding of what to do with the call to the ministry, he never dismissed it. On October 10, 1953, through a series of divine interventions, Nolan and Shirley came to Christ at First Assembly of God in Alexandria, Virginia. Very quickly things began to either unravel or unfold (depending on how they are viewed), and in the fall of 1954 Nolan was enrolled in Southeastern College of the Assemblies of God in Lakeland, Florida, graduating from there in 1957 and from Florida Southern College in 1958, with honors.

While still in college, Nolan and Shirley began pastoring in the Assemblies of God and continued in that association for almost thirty years. During those years in the Assemblies of God, Nolan was honored and elected to serve in leadership roles in each of the districts in which he served and also on a national level. They served Assemblies of God churches in Lakeland FL, Merritt Island FL, Talladega AL, and Tallahassee FL prior to beginning their ministry in Panama City in 1969, pastoring Dirego Park Assembly of God. The church name was later changed to The Rock of Panama City.

Nolan became increasingly aware of the problems created and perpetuated by the government of the organization and out of that, by revelation of Holy Spirit, he came to understand that the only government Yahweh had established, approved, and renewed, was that of "family," and that the government of the Church was of the same pattern—Apostolic fathers.

After many years of laboring in the mold into which the machinery of church organization had cast him, and after achieving a place of success and honor among those who knew him, Nolan was yet without inner satisfaction. In 1980, he began to come to grips with the conviction in his spirit that the true calling upon his life was to be an apostle. As this revelation became increasingly clear, Nolan began to understand why he had always had the desire to pour his life into others.

Knowing that he was called to be an apostle and that he was to be a father to many, with the responsibility to train them and establish them in their respective houses, and realizing that this would be impossible within the framework of the church government of the Assemblies of God, in April 1986 Nolan resigned from the Assemblies of God and withdrew the church as well.

During the ensuing years, Nolan has continued to function as the apostle and senior elder to The Rock of Panama City, as well as raising up and establishing a number of men in other cities. That number increases each year. Also, his apostolic ministry in other nations is constrained only by the responsibilities at home. His two published books, "God's Plan for Financing the Ministry" and "The Best of "On the Ball'" are available through The Rock of Panama City. "God's Plan for Financing the Ministry" is in its third printing and has proved to be of great blessing to many ministers and churches throughout the world. It is presently available in Russian and will be available in French and Spanish. Other books are in the processes of being readied for publishing.

For the past twenty years, Nolan has been involved in numerous conferences, dialogues, and one-on-one meetings, speaking as a prophetic voice pertaining to the restoration of the five-fold ministry. Presently he is sponsoring a number of "Under the Oak" conferences during the year to bring together representatives of the five-fold ministry for a round table discussion of issues related to the on-going restoration of apostles and prophets and the coming unity of the Church.