Joel Rushing arrived in the Decatur Co. area about 1845. This story was told by Leonadus Rushing, who called Joel "uncle." Joel Rushing was a lay preacher and a farmer. If Joel Rushing had to preach a sermon on a Sunday he practiced while he plowed his field. He would be preaching hell and damnation to his mule while he practiced. Leonadus would hear him in the field and would yell out "Uncle Joel, what are you preaching on this Sunday?" That mule must have really known the Bible.