One of the most popular features in \u201cReader\u2019s Digest\u201d magazine is entitled, \u201cThe Most Unforgettable Character I Ever Met.\u201d One such \u201ccharacter\u201d for me was Dr. William F. \u201cBill\u201d Edmonson. He was a college President. I was his Interim Pastor. At the conclusion of the annual mission\u2019s emphasis sermon, I made an appeal for those who felt called to missions \u2013 either career or short-term. Bill Edmonson responded. In my gut I felt like saying, \u201cI wasn\u2019t talking to you!\u201d I mean, why would a college President, in his early sixties, resign and go to a mission field? But he was serious. He had heard from God and was responding in the words of Isaiah, \u201cHere am I! Send me.\u201d (Isaiah 6:8). Back to school, he earned a Master\u2019s of Christian Education and, along with his wife, headed to northern Thailand as an English teacher and church planter for three years. I attended his funeral last week. His death was an unexpected shock. Just a few hours after successful heart bypass surgery, he died in the ICU. Bill spent the last few years as a faithful member of Gideon\u2019s International and the Chairman of his Senior Adult Living Facility \u201cChurch\u201d. So, next time you hear a mission\u2019s sermon, do not assume it is for someone else. The voice you hear, falling on your ear, might be that of God. And preachers, next time you preach a mission\u2019s sermon, in the words of my un-schooled truck-driver grandfather, \u201cDon\u2019t never assume nothing.\u201d Preach the Word, extend the call, and get out of the way so the God can work. Thanks Bill, for a life well lived, and an example well set. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the most popular features in \u201cReader\u2019s Digest\u201d magazine is entitled, \u201cThe Most Unforgettable Character I Ever Met.\u201d One such \u201ccharacter\u201d for me was Dr. William F. \u201cBill\u201d Edmonson. He was a college President. I was his Interim Pastor. At the conclusion of the annual mission\u2019s emphasis sermon, I made an appeal for those…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monday-morning-manna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2664"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2665,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664\/revisions\/2665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}