Finding a Christian mate is one of life’s greatest blessings.
It always interests me to find out how the Lord led folks to meet their spouses. It’s probably just my small-town roots showing up.
My parents met in their 20s through associational Baptist activities in Clay County. My wife and I met as students at Auburn University. Our son and his fiancée met at church last year.
Pastor Bo Weed of Southside Baptist Church in Troy found his wife, Marilyn, while she was singing in a church choir. He was supposed to be looking up a friend of hers who was sitting right next to her.
But Bro. Bo said when Marilyn smiled at him, “I stopped looking right then.”
Brother Buster Taylor, director of Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center, Talladega, also met his wife through Christian music.
He was serving as minister of music and youth for a church in Indiana while taking courses at Southern Seminary, Louisville, Ky.
The church’s pastor was Bro. Padgett Cope, later pastor of Ruhama Baptist Church in Birmingham and now director of missions for Cleburne Baptist Association in Heflin.
Anyway, Bro. Buster had volunteered to direct an ensemble for Youth for Christ. He met Mary Taylor, the daughter of a local Baptist preacher, when she auditioned for him.
She not only got a place in the ensemble but also wound up with an unusual name: She’s now Mary Taylor Taylor!
It is always a treat to attend the annual convention for Alabama Association of Baptist Secretaries hosted by Judson College.
The music leader for the group’s recent 41st annual meeting was Laurie Brasher, worship and praise leader at Pell City’s New Hope Baptist Church, which is the oldest church in St. Clair Association. Laurie is a former schoolteacher who felt called into the field of church music.
Her husband, Bro. Paul Brasher (pronounced Bray-sher), has been pastor of New Hope for four years.
Although he grew up in Leeds and she in nearby Moody, you could almost say the Brashers found each other in Oklahoma, having met through their participation in a community production of the play named after that state. He played the part of her father!
At that time she thought he was old, and he thought she was still a teenager. They discovered later he is only three years older.
Brother David Lawrence, manager of LifeWay Christian Store in Mobile, met his fiancée, Leann Corby, in an English class when they were students at Troy State University.
They became good friends but didn’t date until after college when both were working in Tampa, Fla. They will be married at First Baptist Church, Tallassee (Elmore Association), on May 31. Pastor Derek Gentle will officiate at the wedding.
One well-known Alabama couple started dating in high school, Gov. Bob Riley and his wife, the former Patsy Adams. It has been my pleasure to know the Rileys from childhood, since both grew up in Ashland, my hometown.
First Lady Patsy Riley was guest speaker during a prayer breakfast at Dawson Memorial Baptist Church, Homewood, on the National Day of Prayer. She told how much she and her husband appreciate the prayers of fellow believers. “We feel your prayers every day,” she noted.
But she added there have been times that she has not understood God’s will, including 21 months ago, when their daughter Jenice died of cancer.
The First Lady shared three portions of Scripture that have guided her through low times: Isaiah 55:8–9; Proverbs 16:3–4,9; and Psalm 37:5,7a. Re-emphasizing the importance of prayer, she said, “Prayer is the most powerful thing we have.”
I was blessed by her message.
Speaking of blessings, the editor and staff of The Alabama Baptist hope you are blessed when you read the paper.
You may know of folks who need to get The Alabama Baptist each week but currently do not. Follow through on any urge you may have to tell them about the paper. We hope they will find it a blessing too.
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