President

On Tuesday I became President of the Missouri Baptist Convention. I am humbled and honored by the chance to serve our 2000 MO Baptist churches.

I feel ready to take the reins. Three years of training and experience in MO Baptist denominational life has helped prepare me. Working closely with Bruce McCoy was priceless. He mentored me in learning the mechanics of being MBC President.

I look forward to working closely with our Executive Director Dr David Tolliver, and with my fellow officers, Wes Hammond, Micah Fries, and Jamie Hitt.

Pray for me. I really want to do a good job.

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50-year-wait

Congratulations to the Texas Rangers on their first trip to the World Series in their 50 years of existence. I had no idea they were that old. I had to do some google research.

They used to be the Washington Senators, not to be confused with the Washington Senators that became the Minnesota Twins about 1960, but the Washington Senators that played in the Capital during the 1960s.

I remember the latter team well. They were one of the worst franchises in baseball history, a fact that is, as of last night, ancient history.

My chief loyalty still lies with the National League, but I'm glad to see Nolan Ryan's team in the big show.

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Preaching to the Chinese

The Lord gave me a huge privilege today.  I preached at 11:00 this morning for our brand new (one week old) Chinese Baptist Church at the Baptist Student Union on the Missouri State University campus.  It is remarkable to stand up to preach, knowing that a good number of your listeners have virtually no knowledge of the Gospel.  It forces a preacher to choose his words wisely.

I did not use an interpreter.  They told me they like to hear a sermon spoken in English.  Everything else was in Mandarin.  Ruth and I could not understand a word. The music was beautiful. The Eastern sounds were strong, the harmony was perfect.  A trio of students sang.  Two were new believers. I was enjoying a foretaste of Heaven, where people from all over the globe will gather as one to lift praises to our King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I assume we will sing in Hebrew in Heaven.  I’ve always been told it is God’s native tongue. Whatever language we sing in, I am confident we will all be able to sing and understand every word.

iTunes Ruth Marshall
Family blog www.yeebird.blogspot.com
Twitter @john316marshall
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Colorful Sermons

You’ve often heard me say or write, I do not have the best sermons, but do have the prettiest ones. I use multiple colors to highlight all my sermon manuscripts, which are printed out in 24 point print.  Greg Bunn, via Facebook, became the first person ever to ask me what each color stands for. I answered him and thought you might like to know, too.

Green is Bible addresses.  Yellow is Bible words.  Purple is quotes.  Orange is important pronouns.  Blue is the main thought of the first paragraph of the page.  Red is the second paragraph highlight.  Brown is the third paragraph highlight.

I use other colors to accent other items.  For instance, black asterisks in the margin call my attention to look at the screens or reach for a sermon prop. Now you know.  Thanks, Greg, for asking.

iTunes Ruth Marshall
Family blog www.yeebird.blogspot.com
Twitter @john316marshall
www.facebook.com/john316marshall

The Pursuit

Our chuch-multiplying focus now hones in on our next new church plant, The Pursuit. This Sunday evening October 17 there will be an information cookout at John David Edie's about the new church plant.

We will have information in the bulletin this Sunday about the event. You are also welcome to contact John David personally and directly on his cell phone 840-8828 (yes, he told me to share his cell phone number. He's committed to this new church, and wants others to join with him).

It's been a blur of church-planting for Second of late. Burmese, Bolivar, Strafford, San Francisco, Chinese, and now The Pursuit. We at Second are a blessed people. I am proud to be your Pastor.

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Huge Weekend

Tomorrow two new churches from our church will be started. The Chinese Church will begin tomorrow at 11am in the BSU at MSU. Our church is providing 100 English/Chinese Bibles for them as a gift. They chose 10-10-10 as their starting date because the Chinese symbol for 10 is a cross. Thus, tomorrow's date for them included three crosses.

Ben and Shauna Pilgreen, and their team, will start Epic Church in San Francisco tomorrow morning at 10-10-10-10. 10am Oct 10, 2010. They are one of many churches being started at that precise time in California.

The Pursuit Church is ready to start receiving commitments to help with the church plant. There will be a big food and fellowship time at John David Edie's on Sunday night October 17.

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Millie is gone

Caleb's beloved dog Millie had to be put to sleep on Saturday. Arthritis in her hip had become so painful that she couldn't get up.

For many months Millie was a leading star of this blog as I tried to keep everyone apprised of my interaction with her and with her canine sidekick Jake. I never grew fond of the dogs but did appreciate them.

They provided a level of comfort and companionship for Caleb during a very sad time in his life. That whole experience increased my appreciation for pets. I have no desire to have one, but do better understand the role they can fill in a person's life.

Farewell Millie. Thank you for being Caleb's friend.

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Mom is home

What started out as a 3-day pleasure trip to Branson ended up as a 19-day hospital saga. One misstep at a Branson show, resulting in a broken hip, changed everything.

It's been a very trying experience for Mom. Surgery and rehab have been tough. We have all been impressed with, and blessed by, the personnel at Skaggs Hospital. They treated Mom like a queen.

For me, the silver lining in the cloud has been the large amount of time I was able to spend with Mom and Dad. I drove to Branson essentially every day to visit Mom. Dad stayed overnight with us each evening.

I'm grateful Mom is better. I'm thankful for the people at Skaggs. I'm pleased with the time I had with Mom and Dad. The Lord does all things well.

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