Written on our last Sunday with Firm Foundation Church in Boonville, MO.
Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet each other with Christian love. (2 Corinthians 13:11-13)Today is my last Sunday with you. We are moving to Longton, Kansas, tomorrow, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise. I have taken a church there that is part of the denomination I used to be in. It is an interesting church, with an interesting blend of members. It fits my talents and gifts and who I am almost perfectly. It is a work that I will be able to stay in until I die.
It is also different for us in that it is a tiny little town, 350 people in all. 1.1 square miles total town footage. They are thinking of carpeting it next year.
We have rarely lived in little towns, usually in suburbs or in cities. It is a pleasant town with a grocery store, a café, a bar that serves food, a pizza place, a drive-in that sells hamburgers and such and a mini-mart that sells gas. It also has a little library. A wood-working shop rounds out the businesses, with a few mechanics and such. It also has its own school district of about 160 kids.
It is a church of about 50 and seems to be a well-balanced church, with all ages. I look forward to it. Their parsonage is an old farm house on five acres outside of town. Of course, in a town of 350 that means it is only five or six blocks from downtown. Two horses live over the fence in the front yard.
We will be moving tomorrow morning, so if you can come help, do so. If nothing else, you can stand around and point. That’s what Ella does nowadays.
I have enjoyed being with you here at Firm Foundation. Pastor Mel and I respect each other and he found a place for me to minister here. I have been involved in the jail chaplaincy program and have written almost 400,000 words in bulletins, articles, jail circulars and in my blog mentioned above. I have been church editor, taught Sunday night, played in the praise band, sang occasional specials, videoed the services and special events and had many of the church over for supper at one time or another. I have even managed to be friends with Tom Pulliam, no mean feat in itself.
I am a different guy. Pastor Mel and I have strong disagreements on a lot of things yet we maintain Christian fellowship. I have tried to teach my class on Sunday nights that it is okay to question and to look outside the traditional window.
I love you and always will. I will continue to contribute articles to the bulletin. But they will come from 300 miles away in southeastern Kansas. Looking at a map, it is 30 miles west of Independence, Kansas. A tiny little town with a great big, oversized preacher playing a 12 string guitar and worshiping God and preaching freedom.
I surely look forward to it. But I will also surely miss you. God bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
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