CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH
LUDOWICI, GEORGIA:
TRULY “A LITTLE CORNER OF HEAVEN”
IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS

Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV

And let us consider how to stir up
one another to love and good works,
not neglecting to meet together,
as is the habit of some,
but encouraging one another,
and all the more
as you see the Day drawing near.

A LITTLE CORNER OF HEAVEN

In this way too often rough and tumble world
where people are always getting trampled
as they daily run all the races
life so often demands from us as
we find ourselves back at the starting line
again and again;
we all need those who will stand up and cheer us
on with all the Love of Christ and the
power of the Holy Spirit
inspiring us with with hope and
and joy and the energy
we need to win in Him
who is our God and more than all we ever need
for every race we have to run for Him
as He strengthens and upholds
us every step we take around the
track as He declares His glory
for His holy Kingdom
while every runner truly competing for Him
discovers His power driving them towards
His victory lap when His prizes
all are won and where He welcomes
them, every single one at last
Home forever with Him.

Sometimes our lives do seem like a race that never ends. I remember vividly how overwhelmed I felt, after graduating from university with a teaching degree in English. After spending a wonderful, hectic ten weeks of one more summer missions adventure with the Etowah Baptist Association, I drove the longest trip of my life from northeast Alabama down to extreme southeast Georgia, to Ludowici,
where I had been hired to teach high school English. In my well-used Chevy I drove with many of my few belongings, while my parents drove with me in their car and the remainder of my worldly goods. As it turns out, the only option for a place to live, ended up being one room, sharing a bath with occasional overnight guests in the house of Mrs. Howard,  a true matriarch of the town, Ludowici. Believe it or not, in that room, there was a baby bed where I could stack some of my stuff. Needless to say, as I prepared to begin my first teaching assignment, I was overwhelmed.

My first day at school one of the lunchroom ladies shooed me away from the teacher’s line, assuming I was some smart-alek, new student trying to fool them into giving me extra food. To me the students appeared like giants, rough-and-tumble wilderness dwellers (for Ludowici was surrounded on all sides by tall pine forests and swamps), who (boys and girls alike) as it turned out, hunted  deer, wild pigs, and other critters who ran in those woods.Yes, I felt very much intimidated. Still in the classroom things went reasonably well for a brand new teacher among some very grown up students.

Sometimes the smallest
churches have the
biggest hearts.

Obviously, I needed Christian brothers and sisters. I needed a church family. I needed a church home. I had a fellow English teacher, Faye Harper, who invited me to her church, Calvary Baptist. So I went, and i immediately felt like I was home. The people gathered me in as if I were some far-fetched distant cousin from Alabama. They really made me feel welcome from that very first Sunday. Fay played the piano; she really played beautifully. Visiting with these friendly folks before and after Sunday School, and then after worship, seemed like getting to know family I had never met before. It was a small church with a great big heart. On the church’s outdoor sign, I read, “Calvary Baptist Church: Just A Little Corner of Heaven.” The folks in that church fully lived out that beautiful reality. As a homesick, inexperienced teacher, God gave me people who would treat me like family and so help me handle all of the challenges living and teaching in Ludowici would bring my way.

Before I knew it, as I joined the church, Mrs. Mary Howard, the youth Sunday School teacher, invited me to join her as her assistant. Now Mrs. Howard was a great role model and always taught a lesson that reached both the youth and myself with great Bible truths for living. She also generously gave me opportunities to teach, often enough to keep me on my toes. She just as kindly encouraged me, as I got to know her big family, two of whom were students at Long County High School, where I was teaching. The youth were as welcoming and friendly as were their families.

Carolyn Mock, her husband, Norman, and their Son, Andy;
took time to love me and my
young teacher colleagues
in the name of Jesus.

Speaking of families, Norman and Carolyn Mock, and their son, Andy went way, way beyond the second mile to make me feel welcome. They actually welcomed me as if I were an older son. We did a lot of teasing and laughing together. We ate together. We certainly worshipped and prayed together, because for the Mock family, life centered on their faith and living it out in joyful, hard-working, yet always celebratory living. Norman worked for the Georgia Highway Department, Carolyn worked as Church Secretary for the First Baptist Church, and Andy enjoyed the typical school boy life filled with sports, friends, church activities and studies as time allowed. They always made me feel at home. Carolyn had a particular interest in WMU, like my own mother, and so that resonated in my heart in the process of being called into missions. Norman served as a deacon and gave strong leadership within Calvary church, always focusing on Scripture and doing things the Lord’s Way.

Holy hospitality characterized the entire church. They welcomed all of us “foreign” teachers with open arms. They welcomed families from deep inside the forests. They welcomed military families associated with Fort Stewart located in the next town on the road to Savannah. In fact, Mr. Harley Freeman often took a teacher friend of mine, Felicia Butler, and I on an old bus way outside of town to visit families, to offer to pick up their children for Church on Sundays. Everyone who showed up at Calvary felt a genuine, a loving welcome. What an inspiration! What a an example to follow.

It seems that Calvary continues
to be filled up with really
friendly people.

In fact, Calvary Church so welcomed me, and I grew so quickly into feeling at home,  that it was after a Week of Prayer for International Missions in early December, 1974, when I received a clear call to surrender my life for missions service. I had been challenged by the prayer program, and afterward  as I drove outside Ludowici on a star-lit night made even brighter by a full moon, and as I looked into the heavens, God’s Spirit spoke to me. Basically He said, “Mike, take a look back over your life. Notice the people. Notice the experiences. Remember the teaching God’s men and women have proclaimed about my love for all  the all the world. Notice, it all makes sense—I have been preparing you to take my Good News in Jesus which has so blessed you—to people who have not yet heard how much I love them. So, what are you going to do?” For me it all fit together so beautifully. God had always been preparing me so thoroughly for His Call. I was filled with joy as I said say yes to His Call.

Calvary BaptistChurch became for me “the little corner of Heaven”
I needed to hear and respond to
God’s Call into missions.

Thank God for Calvary Church and its loving, caring ways—its simple offer to welcome me into their church family, for encouragement, spiritual challenge, glorious fellowship, and opportunities to grow through service. All the precious time I spent at Calvary, I really did feel like I was very much at home, spiritually freed up to hear God’s Word, carefully consider His call on my life, and respond. I will always treasure my time at Calvary where I was extremely blessed to enjoy their loving, “little corner of Heaven.”

IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS;
A WONDERFUL SAVIOR
FOR BEAUTIFUL WOMEN

Luke 24: 1-12 ESV

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn,
they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.
And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
but when they went in they did not find
the body of the Lord Jesus.
While they were perplexed about this, behold,
two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.
And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground,
the men said to them,
”Why do you seek the living among the dead?
He is not here, but has risen.
Remember how he told, while he was in Galilee,
that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men
and be delivered into the hands of sinful men
and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
And they remembered his words,
and returning from the tomb they told all these these things
to the eleven and to all the rest.
Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and
Mary the mother of James and the other women with them
who told these things to the apostles,
but these words seemed to them an idle tale,
and they did not believe them.
But Peter rose and ran to the tomb;
stooping and and looking in,
he saw the cloths by themselves;
and he went home marveling at what had happened.

Beautiful Women

Beautiful women glow from their hearts
wholly surrendered to their Lord Jesus
just like these brave women
up early and seeking
some loving service they could perform
for Him whose life had compelled them to
follow and learn from His
miraculous teaching:
they had pondered His glorious presence,
wondered at His powerful healings,
admired His incredible
and His holy nature;
and still there are noble women
seeking to serve Him  who is their Lord and
their Redeemer as He
makes them so much like Him—
loving and giving and serving
and healing,  using compassion ever
blessing, forgiving;
these are the most beautiful of
women as they build up His own Kingdom
reaching out into this world,
giving as they’ve been given.

The Love Of Jesus
Makes Every Woman
Beautiful

From even before the beginnings of the Church after the life, death, burial, resurrection, appearances, and ascension of our Lord Jesus, women have played a foundational and  crucial role in serving Jesus and building His Church. Just look at the life and work of any local church and you will find strong and faithful women serving, strengthening and undergirding the life and witness of God’s people. (Of course, you will also find strong and faithful men also serving, but this week I have stories to tell about heroically faithful women.) In the churches which have blessed me throughout my lifetime, I have found, without exception that women often take on a hefty share of the opportunities available for those who would serve the Lord.

As Becky and I worked for many years in Africa among Nigerian and Nigerien Christians, we could not help but be impressed by the women of those African churches who  mentored and prepared us as they contributed mightily to the life and service of our various faith families. In both Nigeria and Niger strong women’s groups provided stirring, joyful and worshipful music accompanied by enthusiastic dancing—making every Sunday service or special gathering an exhilarating  expression of love and worship for our Lord Jesus. In our smaller church, Goudel Baptist, in Niger, three older women set the tone in glorifying the Lord through their always welcoming presence, and in their mighty, fervent prayers. The women’s group led the way in mission outreach, traveling together outside Niamey, the capital city, to minister and witness to various unreached people groups. The women’s choir also joined other groups in presenting public concerts as a means to share the Gospel in a heavily non-Christian nation. In the life of this wonderful church, the women served as a foundation and as a source of joy, energy and zeal for sharing the Gospel of Jesus.

There is always
joy in Jesus.

In Nigeria women in the churches worked just as faithfully; in worship, in prayer, in teaching the children and youth, and in missions outreach. The Nigerian Baptist Convention’s Women’s Missionary Union involved huge numbers of women throughout the country in praying for missions, giving to missions and going to join in missions work in Nigeria and in other neighboring  counties. The beauty of these Nigerien  and Nigerian women’s faithful service is that they were following in the footsteps of women in the Bible  and also  in the beautiful footsteps of the missionary women who had mentored them.

Here is the message for us: Jesus clearly honored and upheld women throughout His ministry, and in return they faithfully followed, learned from Him and chose Him as their Lord and Savior. Throughout our ministry in Africa, we both  found ourselves inspired and challenged and mentored by missionary women doing a wide variety of service in Jesus’ Name. We certainly learned from women who were teaching, counseling, writing, publishing, doctoring, nursing, advising churches, leading at the Convention, Conference and Association level. In general we admired them as they witnessed tirelessly through their personal, family and professional lives. Indeed, there were large areas of Nigeria where the only missionaries present were women. So, they gladly did what needed to be done

to win people to Jesus, to meet the the needs of people in Jesus’ Name. This has been true  throughout our Baptist missionary  presence in Nigeria for almost 175 years. Praise the Lord. Let me mention just a handful of the remarkable ladies we were blessed to know as they did everything imaginable to introduce people to the overwhelming Love of God in Jesus.

Women in West Africa, like women everywhere,
search for meaning as they live out often difficult lives filled with hard labor.

Emogene Harris

At one point in our lives in Nigeria, our family traveled a long day’s journey from Jos down into the East to Enugu, to see the dentist. There we stayed with Emogene  Harris, who served as the Missionary Advisor to Baptist Churches in that area of the country. Now, Emogene, from MIssissippi, always behaved as a traditional, a charming southern lady; and yet she worked harder than most men, and served those churches and their pastors faithfully, never drawing attention to herself, but always building faith among the people and their leaders—pointing them again and again to Christ. Emogene so obviously loved her Lord Jesus, and so obviously loved all people—her life of love became a powerful testimony to the Christ she served. She trained and taught with the best of them. She had the strength and the faith to keep these she loved so deeply, on track and moving in the right direction to build the Kingdom of our Lord. She certainly led by example, never gave anything less than her best to win people to the Lord, to disciple them, and to encourage them as they joined and served alongside her. And the glory of it is, Emogene was only one among a large group of women who served so faithfully in places no one else was willing or able to go.

Dr. Martha Haygood
Jackie Legg

Over the years we met many outstanding missionary doctors and nurses. Dr. Martha Hagood, had come from long years of service in Japan to serve in Nigeria at the Eku Baptist Hospital. A tiny woman, she had a huge heart, a powerful personality, and excellent skills as an ob-gyn doctor. Her determination and will served her Lord and her patients well, as she gave each patient every bit of the medical skill she had developed, along with hearty, faithful prayers—and the results—many, many miracles of healing to the glory and in the name of Jesus. Also serving at Eku for many years as a Nursing Instructor, Jackie Legg, nursed and taught with the best of them. She also served and loved the Lord with extraordinary passion, leading her deep into the power of prayer and spiritual growth in the Lord. As a result, He glorified Himself as she prayed, taught Scripture, counseled and led people to spiritual breakthroughs in a mighty, mighty way. She and her husband, Gene, became loving spiritual mentors to many Nigerians and also, many missionaries and MK’s.

Medical missions involves the service of many dedicated doctors and nurses as they minster in Jesus’ Name.

Bettye Ann McQueen

Bettye Ann McQueen loved and ministered to who knows how many Nigerian university students throughout her many years in Nigeria—and as the Lord willed, during a time when the Holy Spirit was pouring out His Spirit in a remarkable way in the lives of university students throughout the country. At ABU in Zaria and as the Baptist Student Fellowship leader for the Nigerian Baptist Convention in Ibadan, Bettye Ann discipled students and developed deeply spiritual study materials for them as the Lord captured their hearts and minds and molded them for dynamic Christian leadership the exercise even now, giving direction and purpose for Christian outreach and missions in Nigeria and throughout the world.

Dale Moore
Roberta Fine

Becky had the privilege of getting to know two extraordinary women during her two years of missionary service in Port Harcourt. Dale Moore  oversaw the Baptist Churches in the large and important city of Port Harcourt. Like Emogene Harris, Dale became a shepherdess to the shepherds of many churches, small, medium, and large. She mentored, discipled, advised and prayed with these pastors and other Christian leaders throughout this oil rich city. She also mothered and mentored young  Journeymen missionaries like Becky. Roberta Fine served with her husband Earl, as they ministered up and down the coastal rivers, often traveling by boat to remote villages to evangelize and establish churches among the many tribal groups of that region. Like Dale, she also mentored and mothered Becky and other missionary journeymen. Like Dale, she was an ever faithful witness for her Lord  Jesus.

For women there is joy in worshipping and serving their Lord Jesus.

Sherry Woods

Sherry Woods originally traveled to Nigeria to serve with the WMU of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, to assist in their youth programs. After spending her first term of service working with them out of the Ibadan WMU, Nigerian Baptist Convention  headquarters, she spent some time in the U.S, helping to care for her ailing father, while receiving further training for counseling. Then she came to Jos as the Guidance Counselor at Hillcrest School, an international school which met the educational needs of missionary children from all over the world. Sherry strongly impacted many, many MK’s for Christ, even as she gave excellent educational counseling and preparation for their future lives. She also trained other women and older students for mentoring young women in their faith walk. She particularly loved participating in an effective prison ministry, also in Jos. In all of this Sherry LOVED people, LOVED making people relax and have fun,  and LOVED discipling people, leading  Masterlife and Experiencing God groups. She even led all of us Baptist missionaries in Jos together as we studied Experiencing God. And she became the best of all aunts to every single one of the Baptist MK’s in Jos, hosting sleep-overs, birthday parties and all kinds of fun extravaganzas for every MK lucky enough to call their her Aunt Sherry.

Angel Oswood

In her quiet, consistent manner, Angel Oswood has fulfilled many of these same roles as a missionary over the years, She has played the role of mission aunt well, and has faithfully mentored and encouraged Nigerian Christians. But her love has always been teaching the Bible in schools where pastors and their wives are trained for ministry. And she has always put in countless hours of preparation and planning so that the Holy Spirit has been able to use her teaching and her mentoring to train godly and faithful pastors and wives and missionaries to serve in some very tough places as they have established and strengthened churches among the unreached peoples of Nigeria.

You know, I have to say it again: IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS. It‘s all about His holy love which draws women and men to Him, eager to receive and return that love in repentance and in their commitment to Him of everything He has made them to be. The New Testament gives us such beautiful stories of lives changed for the better forever, changed so much as His Holy Spirit enabled them to mirror that love gloriously, Then others were drawn, not to them but to this Jesus who  was their Savior, their Shepherd and their Lord. Join me in praising His Holy Name for these and multitudes of missionary women who have devoted themselves to His service and His glory, much to the joy of those  who like us have been privileged to experience His power to redeem through their beautiful lives.

African Christian women share their joy
in Jesus as they lead worship times
in their churches.

AN APOLOGY

I must apologize to the dozens of missionary women who so inspired our lives while we served in Africa. There are too many to name in this post; but not only for our lives, but  for those of countless others who have been truly blessed and inspired for service as they  so lovingly and tirelessly worked for our Lord Jesus. He knows your names. He knows your hearts. He knows the impact you each have made for His Kingdom. I know you are blessed in Him. We are eternally grateful for how beautifully He blessed us through each of you.

Acts 1:8 ESV
“But you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,
and you will be my witnesses
in Jerusalem and in all Judea
and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

“Come, follow me, and
I will make you fishers
of men.”

Matthew 4:18-20 ESV

While walking by the Sea of Galilee,
he saw two brothers,
Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother,
casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
And he said to them,
”Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Immediately they left left their nets and followed him.

God’s People:
Part Two

In the history of this world
God has always
been calling
and gathering His people.

Among the maidens
of Israel
God chose one
and Mary obeyed.

Even though he
failed his Lord
God called and
Peter obeyed.

On his way
to do his worst
God struck Saul,
then he obeyed.

Almost unkown
Priscilla and
Aquila answered
true to God’s Call.

All alone, his
brothers all gone,
God called John
and he obeyed.

His eternal Call,
”Come, follow me.”
So, blessed are 
all who obey.

Mary called to do the impossible by the
Holy One of Israel
for all the world,
for love, obeyed.

Luke 1:35-38 ESV

And the angel answered her,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
therefore the child to be born
will be called holy—the Son of God.
And behold, your relative Elizabeth
in her old age has conceived a son,
and this is the sixth month
with her who was called barren.
For nothing will be impossible with God.”
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord;
let it be to me according to your word.”

When Jesus calls, we will most often be amazed. We will be startled. We never seem to expect His call. When Jesus calls, we will hear what seems impossible. We know our limits, but so does He, and as it turns out, He knows our potential in His hands much better than do we. He knows His plan, and how He chooses to fit us into His plan. He has plans which far exceed our imagination. He has plans far more wonderful than we can comprehend. All of this points us to absolute faith in Him and to complete trust in Him. After all, “ . . . nothing is impossible with God.” And our response? May it ever be as believing, as simple, as faithful as dear young Mary; “ . . . I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” How can we fail to be challenged by such full faith? How can we fail to follow this example in responding faithfully to the call of God in our lives? How could we ever imagine refusing such a powerful and such a splendid call?

Simon Peter learned
how to be a fisher for men from
his Lord Jesus.

John 21:15-17 ESV

When they had finished breakfast,
Jesus said to Simon Peter,
’Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”
He said to him,
“Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”
He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
He said to him a second time,
”Simon, do you love me?”
”Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
He said to him the third time,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was grieved because
he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?”
and he said to him,
“Lord, you know everything;
you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

Peter had come a long way. He had answered the Lord Jesus’ initial call to follow Him and to fish for men. He had daily experienced the power of His Master’s Presence in his own life. He had recognized himself being transformed into a better, a more godly man. He had in a moment of divine inspiration exclaimed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Yet he had failed His Lord when he, Peter, was most needed. He had denied His Lord Jesus three times. He believed he did not deserve to follow His perfect Lord, He, Peter, was just like any other fisherman, He was just a sinful man. And now, Jesus had found him once again. And now, Jesus had given him and his friends a miraculous catch of fish again. And now, Jesus was asking, “Simon, do you love me?” Not once but three times. And each time Peter, broken-hearted confessed, “I love you.” Jesus followed each painful confession with His command: “Feed my sheep.”  Jesus was asking Peter to do the impossible, not that he could, on his own, do so. Jesus was asking Peter to answer again this call in faith and obedience. Jesus was asking Peter to turn away from himself, and to turn in faith to Jesus. Jesus called. Peter answered. And the rest is a rich part of the glory of the glorious beginnings of the Church of God accomplished by Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and by the called who answered with Peter,  “Lord, I love you.” Today the call is for you and for me.  Jesus asks you, “Do you love me?” Will you respond, “Yes, I love you.” Jesus responds, “Feed my sheep.”

Saul/Paul came to love
and serve Jesus as
totally as he had opposed Him after
meeting Him on
the Damascus Road.

Acts 9:3-5 ESV

As he journeyed he came near Damascus,
and suddenly a light shone around him from Heaven.
Then he fell to the ground,
and heard a voice saying to him,
”Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
And he said, “Who are you, Lord?”
Then the Lord said,
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

Jesus often calls the least likely people to use in His most amazing work as He builds His Church. Certainly, no one in the early Church was looking to Saul for anything but opposition and persecution. Here was a man who had declared absolute war upon the new believers. He was on his way to Damascus to do battle against the believers there. Then he met Jesus. That changed everything forever. That turned his life upside-down. Then Jesus used him to turn the world upside down. Indeed, Jesus used him to turn the Church upside down as Christianity exploded beyond the Jews and began to grow among the Gentiles all around the world. How blind Saul had been before he met Jesus. How ignorantly he had opposed those who loved the One, the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Jewish Scriptures had foretold. How sadly Saul had missed the central message of redemption through God’s Love in the Scriptures he so revered. Jesus stopped the mistaken Saul in his tracks. He blinded him. He humbled him. Then He redeemed him to live a long, difficult, yet triumphant life in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus he had so forcefully opposed. Meeting with Jesus made all the difference in Saul who became Paul through his faith and powerful witness. Truly for Paul, it was ALL ABOUT JESUS.

Paul and Aquila and Priscilla shared their tent-making trade, and
there love for sharing
the Good News of Jesus
with all people.

Acts 18:18, 26 ESV

After this, Paul stayed many days longer
and then took leave of the brothers
and set sail for Syria,
and with him Priscilla and Aquila.

He (Apollos) began to speak boldly
in the synagogue,
but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him,
they took him aside
and explained to him
the way of God more accurately.

Priscilla and Aquila loyally supported Paul’s ministry for their Lord Jesus as they worked alongside him at his tent-making occupation, and as he taught them the Jesus Way, which they-in-turn taught to others. As he invested his faith and life in them, they invested their lives and their faith in others. Imagine the hours of laboring on a tent the three spent discussing the Gospel and power of Jesus to save all who turned to Him. Imagine how Paul tried out his best Spirit-inspired arguments for the faith to the open and eager hearts of Priscilla and Aquila. And imagine how they stopped often in the midst of their busy days of labor to pray over a present challenge or a saint in need or for a seeker being drawn near to God. It seems clear that God brought Paul into Aquila and Priscilla’s lives to encourage and strengthen them in their faith, and to equip them for  the work of accurately teaching and sharing the Good News with others.  And just as importantly, he brought them to Paul as co-laborers who could listen supportively, and so, learn and share with others the powerful truths he taught them. What a beautiful thing God accomplishes as He brings fellowship and unity among believers so that they become Holy Spirit partners in extending and strengthening the Kingdom. Every Pastor, every Christian leader, needs a Holy-Spirit called and driven team, who provide the loving care and support required  for the encouragement and accountability they need. Priscilla and Aquila serve as clear role models for such  supportive saints.

John, after a lifetime of serving His Lord Jesus,
receives the Revelation
as a final written word to the early Church.

Revelation 1:1-3

The revelation from Jesus Christ,
which God gave him to show to his servants
what soon must take place.
He made it known by sending
his angel to his servant John,
who testifies to everything he saw—
that is, the word of God
and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

In God’s perfect Will He preserved the life of the Apostle John for one climactic, monumental task as he neared the end of his amazing life here on this earth. He had endured while his fellow disciples had died  since those wonderful three years when they had accompanied and had learned to love and serve their Lord Jesus—only to see him crucified, to be buried and to be gloriously resurrected—changing all their lives forever. We remember it was John who stood by the Cross with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and received and honored His beloved Lord’s  dying call to care for her. Over the interceding years, John had served—as did his fellow disciples and other faithful followers of their Lord Jesus—proclaiming the Gospel, winning people to Jesus, and experiencing the birth of Christ’s Church. Now, as an old, old man, John found himself uncomfortably alone on Patmos, an island prison. It was here that Jesus appeared to him, and gave him a unique opportunity to both see and hear glories in Heaven—and to witness amazing things to come—as God moved history toward His conclusion, and the beginnings of New Heaven and New Earth. God needed a witness to the Church and to the World for His final Plan. John’s heart and mind had been prepared, and he obediently penned the powerful and beautiful, the inspiring and troubling book of Revelation. In the course of the Apostle John’s life, God called him to many tasks, and each one prepared him for the next, as John obeyed. Here is the challenge to us, no matter our age: God continually calls us throughout our lives  for tasks to undertake for His Kingdom. Each time we obey, He builds our faith, and prepares us for further service until we are Home with Him.

God is never done with us because our lives are truly and fully ALL ABOUT JESUS and His Call for us to become His disciples. He calls us to repentance. He calls us into redemption. He calls us as He remakes us more-and-more in His image. He calls us to declare His glory. He calls us to tell us His story. He calls us to speak His glorious gospel truth to those who have never heard. He calls us to speak again and again of His glorious gospel truth until they fully hear, receive His call to salvation and obey. How privileged we are to stand upon the shoulders of those who have faithfully heard and obeyed His call throughout the magnificent story of Christ’s Church now growing ever more triumphant upon the earth in anticipation of His glorious return.

“Come, follow me, and
I will make you fishers
of men.”

GOD’S CHOSEN FOR HIS PURPOSE:
ALL ABOUT JESUS

1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV

But you are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people for his own possession,
that you may proclaim
the excellencies of him
who called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light.
Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.

God’s People:
Part One

In the history of this world
God has always
been calling and
gathering His people.

From Abram’s own nation
and his people
and their lifeless gods
God called Abraham.

Among the brothers of Israel
and their evil
and their confusion
God called Joseph.

Out of the river rescued
and raised Egypt’s
pampered Prince
God called Moses.

Out of pagan Moab
and as a widow
following a widow
God called Ruth.

Out of the fields as
a shepherd
the least and the youngest
God called David.

Never the obvious
nor the predictable
for His servants
God called His faithful.

God calls His children to become His servants, based upon an obedient, faith relationship with Him, trusting in His Word, His Power and His Loving plan of redemption. God does not call us because of who we are, but because of who He is. God calls us for His glory, and as we answer in obedience and faith, He develops eternal purpose and joy in our hearts. As we take a look at some of the called, this week and next, we will observe over and over again how great God is, and how beautifully He uses a wide variety of people to declare His glory. We will marvel at how God takes humble lives and uses those lives to illustrate His incredible power to redeem and overcome darkness with His triumphant light. We will rejoice with each of these saints when in the end there lives truly became ALL ABOUT HIM.

Abram/Abraham
became God’s Chosen
as he obediently
followed God toward
what would become
the Promised Land
of Israel and the
birthplace of the Messiah.

Genesis 12:1-3 ESV

Now the Lord said to Abram,
”Go from your county and your kindred
and your father’s house
to the land I will show you.
And I will make you a great nation,
and I will bless you
and make your name great,
so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and him who dishonors you I will curse,
and in you all the families
of the earth shall be blessed.”

God’s call always demands obedience step-by-step into new spaces and among new situations and new faces. For Abram this meant leaving his father and his people and the only land he had ever known, and setting out in a direction he had never explored. Abram faithfully did so for a lifetime of learning how God would strengthen and develop his character until the uncertain Abram became the faithful man, Abraham, who would become the father of Isaac, Jacob/Israel, and eventually the nation of Israel. Along the way Abram and his wife, Sarah, would often struggle as they faced doubts and tremendous challenges. Even after the long-delayed birth of their only son, Isaac, God tested Abraham by asking him to offer this only son as a sacrifice. Abraham obeyed, and God, Himself intervened, and provided the sacrifice, as He confirmed His blessing on Abraham and though him, all the people of the world. What a beautiful foreshadowing of God providing our perfect sacrifice in Jesus.

Joseph, though favored by his father, Israel, became hated by his
brothers; and yet he persisted in serving God
and became God’s man
to deliver Egypt and
his father and his brothers who would
become the beginnings
for God’s creation of
Israel, God’s Chosen People.

Genesis 50:19-21 ESV

But Joseph said to them,
“Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?
As for you, you meant evil against me,
but God meant it for good,
to bring it about that many people
should be kept alive, as they are today.

Early in his life, Joseph lived as a favorite of his father among many brothers. God favored him with visions which pointed to a glorious future, and infuriated his brothers. Given the opportunity, they got revenge and sold him into slavery, breaking their father’s heart by telling him Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. Sold to Potiphar, a powerful Egyptian soldier, Joseph served so faithfully, he earned a place in charge of his master’s household. Then, Potiphar’s wife failed in her scheme to undermine Joseph’s morality, and lied so that he was imprisoned. In prison Joseph remained faithful and became a blessing to all of those in prison. Though it seemed there was no hope for Joseph, God still had a glorious plan for this faithful man. He gifted Joseph with the understanding of dreams, and used that gift to lift him up to become  a savior to Egypt in a time of terrible famine. Then, God used Joseph’s faithfulness to save his father and his brothers—and the future Israel, and the future Messiah. Though the world brought much evil against Joseph, God brought overpowering grace. May we live by faith like Joseph did for people’s good and never for revenge. Like Abraham, Joseph’s life points to Jesus and His  even more perfect life.

Moses might have been raised as a prince in the Pharoah’s own family, but God called and used him for a higher purpose, the
exodus of the great multitude who would form the beginnings of God’s own chosen nation, Israel.

Exodus 14:15-18 ESV
The LORD said to Moses,
”Why do you cry to me?
Tell the people of Israel to go forward.
Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand
over the sea and divide it,
that the people of Israel
may go through on dry ground.
And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians
so that they shall go in after them,
and I will get glory over Pharaoh
and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen.
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD,
when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots and horsemen.”

Moses was miraculously saved from death while still an infant, his mother placed him in a basket in the Nile. Then he was found and raised in the  midst of the power and splendor of the household of Pharaoh’s own daughter. And yet in his heart he knew he was a Hebrew, those people who were treated as despised slaves by the Egyptians. In a fit of anger he killed an Egyptian overseer, and fled for his life into the dessert. After spending forty years as a shepherd, God miraculously called him through the burning bush, to return to Egypt and free his people. Moses obeyed, God worked mighty miracles, and the children of Israel were freed, then delivered as the sea was parted. In the process of establishing the nation of Israel God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, provided miraculously for the Israelites in the wilderness, and eventually, even after their disobedience, led them through Joshua, Moses’s God-chosen successor, into the Promised Land. In the life of Moses we see how God calls His own to obedience and faith, even in the face of opposition and unfaithfulness, among those we live and serve. In his own way, Moses serves as a good, but imperfect precursor of Jesus’ perfect obedience.

Ruth found herself without a husband
and without a home,
but she chose to
accompany Naomi
and honor her as a
mother—and in doing so
she found God and
a new husband and
blessings beyond imagination.

Ruth 1:15-18 ESV

And she said, “See, your sister-in-law
has gone back to her people
and her gods;
return after your sister-in-law.”
But Ruth said,
”Do not urge me to leave you
or to return from following you.
For where you go I will go,
and where you lodge I will lodge.
Your people shall be my people,
and your God my God.
Where you die I will die,
and there I will be buried.
May the Lord do so to me and more
also if anything but death parts me from you.”

Ruth of Moab enjoyed a good life with her Jewish husband and his family. They had fled Israel during a time of famine. Then her father-in-law, her husband and his brother all died. Now the women were left with nothing. Naomi decided to head home to Bethlehem, advising her daughters-in-law to go back to their own families. Ruth refused, but professed a love for Naomi and her people and her God. In doing so, she was fulfilling God’s call on her life. She labored hard in the fields outside Bethlehem to provide for Naomi and herself. She was chosen by God to become the grandmother of David, Israel’s great King, and to become an ancestor of God’s great Messiah, Jesus, the King of Kings. God still calls us and puts us in times and places and among people so that we, too, can be gloriously used by Him as He continues to bless this world with redemption miracles among every people.

David, a mere shepherd boy,
had already been anointed as God’s chosen king when he
heroically and faithfully
killed Goliath for the glory of God with a sling and a stone.

I Samuel 17:43-47 ESV

And the Philistine said to David,
“Am I a god that you come to me with sticks?”
And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
The Philistine said to David,
”Come to me, and I will give your flesh
to the birds of the air
and to the beasts of the field.”
Then David said to the Philistine,
”You come to me with a sword
and a spear and a javelin,
but I come to you
in the name of the Lord of hosts,
the God of the armies of Israel,
whom you have defied.
This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand,
and I will strike you down and cut off your head.
And I will give the dead bodies
of the host of the Philistines
this day to the birds of the air
and to the beasts of the earth,
that all the earth may know
that there is a God in Israel,
and that all this assembly may know
that the Lord saves not with sword and spear.
For the battle is the Lord’s,
and he will give you into our hand.”

God calls his people, not because they are mighty and great, but because in their humility and obedience and faith, He intends to establish His glory through them. Like David, we do not have so much to offer God, but He has everything to offer us—the joy we find in obeying Him when He accomplishes mighty feats in spite of our weakness, and because of His strength. In this world, every one of us as His people will face our own Goliaths, but like David, we do not need to be afraid, as long as we put our trust in our great God. In Him, mighty giants will fall one-after-one as God’s eternal Kingdom is established. David, like Jesus, faced mighty opposition to himself and his service for God. Throughout our ups and our downs, our successes and our failures, God will accomplish His purpose, as we continue seeking Him and His Way and His Glory above our own. In reality, without Him, there is no glory, but in Him, there is deep, deep abiding joy in always serving Him and in always pointing people to Him.

And so, we see God’s power and His glory and His love, all calling to those who will answer Him in faith and obedience. We see in Abraham, in Joseph, in Moses, in Ruth and in David such people. We see in their lives God accomplishing mighty miracles which reveal His glory in this world where He really is the only answer to all the turmoil we face. We also are called to follow God, and as we do, He will accomplish His Purpose for us and through us. What an honor to be called by our great God! What an opportunity to turn and follow Him! What joy He has for us as we like these, His faithful people, answer His Call and follow Him. Like Jesus, our Savior, we can be used in His timeless plan to offer redemption to all of human kind. And so, life really can be and should be, ALL ABOUT JESUS.

LOOK FOR MORE BIBLE “HEROES” NEXT WEEK.

Teachers and students alike thank Kathy for a lifetime of service to the Lord
in MK education.

Kathy Miller:
ALL ABOUT JESUS
All Her Lifetime

Romans 10:13-15 ESV

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?
And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
And how are they to preach unless they are sent?
As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet
of those who preach good news.”

Ever Faithful

Her lifetime long
sings a beautiful song
of praise to Him
who hid His purpose
clear deep inside
her heart even
as she played
still a little girl.

When she played
along with young
MK’s and learned
about their lives
so very far
away from home
God planted seeds
inside her heart.

Then He grew them
strong inside her
faith and gave
her teaching
as her tool
to serve Him
teaching in
His harvest field.

Ever faithful
she served them
 well missionary
families
in places
remote and
finally
at Sahel.

In my first real meeting with Kathy Miller, I made a very bad impression. As the Principal for Sahel Academy during the year of the First Great Flood, (I am sorry to say, there was a Second Great Flood, also.) I observed each elementary and high school teacher as they taught in two large houses adapted to serve as schools, with bedrooms and dining rooms used as makeshift classrooms. Somehow, in the midst of all our hectic schedules, I arranged to observe two elementary teachers at the same time. I kept the appointment with the fourth grade teacher who actually had her class squeezed into a small dining area for teaching and written work, while she expanded her classroom space  into a type of breezeway and outside balcony for more active learning. Anyway, we had a good time together, and then as I was leaving, I met Kathy outside her adapted bedroom turned classroom. She explained that we had agreed to that very same time, and I had missed her math class. Oops! Well, when I made that observation of her math class the next day or so, I was so impressed with her creative use of gummy worms (something of a luxury in Niamey, Niger). Kathy effectively involved her students in active learning—and they loved the gummy worms! At the end of the lesson, she asked the students what the Principal had missed in not showing up for the lesson the previous day. They giggled as she smiled and they announced to me all together, “M & M’s!” That hurt! M & M’s have always been my favorites.

In spite of COVID and other overwhelming obstacles, Kathy remained ever faithful to her calling and her trust in the loving God
who had called her.

I learned some important things about Kathy that day. First, she was an excellent, well-prepared and creative, energetic and fun teacher. Second, she expected the Principal to be more efficient at keeping his schedule. Third, she dearly love the give-and-take of teaching and making learning fun for these lucky-to-have-her third-grade students. As we got to know Kathy better and better our opinion of her teaching skills only improved. More importantly, we learned how her heart  truly rejoiced in using teaching as her crucial tool to introduce her students to the joys of getting to know Jesus as their own Lord and Savior.

Kathy’s enthusiasm for teaching began early. Her faithful Christian parents in Michigan raised her and her brothers and sisters to love the Lord. They also had many missionary families visit in their home for dinner—and Kathy had the opportunity to play with the children—the MK’s (Missionary Kids). God used these encounters to speak to her heart, calling her into teaching as a child, and then into missionary teaching for MK’s after earning her teaching degree, while she taught for ten years in the U.S. During that time she also worked toward her master’s degree in reading.

Kathy always had time to enjoy visits with her colleagues in
missions service.

Then in 1985 she joined the Evangelical Baptist Mission and began preparations to go to Mali in West Africa to work with a a few missionary families who needed a teacher for their children. As she prepared to go, Kathy made some hard choices; including leaving her family in the U.S., and going to Mali where there would be no phone nor electricity where she was going to live. On the other hand, she realized she would have the opportunity to keep families together, allowing the wives to participate in their mission work, thus contributing to the work of sharing the Gospel.

The Lord gave Kathy a very particular miracle early in her service which reminded her how closely He was watching over her. Kathy had mentioned to her roommate she was hungry for S’mores. Well, that only brought good-natured teasing, since they were living in the desert. About three days later, she received a package from her mother; and inside there were graham crackers, marshmallows and candy bars—everything she needed for S’mores. Now mail at that time took at least four weeks from the U.S. to Mali. So, the Lord had moved her Mom to put the miracle package together just about a month earlier before Kathy began craving those  S’mores.  This really encouraged her, as it spoke so beautifully of God’s care for her.

The chart says it all: A Life Given In Joyful Service To God On Behalf
of Missionaries in Four
West African Nations

Kathy’s years in West Africa allowed her to bless the lives of several missionary families. She taught the children of Don and Sue Marshall from 1989 to 1994. Their school days ran from 7:00 A.M. until Noon. The afternoon sun made the schoolroom too hot for teaching or for learning. During those years they were often evacuated to Bamako, the capital, due to attacks in the villages around them.

In 1994 and 1995 Kathy taught for Art and Becky Spaulding in Benin. While there the thatched roof classroom burned, but most of the school materials were saved. They just moved into another thatched roof classroom with no doors to close; so they were often visited by dogs, cats, chickens and even their horse.

From 1996-2001 Kathy returned to work with Phil and Alana Carmichael in Timbuktu, of all places. Remember the saying: “All the way to Timbuktu?” Well, Kathy lived and served there. During that time she also taught Rich and Anna Marshall’s children. Kathy also worked with two children with other international organizations. She rejoices still that one of those students came to know the Lord while he was in first grade. During this time Kathy also helped host mission groups coming to help build a church in Timbuktu. She even hosted mission conferences with her own parents coming out to help cook for and serve the missionaries. She also attended the Ladies Bible Studies and even hosted them at her house—again delighting in the Lord’s work as he blessed Malian families while they grew stronger in the Lord.

Some days in MK teaching can be messy.

From 2001 to 2002 Kathy taught at Ivory Coast Academy since there were no families needing an on-site teacher. Then from 2002-2008 she worked with Ken and Sarah Beckley. She was also able to teach English as a Second Language. She shared with these students French/English New Testaments. Ken was working on the translation of the New Testament in Songhai while the “Jesus” video was also translated into Songhai. Kathy  helped a Malian Songhai lady teach over fifty children each Sunday. These children were able to learn songs, Bible Stories and Bible Verses, which they could share with their families at home. Some of these  are now church leaders in this part of Mali, since there are no missionaries in the Timbuktu region, due to  ongoing security concerns.

Then in 2009 Kathy moved to Niger to teach at Sahel Academy. During her twelve years there, she taught in most of the elementary grades, and was the elementary principal for five years. Kathy rejoices that a number of students found Jesus as their Savior during that time. In fact, as she and I, as the high school principal, met together for prayer, she was constantly praying for individual students who needed Jesus.  During these years, there were two catastrophic floods which forced the temporary and then the final relocation of the school. Her sending mission, Evangelical Baptists, closed; and so she and her fellow EB missionaries, continued their service with the Faith Baptist Mission. Sahel had to close for a time, like schools worldwide, during the COVID pandemic. Through it all, good and bad, Kathy saw the Hand of the Lord, working through it all, to accomplish His Purpose through her life and service on the behalf of missionary families and their children.

Kathy stood faithfully for many years
along-side
other devoted
MK educators.

Since 2021 Kathy has been home in Michigan to care for her Mother. This is not an uncommon follow-up to missionary careers. It becomes a challenging, though rewarding, reinvestment in the lives of parents, who have played such an important role in bringing up children who answer the call to go abroad and serve the Lord with a great majority of their lives. As Scripture asks;

“And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
And how are they to preach unless they are sent?

Some of us are like Kathy, called for a greater part of our lifetime to take the Gospel where it has not been heard. Others of us are called to pray and to give so that those like Kathy can faithfully go. We are all called to make a difference in the world ALL ABOUT JESUS. I pray we will all obey as beautifully and as purposefully and as effectively as faithful folks like Kathy.

You can read stories like this one about people who have made their lives ALL ABOUT JESUS in the book
by that name.

Every story in this blog
is intended to lift up
the Name of Jesus
for the way He does
His work so powerfully through the lives
of all His People.

LOVING JESUS, SERVING OTHERS:
David and Beth Webster

David and Beth
so clearly reflect
the Love of God
in Christ
for His whole world.

1 PETER 4:10-11 ESV

As each has received a gift,
use it to serve one another,
as good stewards of God’s varied grace:
whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God;
whoever serves, as one who serves
by the strength that God supplies—
in order that in everything
God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.
To him belong glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen.

Together Surrendered

There walk among our lives,
(we give praise to our good God),
people who together surrender
their lives, their hearts, their minds
so completely to His loving Call,
they bear bright upon their faces
His compassionate, loving care
and in their hands His healing touch;
each day they rise with open hearts
attuned keenly to His Spirit’s Word
to come join Him in His harvest field
where they toil in His own strength
to redeem those who would perish
without His healing, life-giving touch,
and though some days they grow weary
they look to the Savior for His sweet rest
so they can give their very best
for all of us who are greatly blessed
to experience God so beautifully
through their most faithful service
as together they surrender their all.

The Mexico Mission Team
demonstrates day-to-day
the practical, face-to-face and hand-to-hand
Love of God in Jesus.

Before I ever met David and Beth Webster, I got to know them through my father and my mother. Now, they really knew people, and especially the people of God; and when they praised particular people of God, I knew they were right.  So, when I did meet David and Beth, and most especially as I have gotten to know them better and better over many years now; I know my parents truly got it right about these folks. David and Beth, individually and as a couple have some of the biggest hearts for God and for His people I have ever known.

Now, in Nigeria, in Niger, in Calvary Church in Ludowici, Georgia, in the St. Marys First Baptist Church, and of course at First Baptist Glencoe, I have known some really big hearts for God and His people and David and Beth are definitely right there among those at the top.

David takes a break
during one of his many
mission trips.

Why do I say that? Well, here’s some background information on them: David was born the oldest of four children in Hartselle, Alabama. He finished high school there and went on to Auburn University, where he earned a degree in political science. Then he went to the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, where he both earned his law degree and met Beth. She had been born into a pastor’s family as the youngest among sisters. She was at Samford working toward a degree in human relations. Later she earned a masters degree in education from the University of Alabama. Interestingly, they actually married after morning worship in their church one Sunday. David was beginning his career in law. While he did spend time in private practice, he spent the bulk of his career with Legal Services of Alabama, serving individuals and families who otherwise might not have had access to legal representation. His big heart for his clients, his excellent mind for law, and his hard work led to a distinguished career, with his managing the Legal Services of Alabama in Anniston and Birmingham at one time. For example, he successfully represented before the Alabama Supreme Court  a woman so she could remain in her home. In addition to this work, he has worked with Beth in establishing and maintaining an underground dog fence business for over twenty years. Obviously he is, and has been a busy, busy man.

Beth along with
daughters and
granddaughters.

Beth, has been just as busy, raising two daughters, and teaching school, serving special education students and their families. You get the picture, both David and Beth have always been as busy as busy can be, using their careers to serve others and bless them with the extraordinary love of Jesus. Now, those who know David and Beth, must be, like me, scratching their heads—wondering how they had time for such wonderful careers while they have been so actively involved in Kingdom Work through their Church and other ministries. I guess I first started hearing about Beth as a deeply involved Acteen leader for girls, including two of my nieces, not only in our church but in this entire area. As long as I have known her, she sang beautifully in the choir. And for some years now, as the leader for missions involvement in our church, she has championed, educated and inspired all of us to faithfully support every mission offering and to participate in and pray for missions all around us. And David has labored with her in missions, first as one of the “Three Amigos”  along with Joe Childs and Joe Brothers, on mission trips to Mexico. Both David and Beth have taken many, many mission trips, being eager to go wherever a door opens up to reach people for Jesus.

Medical Care
Featuring The
Love Of Jesus

In the church David has served faithfully as a deacon. I well remember sitting in many deacon’s meetings where the group was praying for and seeking wisdom—and then calling on David, who gifted by God, gave wise and godly counsel. Both have led D-Life groups from the beginning, and in doing so, have facilitated tremendous spiritual growth in the lives of men and women. At one time David was leading two D-life groups each week, squeezing in one of the two meetings during his lunch break from work. Those who know David and Beth know that they would not consider themselves as anything beyond faithful servants who give their whole heart to anything the Lord Jesus puts in their hands to do. They are so Holy Spirit gifted, it seems that big projects in the church just call for their leadership, and they willingly respond. They love Jesus so much; they love people so much; it just seems so beautiful to see what God does though their lives to win and nurture and love people.

Beth loves
baking bread
and even more so
sharing the
Bread of Life.

I must mention Beth’s passion for evangelism. She knows Jesus so well, and finds such joy in knowing and serving Him, it seems as natural as breathing for her to find herself witnessing to people wherever she goes and whatever she is doing. She is such an inspiration to us—she is such a challenge to all of us to sense the Holy Spirit’s openings and to walk through those spiritual doors and speak naturally and compassionately with people who need Jesus.

There are so many adults in our church who would declare their praise to God for how they have been blessed by David and Beth’s many years of faithful service as Sunday School and Life Group Bible teachers. Year-after-year and week-after-week David and Beth have carefully prepared to lead their class members in challenging and inspiring lessons, based always on Scripture and careful research. During the COVID crisis, when none of us were allowed to attend church activities, David and Beth carried on through ZOOM. Those who participated eagerly looked forward to those Sunday morning lessons and times of prayer and fellowship—and it was so much like being there in church together—thanks to David and Beth’s love for teaching Bible and their being willing to “go the extra mile” to provide that privilege. And because God so blessed their efforts as they did such a good job, folks were able to benefit, not just here in the Glencoe area, but also at several distant locations. Characteristically, David and Beth took the opportunity to serve God by blessing others, and overcame big challenges, and God’s people benefitted as a result.

Life for David and Beth and the Lord (He’s definitely the One who brought them together, holds  and keeps them together.) is All About Jesus; and we who know them are especially blessed to witness what their lives continue to accomplish in loving Jesus and serving others together.

Beautiful Hearts
Bound Together
By A Lifetime Of Love
Serving Together
Their Lord Jesus

Hebrews 13:8 ESV
Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday and today
and forever.

IN GOD’S WORD:
IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS

NO, NOT EVER

No, not in the past
nor right now,
nor in the future
will my Lord Jesus
nor His perfect Love
nor His life’s sacrifice,
ever fail.

No, not on Monday,
nor on Tuesday,
nor on Wednesday,
nor on Thursday,
nor on Friday,
Saturday
nor Sunday.

Not for Adam
nor for Eve
nor for Noah
nor Abraham
nor for Moses
nor for David—
blessed Jesus.

Not the Fall,
nor the Flood,
nor in Egypt,
nor the desert,
Babylon,
Jerusalem—
blessed Jesus.

Not the Serpent,
nor Egyptians
nor the giants
in the land,
nor Philistines
nor the Romans—
blessed Jesus.

Not the Caesars
nor barbarians
nor Napoleon
no, not Lenin,
no, not Hitler
not even Mao—
blessed Jesus.

No, not in the past
nor right now,
nor in the future
will my Lord Jesus
nor His perfect Love
nor His life’s sacrifice,
ever fail.

The more you read God’s Word, the more you really dig into God’s Story from Genesis to Revelation, the more fully you begin to understand the majesty of God’s Plan from Eternity. His Plan has always been for His Glory—revealing His Holiness, His Power, His Nature and His Love. In doing so, from the Creation of the world, culminating with the Creation of the first man and the first woman, God has been demonstrating who He is and how fully He wants each and every person to know how deeply they are valued and loved. Nothing in all of History has surprised Him; not the Fall, nor the first murder, nor the Flood, nor Babel, nor Abraham’s ups and downs, nor Jacob’s wrestling with His call, nor Moses and the Exodus from Egypt of God’s People, nor their wanderings in the wilderness, nor the Judges nor King Saul nor King David, nor Elijah, nor Elisha, nor Isaiah, nor Jeremiah nor the other Prophets, nor the Captivity in Babylon, nor Ezra and Nehemiah and the return to Jerusalem, nor the silent years, nor the birth of John the Baptist, then his cousin, Jesus, nor His teaching, nor His miracles, nor His laying down His life, nor His burial nor His resurrection, nor His ascension back into Heaven, nor the Apostles, Peter, John and then, Paul, nor the spread of the Gospel, nor the growth of His Church. God’s Perfect Gospel Plan has always been on His Mind and in His Heart. And it has always been ALL ABOUT JESUS.

Exodus 12:23 ESV
For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.

“ . . . the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.” Every precious lamb that was slain on that first and subsequent Passovers was a type of the Lamb of God, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who willingly lay down His perfect, His sinless life, for us; to cover the penalty for our sin and rebellion against God. His blood covered once and forever  the debt we could not pay. This had been God’s eternal Gospel plan in the mind of the Father, to be accomplished by the Son and to be confirmed by the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 7:14 ESV
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Throughout God’s Word His Old Testament Prophets pointed out time and time again, how the Day was coming when Jesus would be born to a virgin, not bound by the sinfulness of any human father; free to live and face every temptation, and yet without sin, so that He could in obedience to God’s Eternal Will pay the price for our sin. In doing so He suffered at the hands of sinful men and bore on the cross the weight of all of our sin, and finally lay down His life to destroy our debt to sin. Then He arose victoriously on the third day, destroying the death penalty we all deserved.

John 1:1-5 ESV
In the beginning was the Word, and Word was with God. All things were made through Him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

ALWAYS AND FOREVER Jesus was with God as the Word God spoke through in Creation, in spite of the Fall, and in Redemption. Everything God made was made through Jesus. Jesus carried within His human body the life and light of men. Jesus, until this very day, shines that light and darkness has not, nor will not ever overcome it.

John 3:16-18 ESV
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

God has loved, does love, and will love each person in the world, so much He has given us the gift of Jesus. If we believe in Jesus, we do not perish, but we are given the free gift of eternal life. God sent Jesus, not to condemn anyone, but to give every person the opportunity of salvation rather than condemnation. So, any girl or boy or woman or man who believes in Jesus is not condemned, but any girl or boy or woman or man who does not believe in Jesus, lives under condemnation, because she or he refuses to believe in Jesus as the only Son of God.

Acts 1:8 ESV
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Here is Jesus’ final command to the Apostles: “I am sending the power of the Holy Spirit. Then, go and be my witnesses here in this city, the center of our people, and also throughout our ancestral home, and in Samaria where cultural enemies live, and throughout the whole world.” Jesus emphatically gave the Apostles His holy charge to take the Gospel message of salvation through faith in Him to every person, no matter who they are, no matter where they are. There are no boundaries for the Gospel. Our opportunity and our call is to everyone here at home and to everyone throughout the whole world.

Revelation 5:9-10 ESV
“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain,, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

Again, Jesus as the Lamb of God, as this old earth nears its end, becomes the central figure of all history and eternity. He, alone, because of His sacrifice, is able to open the seals which reveal details of God’s final victory over evil. He has ransomed from every tribe and language and people and nation those who will become His kingdom and his priests, to reign with Him.

Revelation 22:13 ESV
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

So, in eternity, through history, and in eternity again, Jesus is the Alpha and the beginning of all beginnings and the ending of all endings until there is a New Heaven and a New Earth where our focus will be on Him for His ultimate glory and our ultimate joy forever and forever. Hallelujah! Amen! Hallelujah! Amen! Hallelujah! Amen!

IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS!!!

IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS:
SHEPHERDING MK’S/TCK’S

Definitely one of God’s saintliest servants, Nancy Carriger, spent over thirty years serving MK’s and TCK’s in Nigeria and Niger.

I Peter 5: 2-3 ESV

. . . shepherd the flock of God
that is among you, exercising oversight,
not under compulsion, but willingly,
as God would have you.
not for shameful gain, but eagerly,
not domineering over those in your charge,
but being examples to the flock.

How Can I Say Thank You?

My Father in Heaven,
how do I begin to say
“Thank You!”
to Your Heroes
who laughed with
our children and
took time when
they cried,
who hugged them
when needed
and listened
to their tales
and fed them
and did all those
things they so
needed when
we couldn’t be
there with them,
when they prayed for
them and helped
them to pray
with faith in our
Savior who loves
them and shepherds
them even as You do.

Nancy Carriger and Sahel Academy students loved playing softball together.

Some of the finest Christians I have ever been privileged to know as friends and as brothers and sisters in the Lord, have been those missionaries who lovingly and yet firmly shepherded the MK’s and TCK’s entrusted into their care. Now, you well be asking, who in the world are MK’s and TCK’S and what do you mean when you say, “shepherding” them? Well MK’s are Missionary Kids, the children of missionaries. TCK’s are Third Culture Kids, a more widely applied label—applying to the children of missionaries, international business people, military personnel, and others who work away from their home country and take their children with them. So, for our understanding, the children of our missionaries serving outside United States are both MK’S and TCK’S. For our missionary children, belonging to these particular population groups, brings both unique opportunities, but also unparalleled challenges which follow them throughout their lives.

Nancy began her service serving as a dorm parent to younger children at Kent Academy outside of Jos, Nigeria.

The truth is, MK’s and TCK’S enjoy rare privileges as they experience other cultures from the inside of them, so to speak. Our own children, having been born  and raised in Nigeria, know what it means to live in Africa. They understand well the nature of Africans, their traditions and their strengths, along with their challenges. However, MK’s and TCK’s also have to tackle the reality of not feeling completely at home in their parents’ home culture nor in their own adopted culture. They do not fully belong to either. So, they are a Third Culture, a culture betwixt and between, without being fully at home in either the first (the parents’ culture) or the second, (the adopted culture) where they live as a family.

I know, it’s complicated. Here’s the issue: MK’s and TCK’s are God’s beautiful children. They are loved by Him and need to be loved by His people sensitively and prayerfully. It takes God-called and very much Spirit-dominated women and men to shepherd them through school and prepare them for what will always be a different path into and throughout adulthood. Thank God, Becky and I have counted as dear friends, and our children have known as aunts and uncles, missionary colleagues who have met this challenge with Christ-like love and humor and toughness. We have known godly and (in our humble opinion) sainted house parents, teachers, coaches, principals and chaplains who have blessed hundreds of MK’s and TCK’s along their way in both Nigeria and Niger.

Nancy finds time to meet one-one with one of the MK’s at Sahel Academy in Niger.

In this post I want to focus on just one lady, Nancy Carriger, born in the U.S. on May 8, 1958. Nancy was adopted at five months, and according to her biological mother’s wishes, into a Christian family. In that loving Christian family, she accepted Jesus as her Savior at five. At seven she heard a missionary from Japan speaking, and told her Mom she wanted someday to be a missionary. The family moved with Nancy to Canada when she was nine. Nancy says she made a significant rededication of her life to the Lord when she was fourteen, as she realized she needed to choose a path moving more completely toward Jesus and a lifestyle which would please HIm.

Nancy attended Prairie High School on the campus of Prairie Bible College in Three Hills, Alberta, Canada. While there she was trying to figure out how missions could fit in her life. She struggled with math, science, and French. In the eleventh grade Nancy met an MK from Ethiopia. This friend explained to Nancy how MK’s needed folks who fully love them and are willing to get to know them not just as MK’s but as individuals loved by God. This conversation set Nancy’s course toward her life work in missions—loving and serving MK’s and TCK’s.

Nancy delighted students every Christmas as a purple elf delivering candy canes.

After high school, Nancy earned a Bible College degree in Missions and Bible Religious Education. She got her first job on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, where she got involved with a small church plant, which actually grew and became her original sending church. Even today this church carries some of her support.

In 1984 Nancy joined SIM (Serving In Missions) and in August, 1985 headed to Nigeria to work at Kent Academy outside Jos. At this school for MK’s Nancy served as a dormitory parent for five years, and she loved it. She returned to Canada for a home assignment in 1990, and returned to school to add to her education, earning a Teacher Aide’s certificate. Then when was ready to return, she learned there was no available position in Nigeria; but she was needed at Sahel Academy in Niger. So, in mid-January of 1998 she arrived in Niamey to begin teaching at Sahel Academy. Her first struggle came in trying to learn French, even though the language had been so tough back in high school. She testifies that throughout her career she has worked hard to do her best in French, and Nigeriens have been patient with her efforts. Her second struggle came as she had to adjust to living in the capital city, Niamey.

Nancy always loved teaching Bible classes as she shared the Gospel in every single lesson.

Still, Nancy quickly learned that this was the place God wanted to place her to bless the MK’s and TCK’s always, in the Love of Jesus. Even when it came time for her home assignments, she always felt sad because she was truly leaving her home, the place God had designed for her. Through the years Nancy did anything and everything to share the Love and Knowledge of God with her students. She taught Bible, at one time, to every student in the school. And as she taught, she created one of the most inviting and intriguing classrooms I ever encountered in all of my own years of teaching. She coached softball—a sport she dearly loved. She worked with drama—she was known as a “ham” inside and outside the classroom—always ready to have some fun. Then, in her desire to truly serve the students more and more, she became the School Registrar, keeping student records and making sure their transcripts with all of the pertinent details made their often complicated college application process from Niger as simple as it could be.

Basically, Nancy said to God; “Here I am. Show me everything I can do to love these beautiful students in the name of Jesus. I will do it in the power of the Holy Spirit. I am here for You, then for them. I want by all means, to help them find Jesus as their Savior.” Nancy faithfully fulfilled this commitment for almost twenty-seven years at Sahel, even through floods and relocations, her faith in God and her calling to be among His children and her students, never wavered.

Nancy may be quite short, but her faith in Jesus is as tall as they come.

And, believe me Nancy’s remarkable dedication to MK’s and TCK’s does not stand alone. In the lives of our own children I would mention just a few names of heroes we will always honor with deep, deep gratitude to folks like Ward and Lou Ann Nicholson, Jay and Heidi Tolar, Jimmy and Sylvia Huey, Andy and Judy Norman, Larry and Linda Taylor, Dennis and May Clermont, and Sherry Woods—there are way too many more to mention—talking about a “great cloud of witnesses.” Praise God. They made it ALL ABOUT JESUS.

Nancy’s Pitch? Pray for MK’s and TCK’s today.

I just have to make this appeal directly to your hearts: As you pray, lift up our heroic, our courageous, our truly wonderful MK’s and TCK’s who throughout their lives bear the honor and the burden of following their parents’ calling into different cultures all over the world. It is a beautiful life. It is a difficult life. AND pray, now that you know her, for Nancy and so many others just like her who have given their whole selves into loving and caring for MK’s and TCK’s.

We all have stories to tell, in all our stories—IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS.

IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS:
PROCLAIMING THE POWER OF GOD’S WORD

Together, God uses Joe and Nalda Childs to uphold the power and beauty of God’s Word as the foundation for victorious Christian living.

Jeremiah 23:29
Is not my word like fire,
declares the LORD,
like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

Father, Forgive Our Empty Promises

Father, forgive us;
though You have given us
the truth of Your Living
and Your Written Word,
we too quickly rise
on our own two feet
and proudly proclaim
“Truth” in Jesus’ Name—
we too often shape and
we frame our own
opinions and
interpretations
based on our own
experiences and
some other person’s
lofty opinions
when Your Word is
absolute Truth,
and Your Word is
the foundation
for life as we know
it and beyond—
we are commanded
by You to search
and to listen to
and to obey Your Word—
no wonder we face
such confusion
in this world, while
 we ignore Your Truth.

Joe and Nalda so effectively make their lives ALL ABOUT JESUS, folks around them want to join them and do so also.

There are plenty of prophets in this modern world, eager to please your ears, and tickle you heart and amaze your mind with pretty words which literally build castles in the air. There are more than enough “Get Rich Quick” books, “Be Happy” books, and “Leave Behind Your Old Life” books. There are podcasts which can teach you 1001 ways to rise above the natural to the supernatural. There are reality shows on TV, movies in the theater, songs to dance to, to sing along with, to be inspired by, and there are on-line and printed magazines to explain answers to every question you can imagine. Yet, too much of it amounts to so much babel. No one seems to have a clue as they keep searching in all the wrong places. That’s the bad news, and always has been.

Here’s the Good News: Really Good News! Read it: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105 KJV)

God actually called Joe into a life of ministry as a young boy, and His Call never went away, and Joe fully responded with obedience many years later.

When I think about the centrality and the power of the Word of God these days, I thank God for the life of Joe Childs. More than any other person in my life, he has consistently, insistently upheld the power and authority of God’s Word. I first got to know Joe as our Sunday School teacher while we were on Stateside Assignment as missionaries in Nigeria, then Niger. I found His Sunday School lessons challenging  in the best kind of way. I found that his teaching  took me beyond the surface, beyond taking God’s Word as if it were no more than children’s stories  or inspiring tales. Rather Joe’s inspired teaching always moved both my heart and mind into the depth of God’s Word as it presented His Holiness, His Righteousness, and His Love.

In one lesson He could start out in a New Testament Gospel or Letter and take us back through time and through Scripture to establish the links which pointed to God’s Eternal Message of God’s Redemption for sinful men through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I was constantly amazed at how diligently Joe traced out the relationships between Scriptures throughout the Bible to firmly establish the unchanging message of the Gospel. My mind was challenged, my heart was uplifted and my soul was assured in the reality and the glory of the God of the Bible.

Joe and Nalda have for many years gathered teams to powerfully share the Love of Christ in Mexico.

What I did not know about Joe is that he had for a long, long time been a man who lived and practiced and stood on the truth of the Word of God he so powerfully taught. He had been born during World War II in Adele, Georgia. His Dad, John Childs, had been away in the War, and did not actually see Joe until he was three years old. After the war, Joe’s Dad became the superintendent in a construction company, which required the family to move often. Joe learned to make friends quickly. He found friends readily in the school bands where they moved, as he played the trumpet and the French horn. After high school Joe attended Georgia Tech and Jacksonville State. He married young and was blessed with three sons; Joe Junior, Stephen and Jason. In the meantime His Dad established Childs Construction Company; so Joe partnered with his Dad in the family business.

Out among people Joe has used every possible means to demonstrate the Love of God.

After spending some years as a single, Joe met and married Nalda Sealey, a deeply committed Christian. Not long after they were married, during a morning devotion Joe was leading, God reminded him of the Call HE had placed on Joe’s life when he was quite young. In his obedient response to the new sense of God’s Call, he began the process of shutting down the family business, and began to  more diligently study the Bible. He studied through Liberty University and earned a degree in Biblical Studies. God opened up opportunities for Joe to teach Sunday School and to preach in various churches. He began Bible studies in several apartment complexes, one retirement center and at the Etowah County Jail. He also took the Gospel message to Indonesia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Russia and Mexico. For several years Joe traveled with his dear missionary friend, Contardo Covarrubias. Then they met a young couple in Saltillo, Mexico; Alejandro and Angeles Castro, and began to focus their ministry through the Castro’s work in their church, their ministries in jails and prisons, in food distribution and other outreach activities among the poor. Once Joe and Nalda joined Glencoe First Baptist Church, he enlisted Joe Brothers and David Webster to join him in mission trips to Saltillo. That small group has grown to include many others for the last thirteen years, including Glencoe church members and friends from other churches.This ministry has provided eyeglasses, clothes, medical care and medication. Through it all Joe and Nalda have focused all efforts on sharing the Gospel.

Joe and Nalda have discovered that the most satisfying way to travel and see the world is with God in His Word and deep in your heart to share with others.

Speaking of Joe and Nalda: God has given them together a deep and abiding love for other people which expresses itself in all manner of ways, serving in so many ministries of the Church, and perhaps, most beautifully, in upholding individuals and families in prayer. Becky and I know the blessing of this concerted and consistent and powerful prayer personally. They know some of our deepest prayer needs, and they faithfully seek updates and continue to pray—and of course, God honors such faithful prayer.

Joe Child’s life clearly stands strong on the statement: IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS. I praise God for such mentors and such inspiring examples as Joe and Nalda. With our Good God and friends like them, we definitely have more blessings that you could ever name. Praise the Lord!

(I have to salute Nalda for comprehensive info which forms the basis of much of this post. Thanks!)

Every story in this blog is intended to lift up the Name of Jesus for the way He does His work so powerfully through the lives of His People.

IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS:
God’s Power In Praying For Missionaries

1 Corinthians 1:8-11 ESV

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers,
of the affliction we experienced in Asia.
For we were so utterly burdened
beyond our strength
that we despaired of life itself.
Indeed, we felt that we had receIved the sentence of death.
But that was to make us rely not on ourselves
but on God who raises the dead.
He delivered us from such deadly peril,
and he will deliver us again.
You must also help us by prayer
so that many will give thanks on our behalf
for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

Every story in this blog is intended to lift up the Name of Jesus for the way He does His work so powerfully through the lives of His People.

Oh, How My Heart Wants To Hug Their Necks

Oh, Father in Heaven,
Oh, how my heart wants to hug their necks,
those faithful sisters and brothers
who from the depths of their hearts
in obedience to the Holy Spirit
bow their heads in their chairs
or in the pews in their church
or in Sunday School rooms
or kneel on the carpet
and pour out their prayers
on behalf of your servants
facing the foe for Your Name
in places these prayer warriors
might never go except
in their words so fervent
taken as tools in Your Holy Hands
to stir up the hearts
of those who might never
hear the sweet
Name of Jesus
who came to be Savior
for all of the girls and the boys
and the women and the men
in Your world so beloved—
Of Father, I praise you for each one of these
who hears Your Holy Call
and they pray
and You hear and You answer
and strengthen
and empower
Your messengers—
now look at all those
people won by Your using
all of those prayers,
bowing and praying,
offering up
for others
their concern,
waiting to hear
the sweet name of Jesus.

My beloved Aunt Betty, certainly one of these prayer warriors Paul was talking about, kept up with those she prayed for by phone, updating information and offering assurance and encouragement, and of course, regularly and faithfully praying.

Paul, the one time extremist Pharisee, and a chief persecutor of Christ’s Church, met Jesus face-to-face on the road to Damascus, and ultimately became both an Apostle and a Missionary. In fact, the Holy Spirit, used him in many ways to establish the missionary movement of the early Church. So, it is noteworthy to read his plea above. Notice he talks about the deadly perils he faced over again in the midst of his missionary work. This should be no surprise. We know our Enemy will raise every obstacle he can to keep God’s missionaries from completing their task of taking the Gospel to the very ends of the Earth. So Paul says, “You must also help us by prayer . . .” We are begged to help our missionaries by prayer so that many will give thanks on our behalf  for the miraculous acts of God through our missionaries, and the miraculous protection of God in the daily lives of our missionaries. When God calls a missionary and they respond in obedience, and when His people support them with their prayers, then mighty miracles happen and God’s Kingdom is built. Count on it!

We know this because the Scripture above says so, and because we experienced it over and over again in Nigeria and then, in Niger. Praise God, and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being among those who joined God in His mighty work as you prayed for us and other missionaries.  In my own church in my D-Life group I have a Christian brother who down through the years has faithfully prayed for individuals and people groups we mentioned—and God has proven Himself ever faithful. I cannot wait until we get to Heaven so I can introduce him to those who will be there because of the faithfulness of His many, many prayers. Thank you and God bless you, Tim.

I could write about so many, many like him—brothers and sisters in Christ, who from the time I went to Nigeria in 1982, and continuing as Becky joined me in 1988, until we returned to the U.S. in 2018. They prayed for us and our Nigerian and Nigerien brothers and sisters daily, and often more than daily—God kept His promise (Of course, He did!) and we had the blessing of seeing so many come to Jesus, grow in Jesus, serve Jesus, and bless us in Jesus. We had the further blessing of seeing people groups and tribes hear the Gospel for the first time. Because people prayed, doors were opened and people were called and obeyed and went among them to tell them of Jesus who loves them and has a plan to save them and change them and free them and empower them to share the Gospel, themselves. It’s true! Prayer and prayer warriors are definitely all about Jesus.

Aunt Betty and Uncle James, Gayle, Sheila and Kristy

I want to share with you the story of my Aunt Betty, (Bless her heart! I mean it! Really! Bless her heart because she never, ever stopped praying for us during our time as missionaries and beyond.) She exemplifies the faithful, humble, yet powerful, Prayer Warrior God uses to accomplish His Will in His servants, here in the U.S. and throughout the world. God’s Kingdom is coming because of prayerful hearts like Aunt Betty’s.

Aunt Betty, Uncle Billy (My Mother’s Youngest Brother), and My Mother

Aunt Betty was born to John Bradley Mosley and Minne Lee Nelson Mosley in Jamestown, Cherokee County, Alabama. (My Mother was also born in Jamestown.) Aunt Betty attended Gaylesville School for eleven years, but earned her G.E.D. In 1982. (That’s the same year I first went to Nigeria.) She lived as a faithful, hard-working housewife to my Uncle James, (from whom my parents took my first name), until his sudden, untimely death. Then she went to work in accounting for B&C Tire, Noland Plumbing, and the Hokes Bluff Ciity Hall. Next she worked as a librarian at the Hokes Bluff City Library until she was 82. She loved reading and talking about reading, and in addition to pumping me for prayer requests over the years, she always wanted to know what I was reading. I never named an author she didn’t know.

Aunt Betty and Uncle James were baptized together at Louis Street Baptist Church in East Gadsden, Alabama.

Having grown up in the Methodist Church, Aunt Betty and her Baptist Husband, Uncle James, as young marrieds, both professed Christ as Savior and were baptized at Louis Street Baptist Church, the very church where I was also baptized. Later, in the Baptist Women’s Missionary Union at Immanuel Baptist Church in Hokes Bluff, she met Ada Belle Nail, who became her prayer warrior mentor. She grew over the years to carry that blessed heritage forward, as she encouraged the lives of many, including my family and me, with her prayers. I remember her keen interest and her faithful, focused, specific prayers throughout the years of our missionary service; but it was when I was diagnosed with cancer that she really “got down on her knees and got down to business with the Lord” for me in a way that deepened my appreciation for the effectiveness of faithful, caring, loving, trusting  prayer. As I underwent surgery and as I recovered I often answered the phone to hear her teasing, encouraging voice asking pertinent questions, and assuring me that she would be praying for every single concern or challenge I was facing at that particular time. And she did. And God answered. And not only was I healed, but I was convinced, once and for all of the unimaginable power of prayer. Praise God for my Aunt Betty.

I never think of Aunt Betty and Uncle James without remembering their antique cars, which received the same kind of devoted and careful attention, as did her faithful prayers on behalf of so many blessed people.

Not long before she went on to glory, I called Aunt Betty and asked if Becky and I could come for a short visit. She was not feeling well, but graciously invited us to come on over to her house. When we got there, she was so weak, we had to wait several minutes for her to make it to the living room where she would greet us. Even though her body was growing weak, her mind was still focused on the God to whom she had prayed so often, and her questions still came, searching for our concerns. Then, my cousin Sheila, came to help Aunt Betty hear us as we conversed, and we had a fine visit. And as we got ready to leave, I went and sat right in from of my godly, sainted aunt and prayed my heart out for her and hers, with deep gratitude for all the times she had prayed her heart out for me—and as I did, I was reminded of countless others in First Baptist Glencoe and in other churches in many places, who had lifted our names in prayer. I praise God for how He particularly and overwhelmingly cares enough for His servants to enlist prayer warriors who stand with them in the gap as He continues the building of His Kingdom to His glory among every tribe, people, language and nation. Amen and amen!

You can read stories like this one about people who have made their lives ALL ABOUT JESUS in the book.